Question About 3D Monitors...Looking for a new 3D Monitor.

[P.C.Zen]

I'm looking into buying a new monitor for 3D Vision.

My question is:

Can all monitors with refresh rates of 120Hz or above support 3D vision (via the 3D Vision IR emitter) ?

I'm looking at monitor specs and some sites are listing 144Hz monitors as not supporting 3D

Does that just mean passive 3D and/or Side-by-side / top-bottom 3D?

Shouldn't all monitors that have refresh rates of 120Hz or above support 3D Vision?


I could really use some advice on this as I'm shopping around for a new monitor.

I'm looking for a 27 inch 1080p monitor with light boost or similar.

[Porlonus]

Officially - nope. Because 3D Vision isn't only 120Hz, but also Lightboost. Therefore only certified monitors will work out of the box in 3D Vision.
If you decide for at least an ULMB Monitor and use some EDID for a supported monitor, you may choose a different model. But I remember it not working with any monitor. Esp. Displayport can be a problem depending on the information the Display sends, nVidia driver would refuse any EDID mod.

You also need some adaptions to get Lightboost to work. Btw. you can also use Gsync + ULMB (@bb) but not together with 3D Vision.

[P.C.Zen]

Officially - nope. Because 3D Vision isn't only 120Hz, but also Lightboost. Therefore only certified monitors will work out of the box in 3D Vision.
If you decide for at least an ULMB Monitor and use some EDID for a supported monitor, you may choose a different model. But I remember it not working with any monitor. Esp. Displayport can be a problem depending on the information the Display sends, nVidia driver would refuse any EDID mod.

You also need some adaptions to get Lightboost to work. Btw. you can also use Gsync + ULMB (@bb) but not together with 3D Vision.

Thanks for responding, it's most appreciated.

I spent yesterday searching and it seems that Asus are the only company still producing 3D vision capable monitors, but according to the reviews, the quality control for the panels is more or less non-existant. It's a shame because I'd love a monitor that supports 3D Vision, Gsync and HDR, but it seems the trade-off is an image quality lottery; it's pretty frustrating.

[Porlonus]

That's nvidia for you. Creating something proprietary, only provide support for that, and once it doesn't show of it's value or you find something else, discontinue support. Well, it does make somewhat sense, but they could have done a few things for the still existing community. Like lowering several restrictions or trying to switch to something open source/merging with other solutions or (dreaming) provide us code to write s.t. like 3D Automatic. But I guess all that wouldn't add to the plan of switching to VR and the enhancements new graphic cards do offer.

I didn't check any recent monitors available. Maybe you'll also find remnants of older series depending on your location and your reseller requirements like - you won't get new models of 3D TVs, at least not famous LGs.

[P.C.Zen]

That's nvidia for you. Creating something proprietary, only provide support for that, and once it doesn't show of it's value or you find something else, discontinue support. Well, it does make somewhat sense, but they could have done a few things for the still existing community. Like lowering several restrictions or trying to switch to something open source/merging with other solutions or (dreaming) provide us code to write s.t. like 3D Automatic. But I guess all that wouldn't add to the plan of switching to VR and the enhancements new graphic cards do offer.

I didn't check any recent monitors available. Maybe you'll also find remnants of older series depending on your location and your reseller requirements like - you won't get new models of 3D TVs, at least not famous LGs.

I know, it's kind of weird...they develop something, drop it, move on. Probably because people don't adopt it.

I think it'll be different with ray-tracing. I believe that's hear to stay. I think they'll lock it in by building it in to the consoles from here on out.

[bo3bber]

There is a fairly extensive thread on the old forums regarding the monitors that are available. Be worth googling to try to dig that up. If you find it, would be worth moving the data over here, as I'm sure other people are interested too.

masterotaku has probably done the most with regard to monitor study and timings. His conclusion is that 120Hz by itself is not sufficient, you need lightboost, or at a minimum you need 1ms grey-to-grey cycle time. Pretty much nothing except TN monitors can do this. VA monitors are tempting, but don't work, too much ghosting. Anything IPS just won't work, they are too slow.


Current monitor that got the most thumbs up in recent threads is the Swift PG278QR. The curved version should be the same, within the constraints of QC.

[P.C.Zen]

There is a fairly extensive thread on the old forums regarding the monitors that are available. Be worth googling to try to dig that up. If you find it, would be worth moving the data over here, as I'm sure other people are interested too.

masterotaku has probably done the most with regard to monitor study and timings. His conclusion is that 120Hz by itself is not sufficient, you need lightboost, or at a minimum you need 1ms grey-to-grey cycle time. Pretty much nothing except TN monitors can do this. VA monitors are tempting, but don't work, too much ghosting. Anything IPS just won't work, they are too slow.


Current monitor that got the most thumbs up in recent threads is the Swift PG278QR. The curved version should be the same, within the constraints of QC.

I'd love to have that information; I've tried finding it but no luck (researching 3D monitors in general has been like a circle-jerk). If you can find the thread, or threads, I'll definitely transfer it over. That's something I've been researching, in trying to track down a suitable monitor, so I've got the groundwork for it.

I was really tempted by the ROG Swift but just can't bare paying so much money for a monitor that's probably going to have a terrible quality panel. I'd rather buy in the used market. It's so frustrating, because if it just had a good panel it'd be a no-brainer. People are saying it's the quality control (and I've been saying that too) but in reality, it seems there is no quality control. They're just poor quality panels...

...AOC who advertise themselves as having "Irreproachable manufacturing quality" have the same issues with panels they source from the same manufacturer as does Asus. I think the panel manufacturer has just found how far they can push consumer tolerance before it breaks, and then just dialled it back a little. Either that or the market's just not large enough for more than one skew (although I find that difficult to believe).

I think terrible quality panels are what we're going to be stuck with from here on out, at least until someone can figure out how to get IPS down to 1ms...

...even the people giving five star reviews on Amazon are talking about the terrible quality problems, but awarding five stars anyway...so what can you expect?

So far the best 3D monitor I've been able to identify is the ASUS VG278H, the colours are amazingly vibrant, but it doesn't have Displayport, and DVI-D is legacy at this point.

But my research probably pales in comparison to what's been done by others here. I just wish I could find it.