1st budget monitor pairing for new PCS build w/ GeForce 710

Hi, I just ordered a build from PCS and using my current monitors would be a crying shame.

Budget £70-£220

Use case: photo/video editing, tech work
for fun I'll be DJ'ing & live streaming. This monitor is not really for gaming, however... I'll likely dabble in the coming years.

I'm not sure whether to invest more now, or wait until I have more money coming in - hence the wide range in the budget - but I'm sure a budget monitor can do the trick for now as I'd probably want to spend a lot more when I have income. I plan to use multiple monitors and in the future I may really need a good amount of quality over a wide-ranging viewing angle, although for now I just need something to do the trick I guess (and by do the trick, I guess I mean a sensible pairing without over-spending)

Reference to my previous thread where you can see my build and where I'm continuing the conversation about monitor pairing on from here instead:


I'm hoping to order soon ideally not longer than a week from now so I can pair it up with my new build as soon as it arrives, but if there are good Black Friday deals perhaps it would be good to get on the back of those. I realise that a lot of the benefit of those deals are inflated. I'm sure I shouldn't rush into this decision. Failing that I'm pretty sure if your recommendation(s) make sense to me I will probably go with one of them, as I've had a good experience here so far so GOOD. VERY GOOD :)

Here is the build I ordered:

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.1GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo

Here is what I'm reading right now....

 
Last edited:
With that in mind, and at a glance the Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch LCD/LED Monitor - Black is on sale which brings it to £247 which inc. VAT & delivery. 1ms response rate, but it's LED and I thought IPS would be the way to go. I might be asking too much for my budget looking for a 4k IPS panel so I'll keep lookin' about and keep an eye on what cyber Monday brings too just in case there are any obvious steals to be had.
 

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
LED is just the generic panel description...within that you've got TN, VA, IPS (each have their own pros and cons).

The U28E590D is an LED TN panel.


TN Panel Pros and Cons

This design allows for fast response times (the time between the panel getting the frame it’s supposed to display and actually displaying it). It also allows for fast refresh rates. Consequently, TN panels are the only 240 hertz (Hz) gaming monitors available right now.

TN panels are cheap but suffer from poor viewing angles due to the “twist” only being aligned in one direction for viewing the panel straight on. They can also have poor color and contrast due to this twist mechanism not being the most precise or accurate.


VA Panel Pros and Cons

This structure produces deeper blacks and better colors than TN panels. And multiple crystal alignments (shifted a bit off axis from each other) can allow for better viewing angles compared to TN panels.

However, VA panels come with a tradeoff, as they are often more expensive than TN panels and tend to have lower refresh rates and slower response times than TN panels. Consequently, you won’t see quite as many VA panel gaming monitors.


IPS Panel Pros and Cons

IPS panels have the best viewing angles and colors of any LCD monitor type, thanks to its crystal alignment always lining up with the viewer. And while they don’t offer as fast a response time or refresh rate as TN panels, clever engineering has still gotten them to 144hz, and with nice viewing angles you’re not necessarily going wrong with an IPS gaming panel.

However, they also tend to be a bit less bright due to their design blocking off a bit more of the backlight.
 
I feel like my decision needs to be between IPS or 4k for my own productivity and work (photo/video editing and multi-tasking) needs because I certainly can't afford to have both in the same monitor.
 

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
There are relatively cheap 27/28" 4K IPS monitors (around £300-£350), it tends to be the high-refresh gaming monitors (or professional monitors) that command the higher prices. The cheaper end tends to lose some contrast/brightness or some colour fidelity (e.g. 90% sRGB or 70% NTSC vs 100% P3 & 110% sRGB).
Of those, the LG has the best colour.
 
Top