Dell PCs may be crap but their monitors are top quality, at least if buy the $200-300+. However they also share that pixel dead limit to 3-5 as Asus and mine actually came with 2 or perhaps 3 because one looks extra large. At first they annoyed me a lot, it was like the only thing that caught my eye but after a about month I don't notice them anymore.

And that your Dell monitor doesn't allow GPU scaling has nothing to do with Dell but its age and maybe price range.

I know nothing of HP though.

Yeah, my crap ATI card couldn't scale even after updating drivers so I looked around on the net and it just so happens that this specific monitor and that specific GPU combined together would not allow for scaling. (what crap luck I had there, huh?)

I'll let you guys be the judge and see if I really need an IPS monitor as it's becoming quite a pain for me to find one with what I want.

Here's my current monitor.

Now here's the one I was thinking of getting with the TN type you guys warned against.

Granted i'm not sure if my Dell is a TN type, but I don't think the colors and viewing angle are bad at all. Given the comparison in specs and me not being super concerned about the colors or viewing angle of a monitor, would the BenQ or scaled back similar model be a step up? (if a bit overkill)

It's either that or I just take a risk with an ASUS or some other IPS and hope I don't get burned.

It's like this, if you think your current monitor has good enough colour accuracy and viewing angles you don't need IPS.

I found a review on the other one at DigitalVersus: BenQ XL2420T

Pros: design, colours and contrast (after calibrating), 120Hz refresh rate
Cons: Slight reverse ghosting, no profile change during gaming

Calibrating is easy, I think there's a guide on DV but they explain what they do during their review altough they might be using pro tools which is expensive but you could just do some changing with brightness, contrast and gamma then change RedGreenBlue-relations, that's what I did on mine and it makes a difference.

All in all, that seems like a good monitor. I'm not sure if you really need 120Hz. Remember to fully utilize that you should aim for an average 120FPS in game to make use of it and that's hard in newer games because of the required graphical power output.

I couldn't find a review at DV but it does seem to be a decent monitor. LED and IPS combination makes for an interesting result especially if LED helps with contrast and black levels.

Only con, as mentioned in the feedback, is the bizarre design. I think I would be very distracted with that long stand but that may be just me. If that's not an issue I would pick that before the 120Hz you linked earlier. As for 16:9 it's for the better. You will grow to accept the difference compared to 16:10, it's not huge besides better support for modern games.

If HDMI is a requirement you might want to search some more..

You will find something your monitor won't have unless you're ready to increase your price range. What's your budget for the monitor alone?

It's really not so much the budget as it is finding the right size, 16:9 ratio and 10 tons of reviews with complaints of backlight bleeding, too bright of a screen that can't be fixed, too much color saturation, dead pixels and general monitor failure.

Oh I wanted 16:9 in the first place for a wider view in FPS games and such. Better support for modern games you said? Which ratio has better support? Sorry if I misunderstood that bit, i'm tired.

Hehe, yeah that can be very annoying.

16:9 because console games utilize it and since quite a good portion of AAA games today are multi-platform they usually have no issues regarding 16:9 AR.

If you play mostly older games I don't think it matters that much though. Either the game will have widescreen support, half working or not work at all regardless of Aspect Ratio.

Though i'm almost having second thoughts about 16:9. I'd better get some sleep and figure that out tomorrow.

Why? To be honest, I think you should worrying about AR as long as it's either 16:9 or 16:10, refresh rate other than 60 or 120, TN or IPS panel.

Just find some that has good reviews about colours, contrast, low amount of failures etc.. :)

AOC i2352Vh

Reviewed on: 7 February 12
RRP: USD$177.40c

The i2352Vh is a dream monitor for anyone who has a limited budget to work with but still has great image quality for tasks that demand accurate colours, such as photo editing and It's 23 inches.

Pc Advisor review

AOC i2352Vh review

Price: £120 - £139 from 6 retailers

Manufacturer: AOC

Our Rating: 4.5 stars

By Jim Martin | PC Advisor | 07 February 12

The i2352Vh is a dream monitor for anyone who has a limited budget to work with but still needs great image quality for tasks that demand accurate colours, such as photo editing.

The 23in AOC i2352Vh is a 1920x1080-pixel IPS monitor that’s within reach of those on a tight budget. To achieve the £139 price tag, AOC has omitted frills such as a height-adjustable stand and a USB hub. See also: Group test: what's the best display?

Fortunately, connectivity hasn’t been overlooked, with the AOC offering a trio of VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs. These are rear-facing, allowing for the quick and easy connection of cables. Visit Group test: What's the best 19 to 24-inch LCD monitor?

The built-in speakers are usable for email notifications and the odd YouTube video, but for anything else you’ll want to plug in a pair of headphones to the AOC’s 3.5mm jack.

AOC’s i2352Vh won’t win any style awards, with its plain black finish and matt screen. We prefer its hardware buttons running along the bottom edge of the bezel to the touch-sensitive alternatives seen elsewhere, but the power button is situated too closely to the menu button. Usefully, the display’s power supply is integrated.

Plenty of options can be tweaked, but we’d rather see specific figures for colour temperature and gamma than the meaningless ‘Warm’, ‘Cool’, ‘Gamma1’, ‘Gamma2’ and ‘Gamma3’ settings. AOC bundles a Windows-only utility for configuration.

Despite its low price, AOC has managed to squeeze in an IPS panel to the specification. This screen produces an excellent image that puts TN technology to shame. A small amount of calibration was required out of the box, but colours were reasonably good. We measured 77 percent of the NTSC gamut and 85 percent of sRGB.

As expected from IPS tech, viewing angles are also good – AOC states 178 degrees, both vertical and horizontal.

AOC claims a staggering dynamic contrast ratio of 20,000,000:1, yet the actual measurement is lower than many more expensive displays; in our tests, 737:1. Nevertheless, a fast response time of 5ms makes this screen well suited to gamers and video enthusiasts.

At maximum brightness, we recorded 35W power consumption. This fell to 21W when we lowered the brightness setting to 120cd/m2.

For that price you can't go wrong as long as that edge bleed isn't too much. :)

My viewsonic VA2026w doesn't have any bleed at all.

I meant the AOC you linked.

You could also consider Dell U2312HM monitor, here is a review for the monitor: http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1317112577

I saw your earlier post about you being really disappointed with your current Dell monitor and computer but they do sell good monitors. Thou that U2312HM is made by some third party who just slaps Dell logo on it.

Other decent site who reviews monitors: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/