lcd panel tn vs va for sale

So, why would anyone ever buy a TN panel? For starters, they’re cheap. They don’t cost a lot to produce, so they’re often used in the most budget-friendly options. If you don’t value color reproduction or need excellent viewing angles, a TN panel might be fine for your office or study.

TN panels also have the lowest input lag—typically around one millisecond. They can also handle high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz. This makes them an attractive option for competitive multiplayer games—especially eSports, where every split-second counts.

IPS technology was developed to improve upon the limitations of TN panels—most notably, the poor color reproduction and limited viewing angles. As a result, IPS panels are much better than TNs in both of these areas.

In particular, IPS panels have vastly superior viewing angles than TNs. This means you can view IPS panels from extreme angles and still get accurate color reproduction. Unlike TNs, you’ll notice very little shift in color when you view one from a less-than-ideal perspective.

IPS panels are also known for their relatively good black reproduction, which helps eliminate the “washed out” look you get with TN panels. However, IPS panels fall short of the excellent contrast ratios you’ll find on VAs.

While high refresh rates were typically reserved for TNs, more manufacturers are producing IPS panels with refresh rates of 240 Hz. For example, the 27-inch 1080p ASUS VG279QM uses an IPS panel and supports 280 Hz.

Previously, TNs exhibited less input lag than any other panel, but IPS technology has finally caught up. In June 2019, LG announced its new Nano IPS UltraGear monitors with a response time of one millisecond.

Despite the gap being closed, you’ll still pay more for an IPS panel with such a low response time than you would for a TN with similar specs. If you’re on a budget, expect a response time of around four milliseconds for a good IPS monitor.

One last thing to be aware of with IPS panels is a phenomenon called “IPS glow.” It’s when you see the display’s backlight shining through it at more extreme viewing angles. It’s not a huge problem unless you view the panel from the side, but it’s something to keep in mind.

VA panels are something of a compromise between TN and IPS. They offer the best contrast ratios, which is why TV manufacturers use them extensively. While an IPS monitor typically has a contrast ratio of 1000:1, it’s not unusual to see 3000:1 or 6000:1 in a comparable VA panel.

In terms of viewing angles, VAs can’t quite match the performance of IPS panels. Screen brightness, in particular, can vary based on the angle from which you’re viewing, but you won’t get the “IPS glow.”

VAs have slower response times than TNs and the newer Nano IPS panels with their one-millisecond response rates. You can find VA monitors with high refresh rates (240 Hz), but the latency can result in more ghosting and motion blur. For this reason, competitive gamers should avoid VA.

Compared to TNs, VA panels do offer much better color reproduction and typically hit the full sRGB spectrum, even on lower-end models. If you’re willing to spend a bit more, Samsung’s Quantum Dot SVA panels can hit 125 percent sRGB coverage.

For these reasons, VA panels are seen as the jack of all trades. They’re ideal for general use, but they either match or fall short in most other areas except contrast ratio. VAs are good for gamers who enjoy single-player or casual experiences.

When compared to CRT monitors, all LCD panels suffer from some form of latency issue. This was a real problem when TN panels first appeared, and it’s plagued IPS and VA monitors for years. But technology has moved on, and while many of these issues have been improved, they haven’t been eliminated entirely.

Uneven backlighting is another issue you’ll find on all panel types. Often this comes down to overall build quality—cheaper models slack on quality control to save on production costs. So, if you’re looking for a cheap monitor, be prepared for some uneven backlighting. However, you’ll mostly only notice it on solid or very dark backgrounds.

LCD panels are also susceptible to dead or stuck pixels. Different manufacturers and jurisdictions have different policies and consumer laws covering dead pixels. If you’re a perfectionist, check the manufacturer’s dead-pixel policy before you buy. Some will replace a monitor with a single dead pixel for free, while others require a minimum number.

Office or study use: Your budget should be your primary concern here. VA is the do-it-all panel, with superior viewing angles to TN, but either would do the trick. You can save some money because you don’t need high refresh rates or ultra-low latency. They’re still nice, though. You’ll see a noticeable difference in smoothness just when moving the Windows cursor on a monitor with a 144 versus 60 Hz refresh rate.

Photo and video editors/Digital artists: IPS panels are still generally favored for their ability to display a wide gamut of colors. It’s not unusual to find VA panels that also cover a wide gamut (125 percent sRGB, and over 90 percent DCI-P3), but they tend to exhibit more motion blur during fast-paced action than IPS panels. If you’re serious about color accuracy, you’ll need to properly calibrate your monitor.

Programmers who mount monitors vertically: You might think TN panels are great for programmers, but that’s not necessarily the case. TN panels have particularly bad viewing angles on the vertical axis. If you mount your monitor in portrait mode (as many programmers and mobile developers do), you’ll get the worst possible viewing angles from a TN panel. For the best possible viewing angles in this scenario, invest in an IPS display.

Competitive online gamers: There’s no question TN panels are still favored in the eSports world. Even the cheapest models have fast response times and support for high refresh rates. For 1080p gaming, a 24-inch will do just fine, or you could opt for a 1440p, 27-inch model without breaking the bank. You might want to go for an IPS panel as more low-latency models hit the market, but expect to pay more.

Non-competitive, high-end PC gamers: For a rich, immersive image that pops, a VA panel will provide a higher contrast ratio than IPS or TN. For deep blacks and a sharp, contrasting image, VA is the winner. If you’re okay with sacrificing some contrast, you can go the IPS route. However, we’d recommend avoiding TN altogether unless you play competitively.

Best all-rounder: VA is the winner here, but IPS is better in all areas except contrast ratio. If you can sacrifice contrast, an IPS panel will provide fairly low latency, decent blacks, and satisfactory color coverage.

If you can, check out the monitor you’re interested in in-person before you buy it. You can perform some simple ghosting and motion blur tests by grabbing a window with the mouse and moving it rapidly around the screen. You can also test the brightness, watch some videos, and play with the onscreen display to get a feel for it.

Again, IPS is the clear winner here. The vertical viewing angles are very similar to the horizontal ones on both IPS and VA panels. Unfortunately, this is one area where TN panels are usually much, much worse. TN monitors degrade rapidly from below, and colors actually inverse - resulting in a negative image that can be distracting. For this reason, if you decide to buy a TN monitor, look for one with an excellent height adjustment, or consider buying a VESA mounting arm, as you should mount TN monitors at eye level. Even when mounted properly, larger TN displays can appear non-uniform at the edges.

There"s usually not much difference between VA and IPS panels in terms of gray uniformity. It"s rare for monitors to have uniformity issues, and even on monitors that perform worse than average, it"s usually not noticeable with regular content. TN monitors tend to perform a bit worse than usual, though, and the top half of the screen is almost always darker than the rest, but that"s an artifact of the bad vertical viewing angles.

Black uniformity tends to vary significantly, even between individual units of the same model, and there"s no single panel type that performs the best. It"s rare for monitors to have good black uniformity, and almost every monitor we"ve tested has some noticeable cloudiness or backlight bleed. IPS and TN panels can look slightly worse due to their low contrast ratios, as the screen can take on more of a bluish tint when displaying dark scenes. Like with contrast, black uniformity issues usually aren"t very noticeable unless you"re looking at dark content and you"re in a dark room. If you only use your monitor in a bright environment, generally speaking, you don"t need to worry about black uniformity.

Historically, TN panels used to have the worst colors, as many of them were cheaper models that only supported 6-bit colors or used techniques like dithering (FRC) to approximate 8-bit colors. Most displays today, including TN models, are at least 8 bit, and many of them are even able to approximate 10-bit colors through dithering. New technologies, like LG"s Nano IPS and Samsung"s Quantum Dot, add an extra layer to the LCD stack and have significantly improved the color gamut of modern IPS and VA displays, leaving TN a bit behind. Between them, NANO IPS is slightly better, as it tends to offer better coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. Although the difference is minor, IPS panels still have a slight edge over VA and TN displays.

Although TN panels have caught up a bit in the SDR color space, they"re far behind when it comes to HDR, so if you"re looking for a good HDR color gamut, avoid TN panels. Between VA and IPS panels, the difference isn"t as significant; however, IPS panels still have a slight edge. The best VA panels top out at around 90% coverage of the DCI P3 color space used by most current HDR content. IPS panels go as high as 98% coverage of DCI P3, rivaling even some of the best TVs on the market. Due to the very high coverage of DCI P3 on both VA and IPS, the difference isn"t that noticeable, though, as most content won"t use the entire color space anyway.

Although not necessarily as noticeable to everyone as the differences in picture quality, there can also be a difference in motion handling between IPS, VA, and TN displays. TN panels historically offered the best gaming performance, as they had the highest refresh rates and extremely fast response times. Manufacturers have found ways to drastically improve the motion handling of VA and IPS panels, though, and the difference isn"t as pronounced.

LCD panel technology has changed drastically over the last few years, and the historical expectations for response time performance don"t necessarily hold anymore. For years, TN monitors had the fastest response times by far, but that"s started to change. New high refresh-rate IPS monitors can be just as fast.

VA panels are a bit of a strange situation. They typically have slightly slower response times overall compared to similar TN or IPS models. It"s especially noticeable in near-black scenes, where they tend to be significantly slower, resulting in dark trails behind fast-moving objects in dark scenes, commonly known as black smear. Some recent VA panels, such as the Samsung Odyssey G7 LC32G75T, get around it by overdriving the pixels. It results in much better dark scene performance but a more noticeable overshoot in brighter areas.

Within each of the three types of LCD we mentioned, other related panel types use the same basic idea but with slight differences. For example, two popular variants of IPS panels include ADS (technically known as ADSDS, or Advanced Super Dimension Switch) and PLS (Plane to Line Switching). It can be hard to tell these panels apart simply based on the subpixel structure, so we"ll usually group them all as IPS, and in the text, we"ll usually refer to them as IPS-like or IPS family. There are slight differences in colors, viewing angles, and contrast, but generally speaking, they"re all very similar.

There"s another display technology that"s growing in popularity: OLED. OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, is very different from the conventional LCD technology we"ve explored above. OLED panels are electro-emissive, which means each pixel emits its own light when it receives an electric signal, eliminating the need for a backlight. Since OLED panels can turn off individual pixels, they have deep, inky blacks with no blooming around bright objects. They also have excellent wide viewing angles, a near-instantaneous response time, and excellent gray uniformity.

OLED panels aren"t perfect, though. There"s a risk of permanent burn-in, especially when there are lots of static elements on screen, like the UI elements of a PC. There aren"t many OLED monitors available, either, but they"ve started to gain popularity as laptop screens and for high-end monitors, but they"re very expensive and hard to find. They"re also not very bright in some cases, especially when large bright areas are visible on screen. The technology is still maturing, and advances in OLED technology, like Samsung"s highly-anticipated QD-OLED technology, are promising.

As you can probably tell by now, no one panel type works best for everyone; it all depends on your exact usage. Although there used to be some significant differences between panel types, as technology has improved, these differences aren"t as noticeable. The two exceptions to this are viewing angles and contrast. If you"re in a dark room, a VA panel that can display deep blacks is probably the best choice. If you"re not in a dark room, you should focus on the other features of the monitor and choose based on the features that appeal to your exact usage. IPS panels are generally preferred for office use, and TN typically offers the best gaming experience, but recent advancements in VA and IPS technology are starting to change those generalizations. For the most part, the differences between each panel type are so minor now that it doesn"t need to be directly factored into your buying decision.

When most people go shopping for a gaming monitor, their primary concerns are resolution and refresh rate. Those are certainly important considerations, but if you’ve ever had to put up with dull colors, murky blacks or terrible viewing angles, you’ll understand that panel types are important too.

TN, or Twisted Nematic panels, are the oldest variety of LCD panels, but they’re still quite common even today. They’re cheap to produce, and they have very low input lag, which makes them appealing for gamers. They also support refresh rates of up to 240Hz, another plus for fast-paced environments.

The problem with TN panels is that they have very poor color reproduction. While modern TN panels are far better than earlier models, it’s still relatively rare to find a TN panel with close to full sRGB reproduction. Even if they do have good color reproduction when you’re looking at them straight on, their viewing angles are limited, and they look washed out when viewed from the sides.

If you’re on a budget, enjoy playing competitive shooters or strategy games where reaction times matter, a TN panel could be fine for you. But if you want something that doubles as a media player, the average TN monitor might disappoint.

Fortunately, our GFT27CXB monitor is far from “average.” We engineered our TN panel to do what most TN panels simply cannot: deliver stunningly accurate colors. And with its 99% sRGB gamut, colors are rich and vibrant. And it’s fully customizable, with space to store up to 3 unique user profiles. So you get amazing color. But you also get full HD resolution with lightning-fast speeds up to 240hz refresh rate and 1ms response times.

IPS, or In-Plane Switching, monitors are almost the exact opposite of TN panels. They offer much wider viewing angles than TN panels as well as better black reproduction. The trade-off is that they’re more expensive. They have a history of slower refresh rates, too, although that has been changing lately. Today’s IPS panels can reach max. refresh rates as high as 200-240Hz.

There are some IPS monitors with very good refresh rates and response times, but they’re on the pricier side. You can expect to pay more than $500 for an IPS monitor with a 1ms response time. If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly IPS monitor, then you’ll have to settle for response times of 4ms or slower. IPS panels are also prone to backlight issues. Color reproduction is better than on TN panels, even at extreme angles, but the backlight can sometimes be seen.

Our REAPER series monitor—starting with the RFI25CBA—has been designed to overcome this particular issue. It’s been engineered to reduce the amount of backlight bleed-through on its IPS panel. The monitor also features an MRPT Mode to produce extremely clear moving pictures with excellent color while significantly reducing backlight issues.

VA, or Vertical Alignment, panels are somewhere in between TN and IPS, offering the best of both worlds. This type of panel is common in TVs but is relatively uncommon for gaming monitors. TN panels offer very good contrast ratios, so you can expect vibrant colors and good color reproduction. They also offer good viewing angles, and while brightness may vary depending on the angle you’re looking at the screen from, they’re not susceptible to the backlight issues of IPS panels.

The downside of VA panels is that they have slower response times. As with IPS panels, newer models do have high refresh rates, but the slow response time means you may see ghosting or motion blur in fast-paced, competitive games. Fortunately, all VIOTEK monitors come with AdaptiveSync, which works with AMD® FreeSync® and NVIDIA® G-Sync™ technologies. AdaptiveSync eliminates image distortion (e.g., tearing, stuttering, ghosting and judder) and other glitches that can happen if the monitor’s refresh rate doesn’t match the frame rate of the computer’s GPU. The result is smoother action with clearer images.

There are benefits and downsides to each panel type, and there’s no one correct answer to the question of “which is best.” It depends on your budget, the type of games you enjoy playing, whether you prize response times over other features, and what else you do with the monitor.

If you’re a competitive gamer who wants the absolute best response time on a budget, TN panels will get the job done, but they may disappoint when you’re playing a heavily modded game of Skyrim and want to stop and enjoy the scenery. IPS panels can deliver a similar experience if you’re willing to spend a lot of money. But if you’re like most of us, you’d rather put that extra cash towards a slightly better GPU.

VA monitors are a great “Jack of all trades.” The NBV24CB2, for example, is a highly affordable 1080P monitor that offers a 75Hz refresh rate and AdaptiveSync technology—along with some other nice extras. Those extras include GAMEPLUS targeting crosshairs and FPS/RTS display modes to help give you the advantage while playing first-person shooter games. This monitor is ideal for gamers with mid-range systems. If you’re playing marathon sessions, the NBV24CB2 has a blue-light filter to help reduce eye strain. And there’s great color reproduction for watching videos.

Looking for something with a little more power? The GNV32CBO or GFV24CB are two 1080p monitors. These offer super-fast 165Hz refresh rates for pro-motion with reduced input lag. They’re also VA panels, delivering great color reproduction, AMD FreeSync to reduce image ghosting, and other game-friendly features.

You should choose between different panel types according to what you’ll mostly be using the monitor for — gaming, color-critical work, or watching movies and other everyday activities.

VA panels have the highest contrast ratio, but it usually comes at a cost of slower response time, so they’re excellent for watching movies, but not suitable for competitive gaming. TN panels are cheap and have fast response times, but have inferior image quality and viewing angles.

IPS panels offer the most consistent colors and a quick pixel response time speed as well as the widest viewing angles, but they don’t have as high contrast ratio as VA panels, and they are usually more expensive.

All newer TN monitors will offer a rapid ~1ms response time (gray to gray pixel transition or ‘GtG’ for short), which eliminates ghosting/trailing behind fast-moving objects.

When paired with a high refresh rate, TN panel gaming monitors provide a buttery-smooth gaming experience at an affordable price, which is why they are usually the first choice of many professional FPS gamers.

TN monitors have the worst color reproduction and narrow viewing angles (170° horizontally, 160° vertically), which causes the image to shift in color, contrast and brightness when it’s looked at skewed angles.

The viewing angles aren’t an issue as long as you’re sitting in front of the monitor, apart from some gamma/saturation shifts, so if you’ve got a limited budget and care more about performance than pretty colors, a TN panel monitor is for you.

IPS panels provide themost accurate and consistent colors as well as wide 178° viewing angles, meaning that you can look at the screen from basically any angle without the image shifting in color and contrast.

Nowadays, most IPS monitors have just as fast pixel response time speed as TN panels (~1ms), though there are still some slower IPS variants with 4 to 5ms.

If you’re watching particularly dark content in a dark room, you will be able to notice light ‘glowing’ around the corners of the screen. This is an expected side effect caused by the excess light passing through the panel.

It’s rather tolerable as it’s only mildly bothersome in certain scenarios i.e., watching dark scenes of a movie/game in a dim-lit room with high brightness setting. In some rare cases, mainly due to poor quality control, IPS glow can be distracting, in which case you should RMA the monitor.

Now, another thing to keep in mind is that IPS panels don’t have as high contrast as VA panels. A standard IPS monitor has a static contrast ratio of around 1,000:1, whereas a VA alternative has around 3,000:1, or even higher.

In 2022, LG Display developed the first IPS Black panel, which increase the static contrast ratio to around 2,000:1! The Dell U2723QE is one of the first monitors released with this technology.

In the past, IPS monitors were more expensive than TN models with the same specs. Nowadays, some IPS monitors are only slightly (if at all) more costly than their TN counterparts.

Keep in mind that there are several variations of IPS panels depending on the manufacturer, and you will also find them named differently. These are the most current versions you should know:

While IPS and TN panels usually have a contrast ratio of around 1,000:1, most VA panels have a contrast ratio between 2,500:1 and 3,000:1, with more expensive models offering even higher contrast.

Samsung’s latest VA panels used in the Odyssey G7 and G9 curved gaming monitors are actually just as fast as some IPS models with 1ms GtG response time!

In fact, there are VA panels that have just as good or better colors than certain IPS monitors, but the colors on those VA displays won’t be as consistent as that of the IPS technology.

In other words, a certain shade of red, for instance, might not look the same at the top of the image and at the center of a VA panel monitor due to gamma shifts.

Thanks to their high contrast and lack of IPS glow, VA panel displays are particularly great for watching movies in a dark room where details in shadows of the picture really stand out, which is why most LED TVs use VA panels, not IPS.

Lastly, although VA panels have specified 178° viewing angles just like IPS, some minor shifts in contrast and brightness are present at certain angles, but nothing extreme.

That’s it! Hopefully, we’ve helped you pick the perfect panel type for you, but there are many other things to consider when buying a new monitor such as screen size, resolution and refresh rate.

All in all, even if you’re a competitive gamer and don’t care much about image quality, a modern IPS monitor is the way to go as you get just as fast response times as that of old TN displays, but a better image quality and viewing angles too.

For color-critical work, we highly recommend IPS monitors, but you can also use VA displays for basic content creation where color accuracy isn’t crucial.

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The monitor you use can make a huge difference in-game. Higher resolution and higher refresh rate monitors offer gamers a superior experience and can even provide an in-game advantage. Other monitors offer beautiful colors and high-resolution screens that enhance the immersion of the gaming experience.

Most gaming displays use liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. Without going into a physics-filled lesson about LCD technology, suffice to say that LCD screens display images using electrical current to arrange molecules in various ways in front of a backlight. There are three different kinds of LCD panels: TN, IPS, and VA.

Each type of panel uses a slightly different LCD technology to display information and comes with its own pros and cons regarding gaming. Here is a quick breakdown of the difference between the three types of gaming monitor panels for those looking to pick up a new gaming monitor.

The first kind of LCD panel is the TN panel. TN stands for “Twisted Nematic.” This is the original version of LCD technology, first produced back in 1968. TN panels offer a very fast and reliable digital signal, even in the cheaper models. However, they have some drawbacks in the color reproduction area, and their view angle is very narrow. These panels are the cheapest option for gaming monitors.

The second kind of LCD panel is the IPS panel. IPS stands for “In-Plane Switching.” This technology was created in the ‘90s by Hitachi. These panels provide a wider viewing angle and superior colors to TN panels. However, they are also more expensive, require more power to run, and offer slower response times on the cheaper end.

The third kind of LCD panel is the VA panel. VA stands for “Vertical Alignment.” While this technology was first invented in 1971 by Schiekel and Fahrenschon, it rose to prominence in the late ‘90s around the same time as IPS technology. They offer similar advantages to IPS technology, but they have worse overall image quality and are more prone to ghosting.

Although they are the most affordable type of display, TN panels are great for gaming. They aren’t the prettiest monitors available, but they have a very fast response time, making them great for games that require quick reaction times. Even very affordable models of TN monitors feature response times between one millisecond and five milliseconds.

TN monitors do have some major drawbacks to take into account as well. The biggest issue with TN monitors is their poor color space. The colors actually look different depending on the angle that you use to look at a TN panel. Even when looking straight at TN monitors, the colors aren’t very accurate.

Since TN panels won’t produce the best possible image, your games probably won’t look quite as good as they would on an IPS or a VA monitor. You also should not do design or colorwork on a TN panel if you can avoid it.

The other big drawback to TN panels is their viewing angle. The viewing angle on TN panels is very narrow, so it only looks normal when looking directly at the panel. This can make it challenging to play local multiplayer games or watch a video with someone else while using a TN display.

TN panels are a good starting monitor for a gamer. They are affordable, feature fast response times, and offer the best gaming specs for the price. However, they also come with some major drawbacks.

IPS panels are also excellent for gaming. While IPS monitors are more expensive than TN monitors, they can produce gorgeous colors and provide a wider view angle.

IPS monitors feature consistent color reproduction that you can rely on. Many IPS panels feature full 10-bit color, and most of them feature high percentage sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts. DCI-P3 and sRGB are color standards that are used to measure how many colors a screen is capable of producing. High percentages on these standards mean that your monitor is capable of producing more accurate and vibrant colors.

Due to this high level of color accuracy, IPS panels are the go-to option for designers and artists. The superior colors and bit-depth also translate into superior gaming immersion, allowing you to take full advantage of any game’s graphics.

IPS monitors look much better from the side because an IPS screen’s liquid crystal polymer moves horizontally, resulting in less color distortion from the sides. IPS panels are capable of a superior viewing angle of 178 degrees. Of the three types of LCD panels, IPS has the widest viewing angle, making it the best for couch co-op or watching video content with friends.

The major drawback that is often brought up in conversations about IPS panels is their slower response times. However, this drawback only applies to lower-priced IPS panels. While it is true that IPS panels are slightly slower on average than TN models, higher-end IPS panels can feature lightning-fast, one-millisecond response rates. If you are willing to spend the extra money, you can purchase an IPS monitor just as fast as any TN monitor.

Overall, IPS panels are the best for gamers who value image quality in addition to performance. IPS panels cost more than an equivalently specced TN panel monitor, but only because IPS panels are superior to TN ones regarding visual fidelity.

VA panels exist somewhere between IPS and TN panels regarding advantages and price. They feature faster response times on average than IPS panels but lower response times on average than TN panels. VA panels have superior color to TN panels but worse color reproduction than IPS panels.

A big advantage of VA panels is that they are capable of very high refresh rates of 144Hz, 240Hz, or even 360Hz. While it is true that some more expensive IPS options can also achieve these refresh rates, VA panels do so at a fraction of the price. If you are looking for an affordable, high refresh rate monitor, a VA monitor might be a good middle ground to consider.

VA panels will be slightly worse at color reproduction than IPS monitors. The difference is not so great that you will notice it while gaming. However, the difference might be relevant for anyone looking to do design work on their monitor as well.

VA panels generally offer slower response times than TN panels. However, just like with the IPS panels, there are plenty of VA panels that can pull one-millisecond response times. So while TN reigns for budget options, IPS and VA panels are the superior options if you have the money for them.

Generally speaking, IPS and VA panels offer a very similar user experience, but VA monitors are often slightly cheaper than an equivalent IPS monitor. However, VA monitors do suffer from more motion blur and ghosting issues than IPS panels. So IPS remains the best option for anyone doing design or precision work.

For most gamers, a high-quality IPS monitor offers the most bang for their buck. It will provide beautiful colors, high frame rates, and experiences less ghosting issues than a VA panel. However, TN panels are a great option for anyone who is on a tight budget and willing to sacrifice color accuracy in exchange for faster response times.

When choosing a new computer monitor, the type of panel used by the display is a key piece of information that reveals a lot about how the monitor will behave and perform. By far the most common types of display panels are TN, IPS and VA.

Monitor LCD panels are made up of many layers, including a backlight, polarizing filters and the liquid crystal layer. It"s this liquid crystal layer that determines the intensity of light let through from the backlight, and in what colors, whether red, green or blue. To control this intensity, a voltage is applied to the liquid crystals, which physically moves the crystals from one position to another. How these crystals are arranged and how they move when voltage is applied, is the fundamental difference between TN, VA and IPS.

Our original explainer about display technology and the difference between TN vs. VA vs. IPS was published almost three years ago, and while most of that information remains accurate to this day, we"ve seen the introduction of much faster IPS displays as well as a revolutionary updates to VA panels, particularly from Samsung Odyssey gaming monitors. We"ve also since tested over 100 monitors, so we have a lot more insights to share about performance.

TN is the oldest of the LCD technologies and it stands for twisted nematic. This refers to the twisted nematic effect, which is an effect that allows liquid crystal molecules to be controlled with voltage. While the actual workings of a TN-effect LCD are a little more complicated, essentially the TN-effect is used to change the alignment of liquid crystals when a voltage is applied. When there is no voltage, so the crystal is "off," the liquid crystal molecules are twisted 90 degrees and in combination with polarization layers, allow light to pass through. Then when a voltage is applied, these crystals are essentially untwisted, blocking light.

VA, stands for vertical alignment. As the name suggests, this technology uses vertically aligned liquid crystals which tilt when a voltage is applied to let light pass through. This is the key difference between IPS and VA: with VA, the crystals are perpendicular to the substrates, while with IPS they are parallel.

IPS stands for in-plane switching and, like all LCDs, it too uses voltage to control the alignment of liquid crystals. However unlike with TN, IPS LCDs use a different crystal orientation, one where the crystals are parallel to the glass substrates, hence the term "in plane". Rather than "twisting" the crystals to modify the amount of light let through, IPS crystals are essentially rotated, which has a range of benefits.

There are various subvariants to these technologies which can tweak things further, and you"ll also see different brand names depending on the panel manufacturer. For example, AU Optronics use "AHVA" to refer to an IPS-type panel, not a VA panel. Samsung use PLS, while brands like LG simply use "IPS". Then on the VA side we have AU Optronics "AMVA" and Samsung"s "SVA" among others.

So in summary, TN panels twist, IPS panels use a parallel alignment and rotate, while VA panels use a vertical alignment and tilt. Now let"s get into some of the performance characteristics and explore how each of the technologies differ and in general, which technology is better in any given category.

The most immediately obvious difference when viewing a TN, IPS or VA panel for the first time is in viewing angles. This is one area that hasn"t significantly changed since the introduction of these technologies.

TN panels have the weakest viewing angles, with significant shift to color and contrast in both the horizontal and especially vertical directions. Typically viewing angles are rated as 170/160 but realistically you"ll get pretty bad shifts when viewing anywhere except for dead center. Higher-end TNs tend to be somewhat better but overall this is a big weakness for TNs and can impact the experience for productivity where any shifts to color impact accuracy for things like photo editing.

VA and IPS panels are significantly better for viewing angles, with IPS panels generally giving the best overall experience. Here you"ll commonly see 178/178 ratings for viewing angles, and while there can still be some shift to colors and brightness viewing at off-center angles, this will be far less noticeable than on a TN panel. Of all the IPS panels we"ve reviewed over the years, I"d describe the majority of them as having excellent viewing angles, a non-issue for modern IPS displays.

VAs are also good but not as good as IPS and can have a greater degree of contrast shifting than IPS. But the thing that impacts VA viewing angles more than this is the fact that many VA monitors today are curved, and any introduction of a curve reduces viewing angles. That"s something to keep in mind when choosing between IPS and VA

Because the liquid crystal layer is separate to the backlight layer, there is no technical reason why TN, IPS or VA monitors should differ in terms of brightness. Across the 100 displays we"ve tested using our latest test suite, the average SDR brightness for IPS panels was 385 nits, versus 367 nits for TN and 346 nits for VA - so really there"s not much of a difference.

Contrast ratio, on the other hand, is where another major difference occurs. TN panels have the worst contrast ratios, with the twisting technique not particularly great at producing deep blacks. In the best cases you"ll see contrast ratios around 1000:1, but typically after calibration these numbers are lower, in the 700:1 to 900:1 range. Of the monitors we"ve tested, the average TN has a contrast ratio of 872:1, which is poor so if you want rich, beautiful blacks - well maybe just buy an OLED but if you"re buying LCD, don"t get a TN.

IPS is the next step up, though generally IPS contrast ratios aren"t that different from TN. In the worst cases - in particular LG"s current line-up of Nano IPS panels - you won"t see contrast performance any different from a typical TN, with a ratio below 1000:1. However outside of those worst cases, it"s much more common to see contrast at or above 1000:1, with some best case examples pushing up to 1500:1 which is about the ceiling I"ve seen for IPS. Of the IPS panels we"ve tested, an average contrast ratio of 1037:1 was recorded, 19% higher than the average contrast of a TN.

If you really want an LCD to produce deep blacks though, you"ll have to go with a VA panel. The design of these panels is much more conducive to great contrast ratios, which typically start at 2000:1, higher than even the best IPS alternatives.

We"ve measured ratios up to 5000:1 for VAs, and some TVs can push this even higher. The range of typical contrast ratios is also quite a bit larger than with the other two technologies, but when manufacturers list a 3000:1 ratio for their VA monitor they"re usually correct - on average we measured a 2898:1 contrast ratio for VAs. With that in mind you can see VAs are usually 2.5 to 3 times better at producing blacks than IPS or TN, great for night scenes.

We often get asked whether these differences in contrast ratios actually matter. Almost all monitors use some sort of matte anti-glare coating, which can reduce the effective contrast ratio in brighter viewing environments. So if you"re using your monitor during the day, or under artificial lights, the difference between TNs, IPSs and VAs in contrast ratio is going to be less noticeable. But if you typically use your monitor in a dimmer environment, like gaming with the lights off or having a cheeky late night incognito browser session, you"ll much more easily spot the massive superiority VAs have in this area.

It"s also worth mentioning that while IPS panels tend to be a middle ground for contrast they do suffer from a phenomenon called "IPS glow," which is an apparent white glow when viewing dark imagery at an angle. The best panels exhibit minimal glow but it"s still an issue across all displays of this type, and can vary between individual units.

Before when discussing TN vs. VA vs. IPS, we spent some time talking about the differences between TNs, VAs and IPS in terms of bit depth -- or the difference between 6-bit, 8-bit and 10-bit panels. But we feel this is less relevant these days when the vast majority of displays are native 8-bit panels, with the exception of a few low-end panels that are 6-bit, and a few professional grade high-end panels that are 10-bit.

It remains the case that most displays advertised as "10-bit" or having "1 billion colors" are not true 10-bit panels, instead achieving this through FRC or dithering, and the type of LCD panel technology makes little difference.

There also isn"t a significant difference these days between LCD types when it comes to coverage of "standard" color spaces like sRGB or Rec. 709, which is used by default in Windows and is widely used for video content.

Even TN panels, which historically have had the "worst" color quality, these days will cover over 95% of the sRGB color space at a minimum for any monitor worth buying. The exceptions to this are entry-level junk some OEMs like to punish their low-end laptop buyers with; it"s rare for a desktop monitor to go below 90% sRGB coverage and certainly you shouldn"t buy it if it does.

As for native true 10-bit, typically you"ll need to look for an IPS panel, which make up the majority of native 10-bit panels. Some VA panels can do it, but they are rare. Most displays you purchase that claim to be 10-bit, are actually 8-bit+FRC, with only high-end professional-grade monitors offering a native 10-bit experience.

The main differences between TN, IPS and VA for color quality these days comes in coverage of wider gamut, such as DCI-P3, Adobe RGB or Rec. 2020. DCI-P3 and the larger Rec. 2020 are important for HDR videos and gaming, while Adobe RGB is common for work with wide gamut images.

As far as gaming monitors are concerned, which is the majority of monitors we test, it"s uncommon for TN panels to exceed the sRGB color space and produce a wide color gamut. We"ve seen it on occasion, with DCI-P3 coverage topping out around 92% in the best cases, but the majority of TN displays are standard gamut which is fine for SDR content.

The next best panel type for color gamut is VA. Some entry-level VAs will start at only sRGB coverage, but today"s wide gamut VA monitors typically cover between 85 and 90% DCI-P3, or up to around 66% of Rec. 2020. They don"t generally have adequate Adobe RGB coverage (below 85%), making them most suited to a basic wide gamut experience for videos or games. We"ve also yet to test a VA monitor with a really wide color gamut, like 98% DCI-P3, despite the highest end models of today using Quantum Dot enhancement films. Still, VA is decently mid-range for gamut coverage.

If you want the widest color gamut, you"ll need to get an IPS monitor. While basic IPS panels will be limited to sRGB only, the best wide gamut IPS displays offered these days can achieve much higher gamuts than TN or IPS.

We"ve measured up to 97% DCI-P3 and over 99% Adobe RGB in the same panel - usually a high-end model from AU Optronics - which leads to excellent Rec. 2020 coverage above 80%. This tends to make IPS the most, or at times only suitable technology for color critical wide gamut work like video or photo editing, and it"s the tech I"d choose for that task.

Time to talk about speed. Whereas before there was a pretty clear cut distinction between the technologies: TN was the fastest, IPS sat in the middle, and VA was the slowest. In 2021, that is no longer the case, and there"s a lot less separating each technology.

Historically, the highest refresh rate displays on the market were almost all TN models, but that"s not true anymore. Currently there are TN, IPS and VA monitors capable of 240Hz speeds, or sometimes in excess of 240Hz, including at resolutions like 1440p.

The highest refresh rate displays on the market today are capable of 1080p 360Hz speeds, and use an IPS panel from AU Optronics, not a TN. There is lower demand for TN panels than other panel types these days, so a lot of development effort on high refresh models has gone into IPS instead. This makes IPS the highest refresh technology for now, with all three technologies being available at 1440p 240Hz.

Response times have also improved substantially for IPS and VA monitors, especially for high-end panels. There is no longer a clear distinction between TN and the rest of today"s contenders, thanks to big speed gains headed by LG"s Nano IPS and Samsung"s new-gen VA.

The fastest TN panels that we"ve measured using our current, strict test methodology are able to hit the 4ms mark on average with a cumulative deviation of around 400. Cumulative deviation tells us how close a monitor"s response times get to the ideal instant response, and also show the balance between response times and overshoot. The HP Omen X 27 is definitely a fast monitor with its 1440p 240Hz spec. However, the Samsung Odyssey G7 and G9 are actually slightly faster, with response times between 3.4 and 4.0 ms and cumulative deviation below 400.

This puts the best VA monitors of today slightly ahead of the best TN monitors that we"ve tested, which we definitely couldn"t have said a few years ago. With these new panels, Samsung have also fixed the unsightly dark level smearing issue that plagued last-generation VA panels, giving the latest VA panels an overall experience similar to the best LCDs have to offer.

Meanwhile over at the IPS camp, the best IPS panels are slightly slower than VA and TN, but still highly competitive with the best of today. The fastest we"ve seen is a response time average of 4.5ms, with cumulative deviation around 460. That"s less than 20% off the best from other technologies, giving us a pretty small difference in 2021 between the three LCD panel types in a best vs best comparison.

With that said, this discussion of response times only applies to high end monitors. Currently in the mid-range and entry-level markets, the performance differences between TN, IPS and VA are more traditional. TN monitors can still be quite fast, with performance in the 4ms range even with basic 1080p 144Hz panels. Basically if you buy a TN in any market segment, you know it will be fast.

The next step down is IPS in lower price segments, with performance varying a bit depending on the exact model. The reason for this is that mid-range and entry-level IPS monitors tend to use more last-generation panels, which aren"t as fast as the best of today. Still, performance between 6 and 9ms on average is pretty common, and cumulative deviation is still quite competitive, especially in the value-oriented IPS market. Not as fast as TN, but still generally good for motion clarity.

Budget-oriented VA panels are, unfortunately, nowhere near as fast as the best panels of today used in Samsung"s Odyssey G7 and G9 series. It"s much more common to get a 9ms to 13ms average response time here, which puts the best budget VA panels behind an average budget IPS in performance. You"ll also get dark level smearing, which is seen as a dark trail following moving objects, which you don"t get with the other two LCD technologies.

Backlight strobing or black frame insertion is also a popular feature these days for some, particularly those after a high performance gaming monitor for esports. Generally speaking, the performance of backlight strobing is dictated by response time performance, so you can get good results with all three monitor types depending on the implementation, especially with high-end panels.

However these days the most focus tends to go into TN-based esports-oriented monitors when it comes to backlight strobing, so monitors like the BenQ XL2546K can be highly attractive offerings and preferred over the best IPS or VA monitors in this feature. We"ve also seen really good implementations with IPS and VA monitors, but TN is known to be the best.

Summarizing each of the three main LCD technologies is much harder today than in previous years, as there"s been a lot of focus on improving IPS and VA panels. This has led to much better gaming monitors for all, and many more displays to analyze and keep us busy which is always a good thing.

If we had to summarize the LCD ecosystem today... TN panels are a dying breed and their main strengths have been countered in recent years. TN panels are still very fast and great for competitive gaming, but aren"t as much of an outright speed leader anymore, especially at the high end. The main advantage to buying a TN is their affordability and consistency of speed even with entry-level panels, but this comes with weaknesses like viewing angles, contrast ratio and gamut coverage, which makes them unsuitable for a lot of stuff and probably not what you"d want to choose these days.

VA panels are a real mixed bag. At the high end, VAs are very competitive with excellent motion performance, no dark level smearing, decent contrast ratios and good colors. They have to some degree replaced IPS as the middle-ground technology that offers a bit of everything. However in the lower-end of the market, VAs retain the great contrast ratios they are known for, but suffer in motion performance due to the use of last-generation panels and end up quite slow. That"s offset by affordable prices which makes them a decent budget buy in some monitors.

IPS panels have received the most attention and continue to improve each year. IPS monitors are typically the most balanced choice, with strengths in many areas including motion performance, gamut coverage and viewing angles. These strengths tend to apply consistently in all market segments, whether high-end or entry-level, and that can make IPS a great bang for buck option.

Due to the prevalence of flat panels with great uniformity and very wide gamuts, IPS is also the most suitable technology for gaming and content creation on the same display, though contrast ratios are still well behind what VA panels can achieve.

But really there"s no right answer to which monitor technology is best. You might want excellent black levels and great speed, in which case a high-end VA is best for you. Or you might want Adobe RGB coverage, in which case you"ll need to go IPS. There"s no overall winner in the LCD space right now, it"s all about which individual qualities matter most to you.

Consider you’re buying a new gaming monitor. Now, before you head out (or online), there are many things to consider. The resolution and refresh rates are just the tips of the ice-berg. When it comes to PC monitor display panels, you’ve got three options: IPS, TN and VA. If you are a gamer which panel is right for you? Do you need an IPS display, a TN panel, or a VA panel?

All three of these are different flavors of LCD monitors. They’re built using fundamentally similar technology–this isn’t the difference between LCD and OLED. All three have advantages and substantial weakness. This means that they are ideal for different use cases. You’ll want to know these as a gamer to identify what’s right for you.

TN is short for twisted nematic, referring to the LCD substrate that’s used in this type of display. TN panels are a very mature technology and are the cheapest kind of LCD display to produce. This means that you’ll get TN panels for a given screen size/resolution at a lower price than other options.

TN panels aren’t just cheap. They tend to have lower response times than other monitor panels. This makes them exceptionally well-suited for low-latency use cases like eSports gaming. As a result, many eSports-oriented high-refresh rate monitors utilize TN technology.

There are notable downsides, though. For starters, viewing angles are terrible. Even if you look at a TN panel from its exact center, you’ll experience picture quality degradation at the edges. Poor viewing angles mean that color is only accurately reproduced at the very center of the panel, from your perspective. Some TN panels have better viewing angles than others, but almost all are beaten by even budget VA and IPS sets in this respect.

Another thing? Color reproduction is poor on TN panels. Colors, in general, appear washed-out. But what’s most noticeable is the poor contrast levels. In poorly-illuminated scenes, black appears grey. All in all, we find TN panels hard to recommend anymore. If you want an eSports panel, but can’t afford a high-performance IPS, a TN panel might be right for you. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

IPS is short for in-plane switching. IPS displays were actually developed to address the shortcomings of TN panels. In IPS panels, the orientation of liquid crystal molecules is arranged and switched parallel to the substrate. This allows for accurate color reproduction across a much wider range of viewing angles.

IPS panels have clear advantages over TN panels. For starters, color reproduction is excellent. High-end IPS monitors that cover a significant amount of the sRGB gamut not only look great–they’re an excellent choice for professional photographers and graphic designers. Contrast is much-improved on IPS: while you don’t get the inky blacks of OLED, dark areas look reliably dark, while retaining detail. IPS panels tend to have a slower refresh rate than TN panels.

However, gaming-oriented IPS models are available with low response time and higher refresh rates. They just cost a lot more than comparable TN parts. IPS panels are our go-to recommendation. They offer great image quality, while also allowing for low-latency, high refresh rate gaming.

VA is short for vertical alignment. In these displays, LCD cells align vertically when no electricity is passing through. They align horizontally when it is, allowing light through. VA panels offer excellent image quality. Even budget VA monitors deliver contrast ratios in excess of 3000:1. This translates into rich colors, and detail preservation in dark scenes.

VA is ideal if media consumption is your primary use case: you get excellent image quality. The trade-off here is that VA panels tend to have the worst response times. Response times higher than 4ms are typical. On the worst offenders, input lag is actually somewhat notable. And while viewing angles are better than TN panels, VA panels often exhibit color shifting–with colors going off-hue at wide angles. Some VA panels also have a “ghosting” issue, especially when handling rapidly moving images.

This makes VA panels a questionable choice for eSports gaming. If you mainly play single-player titles, though, VA panels are a great choice. Price-wise, they tend to be cheaper than their IPS counterparts while offering great image quality.

If you’re an eSports gamer, you need a monitor with the lowest-possible response rate and a high refresh rate. Both IPS and TN panels enable this. At a premium budget, you should look at IPS panels, as they offer the best combination of picture quality and low latency. If you’re on a tighter budget, a TN panel can get the job done, although you’ll be compromising somewhat on the image.

Other than the display panel, you also need to look at some of the other specifications such as the color gamut, HDR support, contrast ratio, etc. You can read more about how to pick the right config here.

In this guide, we’ll go over the differences between the most common monitor panels. We’ve compared IPS panels, TN panels, and VA panels to help give you more insight on your upcoming purchase.

However, the average consumer is clueless on the LCD panel technology used in their LCD monitor. A monitor’s panel type is a crucial feature that dictates how it performs as well as the kind of tasks it is best suited to accomplish. Therefore, it is important to understand panel technology so that you can be sure to choose the appropriate monitor for your gaming needs.

And, it is important for gamers to become familiar with these various panel technologies so that they can understand the variety of marketing buzzwords that companies use to describe the different LCD panel monitors on the market.

For instance, if you have $150 or less to spend, you’ll likely be forced to choose a TN panel. However, if you have more to spend, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will want to avoid a TN panel monitor, it just means that you will have more options.

This is an important question because the type of usage your monitor will see will be a big determining factor in which type of panel you can get. If you are going to use your monitor solely for competitive gaming—I’m talking CS:GO, LoL, COD, Dota 2, etc.—then a TN panel with a high refresh rate and low response time will be your best bet.

On the other hand, if you are more of a casual gamer, or you are planning on doing a lot of graphic design work on your monitor, you might want to look into a VA panel or an IPS panel. These panels don’t quite perform on the same level as a TN panel (in terms of response rate) and they cost a lot more for the same refresh rate. However, their picture quality is much better than TN panels and therefore, they are better-suited for graphics design work.

And, for that, a TN panel is your best bet as they offer lower response rates and higher refresh rates (at least, for the price you pay) than IPS or VA panels.

On the other hand, if you’re not playing super competitive games and you really enjoy the visual aspect of gaming, you’d be better off going with a VA or IPS panel as they offer better technology for displaying richer and more detailed visuals.

Some display types are appropriate for gaming, while others are best suited for graphics design. Other monitors are good for gamers who want the best visuals, while a different set of monitor panels work better for competitive gamers who need the most performance possible.

In this guide, we have broken down the different panel types and have explained their key features, as well as have compared them to their counterparts to help you better understand which type of panel would best meet your needs.

If you are looking at a monitor and it doesn’t clearly state what kind of panel it is, it’s probably safe to assume it’s a TN panel. What I mean by this is that, in most cases, for IPS panels and VA panels, the monitor manufacturer will include the panel type in the name of the monitor in an effort to make them stand out.

As I mentioned above, TN Panels owe their popularity to low manufacturing costs.However, they are also known for being able to deliver much higher response rates than IPS or VA panels. However, they are also known for being able to deliver much higher response rates than IPS or VA panels.

Because of their affordability, Twisted Nematic Displays with higher refresh rates (a feature you will pay more for) are more readily available than competing panels with high refresh rates.

The viewing angles on a TN panel are touted to be 160 degrees vertical and 170 degrees horizontal: these angles are considerably lower than the viewing angles presented by other panel technologies

Because of these problems, the consistency and color accuracy on a TN panel will suffer in comparison to IPS and VA panels, which, ultimately, makes this panel type less ideal for color-critical work such as photography and design, or even for gamers who want the best visuals possible.

The most notable selling point of In-Plane Switching panels is their consistency, improved viewing angles, and superior color accuracy when compared to other LCD technologies. Every color shade retains its unique identity and distinctiveness regardless of its position on the monitor.

These factors make IPS panels suitable monitors for graphic design work, as well as for gamers looking for the best visuals possible (but who don’t mind a drop in response rate.)

Perhaps the greatest strength of a VA panel is its ability to block light from the backlight when it isn’t wanted. This ability results in higher contrast ratios and deeper blacks which are several times better than that of the other LCD technologies discussed in this guide.

As power users already understand, one problem with LCD monitors is light from the backlight. When an LCD monitor wants to display black, the color filter will be positioned in such a manner that very little light from the backlight will seep through. While they try to do a reasonable job, their filters aren’t always perfect, thus, incapable of rendering the blacks deep as they should be.

Thankfully, VA panels are magnificent at that task. And thanks to the fact that they are susceptible to clouding or bleeding towards the edges of the screen, the screens are often considered as ideal candidates for movie enthusiasts and suitable for general purpose work.

The VA panels also feature improved viewing angles and good color reproduction. Their excellent color reproduction abilities make the monitors ideal devices for color-critical work, or for gamers who want to play their games with the best picture quality possible.

A considerable drawback of the VA panel is its low level of responsiveness with its pixels transitioning from one state to the next. This can cause more noticeable blurring when gaming.

Thankfully, the more modern versions of VA panels use a superior pixel overdrive feature that is not susceptible to the problems of the earlier versions.

It is quite difficult to state definitively what LCD monitor is better in the battle of TN vs IPS. This is because both TN LCD displays and IPS LCD displays have a share of advantages and disadvantages.

The quick responsiveness of TN panels makes them suitable for competitive gamers who rely on every split-second to achieve victory. (Though there is a lot of debate surrounding this considering that some believe that the average human brain can just compute about 25 frames per second.)