There's not a whole lot of reviews yet.
BenQ is weird, no FreeSync, no G-Sync, no Lightboost. Pretty poor at that price.
No idea about the Acer.

Generally all of them have worse colours than 120/144/165/180Hz monitors.
Highest overshoots = worst colours, but lowest response time on the AOC. Your only option with FreeSync though.
Asus a bit less overshoots, a bit better colours, but higher response time. G-Sync.

That's the NA (Ginyu Force) vs EU (SNSD) showmatch.

Don't get me wrong, it was nice shot, but it was definitely not a cup, not a final and there were at least 6 nations involved.

It's like a neutron star. You can't comprehend how something this dense can exist, but it does.

#2148
I can make a partlist a week or two before he's actually building, it's a bit early now.

#2149
I'll have some spare time in March so I don't mind. Better than doing lots of partlists now that I have to throw away later.

You are aware that we are talking about less than 2 weeks?
Nah, 120GB is almost as expensive as 250GB. Let's do it properly.
Overclocking will cost more than 50$ with Intel, nothing with AMD.

#2143
Overclocking yes/no?
When is he going to build (Zeeeeeen).

#2144
Many programs + VMs you should definitely wait for Zen. Assuming the rumours/leaks are correct <200 instead of >300$ for 4 cores / 8 threads, ~250$ for 6C/12T and somewhere slightly above 300$ for 8C/16T instead of the 1000$ Intel wants you to cough up.
RAM actually isn't that cheap right now, so 2x8GB now, maybe upgrade to 32GB later.
SSD is standard.
1TB, 2TB or more for the HDD?
Gaming doesn't affect the cooler.
Overclocking yes/no?

Would there be any benefit to keeping it compact?

Standard 24" 1080p 60 Hz monitor (IPS in that case of course) or something more fancy?
Most universities sold some souls to microsoft and get windows for free as a result. Might want to check that.

#20
1. It means the manufacturer cheaped out.
2. If it's low frequency PWM (e.g. 180 Hz, early version VG248QE or XL2411T) then headaches. If it's high frequency then because some people thought it would be really smart to use multiples of the monitors refresh rate (180, 240, 300, 360, 600, 720 are common) you can get really weird interference patterns with mains powered lights (which most lights are) which at best make you dizzy and at worst make you vomit. The VG248QE actually always uses 6 times the refresh rate, so you don't get the problem at 144Hz, but you do at 60 or 120 Hz (e.g. for Lightboost).
Obviously depends on the mains frequency but it's just not acceptable when cheaper monitors don't have that problem.

#21
They were not. You just get used to it and have no comparision.
Like when you are in a room with way too yellow or way too blue light and then go somewhere else all colours will look horribly off. Same thing. Except on top of colour balance being bad there's some more additonal problems.

There's the short explanations and the long versions.
Short versions:
Colour issues = monitor is supposed to display colours. This monitor does not display the colours it should display.

PWM = One way of adjusting the brightness. PWM is a crutch for when you want to cheap out. No good monitor should use it.

The long versions are very long, depending on how much you know about how RGB and colour spaces work.

AOC makes some very good monitors.
They also make some very bad monitors.

Especially with an ICC profile the G2460PF is ok in terms of colours. Overdrive is a bit too aggressive at lower refresh rates (remember, FreeSync).

It's good for a 200$ 144Hz FreeSync monitor, but it's still a 200$ 144Hz monitor. You get what you pay for.

The answer is colour issues and PWM.
Fine in 2012 when there were no other options.
Not fine in 2013 when even cheaper monitors did a better job.
Absolutely not ok in 2017.

The GN246HL got all the downsides of the VG248QE, except worse.

I mean sure, it's the perfect monitor for masochists, but I generally assume people buy 144Hz so their eyes DON'T bleed.

The Nixeus is ok.

There's free software that does the same or you can do it manually.

If you have 20$ to spend there's better options.
CPU throttling -> clean pc
Still throttling -> buy a cooler
CPU actually terrible -> you can buy a better one used for 20$ if it's that bad

Don't get the Asus VG248QE.
BenQ XL2411 is outside of the budget.

Don't get the Acer GN246HL.

The AOC G2460FQ is the G2460PF's predecessor without FreeSync. No reason to get it, especially when it's more expensive like now.

So the G2460PF and XF240H are your only options.
I haven't found a comprehensive review or an ICC profile for the XF240H so I'm not sure if it's better or worse.

I guess the G2460PF is the safer bet for at least ok-ish colours since you can get an ICC profile.
https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/aoc-g2460pf/

The ban has already been lifted, y'all need to chill the fuck out.

He wants to improve, not get worse.