What LCD should i get?

[DigeratiPrime]

Hello fellow members, I am considering buying an LCD monitor for my computer to replace the 19" CRT EN985e i currently have. I am looking for something around 19" under $400, i do play games namely Unreal Tournament 2004, and i have a Radeon 9800 Pro (DVI).

A couple of monitors that have caught my eye are:

Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20" Widescreen LCD

ViewSonic VX924 19" LCD

any other reccomended monitors for gaming or advice on choosing?

[phkninja]

dont mean to be pedantic but do you mean tft or lcd. If there is a choice between them id take tft. If money was no object id get an oled screen (better than lcd, and is the screens usedm on mp3 players etc)

[DigeratiPrime]

'LCD Monitors' and yes they are really TFT LCD's.

btw OLEDs are cool but not suitable for frame rates or color depth atm.

Anyone else?

[EchoNoise]

Dell UltraSharp 2005FPW 20" Widescreen LCD

Thats what I have and WOOHOO it rockz0rz

[bledd]

get the xerox i19 8ms

best buy ever

[Wicket20519]

Since you will be gaming, make sure the monitor has a fast response time (milliseconds). 8ms or less is good for gaming!

Also, I used this guide from PC World to help me buy my monitor. And below the copied text I link to two monitors I thought you might like:

Contrast ratio: This term refers to the difference in light intensity between the brightest white and the darkest black that an LCD can produce. Look for a contrast ratio of 400:1 or better--with anything lower, colors may wash out when you turn up the brightness and may disappear when you turn it down. However, higher is only better up to a point. Contrast ratios over 600:1 are unlikely to provide any advantage, and monitor vendors are likely using "fuzzy math" to calculate those values, anyway.

Brightness: Expressed as candelas per square meter (cd/m2) or nits, this specification measures the greatest amount of light that comes from a screen displaying pure white. Nearly all LCDs have a brightness level of 250cd/m2 or greater, which should be more than sufficient. (In comparison, CRT monitors typically average about 100 cd/m2--though you might see some high-brightness CRTs.) Vendors usually set the brightness level to maximum on new monitors to impress customers. But after using the monitor for a while, you will likely want to turn the brightness down a bit to spare your eyes.

Digital versus analog: If you have a graphics card with digital video-out, choose an LCD that has digital input. The image won't have to convert from analog to digital and back again, so it will be clearer. Even if you don't have a DVI port on your system, choosing a digital LCD makes sense, because your next desktop PC probably will have a DVI port--and most digital-capable monitors also have a VGA (analog) connection. Digital inputs tend to be found on more-expensive LCDs. Very few notebook PCs come with digital outputs for external monitors. However, some notebooks can gain a DVI connection when they attach to a docking station or port replicator.

.....and the monitors (click):

Samsung SyncMaster 915N Black 19" LCD Monitor

• Screen size: 19"
  
• Resolution: 1280 x 1024 (SXGA)
  
• Response Time: 8 ms
  
• Contrast Ratio: 700:1
  
• Brightness: 300 cd/m2
  

Hyundai ImageQuest L90D+ Silver/Black 19'' LCD Monitor

• Screen size: 19"
  
• Resolution: 1280 x 1024 (SXGA)
  
• Response Time: 8 ms
  
• Contrast Ratio: 700:1
  
• Brightness: 300 cd/m2
  

Prices are under $400....atleast that's what PriceGrabber says. Hope that helps.

[ripken204]

the one you listed in the first post is the best in my opinion. contrast could be better but the response time is amazing.

[rjz]

Is dot pitch no longer important with these flat panels?

[rendrag]

i have the ViewSonic VX924 19" LCD, and I love it.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16824116355

[DigeratiPrime]

ohh id like to hear more from undeadsoldier (2005FPW) and rendrag (VX924)!

Can you both describe how your monitor performs?

1. Refresh Rate (Ghosting) in DVD's and Games?
   I play UT2K4 alot and dont want any smearing on my screen messing up ma headshots! B)
   
2. Also how are the colors, do you notice any color banding on the monitor, if so how significant?
   
3. Any special setup instructions to get it working, did colors needed to be adjusted out of the box?
   
4. How does the monitor handle changing screen resolution?
   
5. Any other special notes?
   

btw Wicket20519 i have a freind with the L90D+ its a nice monitor, but he got the problem with the vertical lines on the screen. and overall the monitor has a recieved alot of bad reviews about this problem. Id rather spend the extra $40 an get the viewsonic.

But im still having trouble choosing between a standard aspect ratio monitor (VX924) and the Widescreen (2005FPW). Seems the widescreen is nice for DVD's and certain FPS games that support it. But i hate the look of the thing, and the fact that it has a dell logo on it. Thanks so far for the feedback!

Edited November 4, 2005 by DigeratiPrime

[Jeremy]

omfg, I can't believe how picky people are over 8ms response times. I have a 2 year old Dell 17" LCD and I don't notice any "ghosting". Maybe I get so into the game I don't notice it? Am I supposed to glare as hard as I can and move my mouse back and forth repeatedly for 3 minutes straight? How do I see the ghosting? I mean, really, when you see the lower numbers here and higher numbers there in the "What's new with this new advanced technology" I guess you get a little picky. But in a real world scenario, what's the BIG difference?

Or maybe I'm just used to my monitor?

But yeah, if I were to go with a new LCD, it would be the Hyundai ImageQuest simply because it's the only one on the site I shop at that has 16.7 million colors instead of 16.2. Wait, am I being picky?

Edited November 4, 2005 by Jeremy

[Wicket20519]

omfg, I can't believe how picky people are over 8ms response times. I have a 2 year old Dell 17" LCD and I don't notice any "ghosting". Maybe I get so into the game I don't notice it? Am I supposed to glare as hard as I can and move my mouse back and forth repeatedly for 3 minutes straight? How do I see the ghosting? I mean, really, when you see the lower numbers here and higher numbers there in the "What's new with this new advanced technology" I guess you get a little picky. But in a real world scenario, what's the BIG difference?

Or maybe I'm just used to my monitor?

But yeah, if I were to go with a new LCD, it would be the Hyundai ImageQuest simply because it's the only one on the site I shop at that has 16.7 million colors instead of 16.2. Wait, am I being picky?

Here's a cookie!

The monitor I bought was on sale, so I got it. Bad idea....it had a 16ms response time. Whenever I played Halo, ghosting would occur. It just looks....weird....and it was distracting.

That's great that you like your monitor; but no one attacked you or anything, so chill.

btw Wicket20519 i have a freind with the L90D+ its a nice monitor, but he got the problem with the vertical lines on the screen. and overall the monitor has a recieved alot of bad reviews about this problem. Id rather spend the extra $40 an get the viewsonic.

Oh ok; on pricegrabber they'd given the monitor nearly all 5 stars, but it was only about 16 reviews. I'll try to do more research next time!

[Jeremy]

Wicket, uh? I didn't attack anyone. I guess I have to play the newest games with the latest technology to see ghosting. Maybe it's just my monitor. I'd like a new one, but don't need one. I don't want your cookie and I am chilled, lol. Anyway, good luck to my buddy there on picking out his monitor.

[Zxian]

The monitor I bought was on sale, so I got it. Bad idea....it had a 16ms response time. Whenever I played Halo, ghosting would occur. It just looks....weird....and it was distracting.

It could also be that the advertized 16ms response time isn't actually what stands up to tests. Check the tests over at Tom's Hardware for various LCD monitors, and you'll see that the response time is actually higher than what the manufacturers advertise.

I'd take a quality built 12 or even 16ms monitor over a crappy no-name 8ms.

[rendrag]

ohh id like to hear more from undeadsoldier (2005FPW) and rendrag (VX924)!

Can you both describe how your monitor performs?

1. Refresh Rate (Ghosting) in DVD's and Games?
   I play UT2K4 alot and dont want any smearing on my screen messing up ma headshots! B)
   
2. Also how are the colors, do you notice any color banding on the monitor, if so how significant?
   
3. Any special setup instructions to get it working, did colors needed to be adjusted out of the box?
   
4. How does the monitor handle changing screen resolution?
   
5. Any other special notes?
   

btw Wicket20519 i have a freind with the L90D+ its a nice monitor, but he got the problem with the vertical lines on the screen. and overall the monitor has a recieved alot of bad reviews about this problem. Id rather spend the extra $40 an get the viewsonic.

But im still having trouble choosing between a standard aspect ratio monitor (VX924) and the Widescreen (2005FPW). Seems the widescreen is nice for DVD's and certain FPS games that support it. But i hate the look of the thing, and the fact that it has a dell logo on it. Thanks so far for the feedback!

-I've played all sorts of fast-paced media on my pc: cs: source, bf2, and a bunch of movies. I've never noticed any ghosting.

- I haven't really noticed any color banding at all.

- ViewSonic has some options, you can do an automatic color adjust, or manually set it. I just left it at default, and it looks correct (compared to 3 other monitors showing the same object)

- I was suprised at how well this monitor handled res changes. native is 1280x1024, and even at 800x600, the picture is just a little blocky. previous lcds i've had have looked really distorted at low resolutions.

just as a note, i'm using the DVI input.

the only issue with widescreen displays is that if the game doesn't support it, it looks really bad. That was the reason I didn't go w/ a widescreen LCD

good luck