MONITORS
ISSUE 381|COMPUTER SHOPPER|NOVEMBER 2019 77
THETHOUGHTOFbuying agaming monitor
might put off those on atight budget, but
Iiyama’s GB2530HSU-B1 sits at an attractive
price while offering agreat set of features.
On paper,itmight just be one of the best
budget monitors on the market. Let’s find
out if it lives up to its expectations.
The GB2530HSU-B1 is a24.5in monitor
with a1,920x1,080 TN panel. It runs at a
native 75Hz refresh rate, not 144Hz like
more premium gaming monitors, but still
faster and smoother-looking than the
industry default 60Hz. Official support for
AMD FreeSync, as well as unofficial support
forNvidia G-Sync, also means this refresh
ratecan vary dynamically to remove screen
tearing when playing games.
STANDTALL
Best of all, the GB2530HSU-B1 costs just £136,
aprice so low that there’s very little in the way
of direct competition. The AOCG2460VĒand
G2590VŮĒare both similar,right down to the
75Hz refresh rateand FreeSync support,
although unlike the GB2530HSU-B1 theydon’t
have an adjustable stand.
This particular part of Iiyama’s monitor is a
cut above its budget rivals. It provides height
adjustment, tilt and swivel, and can also pivot
by up to 90ȑ, so it’s easier to set up at acomfy
angle than the AOCCĒ32G1, which costs over
twice as much. If you’d rather use your own
stand or mount the displayonawall, there’s a
100x100mm VESA mount on the back.
The GB2530HSU-B1 has athree-sided
borderless design and as such looks very
elegant next to the majority of budget gaming
monitors, which tend towards thicker
bezels. That manages to remain true
even with the plain black plastic used to
put it all together.
Forvideo input, there are VGA,
DisplayPort and HDMI ports, plus two
USB2 ports, and 3.5mm headphone input
and output jacks. The built-in pair of 2W
speakers are sufficient forWindows
notifications, but if you want to properly
enjoygames and music, you’ll want to
attach external speakers or headphones.
The OSD is good, too. It’s
comprehensive and easy enough to
navigate, using the physical buttons located
at the bottom-right edge.
The GB2530HSU-B1’s matt TN panel
doesn’t deliver the best viewing angles.
If you’re not looking at it square on, the
colours shift noticeably.Italso has arelatively
IIYAMA
GB2530HSU-B1
★★★★★
£136•From http://www.scan.co.ukVERDICT
Withahigherrefreshrateonalowerbudget,
theGB2530HSU-B1isgreatforcheapgaming
humdrum contrast ratio of 1,180:1, which is
common with TN panels. IPS and VA panels
are normally farsuperior in this department,
as the AOCC27G1 and CĒ32G1 have shown.
Colour coverage depends on your settings:
you can switch between Cool, Normal, Warm
and User color modes. We found the Warm
setting to be the closest to the sRGB colour
gamut, although even using this, the
GB2530HSU-B1 only covered 90.2% of it.
Colour accuracy is also somewhat
disappointing. We measured an average
delta-E of 2.42 and amaximum of 7.73, which
means this monitor won’t be well suited to
doing aspot of video or photoediting on the
side.It’s fine forgaming; just don’t expect
colours to be as vivid or accurateasthey
would be if you spent upwards of £200.SMOOTHINGPICTURES
Brightness also depends on your colour
settings. In Normal mode,wemeasured a
maximum of around 240cd/mσ, but switching
to User color raised it to apeak of 297cd/mσ.This certainly isn’t the best around, but it
will suffice forindoor lighting and late-night
gaming sessions.
The GB2530HSU-B1’s image quality might
not be much to get excited about, but its
gaming performance is much more impressive.
With a1ms response time and anative refresh
rateof75Hz, this is abrilliant displayfor
gamers on atight budget. If you’re a
competitive gamer,you’ll ideally want a
monitor with a144Hz refresh rate, but you
simply won’t find one of those at this price,
and since 120Hz monitors are also more
expensive,75Hz is the next best thing.
Foranextra boost, you can enable the
monitor’s Overdrive setting. The higher you
go,the more responsive the panel gets.
However,with anything over the first setting
of -2, you’ll experience inverse ghosting and, if
you push it up to ̽2 (the highest setting),
there’s anoticeable purple trail, even in less
graphically intense games. We suggest you
keep it down to ̽1 or 0tominimise the
unwanted effects, or disable it forthe best
visual experience.Even with Overdrive off,
the panel is surprisingly responsive,with
minimal perceptible input lag.
The inclusion of AMD FreeSync
technology also means that, if you have a
compatible AMD graphics card, you can
benefit from tear-free gaming, provided
the game is running at between 30fps
and 75fps. Once again, G-Sync support
wasn’t originally intended, but has since
become unofficially available to GTŮ
10-series cards or newer.OCULUSTHRIFT
The Iiyama GB2530HSU-B1 isn’t the greatest
gaming monitor in the world but, in terms of
value,it’s exceptional. Even if some others
come close on panel performance,its simple
yet sleek design and highly adjustable stand
mean it’s still the best budget choice.