18in LCD for gaming?

[TOCSYS]

I want to move to an LCD display but I've read things about them that make me want to reconsider my decision(Trailing, improper color display, etc). Can anyone give me a some suggestions or links to an LCD for under 1000 dollars? Any info would help. Thanks.

 

[techfuzz]

You need to pay special attention to the response times of LCD monitors if you're interested in playing games on them. The lower the response time the less ghosting (or trailing as you called it) is noticable. Right now the best times are around 15ms which many people report as being acceptable. But of course you're going to pay a premium for such a low response time.

techfuzz

 

[Ipno]

Not to mention that LCDs aren't true multisync, so unless you plan to play in the exact same resolution for every single game you will get some distortion.

CRTs own gaming for now.

 

[TOCSYS]

Heheh, I guess it's time to re-reconsider my decision. Thanks for the info.

 

[fkloster]

CRTs own gaming for now.

 

[Coherence]

I love my LCD, and I game with it all the time. Ghosting isn't much of an issue for me, but I also have a high-end model. There are new models on the market (Hitachi comes to mind) that boast a 16ms response (rise+fall), which is excellent. Even mine at 25ms was considered fantastic at the time.

As far as playing at non-native resolutions, a good LCD monitor will scale the image smoothly so little or no distortion is noticeable. (At least, mine does.) Otherwise, if you reall want to nitpick about it, just make sure your PC has enough power to run games at the LCD's native resolution (which for an 18" LCD will probably be 1280x1024, 19" and higher will probably be 1600x1200).

The lower heat and lower power consumption are nice, too.

 

[NeBaWONG]

if you are willing to drop $1000 then you will be able to find a high quality lcd monitor that should little if any ghosting. I have the Dell 1900FP which is a 19" LCD and i absoluely love it. Get the Samsung 191T and put the monitor in portrait mode and see if anyone cares if that thing ghosts... which it wont. If you were really a hardcore gamer than you wouldnt have even asked about LCD monitors, the advantages of having an LCD monitor outweigh any of the disadvantages.

 

[TOCSYS]

Well, I'm a long time gamer but I wouldn't consider myself "hardcore". I just want to make sure that my purchase is the right one because the plunge into the LCD world is going to cost a pretty penny. Right now I'm using a 19in(18in viewable)NEC MultiSync FE950+ and I'm tired of the Geometry problems/energy consumption typical of many CRT monitors. I just read the review of that new Hitachi LCD at tomshardware. It sounds very nice and I would love to get it but it's only a 17in model. Do they make em in at least an 18in flavor?

 

[The Sauce]

Eh, I have a Sony CRT and I only play in one resolution anyway - 1024 x 768. If a game is running a bit slower or faster I just change the texture size or color depth. I am just waiting for a good, no-ghosting, 19+ inch LCD that will run in 1600 x 1200 natively and for a video card that can handle games at that resolution. Should not be more than 6 months off now.

 

[Ipno]

Yes, the technology is getting better and better.

I'm going to let all you early adopters lower the price for me before I get an LCD.

 

[Ilmater]

That Hitachi CML174 (I even know the model number off the top of my head!) is sweet. I know that 17" seems a little small, but either you pay for size or you pay for lower response times. They're simply not making many of the bigger models with fast response times because the mass market can't afford both. IMO, either you buy the Hitachi now (the biggest monitor with the lowest times), or wait to get something bigger when faster response times come out for them.

Personally, I'm waiting for the NEC/Mitsubishi FFD's to come out. That should significantly reduce response times down to ~10ms or so. If you don't know what this is, then read more about it here.

 

[TOCSYS]

I just went to my local BestBuy to check things out and what do ya know, they had the Samsung on display hooked up to an Alienware rig w/ a 9700.
I took JKII, Medal of Honor and some of the ATI Direct X 9 Demos for a spin and I must say I was quite impressed. The image quality was very good and I wanted to make adjustments to the contrast/briteness settings but the options were locked out. The screen was dirty as hell too because of everyone putting their grimey fingers all over it. I could see tearing on the monitor when I would make quick movements but that's probably because the refresh rate/fps were not synced up. However, when I ran the ATI Pipedream demo, things went waaaay downhill. It looked blurry, grainy and almost like I was watching the demo prerendered in a full screen Windows Media Player movie. That's about as close as I can get to what I experienced. I could only pick the different demos/games from a menu so it's possible that the demo was not running in the monitors native resolution. As far as the ghosting goes, I really didn't notice any. And that's saying a lot from somone coming straight from the CRT world. They had one left for sale and I opted not to purchase it. It was a very tough decision and I almost turned around to go get it but then I factored in the 15% restocking fee I would have to pay if the purchase turned out not to be worth it and decided to stick with decision of leaving the store empty handed.

 

[Staples]

If you do buy one, I recommend the Samsung 191T. I have had one since October and I have been very happy with it since I got it. There is no going back to CRTs for me.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
That Hitachi CML174 (I even know the model number off the top of my head!) is sweet. I know that 17" seems a little small, but either you pay for size or you pay for lower response times. They're simply not making many of the bigger models with fast response times because the mass market can't afford both. IMO, either you buy the Hitachi now (the biggest monitor with the lowest times), or wait to get something bigger when faster response times come out for them.

[/L].

I would also recommend the Hitachi

Running it and I love this LCD. No ghosting so far with the games I have played

 

[human2k]

Spend $230 on a Samsung 955DF 19inch Flatscreen monitor, then spend the rest on rent so that you could get a bigger apartment to accomodate a CRT.

 

[CelticChrys]

Microtek C893 in Hot Deals.
Check this one out, look at one in person if possible. For an LCD it's very good. Nothing's perfect in LCD land, but if it's an LCD you want, look at as many in person as you can before you buy.
Read the whole thread, becuase some love it, some don't and some hate the idea.
At the bottom of the thread I posted a photo running the lcd test avi that was posted on Ars Technica, so go have a look.

 

[jagr10]

I don't know if i'm blind about these "ghosting" issues, but whenever you read reviews of monitors and they find some minor flaw with it, you never really notice it unless you're really looking for it. So if you want to play games on an lcd you probably won't even notice the problems people are talking about unless you're really looking for it or if you're not blind like me. he he

 

[UglyCasanova]

Ok, I'm getting a Dell 1800fp with my new computer. Does anyone have this and can comment on it?

 

[The Sauce]

I don't know if i'm blind about these "ghosting" issues, but whenever you read reviews of monitors and they find some minor flaw with it, you never really notice it unless you're really looking for it. So if you want to play games on an lcd you probably won't even notice the problems people are talking about unless you're really looking for it or if you're not blind like me. he he

Well I can tell you that I scrutinized the 191T at BB and it was immediately obvious that in games where there were bright colors adjacent to dark colors, the bright ones would completely disappear with movement and reappear once movement stopped. Otherwise it was a georgeous monitor. BUt that would drive me crazy if I was using it full time, and I am no monitor reviewer.

 

[TOCSYS]

Yep, I slept on it and realized that it's just not worth it. Maybe a year down the road or so when ghosting is not even considered an issue I will buy one. Until then, I'm sticking with my power hungry, off angle, radiation leaking CRT.

 

[The Sauce]

When Hitachi makes the 19+" version of that current good 17" model and its price drops below $600, then I will be buying a new monitor.

 

[NeBaWONG]

http://store.yahoo.com/justdeals/19inflatpant.html

dunno about this one... says it has a 15ms response time. 19" for only $630. Seems to have all the other characteristics of a high quality monitor 500:1 contrast...

 

[XBoxLPU]

15 + 10 = 25 TOTAL response time