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Question Regarding Computer Monitor For Optimal Netplay Tech Skill

JustSomeKid

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
4
Background
Hi everyone! My name's Ben and I wanna westballz shine into disrespect skrubs on anther's ladder. All jokes aside, I'm building my own PC soon with the intent to get into the netplay scene and I'm a bit confused as to what type of monitor is necessary assuming I can run dolphin at 100% otherwise.

Question

I'm worried that buying a 5ms+ response time monitor will disturb the feel of a lagless melee setup. Does the response time of the monitor matter with netplay?

I've seen a lot of posts on here and meleeitonme about how to acquire lagless setups, and I've got a vague idea in my head that I should get the monitor with the lowest response time possible. However, since I'd only be using it with netplay which already has considerable lag due to the connection between you and your opponent, does that make the input lag negligible?

Thanks in advance and hopefully all y'all will be able to clear this up for me.
 
Last edited:

Pauer

The Pauerful
Moderator
Joined
Dec 25, 2013
Messages
592
Location
Linz, Austria
A very good netplay connection has about 30ms of delay, a bit less than 2 frames. Most connections have more delay though.
You are right, whether 1 or 2 or 5 ms are added to that doesn't make much of a difference but Monitor reaction time does not equal input lag!
Response time, or better called Pixel response time, describes the time it takes to change the color of the pixels. Input lag is the time it takes to display an input.
Both contribute to how much delay or latency you will experience. So yes, the response time matters but it's a bit more complicated than that.

The problem is that input delay/lag is never measured by the monitor manufacturers so you will not find it in the manual somewhere. Other people would have to test it independently.
Additionally there are no standard ways of measuring response time so manufacturers cherry pick testing methods to achieve low results that simply aren't accurate.
The german website prad.de publishes independent reviews of monitors where they measure input lag and average pixel response time. According to their results, most gaming monitors (labeled 1-2ms) have a total latency of about 4-8 ms whereas most non-gaming monitors (labeled 5ms or more) have about 7-18ms of total latency.
It's up to you to decide what you will go for, but with a gaming monitor you're certainly on the safe side.
According to their tests, the budget monitor Asus VX238H-W has a remarkably low total latency of 5,1ms (with TraceFree setting set to 100). I would recommend buying that one since it's only 130$, an overall good monitor for the price and can keep up with high-end models in terms of latency.
 

JustSomeKid

Smash Rookie
Joined
Dec 28, 2013
Messages
4
A very good netplay connection has about 30ms of delay, a bit less than 2 frames. Most connections have more delay though.
You are right, whether 1 or 2 or 5 ms are added to that doesn't make much of a difference but Monitor reaction time does not equal input lag!
Response time, or better called Pixel response time, describes the time it takes to change the color of the pixels. Input lag is the time it takes to display an input.
Both contribute to how much delay or latency you will experience. So yes, the response time matters but it's a bit more complicated than that.

The problem is that input delay/lag is never measured by the monitor manufacturers so you will not find it in the manual somewhere. Other people would have to test it independently.
Additionally there are no standard ways of measuring response time so manufacturers cherry pick testing methods to achieve low results that simply aren't accurate.
The german website prad.de publishes independent reviews of monitors where they measure input lag and average pixel response time. According to their results, most gaming monitors (labeled 1-2ms) have a total latency of about 4-8 ms whereas most non-gaming monitors (labeled 5ms or more) have about 7-18ms of total latency.
It's up to you to decide what you will go for, but with a gaming monitor you're certainly on the safe side.
According to their tests, the budget monitor Asus VX238H-W has a remarkably low total latency of 5,1ms (with TraceFree setting set to 100). I would recommend buying that one since it's only 130$, an overall good monitor for the price and can keep up with high-end models in terms of latency.
Thanks for all your help man. I've decided on this one, which is close to yours, but i like the high refresh rate :p.

https://www.monitornerds.com/asus-vg248qe-best-144hz-1080p-monitor-2016/
 

Pauer

The Pauerful
Moderator
Joined
Dec 25, 2013
Messages
592
Location
Linz, Austria
Yeah that's the one I'm using myself, it's a great monitor and has one of the lowest latency ratings. 144hz is so great.
 
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