Are CRTs still the king for gaming?

[Accipiter22]

Hi,

my bday is coming up, and i'm thinking of getting a new monitor...my gateway ev700 is over 5 years old, and starting to get a little flickery...I do a good ammount of gaming, diablo 2, battlefield 2, etc....I was wondering if it's safe to get an LCD monitor for gaming yet, or are crt's still the way to go? I'm lookin at 17" if I get an LCD prolly, or 19" if I go crt...

 

[nRollo]

Originally posted by: Accipiter22
Hi,

my bday is coming up, and i'm thinking of getting a new monitor...my gateway ev700 is over 5 years old, and starting to get a little flickery...I do a good ammount of gaming, diablo 2, battlefield 2, etc....I was wondering if it's safe to get an LCD monitor for gaming yet, or are crt's still the way to go? I'm lookin at 17" if I get an LCD prolly, or 19" if I go crt...

IMO screen real estate and resolution are king- buy the most you can afford of both.

 

[JonMooring]

17" LCD with 8ms response time would do the trick for gaming typically Just make sure it's a respectable brand!

 

[dnuggett]

LCd's are completely hit or miss. It is not really a good question to ask " in general" liek that. We need model #'s of your narrowed down choices. Or do a search here.. there are tens if not hundereds of threads on this very topic.

 

[Accipiter22]

yah, the problem I found with the threads is there's no general consensus....I think I'm leaning towards a samsung syncmaster 710B i believe it is...

 

[VIAN]

I think LCDs are great once you get used to them.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1630232&enterthread=y

This is my experience when I moved to a lcd.

 

[BenSkywalker]

CRTs are still the king of gaming- anyone who argues that is being dishonest or they are ignorant.

There are plenty of debates on what is the better monitor overall- but it comes down to a lot of people finding LCDs 'good enough' for gaming and having advantages elsewhere.

 

[ntdz]

I use a 2001fp, and I could never go back to CRT. I absolutely love it.

 

[IceMole]

I love my 19" LCD, but you can only really play them at their native res or it'll look like crap.

 

[Crescent13]

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 730B, and I notice ghosting in half life 2. My eyes are super sensitive, but in the level where you are in that weird case, and you are being transported around the citadel, I notice when I look at some of the stuff on the walls it is blurry.

 

[nitromullet]

IMO, once you go LCD, you will never go back. There are others that disagree... My advice, if you can possibly view your options at the store, check them out in person and see what you like better. Make sure that you set the LCD to it's native resolution when doing this though, since it will make a difference. Also, I imagine that most stores have their monitors on some sort of hub that lets them hook up 10 monitors to the same PC (compusa has something like that), which are most likely VGA, so the LCD will look a bit better when you get it hooked up to a DVI.

Get what makes you happy.

 

[n7]

Nope.

Not as far as i am concerned.

Each to their own though.

 

[Banzai042]

I'm using a viewsonic Vp171b right now and i love it for gaming, i notice no streaking or anything whenever i game. As far as i see it here is a breakdown of the LCD vs CRT thing

LCD
Pros:
Physically smaller
Use less power
Look very good at native resolution, with a dot pitch equivelance to very high end CRT monitors
DVI connection means no screen size adjustment, always uses 100% of the screen
Cons:
Look like crap at anything other than native resolution
Can "streak" if the pixels can't change color fast enough
more expensive than a CRT

CRT
Pros:
Look good at any resolution
"refresh rate" still faster than any LCD is capible of
generally cost less than a good LCD
Cons:
Far larger and heavier
Use much more power
Dot pitch not always as good as that of an LCD (matters only for things like text viewing, not so much for games).

Keep in mind that you may also want a widescreen monitor, in which case you will be limited to LCD as far as i know. Also, a 17" LCD will generally be limited to 1280X1024 resolution at the most, as well as a fair number of 19" monitors, if you want anything higher than that be ready to pay a lot.

 

[JRW]

null

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
CRTs are still the king of gaming- anyone who argues that is being dishonest or they are ignorant.

There are plenty of debates on what is the better monitor overall- but it comes down to a lot of people finding LCDs 'good enough' for gaming and having advantages elsewhere.

Agreed. I recently sent back my first LCD purchase (Dell 2001FP) , It looked great for web browsing but with gaming & movies it couldnt compete with my 21" Sony G520P.

2001FP & Doom 3 ..washed out black levels :roll: monitor set on 0 brightness
G520P & Doom 3

Camera settings wernt ideal (color & contrast slightly out of wack on both shots) but you can get an idea of black level differances etc.

 

[imported_jzimo]

My viewsonic VA720 has been amazing for games. I bought this LCD back when a 17in moniter ran for $700. I notice no ghosting at all. It is truley an amazing gaming moniter.

 

[imported_Doughboy]

A CRT is more versitle because games look good at any resolution, if your video card isn't powerful enough to run a game at 1600x1200, no prob bump it down to 800x600. It's all good.
BUT
LCDs only look good at native resolution. and keep in mind that the higher the resolution your running on a LCD the better video card you need to power it for games.

If your buying your monitor for mostly games and are on a budget get a CRT (for 2 reasons: the cost of the monitor and the continuing cost of video cards to run games at native resolutions on LCD panels)
If your buying your monitor for reading text (internet, word processing)... nothing is easier on the eyes than a crisp LCD panel.

 

[5150Joker]

After owning a 21" Sony G520 for a few years and now a 20" Dell 2005 FPW LCD for a little while I've noticed pros and cons for both.

G520 Pros:
-------------
85-100 hz refresh rate made for smoother gaming experience.
No ghosting whatsoever, completley crisp picture.

G520 Cons:
-------------
Very bulky.
Text is somewhat blurry at 1600x1200 85 hz.

Dell 2005 FPW Pros:
----------------------
Razor sharp text at native resolution.
Fantastic deep colors and the display is bright.
Slim size and light.
One of the few (if not only) 20" widescreen displays that can run at 75 hz.
Great blacks for an LCD if you get lucky enough not to have one with light leakage.
The widescreen display feels very natural, you will never go back to a 4:3 screen again after using this.
Great price when Dell has their usual coupons floating around.

Dell 2005 FPW Cons:
-----------------------
Most tend to have some light leakage but some like me get lucky with none.
Even at 75 hz for native resolution, there is some lag in games compared to a CRT at higher refresh rate.
Some games do not support WS format so it can be a pain in the ass sometimes to find a workaround.

I'd suggest a Dell 2005FPW if you are shopping for an LCD. It is superior to the 20" Apple Cinema display and is one of the better LCDs on the market especially given its price. The great thing about this display is that if you own an nVidia based card, you can set the refresh rate to 75 hz in native resolution for a smoother gaming experience. Most others that own LCDs are stuck at 60 hz with native resolution which can be sluggish in some games (desert combat being a good example).

 

[bREwIn dOdgEr dUDe]

i just this review on this BenQ 19" with 4MS... the trouble is finding anyone who has it, or even more reviews...

BenQ Review

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: ntdz
I use a 2001fp, and I could never go back to CRT. I absolutely love it.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
IMO, once you go LCD, you will never go back. There are others that disagree... My advice, if you can possibly view your options at the store, check them out in person and see what you like better. Make sure that you set the LCD to it's native resolution when doing this though, since it will make a difference. Also, I imagine that most stores have their monitors on some sort of hub that lets them hook up 10 monitors to the same PC (compusa has something like that), which are most likely VGA, so the LCD will look a bit better when you get it hooked up to a DVI.

Get what makes you happy.

I agree, get what makes you happy. The only thing that makes me happy is having my cake and eating it too. So, I recessed my 19" CRT into a wall. My monitor is literally protruding less from my wall than a framed picture hanging there. My desk is totally clear and I have my CRT quality gaming. The only thing that an LCD has over my setup is less power consumption and maybe less heat. All the LCD's I use at work do actually pump out a lot of heat. Various makes and models. But at home, CRT baby. I'm apparently one of the few people that have used LCD's, and went back to CRT's. I like what I like.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: nitromullet
IMO, once you go LCD, you will never go back. There are others that disagree... My advice, if you can possibly view your options at the store, check them out in person and see what you like better. Make sure that you set the LCD to it's native resolution when doing this though, since it will make a difference. Also, I imagine that most stores have their monitors on some sort of hub that lets them hook up 10 monitors to the same PC (compusa has something like that), which are most likely VGA, so the LCD will look a bit better when you get it hooked up to a DVI.

Get what makes you happy.

I agree, get what makes you happy. The only thing that makes me happy is having my cake and eating it too. So, I recessed my 19" CRT into a wall. My monitor is literally protruding less from my wall than a framed picture hanging there. My desk is totally clear and I have my CRT quality gaming. The only thing that an LCD has over my setup is less power consumption and maybe less heat. All the LCD's I use at work do actually pump out a lot of heat. Various makes and models. But at home, CRT baby. I'm apparently one of the few people that have used LCD's, and went back to CRT's. I like what I like.

LOL post a picture of your CRT inside the wall. This should be pretty funny.

 

[Elfear]

After switching from a 19" CRT to my 2005fpw I am completely sold on LCD's (good ones that is). I was worried that I'd see a lot of ghosting as my friend's 19" Samsung has noticeable ghosting but the screen they use in the 2005fpw model is incredible. I've never used a really high-end CRT so I can't tell you how they compare but as for low-mid range CRT's I think good quailty LCD's are just as good for gaming.

 

[bREwIn dOdgEr dUDe]

Originally posted by: Elfear
After switching from a 19" CRT to my 2005fpw I am completely sold on LCD's (good ones that is). I was worried that I'd see a lot of ghosting as my friend's 19" Samsung has noticeable ghosting but the screen they use in the 2005fpw model is incredible. I've never used a really high-end CRT so I can't tell you how they compare but as for low-mid range CRT's I think good quailty LCD's are just as good for gaming.

i have a 19" NEC Accusync LCD at work & a 19" IBM P96 CRT at home... the CRT is so much sharper looking (really) & responsive, but alas i will be migrating to the LCD cuz my card (analog/dvi) & future cards (dvi only) will force me to go that route...

 

[VIAN]

If you talk about response time, the CRT is way superior. Response time on a LCD is acceptable to the point where ghosting is practically unnoticeable depending on model.

Overall, I'd say, LCDs are better. Overall.

CRTs don't look good at every resolution. My 21" produced dark lines in between the scanlines which looked annoying to me at 1024x768. I had a difficult time playing at that res. And it hurt my eyes. I would rather play on a LCD. So for a CRT to look good to me it would have to be at 860 lines and up. couldn't stand anything lower.

 

[bREwIn dOdgEr dUDe]

Originally posted by: VIAN
If you talk about response time, the CRT is way superior. Response time on a LCD is acceptable to the point where ghosting is practically unnoticeable depending on model.

Overall, I'd say, LCDs are better. Overall.

CRTs don't look good at every resolution. My 21" produced dark lines in between the scanlines which looked annoying to me at 1024x768. I had a difficult time playing at that res. And it hurt my eyes. I would rather play on a LCD. So for a CRT to look good to me it would have to be at 860 lines and up. couldn't stand anything lower.

21"...?... that has to weigh a ton... my 19" is a beast and hot... you's correct tho' LCD's are better (and gettin' mo' better)...