Help!! A Bigger Monitor or Not?

[tmansteve]

I hope that someone can give me a little info and help. I have been recovering from an illness that has affected my eyes. At the mo, I have a 21inch monitor and now finding some icons at 1920 x 1080 a little blurry. When in DCS, I can read really well but was wondering if I had a 24inch monitor, would that help me? I would keep aspect ratio the same.

 

Any help or info would be greatly received.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Tom Kazansky]

I hope that someone can give me a little info and help. I have been recovering from an illness that has affected my eyes. At the mo, I have a 21inch monitor and now finding some icons at 1920 x 1080 a little blurry. When in DCS, I can read really well but was wondering if I had a 24inch monitor, would that help me? I would keep aspect ratio the same.

 

Any help or info would be greatly received.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

 

hi,

 

sorry to hear about your illness. maybe I can give a little piece of advice for my eyes are getting weaker with every year of age, which in my case is quite normal. Over the years my monitors grew and grew to even this process. And almost every time all people around me said: "your new monitor is way to big!" (Even with a 22" tube 21 years ago ;)). So as I changed my 27" into a 4K 42,5" two years ago, it was just the same. and guess what? I got used to it within days and today I even play other, faster 3D games with it and I'm happy. It helps my eyes to increase the distance to the screen further and further just by a bit each time, and size matters here big time.

 

For DCS: bigger is better. Everthing gets easier. Air2AirRefueling, catching 3 wire on the ship, CCIP bombing, tight formation flying, low altitude attacks, reading all 3 MPCD's/DDI's of the hornet in the default view,...

 

just my thoughts.

 

stay safe!

[Mars Exulte]

I'm just gonna jump right out there with this one :

 

The bigger the better! =) A bigger screen is never a bad thing 8) But yes, for practical purposes, if you keep the same resolution but increase diameter the pixels will of course be larger and easier to see.

 

My recommendation is 1080 up to 24'', 1440p up to 35'', you shouldn't really be using 4k on anything less than 48'' in diameter. These numbers suggested for maximum clarity at a normal viewing distance without ''wasting'' pixels you can't discern (from 3ft away a 24'' screen at 1080 and 4k are not majorly different, but a 48'' 1080 screen will look noticeably pixelated where a 4k one won't. Purchase based on usage, don't just chase higher numbers cause higher doesn't mean better).

[tmansteve]

Many thanks guys for your input. I think I might go for a 24inch and see how I get on. One thing, if I purchased a monitor that is 144hz, can it run at 60hz as well until I get a more powerful graphics card?

[Glide]

@tmansteve Full motion video is 30 fps, so 60 hz/fps is perfectly adequate for smooth as silk flying. You want a monitor that has high color saturation because this makes the skies very nice. Also, if you have a fancy Nvidia card like a 1080Ti or higher, you can look into a G-Sync monitor. I would get a really good 60hz monitor and spend the rest on a better graphics card if needed. You want a card with a lot of VRam. I have a nice Dell monitor, and an Asus 4k monitor. The cheaper Asus is much nicer than the fancy Dell. My 2 cents. My old eyes feel ya! Fly safe!

[Mars Exulte]

Refresh rate and your FPS while related to each other, are not wholly dependent. Whether you can run 144 fps to match a 144hz monitor or not, having a high refresh rate monitor helps cut down a lot on screen tearing without having to use syncing of any kind.

 

If you buy a 60hz monitor these days, you're getting absolute bottom of the barrel ultra cheap. 120hz monitors are not particularly expensive these days, especially for 1920x1080 and I would strongly recommend doing so. Again, your FPS and refresh rate are related, but that does NOT mean you have to be able to push 120+fps in order to benefit from it.

 

Source? Myself, I have a laptop with 144hz screen, and several monitors ranging from 100hz 1440p to 144hz 1080p, in not every case can the systems in question push that FPS but it STILL renders a smoother image and greatly reduces screen tearing, even without syncing.

 

@glide

You make it sound like it doesn't matter? It absolutely does. Having used high refresh rate screens, I would never suggest using one under 120hz. There's too much benefit, and they're cheap.

[tmansteve]

Thanks for the input on refresh rates. I will take a look and see what's available. Like so many other things, finding a retailer with stock is something new.

[Glide]

@zhukov032186 Your advice is excellent. If he can afford the best, go for it.

[BuzzU]

I use a 1080 monitor and nothing is blurry. I'd like to see what settings you're using or do you mean that the image isn't blurry but your vision makes it so?

[LucShep]

I use a 1080 monitor and nothing is blurry. I'd like to see what settings you're using or do you mean that the image isn't blurry but your vision makes it so?

 

Same here, no issues with 1080P on a decently sized 32'' IPS panel.

In fact, it substituted a 1440P' (27'' VA panel), for which image quality and clarity (and response, and viewing angles) was actually a bit worse than the newer 1080P monitor.

Quality of panels matters a lot, (IMO) as much as resolution.

 

Now, compared to a quality 4K IPS panel, yeah no. ....that's a whole nother level. :)

[tmansteve]

BuzzU, the problem is with my eyes. I love flying and I really wanted info concerning the 1080p scenario. I am really grateful for the help. At the moment, I have a gtx 960 but want something to run a larger 1080p monitor. I read thar 24inch is the optimum size as pixels start to look a bit blocky. I will be going for a ips 144hz monitor.

[BuzzU]

BuzzU, the problem is with my eyes. I love flying and I really wanted info concerning the 1080p scenario. I am really grateful for the help. At the moment, I have a gtx 960 but want something to run a larger 1080p monitor. I read thar 24inch is the optimum size as pixels start to look a bit blocky. I will be going for a ips 144hz monitor.

 

I understand. My vision is pretty bad too and i'm an old fart. My monitor is 21" but I sit really close and use my reading glasses. I thought about getting a larger 1080 monitor so I could sit farther away. I'm not sure I could see anything better but it would be easier on my eye. Yup, eye. I'm blind in my right eye. I don't know if sitting close or one eye doing the work of two eyes is my problem for a sore eye at the end of the day. I think it's sitting too close. I will get a bigger monitor. In my research, I came up with a 24" as the maximum size for 1080.

 

I'm looking at this one.

 

https://www.viewsonic.com/us/xg2402.html

 

btw..My system is 5 years old. I7 7700k @ 4.8Ghz, 32g memory, 1060 6g. I run high settings but no shadows. I average 80fps. Trackir.

[PoorOldSpike]

..My vision is pretty bad too and i'm an old fart. My monitor is 21" but I sit really close and use my reading glasses. Yup, eye. I'm blind in my right eye...

 

 

It's a small world, I'm an old fart too (72), and half-blind in my right eye since birth but it's absolutely no problem, I use a nice 27" monitor (I'd never use anything smaller in a zillion years) and my glasses are focused to about 28" which is the distance I sit from the screen (I call them my computer glasses).

I've also got a pair of reading glasses (focus about 10"), and a pair for generally swaggering around town or visiting the grocers to ogle the shopwomen (focus about 5 feet to infinity)

 

PS- Although my monitors native resolution is 1920 x 1080 I never use that because everything is shrunk like looking down the wrong end of a telescope and it gives me a headache, so I use 1600 x 1024 which is very easy on the eyeballs..:)

[Ryanwtod]

I recently upgraded monitors. Everything I researched pretty much said that refresh rate is more important in games etc than size and resolution. I did a bunch of shopping and looking at reviews. I picked out a 27" Sceptre 1910*1080 with 165hz refresh for just over 200 bucks. For the price I paid I couldn't be happier.

[danilop]

Well ... no ... :)

 

There are far more important things for simulator (DCS is simulator) monitor than refresh rate. Ultra high refresh rate is important for competitive FPS gaming where you want extreme responsivity (that's the reason why so many pro FPS gamers play in 1080p), not so for DCS. Reasonably fast, 60Hz or 120Hz Variable refresh rate monitor (and adequate GPU) is all you need for smooth visuals. What you want in SIM monitor is size and resolution. The bigger, the better. The next important parameter is seating distance from the monitor.

 

The bigger the monitor and resolution, the bigger FOV you can get. The bigger FOV, the better your situational awareness and immersion gets. You should always set your FOV in DCS (snapviews.lua) according to your monitor size AND seating distance from it. There is even a minimum distance you should sit in front of the monitor which is dependent on the resolution - visual acuity distance. Any closer and you can see individual pixels.

 

Some examples:

 

1080p 24" monitor viewed at average desktop distance of 65cm gives you FOV of 44.5 degrees horizontal and only 26 vertical

1080p 27" gives you 49.4 and 29 respectively

In both cases your visual acuity distance is not optimal, you can definitely see pixels of 1080p 27" monitor at standard desktop viewing distance.

 

On the other hand, 55" 4K display viewed at 85 cm distance would give you horizontal FOV of 71.2 and vertical 44, which is BTW very close to FOV set by ED for, say, A10C cockpit (IIRC it is 73 degrees). Visual acuity distance is not optimal even in this case.

 

That's the reason why you see huge screens and multiple projectors in pro simulators.

 

Now, VR is going to change all of this, but technology is still in early phase and it will take several more years for it to mature and be affordable (resolution is problem number one, given the distance of screen - basically in VR you need dual 8k screens to compete with desktop , say, 1440p visual acuity)

[tmansteve]

I remember my first computer was an Amiga with 1meg of ram Wowee!! Since then it has gone mad, which is great. There are so many choices out there. Nothing like it used to be. I think as well, it is down to how much space you have. This has been very interesting to see different ideas. Soon my 21 inch will be history and something brighter and bigger will be in its place. Then to look at a much better graphics card. And what a headache that will be. Ha Ha

[tmansteve]

I have been looking at the ips monitors you have been suggesting but just need clarification. Would I see screen pixels with 27inch at 1metre distance? And now due to Covid, I have to wait until there's stock available.

 

Also, danilop, can you be a little more specific regarding Visual Acuity Distance? Cheers

[BuzzU]

I sit 16" from the screen and don't see pixels on a 1080 monitor. Then again if I had good vision I wouldn't be sitting so close.

[tmansteve]

Wow Buzzu, that is close. Thanks for your help. Stay safe

[BuzzU]

Yeah, it makes my 21" monitor seem bigger. :)

[PoorOldSpike]

We can also juggle our monitors brightness/contrast/color density settings to suit us and I think there's even a 'sharpen' button.

I do mine via my Nvidia card sliders.

 

PS- there are also a row of "settings" buttons on the edge of monitors which we can use to customise the image contrast/brightness/sharpness etc.