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5ms too much to keep a monitor from ghosting?

A

AnthroAndStargate

Golden Member
I am looking for a 23" or 27" monitor with LED backlight (I love the brightness). Since there are no S-IPS monitors with LED that are reasonable in that range (minus the Apple Cinema Display, which is kind of expensive) I have been looking at TN+ or E-IPS.

I found this HP which has decent reviews: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...ci_sku=1791134

I noticed it had a 5ms response time though. It claims that it wont ghost but 5ms seems a lot. Do y'all think ghosting will show up while gaming on a 5ms panel?

Thanks for any opinions y'all can give!
 
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It all depends on how sensitive you are to it, some people never notice it on any LCD. Me on the other hand still use a CRT because I've never seen an LCD where I didn't see it. Ghosting is just a part of LCD technology, the best you can hope for is you belong to the majority of people who can't detect it.
 
I remember when people said 5ms is the highest you'd ever want and then it changed to 2ms is the highest you'd ever want once the LCD tech got it down to 2ms and lower. Its like Qubert said. Its all how sensitive and demanding you are about it. Some people are down right anal retentive about such things and they demand the perfect of things and some people are not so picky.

I've seen monitors with claims of 2ms ghost and I've seen some 5ms monitors not ghost one iota so you can't go by just the MS in the specs. Yes, less is suppose to be better but you actually need to see the LCD in action because they are not all created equal despite what the specs say. If other gamers/reviewers are saying the LCD in question has little to no ghosting then its probably just fine.


Edit: By the way, I bought a I-INC 28" 1900x1200 LCD from CompUSA for $249 (reg $259) and I'm loving it for gaming. They still stock and sell them. Its usually on sale for $249. Hansee makes a 28" as well for about $269 regular price. I hear they are pretty good too. So if you are looking to save some money check out their products.
 
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I think 5 ms is fine. I remember when I played CS 1.6 ghosting was an issue so I stuck to a CRT... but even then quality LCDs had ~16ms response time. For me 16 ms is where I draw the line haha. I don't even usually bother checking the response time anymore, although if you play a lot of FPS it would be important.

I vote too to check it out in person if at all possible, not just for the response time but so you can see how even the lighting is and the contrast etc.
 
I use a Dell U2410 and love it, no ghosting at all and play lots of games. Kinda expensive but worth it. I hate the cheap 1920x1080 monitors out now.

Don't believe the hype, 5ms or 16ms is not very noticeable in games unless you stare constantly at one location long enough, even though its not bad.
 
at a 60Hz refresh rate pixel response time needs to be only 16ms (1000Hz/60Hz = new frame every 16.667ms) or faster for ghosting effects to be largely reduced if not eliminated
 
I've got dual Dell 2005fpw with an advertised response time of 16ms and they don't ghost.
 
If ghosting really bothers you then debating a couple of milliseconds response time is not going to help much. Ideally you want 2ms or less, 120hz refresh rate, and low latency circuitry. That provides the smoothest possible motion and least lag between when you move your mouse or hit a key and something happens on the screen.

I've got a Samsung 27" 1ms 60hz monitor and its good enough for me. I'm sure a 120 hz would have smoother motion, but this has a low latency and lack of ghosting that approaches the response of a CRT. If you aren't sure whether you want to pay the difference in price then you'll just have to go check the monitors out for yourself.
 
wuliheron said:
If ghosting really bothers you then debating a couple of milliseconds response time is not going to help much. Ideally you want 2ms or less, 120hz refresh rate, and low latency circuitry. That provides the smoothest possible motion and least lag between when you move your mouse or hit a key and something happens on the screen.

I've got a Samsung 27" 1ms 60hz monitor and its good enough for me. I'm sure a 120 hz would have smoother motion, but this has a low latency and lack of ghosting that approaches the response of a CRT. If you aren't sure whether you want to pay the difference in price then you'll just have to go check the monitors out for yourself.
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I ordered one and figured if it's bad I can RMA it. I'm not even really sure what ghosting looks like. I think I kind of saw it on an old (like 6 year old Dell laptop) awhile back. The main problem with checking out monitors is they are usually hooked up to some HDMI split video feed and you can't game on them or even see them at native res. Plus they are under fluorescent lights, at least at Fry's.
 
AnthroAndStargate said:
I'm not even really sure what ghosting looks like. I think I kind of saw it on an old (like 6 year old Dell laptop) awhile back.
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Ghosting on a LCD is like seeing after-images when you move around in FPS games, etc. It can be irritating because you'll see before and after images blended in together. It's sorta like the agent in The Matrix when he dodges bullets super fast and you see after-images of the agent.

Ghosting is highly noticable on earlier LCD monitors from 2003, but I rarely see it on newer LCD monitors. The technology has matured and has been improved a lot since then.
 
Is there a difference between "tearing" and ghosting? Last night when I was playing Half Life 2: Episode 1 I noticed that whenever the citadel shook (which "shakes" the whole screen) it seemed like it was folding a piece of paper. Like you shake a paper and it crumples and then straightens out. Alex (the NPC) would really look bad while the shaking was happening.

I turned on V-Sync and that seemed to calm it down a bit but I figured V-Sync wasn't necessary on a TN panel? Trying to figure out if I'm having ghosting or something else.
 
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