Views on Overlord's Tempest X270OC or other recommendations.

[Master&Puppet]

So I've been holding out on upgrading my monitor (and system to match it) because I haven't been happy with all the specs. There are several technologies I really want ON THE SAME PANEL if I'm going to fork out £500 or so.

1. I want to go up in resolution, currently sitting my my 1080p screen is so last year.

2. I want a fast refresh rate.

3. I want a great panel in general, IPS seems to be the way forward from both a image reproduction and viewing angle perspective (my gf and I will be watching films on it too and I'm sure a TN panel will piss us off).

4. I'd love to incorporate G-sync/freesync but I feel like there's a long way to go before these technologies make it to monitors at sensible prices. Even then they might not combine on the same monitor which limits me to one or the other GPU manufacturers unless I waste that technology altogether.

Given all of the above although I'd love to go 4K but I think it's immature at the moment especially given what I want from that list above and also in terms of the GPU requirements. I tend to feel that 2 card SLI/XFIRE is the sweet spot for GPU horsepower.

I'm probably expecting too much here which is why it's taken me so long to decide to upgrade my monitor. There are too many variables and new technologies which will probably take a couple of years to become adapted by monitor manufacturers as a group of technologies. By that time I probably will have missed the 1440p boat entirely and 4K will become a pretty reasonable option (god forbid I'm still on this 1080p screen then!).

So as it stands there seems to be 1 very popular option - the ROG Swift. Ticks a lot of the boxes even if it is a TN panel (because it is a very good TN panel). As it stands I'll probably be upgrading to Nvidia this time around anyway, but you never know what is around the corner...

But then I came across the Overlord Tempest X270OC:
http://overlordcomputer.com/collections/27-monitors/products/tempest-x270oc-glossy
A 27" IPS LG panel with a custom control board which allows you overclock it reliably to 120Hz (because more overclocking is never a bad thing). It got a very decent review here:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/overlord-tempest-x270oc-monitor,review-32996.html
I could pre-order it and get it shipped to the UK including taxes for about £420 I think which is significantly cheaper than the Swift but then you lose G-sync.

Anyway, just thinking out loud and would greatly appreciate anyone's ideas or experiences on any of the above...or make other panel recommendations.

M&P

 

[Tripp]

That Is a very interesting monitor

 

[tinytomlogan]

The Swift is TFT and no where near IPS levels of quality in terms of colour.

 

[WillSK]

This is very very interesting indeed!

If you do indeed go for this M&P I want pictures, feedback and everything as it may well be my next monitor

EDIT: I have noticed it's glossy though and i'm still a bit skeptical about glossy screens in day to day use. I'd love to be shown otherwise as i know the colours look even better but glare would annoy me

Also.. DVI Only??

 

[barnsley]

If you do get it please post your experiences as thats exactly what I've been looking for in a monitor.

 

[Master&Puppet]

That Is a very interesting monitor

Yea that's what I thought, pretty much unreported too.

The Swift is TFT and no where near IPS levels of quality in terms of colour.

Yea, good point, not sure why I confused the two.

This is very very interesting indeed!

If you do indeed go for this M&P I want pictures, feedback and everything as it may well be my next monitor

EDIT: I have noticed it's glossy though and i'm still a bit skeptical about glossy screens in day to day use. I'd love to be shown otherwise as i know the colours look even better but glare would annoy me

Also.. DVI Only??

Yea, it's glossy because they purposely removed the anti glare layer to increase image quality. So it's a trade off. As for the DVI only I'm not entirely sure what's behind that - they've really aimed straight at gaming so they've cut out everything that might interfere with the image production. Perhaps it's something to do with that and also aiming at the market (DVI is widely available). Not sure though.

I'm not familiar with reviewing monitors to be honest although I can have a go but I'll PM TTL and see if he is interested

 

[WillSK]

Yea, it's glossy because they purposely removed the anti glare layer to increase image quality. So it's a trade off. As for the DVI only I'm not entirely sure what's behind that - they've really aimed straight at gaming so they've cut out everything that might interfere with the image production. Perhaps it's something to do with that and also aiming at the market (DVI is widely available). Not sure though.

I'm not familiar with reviewing monitors to be honest although I can have a go but I'll PM TTL and see if he is interested

I just had another look into it and it appears to be dual link DVI and from what I can tell this shouldn't restrict you from anything

This could be THE monitor but why haven't I heard of it before?

 

[Master&Puppet]

I just had another look into it and it appears to be dual link DVI and from what I can tell this shouldn't restrict you from anything

This could be THE monitor but why haven't I heard of it before?

We'll it's new to the market, not much exposure at all from what I can tell. I'm going to go ahead and pre order it, they ship in November.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Well I did pre-order the monitor expecting it to ship shortly but I received this email from Scribbly last night:

Overlord Computer wants to thank you for supporting us and the Tempest lineup of monitors via your recent (or maybe not so recent?) pre-order. The following is an update regarding the status of our current production run.

As you may or may not be aware we hand select panels, input PCBs, and timing controllers (“TCONs”) to ensure the Tempest OC can properly overclock to at least 110Hz – and to do so without issue for years. As such, it is vital that each component part pass a two-tiered quality control process at our production facility in China in addition to the final checks done by your Overlord Tech Monkeys here in California just prior to shipping out to you.

Unfortunately, during the last round of QC checks an inordinate number of Tempests were showing signs of instability and a poor overclock. This was quickly tracked down to defective TCONs. While these failures were present in less than 4% of the units tested our internal QC guidelines then require all units be tested and pass. This more rigorous round of QC testing brought the failure rate up to nearly 12% of all units in production - completely unacceptable.

Due to the astonishing number of TCON failures I made the executive decision to pull the entire production run and demand all new TCONs be run and installed. As of today, November 3, the TCONs are in China and the units are being reassembled and tested this week. So the million dollar question – what does this mean for shipping to you?

This delays us quite a bit I’m afraid to say. Most likely units will not ship until after Thanksgiving. The holiday will delay US Customs based on when we expect our containers to arrive at the Oakland port. I agree – this sucks. However, given the choice of importing Tempest monitors I did not have full faith in or possibly losing your business? I choose losing the pre-order rather than placing an inferior product into the wild.

I apologize for this lengthy delay and hope you can stick it out with us. If not - myself and my entire Overlord crew completely understand. A response to this email informing us that you do not wish to wait is all it takes to have a prompt refund issued. I wish I was giving you all better news, but in the long run a healthy, happy Tempest monitor (and owner) is our goal.

So it looks like I'll be waiting another month but to be honest I'm not too unhappy. Things dont always go to plan and I'm happy with the way in which they've dealt with the issue. A product like this feels worth waiting for and as an enthusiast I want it to be as perfect as it can be when it arrives. So that review will have to wait a few more weeks!

M&P

 

[WillSK]

Well I did pre-order the monitor expecting it to ship shortly but I received this email from Scribbly last night:



So it looks like I'll be waiting another month but to be honest I'm not too unhappy. Things dont always go to plan and I'm happy with the way in which they death with the issue. A product like this feels worth waiting for and as an enthusiast I want it to be as perfect as it can be when it arrives. So that review will have to wait a few more weeks!

M&P

Got a lot of time for companies that hold up their hands and say stuff like this. Shows they genuinely care about the product they release and the long term future of the company rather than just a bunch of quick sales