For the past 7 years I have been on an unsuccessful quest to find a gaming monitor that I can tolerate. I am hoping someone in this forum who has experienced something similar to the below might have successfully cracked this puzzle- I am definitely open to any thoughts or suggestions! After years of research, and much trial and error (I have tried over 30 monitors!), I have concluded that something about the LED light of modern monitors itself causes my symptoms (similar to those described by many others here): retinal pain and eye strain, disorientation, etc. I have confirmed this by finding LED desk lights that produce the same symptoms ! I have identified 6 basic low-end computer monitors I can use no problem all from the year 2013 or earlier. I have yet to find any monitor manufactured after 2013 that I can tolerate. The older monitors that I can tolerate I can use for 8+ hours a day without any strain whatsoever; whereas the intolerable monitors cause symptoms within minutes- there is a distinct difference. I strongly suspect the culprit is something in the color spectrum produced by the LEDs- probably due to the more red-leaning color spectrum used to produce a “full color spectrum” measurement for monitor tests. (All “low blue light” solutions seem to be irrelevant for me.) The offensive monitors generally seem to have a slight orangey-reddish hue to the light. I’ve seen some other posts on this forum that seem to corroborate this conclusion. [ Edit 5/6/24 : I no longer believe the culprit is spectrum, but indeed feel very confident like very many here that the issue is flicker . I believe I've confirmed this by exposing myself to an incandescent bulb projector that I know uses pixel shifting, which is a form of flicker, and it definitely triggered the same symptoms!] Yesterday I tried a true RGB OLED monitor with Quantum Dot (the amazing Dell Alienware AW3423DW)- very sadly it was also not tolerable. I’ve also had problems with LG WRGB OLED TVs. But, I have never had an issue with any OLED phones, nor any laptop that I have seen (though I haven’t tested too many laptops). I can use: Basic monitors from year 2013 or earlier (for example Asus VS247H-P, Dell P2014HT, Acer G276HLGbid) Modern basic Samsung LED backlit TV Model UN55TU8000FXZA (manufactured 2022) Modern Chromebook All modern phones that I’ve seen so far, both Android and Apple, both with LED or OLED screens I can’t tolerate: All gaming monitors that I’ve tried so far (for example Asus PG279Q, PG278QR, VG248QE, VZ27AQ; Acer XB271HU; Nixeus NX-EDG27; LG 24MP59HT-P; QNIX QX2710; Samsung C27HG70, LS27AG500PNXZA; Dell Alienware AW3423DW OLED) All modern non-gaming monitors that I’ve seen LG C7 OLED TV I keep hope because there exist both LED backlight and OLED screens that fall into both categories, and because gaming-worthy monitors exist- but I just can’t seem to combine the two! Has anyone had a similar experience and had any luck with this? I’m gratefully open to all thoughts and ideas. Thank you so much!

As I posted in another thread recently I am now convinced the biggest contributor to these issues is terrible pixel inversion issues that most modern monitors have. This causes slight flickering that results in the observed symptoms. Pixel inversion state is specific to every single produced unit therefore you cannot find a "good type". As for the LED lights as far as I know some LED lights may be flickering too… but I don't really know for sure. It may be that your problems lie elsewhere, but in the past several years I did see two laptop screens that were perfect for my eyes, I could see how stable their image was. This again leads me to believe this is no recent LED backlight changes or anything else of the sort that some others here suggested. With those gaming monitors… did you try to run them at a higher refresh rate? What was the rate and did you feel any relief or difference when the refresh rate was higher?

machala Hello sir! I very much appreciate your thoughts. I've been thinking about your other post, so thank you. Yes, I ran the gaming monitors at up to 175 Hz successfully but no relief was experienced. The fact that I have found LED desk lamps that produce the same symptoms makes me think it is related to wavelength spectrum produced- but your post makes me wonder if those desk lamp LEDs also flicker in some way. Also I noticed that when the LCD LED backlight monitors were ON but the computer was OFF (black screen but backlight still on), I still experienced the symptoms (I actually sat and stared at a blank screen for 5 minutes to test this- very interesting). Still, I'll give further thought to pixel inversion or some kind of other LED flicker as a possible cause.

LED lights ( monitors, bulbs, cars , etc … ) are harmful to us and it's now proven in European Union by this article!!! https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/health/blue-light-led-health-effects-bn-trnd/index.html This is one major factor that makes us feel really bad. I would like to know too if there are some monitors LED free !

Allekss Ironically, it is the monitors sold as "low blue light" and "Eye Care" that cause me the worst symptoms. The offensive monitors tend to have a reddish/ orange-ish hue to them, so I actually wonder if the issue isn't more in the red/ orange (longer wavelength) end of the spectrum, rather than blue; or perhaps even some wavelength outside the visible spectrum.

Gemsand all this " eye care " monitors are just marketing for companies to sell more and for dumbies to buy more… You can have a pair of blue light glasses and you're done… The MAJOR problem nowadays is the LED backlighting of monitors + how DIRECT DX12 render things…

You need to look at 28 (not 27!) inch gaming monitors. They use Innolux panel, and I've heard the least amount of complaints regarding these panels. Examples: Gigabyte M28U

EyeDiscomfortCertificate This is a great idea, I'll look into it- thank you! I've never considered an atypical size (28") 4K monitor- maybe the panel/ LEDs are different.

Just an update. This past weekend I made a special trip to another city just to visit a Micro Center store where they had ~50 or so monitors on display! While it was difficult for me to draw definitive conclusions in a few hours of time in that environment on so many samples (especially once my eyes were sensitized), I felt confident that the vast majority of the monitors- perhaps even all- do cause me the negative eyestrain symptoms. At the time I felt there might potentially have been two monitors in the store that "felt different" and could potentially be acceptable for me- I bought one (34" Lenovo G34W-10) and took it home, only to discover after 30 minutes of use that it, too, caused great discomfort. The only remaining monitor from the trip I'm still considering is a 43" monitor (Aorus FV43U), but now that I'm considering up to that size I am starting to look at TVs. Meanwhile I wanted also to mention in response to @EyeDiscomfortCertificate that I did get a chance to spend some time in front of a couple 28" Innolux panels, and unfortunately they did cause me the same discomfort. Thank you for the idea! I will post more if and when I discover anything that works for me!

I'm not a gamer, but I'm using " Acer XF250Q " gaming monitor. For me it works and feels like the monitors around ~2010 just this one is new, so I do not have to stock on old used monitors anymore 😃 I'm using it with HDMI on 144MHz (on 75HZ is fine too). I tried it with DPI on 240Hz, however the contrast becomes visibly stronger and the monitor becomes unusable for me. I also have my old DELL ST2410 (CCFL backlight), it's 60HZ only. I'd say both feel the same on my eyes (tho my Dell is super old and can notice the colors are bit washed out when putting them side by side) I also have BenQ GL2780 (thats also new TN monitor), this monitor feels cheap compared to rest two, it's easy on the eyes, but not as good as them. PS. Note that I can tolerate TN models only (due the low contrast and anti-reflective coating). Refresh rate is irrelevant in my case.

daniel_mate Thank you! I'd be interested to know more about your symptoms, if you're willing to share. That is, what has triggered you? In my own case I don't think the panel type TN vs VA vs IPS itself is a primary cause for me, as I've used all three panel types successfully (but all three in models from 2013 or earlier). Also the fact that a LED desk lamp produced the same strain (and by "strain" I mean the "stabbed in the retinas" feeling) for me implies either light wavelength or, as noted above, potentially some kind of LED flicker itself. This following sentence is one I very much relate to: "For me it works and feels like the monitors around ~2010 just this one is new, so I do not have to stock on old used monitors anymore" - I do have a stash of old monitors in my basement, and I definitely get that "feels like a 2010" monitor comment. I'd be interested to know: Does the Acer XF250Q feel different backlight-wise to you, or just in terms of TN contrast and color? (When I say 'different' I mean compared to modern monitors, does the backlight itself feel like older monitors too somehow? I realize this is subjective.) Thank you much, I appreciate the suggestion!

Seeking Tolerable Gaming Monitor! Any thoughts welcome

brjdenis

It is not only the monitor that causes eye strain, it is the GPU as well. If I hookup my monitor directly on my GPU, I get bloodshot eyes, if I hook it up to the motherboard at the expense of some GPU power loss, I don't get bloodshot eyes. Go figure…

Aquila

brjdenis For my experience nausea is not related to GPU but to monitor.

I had a Win 10 syatem, Ryzen 3600 + 2070s and Benq ex2780q. After 30.minutes in gaming I had Nausea.

Now i changed monitor, and no more nausea. Windows version and drivers are the same.

boomhedshot

Have you tried setting Dynamic Range to Limited? Nvidia Control Panel>Change Resolution>Use NVIDIA color settings> Output dynamic range > Limited

(Need to change this setting also on the monitor OSD if it's avaliable so they both match)

It may sacrifice some color quality but you are also limiting the intensity of brightest & darkest shades.

"Full Range" greyscale, the darkest color is 0 (0,0,0 R,G,B) and brightest is 255 (255,255,255 R,G,B):

Limited Range would narrow this to 16 (16,16,16 R.G,B) and 235 (235,235,235 R,G,B) limiting how bright the colors can be displayed through the pixels independently of backlight brightness.

This improved for me the effect of perceiving the colors in a more solid state rather than feeling like the image is glowing.

Gemsand

boomhedshot

I tried this- it didn't help, but thank you so much for the suggestion!

I tried the HP X27i recommended by Aquila, but unfortunately it did NOT work for me- I could tell within 10 seconds it was causing that burning sensation in my retinas! I did play around with all the settings- it's a great monitor and I could get the color very stable looking. But after playing around for only 10 minutes I was relieved to put it back in the box.

Aquila

Gemsand I'm so sorry tò hear this. Did you try another source ex mediaplayer, Fire Stick, box Android?

Gemsand

Aquila The input doesn't make a difference for me, unfortunately!

Fakir35 In my own case I can use the Asus VS247H-P 24" monitor all day without strain, it is my main monitor that I'm using right now and have been using for the past 10 years. Three points to consider though: (1.) It is 6 bit + FRC (FRC = temporal dithering!- gasp!); (2.) I've tested it myself and it does use Pulse Width Modulation to control brightness (PWM- gasp!); and (3.) It simply doesn't have gaming monitors specs- it's a basic 60 Hz 24"TN panel with no VRR. That being said, it functions just fine, the response time is probably 1-2 ms. Interestingly, the fact that this monitor uses a form of temporal dithering and PWM has always made me discount flicker as being my main issue, however, after having a painful recent experience with a 4k pixel-shifting DLP projector that uses a lamp (no LEDs at all!) but does flicker, I'm wondering if newer LED backlights have some other kind of inherent imperceptible flicker. Also I've experienced an LED desk lamp that caused the same exact symptoms- so I'm wondering if maybe the LEDs themselves now pulse in some way that they didn't use to.

Fakir35

Gemsand 45° polarization: Asus VS247H-P 24" monitor (GOOD)

Did you have any experience on gaming with this monitor? Do you recommend it for gaming without eye strain?

Fakir35

Gemsand

Thank you for your replies sir. But problem is monitor model year is too old (2013 i guess) and it's hard to find. Even as second hand products at least in Turkey. Not only for Asus VS247H-P 24 also other monitors that you recommend. In any case if you suggest modern monitor which brand year is newest and its ok for eye health in case of looking long hours, i will consider. However i dont read positive comments about modern eye care monitors. So i am in deepest suspicious about them.

Fakir35

@Gemsand

Have you tried also Asus VP228DE? I think it is same series with VS247HP? I intend to order it

Gemsand

Fakir35 I haven't tried the Asus VP228DE- thanks for the suggestion.

Luminous Yeah I experience the symptoms with a LED desk lamp as well! Indeed, what the heck is going on. Thank you for the suggestion on the two AOC monitors you can tolerate! If you ever find additional tolerable monitors please post (and I'll do the same).

Luminous

Greetings. I ran into this problem not too long ago and was discouraged.

New(and many old) monitors,TVs,phones,video cards cause me a lot of pressure and eye strain. Later I bought myself some LED lamps for my desktop and found that they all cause the same symptoms! What the hell is going on

Luminous

Here are monitors that cause absolutely no discomfort -

Aoc I2369vm (2013, AH-IPS, 6bit+frc)

Aoc 24p2q (2020, IPS, 8bit)

brjdenis

Luminous The AOC 24p2q causes great strain for me. Burning eyes, redness etc…

Fakir35

Hello @Gemsand
I heard that curved screens cause less eye strain. Have you get chance to try it? or is it myth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5PAtVOtFPQ

Luminous

brjdenis This is weird. Perhaps you got a bad copy of this monitor

brjdenis

Luminous

Well, I purchased several monitors and GPUs over the years. With various levels of burning eye and redness issue. I don't think it was a bad copy, because many would than be a bad copy. Anyway, there is no monitor that one can recommend. I purchased monitors based on other people's recommendation, but many were not good, even the old ones, TN, CCFL etc in combination with newer GPUs.

Recently my parents bought a new computer and like me now they have blepharitis and red eyes. Which makes me believe it can be genetic. For them I can help with a set up that would make eye strain bearable. I wasn't able to help anyone else. That is all I wanted to say.

Sunspark

If you/they have blepharitis, you probably also have or will have dry eyes. Get some lubricating drops especially during the winter and run a humidifier. An ingredient you will find in higher end drops is sodium hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid.

brjdenis

Sunspark

Thank you for the advice. I already wrote on this site that this is not dry eye issue on its own. No such drops help, I tried already.

GregAtkinson

I finally found a modern monitor that works for me by looking for ultra low-flicker monitors using a professional photodetector. I tested about 100 monitors and found only three that have virtually no flicker.

I bought 11 (one for myself and 10 to resell at cost to see if it works for others). I created an eBay listing if anybody is interested in giving it a shot. I offer 60 day returns, so worst case scenario you have to pay for shipping both ways.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/145603787681

You can read more about my process here: https://ledstrain.org/d/2598-help-wanted-to-measure-flicker-andor-test-a-flicker-free-monitor

bz12

GregAtkinson is the 27MQ450-B and the 27MP450-B the same monitor? I noticed you have the latter in your eBay listing pictures. I'm looking to order one from Amazon if so. I'm in dire need of a comfortable modern display device.

GregAtkinson

bz12 that was a mistake on my part. They seem to be different monitors. Sorry about that.

Also my return window is closing soon so I'm going to return all unsold monitors on Friday morning. Order by EOD Thursday if you want one.

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