27" IPS 2560x1440 Monitors UBER cheap

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I waited to post this until mine came in, despite the rave reviews on Overclock at the moment. There are currently a bunch of Korean 27" 2560x1440 IPS panels (same ones used in the 27" iMacs) on Ebay selling for around $320-$400. Here is the main thread from Overclock.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1215866/...z-achieva-shimian-qh270-and-catleap-q270/0_20

I figured some people here would also be interested in these. As I said, I received mine today, and it's absolutely fantastic. I ordered the same one as the guy who initially posted that thread (Shimian QH270 Lite). There are various other models though, all you have to do is search for "Catleap" or "Crossover Monitor". Mine was $322 shipped, though the Crossover monitors tend to be slightly more expensive. Mine was cheaper due to it being the "Lite" model, which only has a DVI-D input (no VGA or HDMI).

These are amazing monitors for the price. Not everyone here probably has a need for this, but even if I can bring it to one persons attention, it's worth it. I'm not shilling, I have zero stake in anything here. I'm simply trying to show my fellow PC gamers an amazing monitor for an amazing price.

If you're interested, here are some other threads from Overclock pertaining to the various other models of the monitors.

Catleap
http://www.overclock.net/t/1225919/yamakasi-catleap-monitor-club/0_20

CrossOver
http://www.overclock.net/t/1232496/...-p-27m-led-2720mdp-gold-led-monitor-club/0_20

Shimian
http://www.overclock.net/t/1228062/achieva-shimian-monitor-club/0_20

Do some research though if you are possibly considering these as not all motherboards/video cards are able to run these monitors due to the resolution. The threads I linked to provide a lot of information (especially the first one) regarding these monitors.
 
if i didn't have 3 lcd's i didnt use i'd get one lol. the main thing that concerns me is it uses a Korean power block so you got to spend about 50$ on a converter. :)
 
[quote name='Kevfactor']if i didn't have 3 lcd's i didnt use i'd get one lol. the main thing that concerns me is it uses a Korean power block so you got to spend about 50$ on a converter. :)[/QUOTE]

Nope. The AC adapter has a standard plug that you can use any regular old power cable on (the ones that come with monitors or PSUs). I just got mine today and tossed the Korean plug it came with in the trash and used the plug I was already using on my old monitor. I'm pretty sure the Catleap is the same. Not sure on the CrossOver though.


This is from the first thread I linked.

600x400px-LL-dc417285_IMG_5316.jpeg

"The power brick seems to be rated for 240V, not 120V. But my voltmeter read 24V DC when the brick was plugged into a 120V socket, and it runs the monitor just fine without heating up much. No step down transformer needed."​
 
I can't vouch for buying them off ebay, but I have heard about these Korean 27" IPS monitors and they are legit. There have been discussion of them on the [H] forums too.

Supposedly good monitors at a great price.
 
Yeah, everyone on OCN is raving about them. Some people have minor issues, others dont. Personally, I have one dead pixel in the top left corner. You can barely see it on an all white screen (pixel density of these monitors helps hide a dead pixel or two), and when you're actually using the monitor like normal, you cant see it at all. I did have some slight yellowing towards the bottom of the screen, but now that it has been on for a few hours, that seems to have gone away almost completely.

For $320, it honestly cant be beat. The screen real estate is phenomenal for things like Photoshop, and games look insane. I was playing some CS:GO earlier and couldn't believe how much better it looked than when I was using my 1920x1200 Gateway monitor.

Also, I purchased from "fastterakorea" on Ebay. Godly fast shipping. I ordered Monday night, they shipped Tuesday morning, and it got here this morning. Basically two days from South Korea via FedEx. I've seen lots of people say "bigclothcraft", "ta_planet", and "red cap" are legit too.
 
[quote name='Kevfactor']the thing is if it's broken or doa how do you get a refund :)[/QUOTE]


if you're buying through eBay... simple open a claim. I've never know eBay to NOT favor the buyer.
 
[quote name='Kevfactor']the thing is if it's broken or doa how do you get a refund :)[/QUOTE]

You have 14 days to return the monitor. I've only read one case of a monitor being DOA, and the guy returned it and was reimbursed the shipping charges. The warranty is the biggest risk. There is a Squaretrade 2-year warranty for $50, but a lot of people claim that Squaretrade will not accept the monitor should something happen as its not meant to be sold in the US, so they'll just refund the price of their warranty.

It's definitely a high risk/high reward situation when purchasing one of these monitors. I realize that will probably turn some people off, but the amount of people getting broken/DOA units compared to those getting great panels seems extremely small.
 
its really tempting, but i bet i'd have to lower some settings to run at native res... blahhhh.

Seems like the Catleap is the "best."

Discovered something interesting:
[quote name='OCForums']Why not just wait a week for the 120hz version. People keep monitors for 4-5 years. This is a high end monitor that will take a while to get out dated. In a year the high end GPUs will be mid-tier and you will be able to push it 100+hz.[/quote]

then someone asked why there wasn't more info about it and got the reply..
[quote name='OCForums']^ because OCN disallowed it, now its underground.[/quote]
so.. i'll wait till next week and see what happens before pulling that trigger.
 
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Apparently a few people have been saying to "wait a week" for at least a month now. One guy said 120hz at 2560x1440 is a pipe dream. Don't really know what to make of it, which is why I just went ahead and ordered. Not to mention, if 120hz did come along, it'd be even more of a bitch to power.

EDIT

Also, I believe the PCBank is actually the "best" of them all. It's response time and contrast ratios are ever so slightly better. I'd say they're all about equal though in terms of performance. It really just comes down to aesthetics and what you prefer when purchasing.
 
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Thanks for posting this. Have you played anything other than CS on it? The response time is the only thing that seems a little slow, but I don't really know much about IPS panels and how it handles it. Price/Performance wise this does seem pretty awesome.
 
So far only tested it with CS:GO, Dungeon Seige 3, and League of Legends. I've noticed no ghosting in any of those games. Keep in mind, response times on IPS panels aren't the same as TN panels. 6ms response time on an IPS is just fine for gaming.
 
[quote name='SEH']So far only tested it with CS:GO, Dungeon Seige 3, and League of Legends. I've noticed no ghosting in any of those games. Keep in mind, response times on IPS panels aren't the same as TN panels. 6ms response time on an IPS is just fine for gaming.[/QUOTE]

Awesome. May have to look into buying this after I get a 680. My sister gave me her old monitor a month or so ago but this would be such a step up that it would be worth it since it is only 1080p and 24 inches.
 
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Yeah, I went from a 24" 1920x1200 monitor and the leap is crazy. The actual monitor size isn't that big of a jump, but the screen real estate is nuts. Working in Photoshop and Illustrator has never been easier.

Also, I'd like to add that Vram doesn't seem to be a real big issue. I'm running my monitor with a 1.5GB GTX580 and my games all run fine. I know some people were trying to go overboard and say you'd need a 2-3GB card, but that really doesn't seem necessary at all. Yeah, my FPS dropped a little going from 1920x1200 to 2560x1440, but I'm still getting 200+ FPS in CS:GO and 60+ in DS3. I used to get around 120FPS in BF3, I know it'll go down, but I should still be able to hit 80FPS no problem (Not even sure if I'll bother installing BF3 though with Diablo 3 being so close to releasing).
 
I've had the Catleap model for almost 1 month now, great picture quality and no dead/stuck pixels. I had to take mine apart because the internal DVI cable came loose but once I got that done I was back in business. The thing I don't like is the is that the stand is terrible, it wobbles like crazy but I replaced mine with an aftermarket one. Other than that these monitors are awesome and the price is unbelievable.

Some of the folks that where working with the manufacturer on getting the 100hz+ monitors back in production have launched a message board since OCN was pretty much deleting threads related to the new monitors. Check them out www.120hz.net

Word is that the 100hz+ monitors will be out on May 7 for $450 shipped with 1 year warranty.
 
I swear the mods on OCN take shit way to seriously. Why delete threads that are trying to help people in your community and aren't harming anyone?

Anyways, I cant speak for the Catleap, but the Shimian stand isn't half bad. It's right about on par with the stock stand my old Gateway came with. It wobbles a bit, but a lot of people on OCN made them out to be way worse than they actually are.
 
Just found this thread, any more word on these? None of them seem to have HDMI which is disappointing.
 
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[quote name='Clak']That one would work, it's got that funky power adapter though.
[/QUOTE]

Which one have you been looking at. All these South Korean monitors are made for South Korea consumers that use South Korea/ euro power outlet, so they all have same plug type.
 
I received my Yamakasi 2b from 120hz.net early this morning. No dead pixels and no significant backlight bleed. Overclocked to 120hz with my gtx 670 and love the thing. Keep in mind I am coming from an eyefinity 3x1 setup but am preferring this monitor so far.
 
I bought the Shimian... loved it for the 30 mins it worked while playing WoW. Now it has major artifacting and waves of colors that do not stop. It is not the video card, as I have tested the monitor with many other computers with same response.

Working with DreamSeller on ebay to try and ship back... He claims it will cost 150 to ship. Waiting to hear if he will foot the bill....
 
Steggy, try asking for advice at 120hz or at the overclock.net threads; I'm guessing it's the cable. Try another cable, otherwise you probs have to return it. Did you use the warranty feature that ebay has? (I can't remember its name LOL)
 
[quote name='mjontrix']Steggy, try asking for advice at 120hz or at the overclock.net threads; I'm guessing it's the cable. Try another cable, otherwise you probs have to return it. Did you use the warranty feature that ebay has? (I can't remember its name LOL)[/QUOTE]

The Squaretrade warranty is useless as its not valid on items not meant to be sold in the US.
 
[quote name='SEH']The Squaretrade warranty is useless as its not valid on items not meant to be sold in the US.[/QUOTE]

Shipped item back and it was $101 to ship back. For some reason I am still waiting for my replacement...

If I still receive nothing by Monday I will accept their partial refund for shipping costs and do a credit card chargeback for item not received...

LAME!
 
Thinking of getting in on one of these, can't decide which one I want and if the extra cash for "perfect pixel" is worth it or not, its about a $65 difference right now.

The tempered glass option doesn't cost much more but I hear its risky. Read that the speakers aren't worth paying extra for. But other than some of the more expensive models offering more ports, my understanding is that the difference really comes down to the bezel and stand? Not sure if any are more reliable than others or if some are more prone to light bleed, etc.
 
My Shimian is still going strong 4+ months later. Zero issues whatsoever.

I didn't purchase a "perfect pixel" version and wound up with, as I mentioned, a single dead pixel in the top left of the screen. One or two dead pixels isn't really an issue though as the pixel density in these monitors makes it really hard to notice. That said, these aren't A+ or A panels, so there is the possibility of getting a cluster which could be an annoyance. If you're really worried about it, I'd spend the extra money just to be on the safe side.

Also didn't get tempered glass on mine as I didn't want to deal with taking the thing apart should there be shit behind the glass, which there has been a decent amount of with these.
 
Every time I read about this, I'm tempted as I really, really want one of these monitors, but I still kinda would rather wait until Dell or another major manufacturer drop their prices. (Although I'm worried that Dell will continue with their habit of anti-glare coating, and I really, really prefer glossy monitors.)

That, and I'd have to upgrade my video card to maintain performance, and I'd rather wait another generation of cards to do so.
 
[quote name='SEH']My Shimian is still going strong 4+ months later. Zero issues whatsoever.

I didn't purchase a "perfect pixel" version and wound up with, as I mentioned, a single dead pixel in the top left of the screen. One or two dead pixels isn't really an issue though as the pixel density in these monitors makes it really hard to notice. That said, these aren't A+ or A panels, so there is the possibility of getting a cluster which could be an annoyance. If you're really worried about it, I'd spend the extra money just to be on the safe side.

Also didn't get tempered glass on mine as I didn't want to deal with taking the thing apart should there be shit behind the glass, which there has been a decent amount of with these.[/QUOTE]
Which seller did you buy from?
 
There's a computer store on the west coast that had some manufactured, they're selling them for just slightly north of what the Koreans are charging. US based seller might be worth the extra money but we'll see.
http://www.overlordcomputer.com

I'm really digging the aluminum bezel on the Crossover, but that also costs more than the cheapest ones out there (usually the Shimian QH270-Lite).
 
[quote name='dafoomie']There's a computer store on the west coast that had some manufactured, they're selling them for just slightly north of what the Koreans are charging. US based seller might be worth the extra money but we'll see.
http://www.overlordcomputer.com

I'm really digging the aluminum bezel on the Crossover, but that also costs more than the cheapest ones out there (usually the Shimian QH270-Lite).[/QUOTE]

Very tempting, but I've never heard of this company before. I'll prolly wait until some reviews pop up since they should be shipping in a few days.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Very tempting, but I've never heard of this company before. I'll prolly wait until some reviews pop up since they should be shipping in a few days.[/QUOTE]
The guy running it is fairly well known in the community, I'm not too concerned about that.

They use grade A panels in those, I guess the Koreans use A-? Seems like another advantage.
 
Honestly, I'd prefer the Korean models over a place that has a website that looks like that. Shit looks WAY more shady than someone on Ebay. The inner graphic designer in me almost wants to give him a free header because the one he currently has looks horrific. I'd put money on that thing turning more than a few customers away.
 
At least I've narrowed the contenders...

Shimian QH270-Lite - $290 shipped, possibly less with ebay offer
Pros: Cheapest
Cons: Shitty flimsy base

Crossover 27Q - $348 shipped
Pros: All aluminum bezel, good solid base
Cons: $60 more for just a nicer bezel and base

Overlord Tempest - $355 shipped
Pros: US Seller, Grade A panel, good base
Cons: Not out yet, no reviews

WeCube ST2770W - $360 shipped
Pros: Scaler, DVI/HDMI/VGA/Component inputs
Cons: scarce reviews
 
Regarding the Shimian base, its not that bad. In reality, its more sturdy than the bases for my Gateway, Viewsonic, and old Acer monitors. It wobbles slightly but unless you have your desk next to a landing strip, it shouldn't move. Its also got a pretty nice tilt range.

Also, more inputs isn't necessarily a positive point. More inputs can at times cause more input delay. With most of these having a single DVI input as well as no OSD, it cuts down pretty significantly on delay.
 
Thats true, and I'm not sure if the extra cost is worth it for me, I don't need it to double as a TV or play consoles on it.

If I'm not mistaken the Shimian sits higher on its base than others, which I'd prefer, but I do get some significant shaking when a truck rumbles by. Even as I'm typing my current monitor wobbles though.
 
[quote name='SEH']The bottom of mine to the desk is about 3¼" if that helps you at all.[/QUOTE]
Bottom of the bezel or the screen?
 
Thats pretty good, thanks.

Looks like I have a week to decide since the Koreans are closed for a holiday and the USA seller won't start shipping his until then.
 
I bought the Shimian QH270 from Redcap on eBay a couple weeks ago for $285. I'm not Monitor/TV expert, but the display looks fantastic. I can't see any flaws at all with my display.

And yes, the base isn't too sturdy, but it works.
 
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