Gaming monitor advice required

[Istrebitel]

Greetings.

So far I have never really considered investing into a gaming monitor. I am playing WoW and some other stuff like Natural Selection 2, or Far Cry 3, or XCOM - random stuff really. I've never had a monitor with over 60hz refresh rate, nor I have ever strived to play games at 60fps (I always considered 30fps to be enough, I only notice fps drops and feel discomfort if fps drops below ~27). My monitor is big enough (16:10 24inch) but that's it - I just picked one that had little negative reviews and much positive reviews.

But now I'm considering investing into a good gaming monitor for my gaming rig.

Can someone please point me to some guide of some sorts maybe (which is up to date), on how to choose monitor for gaming, wether or not those 120hz refresh rates (and getting high end graphics cards to attain that high fps) are worth it, and wether any specific kind of LCD technology (matrix) is better for gaming than other? Or maybe someone has some precise advice on models I should take a look on? Money is not a big issue to me, wasting money is - I don't want to pay for some "<1ms response ideal for gaming" marketing crap which isn't even true most of the time. And randomly looking on some models pushed as "gaming monitors" by companies like Benq, user reviews are very negative - color is bad, brightness is bad, eyes get tired fast, etc etc.

I tried googling for guides but I found only old guides (like, dated 2011 or 2009) and I think they are outdated, right? I mean, right now on the market there are a lot of new stuff, for example I saw DELL U3014 (30 inch monitor) last week and I was stunned by how cool it looks, but then again, will it really be worth it as a gaming monitor?

I know this sounds kinda generic, but that's the kind of the question - I am in need of general guidance, maybe later I'll be able to ask about specific models.

Thanks!

[n0cturnal]

Asus PB278Q
Dell U2713HM
Dell U3014

These are all very good consumer models with IPS/PLS panels and good enough refresh rate for playing games at 60fps.

[Tahapenes]

The question really comes down to what your taste is when playing a game. Do you want the most fluid motion possible (120+ Hz and a GPU that can handle that) or do you want vibrant colors with good motion (IPS and 60 Hz). Myself, I'll take the fluid motion over colors as most 120+ Hz monitors have enough color for me and I'm not doing things like photomanipulation and the like (if I want to watch a movie, I have an HTPC hooked up to a high end TV for that).

[Istrebitel]

Thanks for replies, but as I said in the OP, I kinda need general guidance, not a list of models saying "those are nice". Questions that come up are:
- Is there really a difference between <1ms "gaming monitor" response time and 6ms typical response time? Can human eye/brain really distinguish between latencies that low? Or is it just a PR crap (like, 99% germs annihilation on your typical housecleaning product). If there is a percieveable difference, Is there an easy way to test myself, wether or not I will see the difference or not, without actually buying and using a monitor for some time (obviously, wasting lots of money if I end up not wanting it)
- Is there really a point to have over ~49 fps? I mean, human eyes percieve 24 frames per second, so 48 fps is like twice the amount you can percieve, so with 60 fps on typical 60hz monitor... isnt that enough? Again, is there a way to test myself - wether or not I really distinguish between those? Is there a study on this? Something I can read?
- Eyestrain / damage/ comfort. Which matrix is more comfortable to use? Or maybe there are certain technologies / something else? Above all, I want my eyes to be more intact when I get old, and I want to be able to comfortably sit in front of this monitor for like 16 hours straight (with regular breaks of course) on a free weekend and have no discomfort.
But really, there are more, and that's why I ask, wether or not there is a good up-to-date guide available, or good information source on all the stuff related to choosing a gaming monitor.

[n0cturnal]

- Is there really a difference between <1ms "gaming monitor" response time and 6ms typical response time? Can human eye/brain really distinguish between latencies that low? Or is it just a PR crap (like, 99% germs annihilation on your typical housecleaning product). If there is a percieveable difference, Is there an easy way to test myself, wether or not I will see the difference or not, without actually buying and using a monitor for some time (obviously, wasting lots of money if I end up not wanting it)

Yes there is a difference but the numbers used by manufacturers doesn't mean anything at all. There are many more factors to how you percieve the picture of a monitor than just g2g refreshrate, you have trailing/ghosting, inputlag and other variables as well, some "gaming" monitors even get reversed ghosting when they try to push the refreshrate too low. The numbers you see in the specs are pretty much just PR, you need to read a proper review to get the real deal.

- Is there really a point to have over ~49 fps? I mean, human eyes percieve 24 frames per second, so 48 fps is like twice the amount you can percieve, so with 60 fps on typical 60hz monitor... isnt that enough? Again, is there a way to test myself - wether or not I really distinguish between those? Is there a study on this? Something I can read?

Human eyes are not digital, they don't see in fps. To go even further on this there has been test where people react to visual stimuli over just 1/200th of a second(1 frame at 200fps) You can use this to see the difference http://frames-per-second.appspot.com/ make sure to turn of motion blur for most notable difference.

[Deleted]

You do not need to reach 120fps on a 120hz Monitor to see a big difference.