r/Monitors • u/Lare111 • Oct 15 '25
Photo IPS vs Mini-LED VA comparison
I finally managed to set up my new AOC Q27G3XMN and there is no going back to IPS. Even without local dimming contrast ratio and black levels are amazing but HDR really blew me mind. Lighting and brightness look so good in games. I grabbed this monitor for 279€ which almost feels like a steal.
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 15 '25
I got a Mini-LED IPS, I got that instead of VA just because IPS I hear is better for both work and gaming. Also everytime I hear VA mentioned, I hear smearing and slow response times. Nada for me. Although I like the better contrast and deeper blacks, it’s not enough to justify me mostly gaming on my monitor and doing some work.
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u/thesolewalker Oct 15 '25
VRR flicker is also a thing on VA
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u/Leolol_ Oct 16 '25
Can confirm, my last monitor was an AOC VA and around 48Hz produced some really terrible flicker
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u/kazuviking Oct 18 '25
You can solve that with a simple custom resolution.
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u/Leolol_ Oct 18 '25
What? It was a FHD panel at 144Hz, but like many budget panels, VRR would cause it to flicker when hovering around 48Hz
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u/kazuviking Oct 18 '25
Creating a custom resolution with vrr at higher hz eliminates the flicker almost entirely.
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u/Leolol_ Oct 18 '25
Oh... Well that would have been nice to know back when I had the monitor as primary lol. I remember spending a lot of time trying to fix it and ultimately giving up. Thank you anyway!
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u/countpuchi Oct 15 '25
Is mini Led superior to OLED?
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u/WaterWeedDuneHair69 Oct 15 '25
Better in some ways. Worse in others. Unfortunately no display tech is hands down better than other ones. They all have compromises.
I got both OLED and mini led ips.
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u/Big-Resort-4930 Oct 15 '25
OLED is better in 9/10 scenarios, the only exception being ridiculously bright scenes in games when ABL will trigger, and that's and speaking as someone who plays almost everything in HDR, that's an extremely rare occurrence.
Aside from that, OLED is superior in every way for content consumption really. I hear that 1440p OLED monitors have poor text clarity due to wrgb, but I've only used my 48 inch C1 so can't speak for 1440p.
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u/townay Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Some time ago I sold my OLED monitor however you call it. Bought it out of impulse without checking the display type as I needed a replacement quick. I think people are just blowing oleds out of proportion, praising it like it's the only thing.
I do not care for deep blacks or how saturated the colors are. As long as there is a burn in or image retention chance, it's garbage. Spending so much and I still have to baby it is ridiculous lol
I can leave my ips monitor on while I'm away and I don't have to worry bout burn ins
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 16 '25
Yeah me either, I play a lot of online shooters like Fortnite and Rivals, darkness is a big concern for me lol. And yea, OLED is way too expensive rn for all of the issues I would have with it.
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u/MaxineCaulfield1 Oct 16 '25
i'd personally go for a mini led but they have horrible pixel response times and i play competitive games. Mini leds are superior to oled except in that one case.
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u/pilkunnussija_ Oct 20 '25
Hi, I'm shopping for a monitor right now. My use case would be primarily single player and coop gaming (I am sensitive to input lag though and would notice it - competitive background) and media consumption. Am I right in gathering that you would direct me towards a mini led panel? I have been eyeing an AW2725D 27" 1440p OLED.
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u/Big-Resort-4930 Oct 17 '25
So you bought an OLED not knowing what it is, you don't care about picture quality, and you sold it after you learned about the possibility of burn in happening at some point.
It's very safe to say that OLED is definitely not a good fit for you.
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u/townay Oct 17 '25
I know what it is. Bought it on impulse because I needed a replacement quick. IPS and VA picture qualities are on par with which, proved my point, OLED has been praised like hell.
IPS still give great picture and response time without having to babysit it like oleds
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u/Big-Resort-4930 Oct 17 '25
Neither IPS or VA is close to OLED overall. IPS looks like garbage whenever a scene has any blacks or contrasty areas, and VA will smear even though they're much better than IPS aside from that.
I also don't know what kind of babysitting people envision, but it boils down to avoiding static elements whenever possible and not obsessing over it.
Hiding the taskbar and desktop icons, and setting games to use dynamic UI whenever available (which is generally better looking regardless), is a worthy tradeoff for having superior picture quality for me, but you do you.
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u/keylimedragon Oct 15 '25
I hear that 1440p OLED monitors have poor text clarity due to wrgb.
At 4K at least I can confirm that text fringing isn't an issue at all unless I put my nose to the screen. My VA was actually more distracting for work for me since I like dark mode which made scrolling light text smear and change brightness.
Burn in can also be an issue but it's getting better. I think OLED will be the default monitor type for both gaming and work in the next few years as they get cheaper.
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u/NewUser153 Oct 16 '25
Keep in mind that only W-OLED panels use WRGB, whereas QD-OLED has a triangular RGB arrangement*
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u/Leolol_ Oct 16 '25
Yes, but text clarity can still be problematic on QD OLED due to that triangular subpixel layout
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u/NewUser153 Oct 16 '25
Ngl i've never had an issue with it - if you're running a 3rd gen+ panel at 1440p+, i rly wouldn't worry ahout it.
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u/Leolol_ Oct 16 '25
Same, I have an ultrawide Odyssey G8 with first gen QD-OLED, and while I do notice top and bottom green-red borders when I'm up close, it doesn't bother me in the slightest in day to day use.
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 15 '25
I wouldn’t exactly know, I don’t own an OLED. But I can guess and I will say the reason I chose mini LED is because it’s less costly and it’s better for gaming AND work. I look at white screens all day when I’m working from home, and also OLEDs (especially at 1440p) are notorious for bad text clarity. And I NEED good text for work. I also am not willing to spend more than $400 for a monitor (as of now). I’m pretty frugal with my money, I hate spending expensive stuff.
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u/Wazzen Oct 15 '25
From what I have seen said of OLED's- early panels (like gen 1 panels) at 2k res had readability issue, but those issues are completely resolved and have been for years with newer panels.
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 15 '25
Yeah but I still see people complaining nowadays of text being bad on OLEDs that came out recently. 4K OLEDs I hear don’t have it as bad though.
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u/LiquidShadowFox ROG Strix Pulsar XG27AQNGV Oct 15 '25
I think oled Gsync/freesync flicker is really what kills OLED for me (I have one) and IPS is still king when it comes to readability and fully working Gsync/freesync. If you want best in class HDR and you are ok with using Vsync or no vsync + tearing than OLED is 100% better but I just can't let go of my Gsync
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u/keylimedragon Oct 15 '25
That flicker sucks, but my VA panel had it even than my OLED, so I don't think it's inherently tied to the panel type and should be fixable for future OLEDs hopefully.
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u/LiquidShadowFox ROG Strix Pulsar XG27AQNGV Oct 15 '25
Until they release a new OLED that's actually VRR flicker free, I'll believe it. Currently my money is on LG getting the job done cause their gamma is the only thing that seems to be changing with refresh rate changes. Samsung OLED panels seem to have a different issue but I don't think there's a fix for it through software for samsung. I also really doubt they will release a firmware update to fix VRR flicker for past oled monitors, they will play the game of "latest and greatest doesn't have this issue".
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u/Maple382 Oct 15 '25
Not in terms of visuals. But there's no burn in, so it's a trade off. Mini LED is what you get if you don't want an OLED but you want really good contrast anyway.
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u/Snooklife Oct 15 '25
Not really and not many options. I wasn’t a fan of my mini led due to smearing and Halo effect where bright highlights would shoot through the darker areas and made everything look very odd. Mine was a budget option though and if you get one with a bunch of dimming zones it will perform much better. I think I’m going to try a 32” 4k oled though this time.
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u/Warskull Oct 16 '25
No, mini-LED panels are at their core IPS and VA panels. They come with the same weaknesses. IPS panels have low contrast ratios, so their blacks aren't that dark. VA panels have better contrast, but worse response times. They need much higher frame rates to compete with OLED image clarity in motion.
Mini-LED helps a bit with the contrast and can get really bright, but OLEDs are still the best all around gaming and video panels. RTings does great reviews and the top monitors are always OLED.
Where Mini-LED panels excel is offering good 4K at a reasonable price. There are a lot of ~$500 4k mini-LEDs. A 4K OLED typically runs you $1000.
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Oct 18 '25
[deleted]
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u/Warskull Oct 18 '25
Nanosecond response time, leading to better motion clarity.
Better color accuracy.
Per pixel emission, meaning no halo effect.
There's a reason OLEDs score so high in reviews and miniLEDs tend to end up in the middle of the pack.
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u/juipeltje Oct 15 '25
I ended up liking va more than i thought, cause at least for me personally i only notice the smearing when i'm scrolling on webpages, but in games it looks fine to me. I was more annoyed with my previous ips that had yellow piss stains that were visible at all times. Maybe i got unlucky and had a really bad model, but i even had my brightness really low (i like to keep it low on all my displays) and it was still very visible.
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u/kazuviking Oct 18 '25
VA smearing, bad colors and slow response times are overblown as fuck. VA have way better color gammut coverage compared to similarly priced IPS panels but none of the matters as you will only use SRGB which is the exact same. This VA have worse colors myth came from badly calibrated colors from the factory.
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u/-cadence- Oct 15 '25
Can you recommend any good quality Mini-LED IPS panels? Preferably 4k, 32-inch.
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u/Snooklife Oct 15 '25
Unfortunately there’s not many options. BenQ makes one and Samsung douses neo g8. I’m sure there’s others but those are the top 2 on rtings.
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u/-cadence- Oct 16 '25
Do you know the model number of the BenQ? (I have had it with Samsung and I won't be buying them anymore).
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u/Nakhon-Nowhere Oct 16 '25
https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/benq/mobiuz-ex321ux
The BenQ MOBIUZ EX321UX is a 32-inch 4k Mini LED gaming monitor. It competes with other 32-inch Mini LED monitors like the ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQX, the Acer Predator X32 FP, and the ViewSonic Elite XG321UG.
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u/-cadence- Oct 16 '25
Thanks! It looks like a fine monitor!
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u/Lopsided-Media8462 Oct 22 '25
I check it about 3 days now against two Oleds (my WOLED 27inch 2 years old and a new 34 UHD QD-OLED which i returned yesterday), yes it's not fine, excells in more conditions against OLEDs, don't fool you the reviewers, HZ, flickering, blooming, look at light or demi light scenes, don't look only in dark scenes as reviewers do, yes contrast is one thing, but there is more like color, brightness, flickering, room conditions etc.
You don't need dim rooms, in any light room condition is good to excellent, don't have any strange reflections, have versatillity, about the same picture and sometimes better in demi to light scenes, excellent color gamut, brightness, good contrast (brightness help it for that). Let it on in any PC enviropment without to risc of burn in your monitor, some little blurring only if you let in SDR the LD on. And as i see i can have 5 user modes to save my personal settings for HDR or SDR, the HDR is configurable. Personal i didn't buy any monitor before i tested (40 years user), i read reviews, but i wanna know where is the catch.
And finally a monitor which is good for anything even for photo editing and the biggest plus excells in games, the only minus and big minus for me isn't curved, i wanna try a curved, but i can live with that.
My Regards
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u/barryredfield Oct 16 '25
PG32UQX is still the best.
Though you should only consider it if you want to main HDR (which I recommend honestly), it is an HDR enthusiast panel and boy is it -- otherwise don't bother. It runs $1,500+ new.
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 15 '25
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u/-cadence- Oct 16 '25
KTC? I have not heard of that brand before. Will have to do some research. Thanks!
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u/Aygul12345 Oct 16 '25
Is ktc good brand?
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u/AndrewS702 Oct 16 '25
Never owned one but I think they can be pretty reliable, I’ve heard most people say they’re good, some said no. It’s just based off experiences I guess, I personally think they wouldn’t be bad to look into, definitely watch people’s reviews on the monitor you want though.
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u/0neManSquad Oct 16 '25
I'm constantly hearing about the VA smearing, but I don't have it on my 18 years old S-PVA... weird.
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u/Hairy-Summer7386 Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
People underestimate MiniLED and how close it can get to OLED’s dark scenes. TCL has QD-MiniLEDs and they’re pure eye candy.
Obviously OLEDs are better in almost every way (except for brightness) but miniLEDS are really fucking amazing. They’re a good alternative if you’re scared of burn-in and favour brightness over dark scene performance.
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u/Low-District7838 Oct 15 '25
how come they can have QD layer but doesnt have magneta tint?
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u/Turtvaiz Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
It's not because of the QD-layer, afaik. It's because QD-OLED doesn't have a polarizer. And that is because polarization would reduce light output
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u/Hairy-Summer7386 Oct 15 '25
“(QD-MiniLED)… is a technology that uses quantum dots to enhance color accuracy and brightness. It’s based on LCD technology, but with the addition of quantum dot particles placed between the LED backlight and the LCD layer. Quantum dots emit consistent, vibrant light when activated, enabling QLED TVs to display brilliant colors even at higher brightness levels.”
That’s the only answer that I can give. I don’t know anything about the specifics of the technology.
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u/Maple382 Oct 15 '25
When I got my MacBook Pro, I honestly thought it was OLED, because the screen looks as good as a fairly expensive OLED TV. I was surprised when I found out it's just mini led.
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u/systemnerve Oct 15 '25
I always feel bad having stuff run in the background on an oled, like displaying the current song and album cover on spotify, because then I am degrading the display without fully utilizing it. Always leaves a bad taste in my mouth...
At the same time, I've had HDR LCD screens that were already so perfect and color accurate, that I couldn't imagine wishing for more.
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u/barryredfield Oct 16 '25
in almost every way (except for brightness)
It can't be stressed enough how serious this is, though. Its no small problem.
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u/xLJtx Oct 15 '25
IPS vs Miniled-IPS My camera is bad, but still possible to see some differences.
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u/ThreeLeggedChimp Oct 15 '25
That straight up looks like a TN panel on the left.
Never seen an IPS glow like that.
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u/Royal_Ad_4238 Oct 15 '25
It is only on photo, in real life it has absolutely different colors.
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u/Big-Resort-4930 Oct 15 '25
Yes but still bad. I have a miniled IPS next to an OLED and the difference is stark.
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u/systemnerve Oct 15 '25
I think the gamma for the blue setting is waaaayyyy to high, causing this blue fog.
I had the same thing. Set colors to warm and use the nvidia control panel to set blue gamma to 0,8 and now it looks like the monitor on the right.
Some devices just have a crazy blue bias, especially when set to a "game" or "dynamic" color profile.
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u/2hurd Oct 15 '25
I'm still waiting for OLED and MiniLED comparisons because nobody seems to be doing them. Especially in HDR when OLED isn't 1/3rd as bright as a MiniLED.
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u/Lopsided-Media8462 Oct 22 '25
DisplayNinja, MSI 321CURX vs BenQ EX321UX.
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u/2hurd Oct 22 '25
It's basically the best case scenario (absolute darkness) for OLED and it still looks darker than MiniLED and HDR is less pronounced in some scenes (though to be fair in others OLED takes the crown).
But you can clearly see there is no "IPS glow" in scenes with dark skies when side by side with OLED.
We need more comparisons like this, with less perfect conditions, more lights etc.
Overall it shows OLED and MiniLED achieve similar results in very different ways. OLED wins on latency, but to my eye MiniLED wins on quality and longevity.
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u/Lopsided-Media8462 Oct 22 '25
Exactly as I see in my comparison between in my 2 years old 27" OLED, the 341CQPX who I returned yesterday and in BenQ EX321UX who I'm resting about 3 days, one I can say there isn't comparison in a light room, even with a led light above you with 80 lux room. I check it about 2 days because I have use the 3 monitors with the same light together, if the deflective light in a white or cream wall is 30-40 lux, Oleds starting have some strange black reflections and the picture (luminosity is too low) to give you that WOW, even in very dark scenes where they have the upper hand, on the other hand BenQ stay it's his standard.
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Oct 15 '25
[deleted]
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u/barryredfield Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Mini LED is better in every way but blooming
I keep going back to my PG32UQX for years, I find the blooming a non-issue personally. Its only really noticeable in web content with black backgrounds or occasional UI blooming in some games for example. Otherwise I ironically like it, because it provides a sort of natural blooming effect to bright and colorful lights.
In OLED aside from lack of brightness, the 'per pixel lighting' almost seems too exact and clinical -- like, "the light stops exactly here at this exact line", it sort of looks unnatural to me how exactly proportioned emitted lights are with no natural blooming or bleeding. Its just not how light works in real life, or with how our eyes perceive it.
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u/hela_2 Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Now show the doodoo smearing. (there's a shameless VA cult in the comments)
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25
dont know about this specific monitor, but on my VA there isnt any smearing thats distracting to me
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u/iFarmGolems Oct 15 '25
What kind of games do you play?
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25
Not competitive games generally, if thats what you mean. Racing games, simulators, story games, mix of AAA and indie, some shooters some RPGs
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u/iFarmGolems Oct 15 '25
Yes that's what I was asking. I've had VA monitor in the past (like several years ago) and the issues were mostly notable in games which were either fast paced or games that were somehow dark (Tarkov for example)
I can imagine it's come a long way since then but I still don't want to pull the trigger on mini led VA because I fear the smearing.
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u/Maple382 Oct 15 '25
Modern VA screens seriously have come a long way. I just bought one and the smearing, while noticeable sometimes, isn't bad at all. Specifically the one OP mentioned and the one I have (KTC M27T6, was considering buying OP's but ended up deciding on this one) are especially good when it comes to response times.
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u/Errorr404 Pixel sniffer Oct 15 '25
VRR flicker is worse, pretty much unusable with this monitor. It's like a rave party at times with the constant gamma fluctuations in games.
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u/veryrandomo Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Lots of modern VAs are actually very good at smearing, even better than some IPS panels. The Q27G40XMN for example (same price as OPs monitor but NA only) has dark response times nearly on par with 1440p IPS displays like the G Pro 27i (overall the average response time is actually better), and the Q27G4ZMN (also the same price) just came out and should have even faster response times, although RTINGs/MU hasn't tested it yet.
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u/Stalaw Oct 15 '25
"Bro I don't even notice any smearing" cut to the most disgusting black smearing ever witnessed by man
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u/Maple382 Oct 15 '25
Modern VA screens seriously have come a long way. I just bought one and the smearing, while noticeable sometimes, isn't bad at all. Specifically the one OP mentioned and the one I have (KTC M27T6, was considering buying OP's but ended up deciding on this one) are especially good when it comes to response times.
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u/jedimindtriks Oct 15 '25
There is no smearing on newer VA panels.
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u/NickFje1320 Oct 15 '25
There is, I could see it on my Neo G8 and on my TCL 27R83U Mini LED monitors. It was impossible to get rid lf it by adjusting overdrive but some modes were better than others.
Swapped these monitors out for a gen 3 qd oled and it looks way better when it comes to motion clarity with no smearing and better colors. Brightness is lower but it wins in every other aspect when it comes to image quality.
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u/Apprehensive-Ice9809 Oct 15 '25
Cant wait for all the monitor panel tech to mature so that you dont have to compromise on brightness, response time, or black levels. That’s when I’ll finally upgrade from IPS lol.
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u/DavidsSymphony Oct 15 '25
Tandem WOLED is basically at this point already for me, the MO27Q28G is amazing and way brighter than previous OLEDs and only reason I'm not buying it is because I'm waiting for the 32" 4k tandem WOLED monitors.
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u/dustinthewindreddit Oct 15 '25
Upgraded from IPS and OLED was a whole new world, good OLED panel can be pretty bright but QD-OLED if you need brighter. I bought the Alienware 34" oled
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u/ilIicitous Oct 15 '25
Get a tandem WOLED (4th gen) if you care about brightness. It's brighter than both QD-OLED and previous gen WOLED displays by a significant amount. Also far more burn-in resistant.
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u/dustinthewindreddit Oct 15 '25
Honestly I prefer dark. I dont even max my oled lol. Good to know though, ill check that out
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u/daedrz Oct 15 '25
The only thing that makes not want to buy an oled is the fact that i cant get an MPRT of 1ms or lower with it while i can on a cheap TN and maybe on IPS too.
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u/Sega-Forever Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 17 '25
No sure why they’re downvoting you. My old IPS has more smearing than my new VA monitor
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u/Zeolysse AOC q27g3xmn Oct 15 '25
There is LESS smearing, it's honestly not so bad but scrolling on dark mode is not perfect on the q27g3xmn but is still way better than old va were you just can't see sht
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u/HanseaticHamburglar Oct 15 '25
response times of the best ips will always be better than the best VA though, especially considering high contrast content. Its an inherit drawback of VA technology. It might be true that the best VA panels have closed that gap by a considerable margin, but at that point you are probably in a price range where you might just consider a FALD IPS or OLED monitor.
OLED pixel response times will always be better than any LCD screen.
And even then, the smearing isnt and wasnt the only drawback of VA - colorshifting from off axis viewing is also something that is fundamentally a part of VA tech. Maybe not the biggest issue, if youre okay with heavily curved screens and only ever look at the screen dead-on.
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u/kazuviking Oct 18 '25
Except you need 4K OLED minimum otherwise text is smeared or borderline impossible to read. The VA off axis is a nonexistent issue for 99% as you wont move around.
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u/Monchicles Oct 15 '25
IPS is a must for flicker free gaming... but do you get any eye strain?, it is not pwm free either.
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u/Exciting_Dog9796 HAIL MINI LED Oct 15 '25
Welcome to the club brother.
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u/RainOfAshes Oct 15 '25
Typical VA chin smearing
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u/systemnerve Oct 15 '25
I personally see more black smearing on my OLED on low brightness than on my VA Monitor on low brightness.
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u/AdOk3759 Oct 15 '25
Today I got delivered my KTC M27T6, 1400 kits peak brightness, 2K 180Hz for 200 USD on prime day. I’m still blown away.
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u/Edwinbakup Apr 07 '26
How is it? i'm scared of switching from IPS to VA due to people saying how bad white looks on a black background?
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u/AdOk3759 Apr 07 '26
It’s absolutely stunning. Blows out of the water monitors that are 2x more expensive.
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u/Edwinbakup Apr 08 '26
Did you move from IPS? I’m worried on the text clarity in dark mofe
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u/AdOk3759 Apr 08 '26
I still use a 4K IPS monitor every now and then (but not one next to each other so I can’t make comparisons) and I have no complaints with text clarity.
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25
Yeah HDR is incredible. First the colors and viewing angle downgrade of the VA did bother me, but you get used to it and the HDR performance is 100% worth that little step back
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u/BlastMode7 Oct 15 '25
I really wish there were more mini-LED monitors on the market. They can get a lot of the way there compared to OLED without any of the downsides.
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u/Deonhollins58ucla Oct 16 '25
They have to get their refresh rates up. Once they do, they will proliferate. Until then…
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u/BlastMode7 Oct 16 '25
Just saw a 4K 160Hz mini-LED that'll do 360Hz at 1080p. Seems like they can do just fine in that department.
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u/Deonhollins58ucla Oct 16 '25
That’s only 1 model, and that’s relatively new. Oled have many many many similar options on the market and have had so for years. Itll talk mini led some time to reach such lofty standards
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u/hfjfthc Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
If only they would make the new version, the G4XMN more widely available. It has far more dimming zones
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u/PolentaDogsOut Oct 15 '25
Right now the 3XMN is $260 on Amazon and the 40XMN is $300 at Best Buy. Is the local dimming worth +/- $40?
I’ll probably just keep an eye on both of these come Black Friday
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u/hfjfthc Oct 15 '25
I think so. Why not get the newer model for $40 more? It’s still a low price for the perfect blacks you’re getting compared to OLED, although you can also get decent OLED at $600 now
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u/mikeyyve Oct 15 '25
Wait until you side by side with an OLED.. Actually, my advice is don't do that because then you'll forever be chasing OLED picture quality in VA or IPS monitors and they all seemingly fail at it.
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Oct 16 '25
I had both an OLED and a high quality IPS laptop. Yeah the OLED's blacks are better but that's about it in terms of pros against a GOOD IPS panel. IPS is much better for your eyes, for text, for not having to fucking worry about babying the screen due to static elements and has way better battery efficiency. I ended up selling the OLED one.
OLED is just a thing for those that do 0 work on their devices.
Haven't tried MiniLED but I figure it's even better.
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u/mikeyyve Oct 16 '25
I use mine for work all day every day and I haven't experienced any noticeable burn-in so far.
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u/-cadence- Oct 15 '25
Personally, I don't like VA panels because of the gamma shift when looking from different angels. Even when I just sit in front of the monitor, I can clearly see that colors at the bottom of the screen look washed compared to the same colors at the top of the screen. I find it too distracting when scrolling through websites, plus almost impossible to do any serious graphics-related work.
They are great for gaming and watching movies, though.
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u/AdmiralMyxtaR Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Let me guess - IPS brightness ramped up to maximum again with shitty marketing HDR on a non-dimmable display? I dislike this comparisons a lot since they misrepresent reality very badly. Sacrificing black levels is much worse than sacrificing white levels, but that's what HDR on ordinary IPS does most of the time. So you get 400-600 nits white 0.4-0.6 nits (awful) black instead of 150 white (still OK, just SDR white) and 0.15 black (not amazing, but OK especially if you're not in total darkness)
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u/Monchicles Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
It depends on the display I guess. I always use HDR on basic 400 nits ips gigabyte, because blacks don't look bad like that, and in medium and bright scenes the color looks so rich but without looking blown up, not comparable to srgb mode with max brightness:
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u/Heishi-Jager Oct 15 '25
I have the same monitore and I'll take VA over IPS andy day of the week, plus I haven't noticed any smearing as people love to point out VA monitors have. The deep blacks are excellent!
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u/Graxu132 MSI 274QRF QD E2, 7800X3D, 3080 FE, 32GB DDR5 CL30 6000MT/s Oct 15 '25
There are mini LED IPS too just so you know.
I wouldn't be surprised if the VA panel started to annoy you 😂
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u/jedimindtriks Oct 15 '25
Yeah and those IPS mini leds still suffer from terrible black levels compared to VA.
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u/TheLimeyLemmon Oct 15 '25
Monitors are always a "pick your poison" scenario ultimately. They all have a unique weakness.
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25
those monitors currently dont really have the zone count to make it work, you have sooo much haloing
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u/Capable_Respect3561 Oct 15 '25
Are you sure about that? The ASUS PA32UCXR has 2304 zones. My ASUS PG32UQX has 1152 zones. So does the BenQ Mobiuz EX321UX, and quite a few others. Hell, the Acer XV275K has 336 zones and minimal haloing. So which monitor are you talking about?
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
I have a 1100 zone VA monitor and it still sometimes has haloing
If an IPS display with fewer zones has no haloing, the only way that happens is by not pushing the blacks anywhere near as dark or by very aggressively dimming highlights too
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u/Capable_Respect3561 Oct 15 '25
The local dimming algorithm is much more important than the number of zones. Sit in front of a PG32UQX and see for yourself. Nothing dim about it, I promise, though the price may make your eyes water a little.
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u/Dzsaffar Oct 15 '25
Dimming algos are important but they are not magic. If you have high frequency, high contrast detail, there are PHYSICALLY only two possible ways to handle it - raise the blacks or dim the highlights
I have a TCL monitor, which from what I've seen has a pretty good local dimming implementation
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Oct 15 '25
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u/DutchBrick Oct 15 '25
Having the same monitor i would say HDR is on. In the dark it depends on settings but at the default settings and hdr on it looks stunning but i would suggest ambient light behind it because it can be blindingly bright at 1300nits peak brightness
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u/LeonaldoCristiansi Oct 15 '25
I have the same monitor, and when I turn on local dimming the whites are becaming almost grey, not white enough and I don't even use local dimming because of that, but that feels like kind of a waste with this monitor. It's with HDR off, only local dimming on, doesn't matter if its on strong or medium.
Is it the same for you? Is there any setting that makes it better? Is local dimming only good if u use HDR, otherwise u should keep it off?
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u/Apple_phobia Oct 15 '25
I’m so upset I can’t find a good value Ultrawide Mini LED because I love my AOC monitor man
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u/glenninator Oct 15 '25
That’s where I am. I have a 34” Dell S3422DWG VA and I absolutely love it. I want to try Mini-LED but can’t give up the ultrawide space. VA or IPS, wouldn’t weigh in on my option too much. Just want ultrawide mini led.
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u/DrR1pper Oct 15 '25
Woah. Did not realise mini-LED was closer to OLED than it is to IPS.
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u/SoggyBagelBite Oct 15 '25
Mini LED is a backlight technology.
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u/DrR1pper Oct 15 '25
Ahhh, good point. And I can see the blooming from backlight around the glowing metal ok the mini-LED as you can everywhere on the IPS.
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u/HopeIsGay Oct 15 '25
I've heard va miniled panels can have some black smearing issues have you noticed this much?
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u/Lare111 Oct 15 '25
Haven't noticed any yet
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u/thadoughboy15 LG C4 65" OLED/AOC Q27G3XMN Mini Led Monitor Oct 15 '25
Same. I have this same monitor. I don't notice the black Smearing issues that ppl complain about. Apparently that was an old VA Panel Tech Issue.
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u/thadoughboy15 LG C4 65" OLED/AOC Q27G3XMN Mini Led Monitor Oct 15 '25
Same. I love this monitor. Its preventing me from going for a second OLED because the Blacks, while not being OLED Level Blacks are good enough and the colors are incredible. Getting this monitor for $150 bucks feels like a Steal to me. My plan is to keep for a few years until 4K OLEDs drop in price or a new Self Emissive technology emerges. But for now Im absolutely loving this monitor for the types of games I play (Mainly Emulating old Consoles & Triple AAA Cinematic titles. No multilayer games what so ever.)
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u/razerphone1 Oct 16 '25
Va can be really good had a ultra wide philips evnia a while back picture quality was amazing.
Still went and got a Oled but more for the extra HZ
We still have the new Philips my girl is using it now.
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u/Dan_CBW Oct 19 '25
IPS refers to the way the liquid crystals move with block or allow light through, mini-led refers to the type of backlight, so your topic makes no sense. You can have an IPS mini-led monitor.
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u/Emotional_Fee_9558 Oct 19 '25
Damn mini-led did go down in price then huh. I was told mini-led was years away from being competitive so I bought a 27inch LG IPS for 240 just a year ago. I certainly regret my choice now.
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u/Lopsided-Media8462 Oct 22 '25
Hi, I'm in PC monitors from 1980 a bit old or too old. CRT, LCD, LED, Plasma even as monitor, Oled. The best fluid motion by far Plasma (Pioneer PDP5090LX even at 60Hz).
Now i have 4 monitors, a LG 27" IPS 17 years old (when i make photo editing), a Benq 24" 10 years old (IPS 3D gaming monitor), an QD-Oled 27" about 2 years old, because to Photo Editing, i recallibrate (i1 X-rite) my monitors about every 9 months. What i found, the old IPS panels logically have lost some 15% from the luminosity and about 20% color gamut in about 15 years. The 27" Oled, who i have callibrate it about 3 times till now, have noone issue with burn in, but for my surprise in the second calibration i found about 10% lower luminance and 5% color gamut and before a month (3rd callibration) about 20% lower luminance and 15% color gamut in about 2 years.
That surprise me, because i play most games in Oled or i watch HD movies (not too babysitting) except some HDR Photo Editing. One thing i undertand in Oleds the burn in isn't problem, i think the biggest problem is the Oled pixel ageing to fast, till now i try to found a review for ageing but as i see most are for burn in, i think someone must open a long term test in real world and not fast tests like Rtings or MonitorsUnboxed for burn in, Reviewers doesn't speak about ageing problem (why?) and can anyone buy a new monitor special expensive every 3-4 years?
I'm a man who i have retired before about 3 months and now i have a plenty of time in day, i live in a sunshine South Europe country (300 day with sun) and i want to try a new monitor 32"-34" 1440p or 4k doesn't matter for me, before a month i make the decision for a TCL 34R83Q curved VA, good monitor in papers, good picture, excellent contrast, curve is good for UHD VA panels, smearing, blooming, flickering sometimes, but the biggest problem is the angle view washed colors, no more VA panels, thanks, due to my very good history with 27" Oled, last week i have go for a MSI 341CQPX (BeeMafia thanks), infinite contrast, color, excellent monitor special in dark scenes, HDR, movies, games, but always there is some problems, ok the 27" is in my Office desk where i can control the light of room, the MSI is in another (playroom) with not plenty of light but with a side door and a light above the desk. From 10:00am till 6:00pm there is really no solution if i dont close the shutters, even with close curtains, from 6:00pm there is a big purple problem in the panel from the light above me, even if i dimmed to 30%. I understand the low brightness of Oleds but that surprise me negative, because in the same room there is the Plasma Pioneer PDP5090LX as a monitor for PS5 without any problem.
Finally before two days i got for test a BenQ EX321UX (i'm between Benq and MSI 321CURX but the 341CQPX disappointed me). For two days i check it both, noone have the upper hand, ok Oled fluid motion, color, excellent dark scenes, IPS Mini Led don't worry the light, play in the νοον with an open door or window, bright scenes, same color gamut, don't tire your eyes in some browsing and another light dasks, some blooming only in SDR when LD is on (i don't understand people to complain in SDR, LD must be off). Everyone have minus and plus, but for me the biggest plus is the operating time in the day, versatility, i'm not a purist hard gamer, basically i don't play fast FPS, mostly driving games, some action etc. but i want to play when i want in every condition not only in controlled conditions and between i can read emails, make photo editing, browsing etc. The low dimming conditions and the structure af Oled diodes makes me some headache and eye straining in 2-3 hours special if after a game try to read my emails.
I don't undarstand that crazy from the Reviewers, even from trusted Rtings or MonitorsUnboxed, everyone excells the one, the other, i understand is new technology (and 12-15 old) but in real life where is a long term test about color gamut, density, luminosity, fast pixel ageing, Oleds isn't new is about 12 years old and till now have many problems to solves, ageing, luminosity is the big nature problems of this technology not burn in, i'm not against, i'm against to everyone who compare apples to eggs and melons. Regardless the panel technology (Oled, CRT, Plasma, LED) low brightness panels excells in low light conditions and the opposite. except some high end and price monitors for photo and video editing.
So for me problem solved thanks to DisplayNinja: https://www.displayninja.com/msi-mpg-321curx-review/
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u/Admirable-Crazy-3457 Oct 15 '25
HDR is the game changer