Best 20in+ non-TN Panel WS LCD for $600 or less?

[brencat]

Hi all. After reading tons of threads in many places, I have to say...I'm thoroughly confused! I'm looking for a high quality widescreen LCD that will be used primarily for gaming and secondarily for office work. I currently use a very old (but very good) iiYama CRT which has served me faithfully for many years.

Here's the catch though...I'll be upgrading my PC sometime ~ May/June, but right now I'm using an X800XL vid card for games. There's no way my current PC or vid card can handle 1680 x 1050 native, so I'd most likely have to scale it to 1280 x 768 for now.

I'm looking for the best balance between response and color quality and willing to spend a tad more than just $250 for a typical TN panel. Any advice would be appreciated. And if your advice is "to just wait" that's cool too. So far, this one seems really interesting...

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824002320

 

[xtknight]

The 20WMGX2 is definitely the best overall for <$600. Make sure you under the implications of a glossy panel though. It will increase the contrast perceived by your eyes but will also increase reflection.

 

[imported_Imp]

That Nec is essentially the best 20" monitor out there, think it's guaranteed IPS panel too(?). However, for the price, you can just add an extra $100 or so and get a 24", so it doesn't seem quite worth it to me. Then again, the 24" native for that much gaming is overkill. Also, if you're gaming, color accuracy really isn't that big a concern. From what I've read, even though a monitor is perfectly calibrated in terms of color reproduction in desktop, the second you start up a game, everything gets thrown off; the game has it's own color/video settings. Response time today isn't much a concern either, unless you are very sensitive to ghosting. I have a 17" 16ms TN and ghosting has never bothered me in games.

So in the end, I think you should consider going for a 22" TN panel now (LG L246W and Samsung 226BW are the best of the bunch) or just sleep on it for a while. I doubt there will be much of a change in variety in the near future though, unless you want to wait 3 years for LED LCDs or something to be reasonably priced. Personally, I have a mediocre system, but am about to get a Dell 2407 (waiting for good deal) since I'm about 60/40 for desktop use and gaming. That and I just won't spend $500 on a 22" now that will bide me over until they finally make a non-TN 22".

 

[xtknight]

Actually most monitors aren't really calibrated for desktop use either (at least, certainly not perfectly). If you do use a calibration profile, you will in most cases lose the calibration when you start a game, though since it resets gamma to 1. If you've never calibrated your monitor, gamma is always at 1 to begin with.

There are a few advantages to getting the NEC over a 24", some of which include overall color "poppiness" and response time/less input lag. It is indeed a guaranteed IPS panel. All of these factors are rather subjective though since the response time doesn't matter to some people. I think hardcore gamers would notice the difference. To tell you the truth I have never had the opportunity to evaluate response time on a 24" LCD.

I wouldn't get your hopes up on non-TN 22" panels. Sadly the new generation LCDs (like the new CCFL backlight/LED ones) seem to be farther and farther away, especially for the smaller sizes and reasonably-priced models. The LG L226WT and Samsung 226BW aren't bad choices for gaming, though there are still many things that bother me about TN panels so if it were me, I wouldn't buy them.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: xtknight
The LG L226WT and Samsung 226BW aren't bad choices for gaming, though there are still many things that bother me about TN panels so if it were me, I wouldn't buy them.

Yep. I'm looking to upgrade from my 17" LCD myself, but my choices seem to be:
- 20" : Expensive, only mildly larger, good panel, but will merrit an upgrade soon.
- 22" : Perfect size for me, good value, crappy TN. Will merrit upgrade soon.
- 24" : Very expensive, bit big for me, good panel. Will never really 'need' to be upgraded unless it dies after 3 years.

 

[brencat]

thx for the replies. Do you guys know if that NEC (or most LCDs for that matter) scale properly down to the lower resolution i mentioned in my initial note. I'd hate to swap my CRT only to find out the image doesn't quite look right.

 

[BassBomb]

If you have an nvidia card, theres a host of options to scale (black bars, or scale to aspect <- which works surprisingly well )

if not, the monitor doesnt scale over DVI on its own to aspect

 

[KutterMax]

How good is the Dell E228WFP relative to the NEC?

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: KutterMax
How good is the Dell E228WFP relative to the NEC?

TN panel

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: brencat
thx for the replies. Do you guys know if that NEC (or most LCDs for that matter) scale properly down to the lower resolution i mentioned in my initial note. I'd hate to swap my CRT only to find out the image doesn't quite look right.

Well, the 20WMGX2 itself can not scale to 1280x768 although the graphics card can.

Is there a reason why you're using that resolution? 1280x800 would be a smarter choice, as it's the same aspect ratio.

 

[brencat]

Is there a reason why you're using that resolution? 1280x800 would be a smarter choice, as it's the same aspect ratio.

@xtknight - When I wrote that initial note, that was the first resolution I grabbed from my vid card. But in fact, I do have the 1280 x 800 setting as well. So it sounds like I'd be okay then - thx for pointing that out.

 

[brencat]

One other thing gang...looks like Dell is having a sale on the 2407WFP... $629, down from $700.

So if you could only pick from the NEC 20WMGX2 ($569) or this larger Dell, and use was going to be 75% for gaming like I've indicated, which would it be?

 

[imported_Imp]

Only $60 for 4" more, there's no competition. However, IF the Nec is S-IPS, then it's better than the P-MVA on the dell in terms of color, response and viewing angles. Then again, the P-MVA itself is pretty good anyways, so I doubt you could go wrong with the Dell, especially with their good service. Oh, and IIRC, 21 days no questions asked return policy from Dell.

 

[xtknight]

That's a hard choice.

I'd probably still get the NEC, as S-IPS panels are quickly evaporating and may never be available ever again in the consumer sector. It's also one of the few glossy panels. 24" panels on the other hand are mostly MVAs and most of them should be for some time. They are continuously being improved upon, too. If you're mostly gaming, the NEC is still better and you could look at it this way: it's also less strain on your graphics card. Do you really think you will be happy playing 1280x800 in centered mode (with huge black bars) or scaling it 2.25x to match the 2407's resolution?

1280x800 - 1024000 pixels
1680x1050 - 1764000 pixels
1920x1200 - 2304000 pixels

1280x800 -> 1680x1050:
-centered mode: viewable area: 58.05%.
--left+right = 400 px black bars.
--top+bottom = 250 px black bars.

-full scaling: enlargement factor: 1.72

1280x800 -> 1920x1200:
-centered mode: viewable area: 44.44%.
--left+right = 640 px black bars.
--top+bottom = 400 px black bars.

-full scaling: enlargement factor: 2.25

Even though you won't have an X800XL forever, the fact remains that a 20.1" LCD is less stress on your graphics card, too.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

im glad i chose to purchase a used 2005fpw off of ebay

yeah theres back light bleeding, and if you look down at it from say the top right, you can see this wierd purple/pink hue come over portions of the screen, but when the picture isnt black, or your looking straight on it looks excellent. IPS ftw!. and i didnt think my eyes were that good but i can notice screen door on this panel too! it doesnt bother me too much since i know for a fact im sat too close to the ah heck, my desk just doesnt allow me that much freedom unfortunately

 

[brencat]

Many thanks to all who replied thus far. xtknight makes a really strong case for the NEC. The other thing is...I am very picky. My wife says I have eyes like a cat and I know the slightest ghosting or image/color degradation is going to p*ss me off. That said, I'd like to see the NEC for a tad cheaper given that it is only 20.1" real estate.

B

 

[BassBomb]

But it has the fastest non TN panel, so its fast AND has no color degradation

Its really great

 

[TBSN]

I've heard a lot of great things about the NEC 20WMGX2, but this review from Tom's Hardware says some bad things about the screen: review

The review says mostly good things, but in the end they say that it has pretty bad performance for video (DVD's, etc.), has very uneven backlight brightness, and doesn't have good contrast.

For people who own this monitor:
--Do you think that the review could have been conducted with the overdrive feature on? (the feature that changes brightness on-the-fly so that there is more perceived contrast)
--Is it really that grainy when watching video, as compared to another monitor of the same or similar size?

Thanks!

 

[BassBomb]

I haven't tested with too much on movies, I have tried out 720P trailer for T2, and it looked great. Skin tones have some gradiation (but that is normal for monitors in general) and it still looked great... not grainy

Panel uniformity, is there a way I can do a test to check how uniform it is? mine seems VERY uniform compared to my old TN.. very little backlight bleed at one corner

 

[BassBomb]

Tested uniformity, no backlight bleed I could see...

 

[imported_Truenofan]

im completely lost in the whole names of panel's can someone explain it to this lcd noob, i'd like to go to lcd/crt combo, but that'll be in a least a year, anyone got an idea what kinda tech will be out then? im kinda the same as the OP as to what im looking for, but money isnt going to be a problem in that timeframe.