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Are the refurbished 2405's worth it from Dell?

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Washoe..yeha, ive heard that before, but I always appreciate an honest answer, thats what im looking for 🙂 Im one for going the extra mile research wise. Question, I noticed in your sig youre using a 6800 with the 2405? What are your settings? Im just curious since I have a 7600GT, are you scaling? Do you also know you have to "invest" extra when you took the plunge? but since you have a card such as the 6800, its nice to know you still have the 2405 as well 🙂
 
Originally posted by: digitalduck
Washoe..yeha, ive heard that before, but I always appreciate an honest answer, thats what im looking for 🙂 Im one for going the extra mile research wise. Question, I noticed in your sig youre using a 6800 with the 2405? What are your settings? Im just curious since I have a 7600GT, are you scaling? Do you also know you have to "invest" extra when you took the plunge? but since you have a card such as the 6800, its nice to know you still have the 2405 as well 🙂
Click to expand...

I was aware of the issue but I didn't pay it as much consideration before purchasing as now. 😀

I was able to unlock my 6800 card - it's only the 128mb version, but luckily I could unlock to get 16 pipelines instead of the default 12. This helped alot but the latest games are not running very well at all. Quake 4 for example is barely playable even at medium settings. F.E.A.R. actually runs pretty decent but I have to drop to 1680X1050 res. There's still a tremendous amount of tweaking to get just the right balance between making games playable and having them look half decent too.

I recently decided I was sick of 10-15 FPS in the latest games and went all out, ordering a Sapphire X1900XTX card ($500). I loved my 6800 for awhile - I was able to play HL2 at decent settings (no AA or AF though), and Doom3 I could get running ok too. It is time to move on. I'm now paying the price for going 2405 (still no regrets though)
 
Originally posted by: Crusader
Originally posted by: Matthias99
For games, you can also run 1600x1200 1:1 with bars on the sides. That's not much more demanding than 1680x1050 is --
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I'm going to have to disagree here. 1600x1200 is almost a million more pixels. Even though widescreen renders more.. thats quite the difference. If you have a major review site that has done 1680x1050 to 1600x1200 comparisons I've love to see it (honestly).
Click to expand...

Um... you might want to polish up those math skills a bit.

1920x1200 = 2,304,000 pixels
1600x1200 = 1,920,000 pixels
1680x1050 = 1,764,000 pixels
1280x1024 = 1,310,720 pixels

About 9% more pixels per frame going from 1680x1050 to 1600x1200. The performance differences there are not going to be enormous. I'll see if I can find some benchmarks.

Originally posted by: Matthias99
Gaming, IMO, would be fine at a lower resolution, but LCD scaling doesn't bother me that much.
Click to expand...
I still prefer native res if at all possible.
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Without a doubt.

But I would find it unlikely that you would have a game that runs well at 1680x1050 but not at 1600x1200 (which is 1:1 and thus not blurry on a 2405FPW -- albeit non-widescreen). If you can't hack 1680x1050, you'll be running a non-native resolution on either a 20" or 24" widescreen.
 
Matthias is completely right on this... Don't argue with math. A 9% difference, in most cases, will directly translate to a 9% performance degredation. There are exceptions to that rule, but that is pretty much across the board.
 
Without reading the whole thread:

I have 6 Refurb 2405's (the ones that were purchased when Dell screwed up on the refurb site and sold them for $428 per), and none have had a single issue. No dead pixels, no bleeding, no backlight problems, nothing, and I've had them for almost a year now.
 
theres a coupon for the refurb one's. I want to jump on it because if you apply this coupon code on it 2PXBZQVR2Z2?VF it comes out to 593.30. I was waiting for the 2407fpw but at this price i might jump on this. Im just worried about dead pixels and problems on refurb. Does dell have a warranty on refurbs? Is it only 90 days?
 
Well, the warranty length shouldn't matter much, since you can usually find dead pixels or backlght issues as soon as you turn it on.

For that price I'd give it a shot - if you don't like it, send it back.
 
Originally posted by: A5
Well, the warranty length shouldn't matter much, since you can usually find dead pixels or backlght issues as soon as you turn it on.

For that price I'd give it a shot - if you don't like it, send it back.
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i called a rep. They said its a 14 day return policy and 90 warranty. So instead of 21 day return policy and 3 yr warranty on the new.

I can get it for 629$ shipped to my house including tax. I dont know though... If they pay for return shipping and if i dont like it they take it back I might do it. I have until tonight to decide.
 
Ok I purchased it.


Woot got a 2405fpw for only 628$ tax and shipping included. Nice...

I was originally waiting for the 2407fpw. I love to watch movies on my pc but i think hdcp wont be mainstream until at least 2008 so i have time to have fun then ebay it and move over to SED.
 
Originally posted by: song414
theres a coupon for the refurb one's. I want to jump on it because if you apply this coupon code on it 2PXBZQVR2Z2?VF it comes out to 593.30. I was waiting for the 2407fpw but at this price i might jump on this. Im just worried about dead pixels and problems on refurb. Does dell have a warranty on refurbs? Is it only 90 days?
Click to expand...


What were the details of the coupon you used?
 
I had a bad experience buying refurb. (from NEC)

The monitor I recieved had visual problems.
So, I called to get replacement, but the supplier would not exchange.
So, I called NEC, they agreed to replace, but I had to pay shipping (60$ for a 50 lb monitor)
When I recieved the the replacement, it had different problems.

So, I lost any financial benefit from the refurb price.
And I still had a screwy monitor.

Go buy new locally... like Best Buy, or whatever.

That way you can check for problems at the store.
(or at least get a NEW replacement.)
 
Originally posted by: Crusader
Originally posted by: Matthias99
For games, you can also run 1600x1200 1:1 with bars on the sides. That's not much more demanding than 1680x1050 is --
Click to expand...
I'm going to have to disagree here. 1600x1200 is almost a million more pixels. Even though widescreen renders more.. thats quite the difference. If you have a major review site that has done 1680x1050 to 1600x1200 comparisons I've love to see it (honestly).
Click to expand...

A million? (1600*1200)-(1680*1050) = 1,920,000 - 1,764,000 = 156,000

Edit: that's <9% difference
 
Well guys... just to update my own thread, I finally bought a 2405 new. It came to $760 after coupons, shipped out today, should have it later this week 🙂
 
Originally posted by: digitalduck
Well guys... just to update my own thread, I finally bought a 2405 new. It came to $760 after coupons, shipped out today, should have it later this week 🙂
Click to expand...

Nice!!!! Did you get it straight from Dell?
 
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