what size screen is best?

[BarryBD]

OK, I don't know much about computers...

So here a question,

I'm going to replace my old TV-like screen for an new flatscreen.

What size would you suggest?
Any specifics I should consider?

[BaldEagl]

Thar's kind of like asking "What's the best plane?".  What size is your old CRT, what budget do you have in mind and what kind of video card are you running?

[Fulmar]

What's your budget?

[BarryBD]

well actually, budget around 300 euro's give or take (450 dollars approx.)

I now have a 15 inch IBM screen (really old, didn't need to replace it when I bought my computer...)

Video card????  Don't know...

I mean, 15 inch, 17 inch 19 inch...

In the PC shop, I told the guy what the PC was needed for, and he build me one that does what is expected from it...

So, sorry for the little info, really, it does not really interest me, as long as it does what it's bought for...

[BlauK]

You may also want to consider the option of using a pivot to turn a wide screen vertical. That way you gain a lot of viewing angle vertically without losing any horizontal angle. Search the Hardware forum for some screenshots.

If you choose to go for wide screen (16:10 ratio) and use it in normal horizontal position, you will lose some vertical angle (compared to 4:3 ratio "normal old screens) while horizontal stays the same

I personally prefer 19" (5:4 ratio) 1280x1024 screen for playing AH. Ir gives slightly more vertical angle than 4:3 ratio monitors. Naturally it could be larger than 19", but it would not fit at my current computer location

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Screens are like noodlees. Big is always better, no matter what your woman says.

[BaldEagl]

The most common sizes currently are 19" normal aspect and 22" widescreen but bigger is better as long as you have the room for it and the video card to push enough pixels.  For instance, at 1024x768 resolution with a vertical refresh rate of 60 your card has to render ~47 million pixels per second.  At 1600x1200 (widescreen) @ 60Hz your card has to render ~115 million pixels per second.  Unlike a CRT monitor, LCD's need to run at their "native" resolutions for the best image quality, therefore, you can't just turn down the resolution to gain performance like you can with a CRT.  On the plus side, image sharpness and quality are far better than a CRT.

Things to look for are response rate (less than 5ms is best for gaming), contrast ratio (700 minimum... 1000 or higher is better) and color palette (16.2 million minimum).

Here's a couple of links to help you out a little more:

http://www.newegg.com/product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=247

http://www.newegg.com/product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=54

[BarryBD]

Thnx, now I know what to look for

[HomeBoy]

For me, a 24" widescreen is a must.  Coming from a 21" CRT with 1600x1200, I am too spoiled to go below 1600x1200 and the 24" is the only one that can do that resolution.  Actually, it does 1920x1200 at the desktop (and in MS FSX) which is sweet!!

[BarryBD]

After some reading here, I came up with this :

http://www.vandenborre.be/WEB/NL/PC-Scherm/SAMSUNG-SM2032BW/Page77.vdb?Detail=KmqaOqqaOatbbe9nR6qaM2doOqdm

Dutch website, but I'm sure, you guys can figure it out

Any toughts on this one?

[Noir]

You won't go far with a 24' display and a 5 years old videocard.

[Bruv119]

Hi Barry,

that screen will be nice.  I use a 22" widescreen.  I run in 1680 x 1050 but as the people here have suggested it will crop the top and bottom of the screen.  It isnt that major if you have your views setup and enough buttons to assign page up/down.

2 solutions,  go the crazy finn way of turning your screen vertical.  or go with the screens that support 1600 x 1200 they should have less of the screen cropped.

The native resolution is the best one to run it with as I tried all sorts of different ones with mine and the native one was the only one that looked "normal"

either way it will make your flying experience better because the planes appear bigger and you can shoot em easier 

Bruv

[BaldEagl]

Barry,  It looks good.  I'm sure it will be nice.

As to what Bruv said, there is another option (which is what I use).  I have a 22" widescreen with a native resolution of 1680x1050 and I didn't like the game cropping off the top and bottom to fit my screen.  In my video card set-up, I turned off monitor scaleing and set my monitor to it's native resolution.  In the Aces High video set-up, I set game resolution to 1280x1024.  This places the game centered on my screen with black "letter boxes" to either side and 13 pixels of black at the top and bottom but it gives me the full vertical view without cropping.  This resolution gives me about the same screen as a 19" normal aspect LCD.  I think it works great and outside of AH, I get the full use of my widescreen.

Before you go ahead and buy this can you post your video card for us to make sure it's going to work with this monitor?  If you're using XP click on start/my computer/view system information/hardware/device manager then click the plus sign next to display adapters and tell us what it says underneath that.

[Condor]

Homeboy and I do exactly the same scaling as BaldEagl with our 24" LCDs (but to 1600 by 1200).  It works great.  None of the field of view is lost and the image is much better than 21" CRT.  Homeboy can do the scaling from the controls of his Acer LCD.  My Samsung doesn't have that feature so I do it in Nvidea control panel.  The result is the same.

[BarryBD]

vid card is a GeForce6800GT

But I bought one, and it works suuuuuuper

I'm very happy, because I got the 22 inch for only 3 euro more


Thanks a lot for the help everybody...

It's nice to get these positive and constructive responses

Now experimenting with setups will be next

Specifications
Product Description Samsung 2232BW 22" Pebble Range Glossy Widescreen Black TFT Monitor
Diagonal Size 22" Wide
Colour Black High Glossy
Pixel Pitch 0.282 x 0.282 mm
Max Colours Supported Upto 16.7 Million
Interface DVI, VGA (HD-15)
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Response Time 2 ms
Contrast Ratio 3000:1
Dimensions 517 x 419 x 210 mm
Weight 4.95 kg
Max Resolution 1680 x 1050
Viewing Angles 170/170 (CR>5)
Special Features DVI(HDCP) .MagicBright3 .High Glossy Black