22" Monitor Reccomendations? Anyone running 2048x1536 at 85Hz? Sharpness better with ATI or nVidia?

[Stealth1024]

Trying to find what my top pick would be for a 22" monitor and I was comparing the Diamond Pro 2070SB-BK to the SyncMaster 1200NF.

I have found many SyncMaster reviews but almost no full reviews of the Diamond Pro.

Anyone have any links or first hand experiences? Perhaps neither of these monitors are the biggest and baddest for the price, however I was leaning toward the Diamond Pro.

Monitor consideration is for a desktop I was planning on building around Christmas.

 

[Stealth1024]

As much as I love LCD's, I crave insanely high resolutions without shelling out 4x the money...

Now the trick is to find a CRT with razor sharp text as these resolutions and no geometric distortions, I like one with ruler flat edges right out of the box

I presently have a Hitachi CM772 19", but my favorite all time monitor is a 15" Sony Trinitron. ahh trinitron

 

[TourGuide]

You and I have similar tastes in CRTs. I tried a clone to the monitor you're looking at, the NEC 2141SB-BK. I went through three of them actually, all had various and assorted problems, and NONE of them had ruler straight geometry out of the box. The first one had geometry problems so severe they could not be fully corrected no matter what I did. Subsequent replacements had color purity or text fuzziness trouble that was simply unacceptable. I sent the last back for a refund and replaced it with a Sony G520P which arrived and was up to my standard on the first try. RULER straight geometry right out of the box and absolutely no color purity problems whatsoever. In fact the only thing I've ever really had to do with this monitor is adjust the horozontal and vertical positioning and width. While the text is very good it isn't perfect, although I can live with it and am very happy. My next set up will probably be a Dell 2000FP as I work frequently with large documents and this would be a welcome break for my eyes which are fine at 100hz but I'll be looking to eliminate the last vestiages of flicker.

Good luck, and get a GOOD return policy wherever you buy.

 

[yhelothar]

If you want razor sharp text, nothing is sharper than hitachi's... but they don't make 21" monitors anymore... maybe you can find a discontinued model somewhere.

 

[Stealth1024]

I just figured out that the only ATI cards to support 2048x1536 at 85Hz is the 9800 or AIW 9800. This sure puts a crimp in any budget considerations...

 

[yhelothar]

any 128MB + card supports that...

 

[Stealth1024]

Not according to ATI's web site,

for example they state that the AIW 9700 for example can only do 2048x1536at 60Hz, but the AIW 9800 can do that at 85Hz

 

[TourGuide]

Originally posted by: Stealth1024
Not according to ATI's web site,

for example they state that the AIW 9700 for example can only do 2048x1536at 60Hz, but the AIW 9800 can do that at 85Hz

Is that @ 32 bpp or 16 bpp? Sometimes they're not exactly forthcoming with that minor detail.

 

[CJP]

I have the 22" NEC fe2111sb. It's a step down from the 2070/2141. It's great so I can only think that the 2070 is superb. Like someone else said though, get a good return policy. I went with Dell and had to return my first one.

 

[Stealth1024]

look at the specs here (at bottom): http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9700/aiw9700pro/specs.html

16.7m colors = 32 bit? that's still a poor refresh rate, illustrating my point that that AIW 9800Pro is rated much better in this department...

 

[yhelothar]

well I personally owned a Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB, and there was a 2048x1536 85Hz option....

My GeForceFX 5900Ultra seems to support it also

 

[Stealth1024]

well it must just be a misprint on ATI's web site? or I must be interpretting incorrectly...

 

[jamesbond007]

I personally own a Mitsubishi 20780SB-BK 22" and an ATi AIW R9700 Pro AIW. It's a great setup! However, two things...

First, my friend and I seem to be noticing a trend. He has a 22" NEC FE1250 and an AIW R8500. When running 1600x1200@85Hz@32bit, he AND I both experience severe flickering on the screen. There are faint, but very noticable, horizontal lines that scroll up and down. VERY annoying! We also both experience this thing where sometimes the screen flickers/jolts like there is a power surge/spike. The screen fades to black and back to normal again. This happens all within a very short period of time...we're talking you have to have your eyes open to see it. If you blink, you could miss it. It doesn't happen that often, but when you're typing or reading, you see it a lot.

Second, when running high refresh rates at high resolutions (ie: 1600x1200@85hz or 2048x1536@85Hz :yes my AIW 9700 Pro supports this @32bit colour the text becomes blurry or unreadable. However, this isn't the situation when I hook up my nVIDIA cards.

Is there a known issue with ATi cards? This is pretty bizzare. My friend and I don't own the same monitor, but we experience the same issues. His previous card was a Matrox G450 Millennium and he had no issues *at* all. Flawless performance all the time.

I currently run 1600x1200@75Hz, of which I experience ZERO problems and text is sharp enough to cut glass. However, at 2048x1536, text looks only good at 60Hz, but my eyes would die in a heartbeat if I had to keep it at that refresh rate. I planned to run 2048x1536@85Hz, which is feasable with my setup, however, it seems as if our ATi cards are the limiting factor. Anyone have a Matrox Parhelia for sale?

Sorry for kind of going OT with this, but since I own this monitor and you may have an ATi card, it's worth looking into. Maybe I should start a thread dedicated for this issue/flaw?

Please PM me if you have any ideas/details to fix my solution or would like to give input.

Thanks,
jamesbond007

 

[Stealth1024]

<FONT face=Verdana size=1>jamesbond007 -- please keep it coming! This is exactly what I'm interested in: what setup gives me the most insanely high resolution (desktop space) with the sharpest text (I'll be doing a ton of programming here)

I have considered (2) 17" LCD displays, most video cards don't have dual DVI out though

(2) 19" CRT's running at 1600x1200 @ 85Hz might also be worth considering.


The AIW would be useful as a college student since I don't want to carry around a TV. I already have a notebook PC (Inspiron 8100) but its aging and needs a new LCD screen and some more RAM if its to stay useable after another year</FONT>

 

[FlasHBurN]

up

 

[Ronin]

P1130 runs 2048x1536@75Hz (it's only a 21", though). I'm thoroughly satisfied with it, though, as I have 3 of them running side by side on my desk.

 

[ponyo]

Your eyes are lot better than mine. 1280 x 1024 is highest setting my eyes can stand on my 21 inch. Any higher I get headache looking at the screen.

 

[rbV5]

My AIW 9700 pro supports 2048x1536@85Hz, I think all the Radeons do. My monitor only supports to 75Hz however (newer Mitsu's support higher)

I run my 22" monitor at 1600x1200@85Hz however, and its very good. For comparison, my V3 2000 PCI may have been slightly sharper at this resolution compared directly (dual inputs)and my Gainward ti4200 is virtually identical to the Radeon (actually I can't directly compare the NV and ATI cards with only a single AGP slot, they both are "very slightly" worse than the V3 card.

 

[Alkali]

Ok, I run high res on my Mitsibishi 22" 2070SB, and I have to agree that one failing seems to be as soon as you go above 60Hz things get slightly blurry. With superbright mode 2 on, its nearly unreadable in 2D but great for Half-Life (it helps determine edges and moving objects in the dark).

at 2048x1536 @ 60Hz - all is perfect
at 2048x1536 @ 75Hz - starts to get very slightly blurry in the centre of screen
at 2048x1536 @ 85Hz - gets blurry, and hard to read anything

This is all with my Radeon 9700 Pro. The Radeon 9800 Pro has a much better ability with Hz ratings. I suspect ATi's RAMDAC's are not as good as Matrox or nVidia, so I am waiting for a solution from ATi in the form of a new line of cards, where they can address the situation, if its their card thats at fault.

I will note however, that every res is perfect in 3D gaming, just 2D gets blurry at higher Hz ratings on resolutions well above 1600x1200.

 

[Stealth1024]

bump...

 

[Looney]

Is this for gaming or for purely text work? If for gaming, you have to be prepare to shell out the big bucks for the newest videocards if you're goign to be playing at those kind of resolutions. I have a Sony GDM-FW900 (24")... awesome for gaming, no other experience like it, but what a pain in the ass. I ALWAYS need to be using the highest end cards if i want to play at a decent resolution (1942x1200 is my prefer resolution)... with the newest games comes higher hardware requirement. I find myself going back to my 1800FP for gaming (18" LCD) sometimes because the performance is better (since i have to use a lower resolution).

If it's for textwork, i would pick up a pair of 17-18" LCDs. You won't have to squint at the screen, and you can't get better text than an LCD... and with dual action going on, you shouldn't have a problem with resolutions.

 

[Almighty1]

Originally posted by: CJP
I have the 22" NEC fe2111sb. It's a step down from the 2070/2141. It's great so I can only think that the 2070 is superb. Like someone else said though, get a good return policy. I went with Dell and had to return my first one.

I have a question. What's the actual difference between the Mitsubishi 2070 and the NEC 2141? While I know they are both NEC-Mitsubishi, one is the NEC family and the other is Mitsubishi. Is the Mitsubishi the higher end line?