Need Advice - replacing my monitor

[Tac]

I currently have a KDS 21" CRT which is big as heck and heats my room up like you wont believe.


Need to replace it.

I've been looking at LCD's...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014168

is one of them.

Im ignorant on what 'stats' are good for a gaming monitor. Im trying to keep it under the 200 buck range if possible.

Also been seeing:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5272917


of course, id love a 24 inch or bigger but price oh price ..

Suggestions? Any other places / monitors i should be looking for?

[humble]

basically three components...

refresh rate (5ms or less)
Brightness 300 cd/m2 or higher
contrast 1000:1 or higher (less important then the 1st two but still something to consider)

Samsung and LG probably are generally considered the best right now...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005106LG 19"

Just browsing this one "speced out" really well and seems top have good reviews but is unknown brand to me...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824211010

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Samsung makes really good quality LCD:s. The 226BW is a good option, it has superb performance and price is getting lower.

Make sure that the monitor you buy has low latency (5ms or less) and that it and your displaycard (duh..) has a DVI input. The DVI input is crucial because if you run the screen through regular VGA you're plagued with analog world problems (meaning you get a fuzzy screen and have to calibrate it, sometimes with less than optimum results). With DVI your image will be crystal clear straight from the box.

[alskahawk]

 I have 3 Samsung's. A 19 inch, 22 inch and a 24 inch. I like them all. But as you said "oh the price". I actually got my 22 Samsung (226bw) for under $300. 24 inch for around $400. The 22 inch at 2ms probally performs better but I can't tell the difference. They are both light years ahead of crt monitors. I would recommend at least a 22 inch though. Look at the ViewSonic's or Acer they make some good stuff too.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

One thing to note with LCD's is not only the refresh rate but response rate, too. LCD's have a varying response rate - meaning that if you make control input on a game it takes a varying time before you see the screen update. The differences are not big but are there and the 226BW is the class leader in this category too. It's hard to find a faster LCD on the market, especially at the price.

[eagl]

There's a thread in here somewhere that discusses AH and widescreen gaming.

Basically, because of how AH does views, if you have a widescreen monitor you don't get any more usable view area.  What you get instead is the same horizontal viewing angle and the top and bottom of the view is cut off.

In fact, you'd be better off from a gameplay point of view getting a widescreen monitor and rotating it into portrait mode.  You'd keep your 90 deg horizontal view angle, but get a whole lot more vertical view angle, which is far more important in the game.  It would probably look terrible, but you'd have a heck of a view advantage over using a widescreen monitor in it's normal orientation.

So...  For AH, at least for now, a regular 4:3 aspect ratio ("square") monitor is going to look better, because AH doesn't grok widescreen monitors.  Yet.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I've seen monitors set up like that for flightsims and it gives a nice advantage when furballing. But the side view tends to narrow quite much.

[Eagler]

I've seen monitors set up like that for flightsims and it gives a nice advantage when furballing. But the side view tends to narrow quite much.

Here is my 24" turned vertical:


I gain much more in vertical than I lose in horizontal

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Here is my 24" turned vertical:


I gain much more in vertical than I lose in horizontal

Huh.. at least you were speaking about your monitor.. 

It looks like you've tweaked your view settings all the way to the back though. Doesn't that make your aiming difficult? The POV gets real narrow aiming wise.

[Tac]

nice info thanks all. any more suggestions or links to nice, big, inexpensive LCD's please post them. I really dont mind replacing the monitor every 3 years but I do mind paying $500 for an LCD that might get shorted out in less than 3 years and be out of warranty 'n shtuff. Happened to me once already and im not doing that again. Low cost / not so good quality + risk vs high cost, high quality + same risk = easy choice.

[Krusty]

The same way that widescreen doesn't give you any benefits, "tallscreen" doesn't give you any extra viewing area over a 3:4 ratio screen. It just crops off the left and right.


You're really better off running in a non-widescreen resolution, and setting your video settings to NOT scale the image to fit the monitor. This will produce a letterbox-type area on each side left and right, but what you get is the proper ratio and shows you ALL the elements on the screen, even if slightly smaller than your desktop.

[Eagler]

It looks like you've tweaked your view settings all the way to the back though. Doesn't that make your aiming difficult? The POV gets real narrow aiming wise.

yes, had to reset all the views back in the seat and set a slight zoom setting up for shooting

[Ack-Ack]

With DVI your image will be crystal clear straight from the box.

not quite, at least with me.  I have a Samsung 906BW 19" widescreen and I get a blue "halo" around aircraft in game.  Haven't been able to pin point the cause.

Running at 1440x900x32bit 75Hz refresh rate on an ATI x1650 XT Pro with DVI connection.  I've tried different DVI cables and still have the blue halo around planes.  This is the only game that I have this issue with.  *shrug*


ack-ack

[Gixer]

I have a Samsung 906BW 19" widescreen and I get a blue "halo" around aircraft in game.  Haven't been able to pin point the cause.


ack-ack

Ha! Your hack is exposed! Your nothing better then a Pally Bubble Hearther!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBDkPZffCwI


<S>...-Gixer

[Ack-Ack]

LOL!  Never seen that clip before, classic.


ack-ack