LCD monitor recommendations

[Darth333]

I just bought a new PC today ( ideally I would have waited until the release of the dx10 cards but I didn't really had a choice ) and now I'm looking for a new monitor.

I am considering buying this one (price is in Canadian $). The specs look interesting but I haven't found any real reviews about it.

I had viewsonic CRT monitors in the past and I liked them but I don't really know much about LCDs so I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this monitor or if you have any other good recommendations, preferably 20-22" - price doesn't matter much

[stoffe]

Originally Posted by Darth333

I had viewsonic CRT monitors in the past and I liked them but I don't really know much about LCDs so I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this monitor or if you have any other good recommendations, preferably 20-22" - price doesn't matter much

Personally I'd be careful about Viewsonic TFT monitors, even though I don't know much about that model in particular.

I have a Viewsonic P95f CRT monitor which I've been satisfied with, but I've had a pretty bad experience with one of their TFT models recently. I bought a 19" Viewsonic TFT screen roughly a month ago which had a lot worse image quality than the P95f I was used to.

(Too bright, black became marine blue at best with the brightness turned all the way down. The color wasn't quite right, and the color adjustment controls were rudimentary at best and insufficient to fix the issue. Different parts of the screen had different brightness as well, where it was much brighter around the edges. With large full-screen moving images, like games and movies the image looked like you saw it through a mosquito net with a gray, washed-out colors without richness. Despite the specs indicating otherwise the viewing angle was very narrow and the screen image changed color and brightness with very minor head movements.)

Needless to say I was so disappointed with it that I had to keep my old P95f as primary monitor. I'm not an expert in TFT screens to I don't know if this was just a poor model or if all Viewsonic TFT monitor models are like that compared to the good image quality of their CRT monitors.

Anyway I'd recommend that you visit some store that has the model you are interested in on display and check out the image quality yourself before buying it, if you are able. It'll save you some trouble and potentially nasty surprises that way.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

I've got one of these for my Windows/gaming system. It's 24" and has a max resolution of 1900x1440-which is a difficult resolution to find wallpapers for, but having that much screen real estate is worth the trade off in my opinion. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that it's kind of bright.

[Q]

If you want to spend rather less than $700 (like less than half), you might want to go with 4:3. This is the best one I found for the money. If money is no object, go with Jmac's recommendation. It's the best value in a widescreen monitor of that size and capability.

[Darth333]

Thanks for the input. I'll look into this a bit more before making my final choice. jmac's suggestion sure looks great but the very high native resolution worries me a little bit...I wouldn't want to have slideshows when I play games.

[Q]

What kind of graphics card do you have?

[Darth333]

x1900xtx

[Negative Sun]

Lucky you, must have set you back a bit lol!

[Q]

Originally Posted by Darth333

x1900xtx

Heh, I doubt you'll have a problem.

[stoffe]

Originally Posted by Qliveur

Heh, I doubt you'll have a problem.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

It seems that depends largely on resolution and graphics settings. I have a Radeon X1900XT (which admittedly isn't quite as powerful as the XTX), and when I tested playing Farcry (a 2 year old game) in 1280x1024 with most graphics settings at either High or Very High I get around 24-26 fps in normal play and between 8-14 FPS when zooming in with the binoculars or scope of a weapon in outdoor areas.

I even get FPS drops on occasion when playing Halo (in 1280x1024 with all settings maxed) when the action heats up, and that's a 3 years old game.

So far my experience is that no matter what graphics card you have there is still some game that will make it crawl if you pump the settings up high enough.

I haven't been able to play Deus Ex, a game released in 2000, without any hickups or slowdowns with all settings maxed until I got this computer a couple of months ago (and that can't even be played with any higher resolution than 1024x768 )

The native resolution thing on TFT monitors are quite annoying when you want to play games, in particular older games which may not support the native resolution, or newer games that crawl when having a high native resolution.

[Q]

Point taken.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

Originally Posted by Darth333

Thanks for the input. I'll look into this a bit more before making my final choice. jmac's suggestion sure looks great but the very high native resolution worries me a little bit...I wouldn't want to have slideshows when I play games.

It displays most 4:3 resolutions in between 800x600 and 1920x1440 too.

[Astrotoy7]

I think the decision comes down to how large a display you want.

I have a 27" Samsung LCD TV as my monitor.. (size matters) Max rez is 1360 x 768. With my XFX Geforce 7950 GX2 all games with mazed setting look great, even at that rez.

There are a lot of great 19" LCDs out there that run HD rez nowdays and with impressive response times. Please note, if you want to maximise display quality if you are outputting at HD, you really need to utilise DVI or even HDMI.

Great comparative review over at firingsquad

The monitors mentioned in those reviews are the ones you'll come across most when seraching for monitors used in gaming moreso than anything else.

mtfbwya

[Negative Sun]

Originally Posted by Astrotoy7

I think the decision comes down to how large a display you want.

I have a 27" Samsung LCD TV as my monitor.. (size matters) Max rez is 1360 x 768. With my XFX Geforce 7950 GX2 all games with mazed setting look great, even at that rez.

There are a lot of great 19" LCDs out there that run HD rez nowdays and with impressive response times. Please note, if you want to maximise display quality if you are outputting at HD, you really need to utilise DVI or even HDMI.

What exactly is HD resolution?

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by GodSlayer

What exactly is HD resolution?

ah, now you get into the dazzling and confusing world of 540, 720 and 1080 p/i(progressive or interlaced)

Lets just say if you have your game settings at 1900 x 1080(or over) its HD. But thats not the limit, Ive read about gaming monitors that will be cranking out an astounding 1440p

I had to learn about all this stuff when I got into building media center PCs. Wiki actually has some nice articles on it that arent super tech or full or jargon

1080p
HDTV modes

mtfbwya

[ChAiNz.2da]

I've been monitor shopping lately as well and went with Dell's Ultrasharp widescreens. I've done side-by-side comparisons (physically) with Apple's Cinema Displays and well, Dell's blows Apple's out of the water (this coming from an Apple fanboy mind you )...

They're running a 20% sale ATM, something you might want to check out:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...=19&l=en&s=dhs

Oh yeah, FREE 3-5 day ground shipping too

24" will run you about $679 OR if you want get (2) 20" for about the same price hehehe...

[Darth333]

Originally Posted by ChAiNz.2da

They're running a 20% sale ATM, something you might want to check out:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...=19&l=en&s=dhs

Oh yeah, FREE 3-5 day ground shipping too

No sale in Canada http://accessories.dell.com/sna/prod...1&sku=320-4335 With taxes and shipping it will be about $1200.

But it looks pretty sweet and I'll look into it (one of the advantages of not being a student anymore) but I would prefer to stay under 1K taxes and shipping included. However, before buying a monitor with such a high native res, I think I'll wait to have my new system on Monday (I was supposed to get it yesterday but I arrived 3 minutes too late to pick it up ) and make some tests to see how it runs at similar resolutions.

[ChAiNz.2da]

ouch.. sorry about that

I keep forgetting you're one of them Canadian type persons hehehe..

I'll keep my peepers peeled for something more local for ya'

[Darth333]

Originally Posted by ChAiNz.2da

ouch.. sorry about that

I keep forgetting you're one of them Canadian type persons hehehe..

I'll keep my peepers peeled for something more local for ya'

Hehe

Well, ideally I'd like to buy from here: http://www.sohodiffusion.com/ not only they have a guarantee that you get the best prices in the country (if you find cheaper elsewhere -including ncix- you get a rebate and they have that pricematch thing) but their business is also located right between my office and my home so I can pick it up and avoid shipping charges Their service is also most excellent. We use them at the office and whenever I send them an e-mail they answer within 10 minutes or so. They also do a neat job if you ask them to build the pc for you. We ordered a new PC for my secretary a few weeks ago and I have never seen a good job like this: they took care all the updates, set up the partitions as requested (I always ask a little more than the other lawyers in the office ) and when I opened the case to check the job (I coulnd't avoid it ) everything was perfect and all the cables were out of the way, allowing a good airflow (it was no italian spaghetti job as I call it).

[Q]

@D3: You can always try Ebay. It takes time to sift through all of the crap, but you can find some real bargains there on new stuff if you take the time, and most vendors will ship to Canada. Lots of brand new Dell stuff there at a discount!

[Astrotoy7]

Originally Posted by ChAiNz.2da

....Dell's blows Apple's out of the water....

lolz. Dell is indeed good at blowing stuff up Like their notebook batteries and AC adapters for example

BOOM!

@D333 - Ebay is awesome. Especially if you find someone local you can pick up the item at. I just bought a PDA phone with 2 year extended warranty for $300 less than I would have in a retail place. Just dont buy stuff from Nigeria

mtfbwya