Gaming on an LCD monitor -- is your only option to run the game at the displays native resolution?

[wildside50]

It's been a long time since I've seen an LCD monitor in action, and I was just wondering if things have improved. Do games at resolutions other than the native resolution of the display look fuzzy and bad? If so, why use an LCD for gaming? Seems like a waste of a nice new 8800 GT if you can't even run the game above 1280x1024 or you wanna play Crysis and your display is a 1080p display -- lord knows Crysis won't be runnin' at that resolution...

I have an NEC 21" CRT monitor now, and I love the image, but it is so bulky for where it is being used (the living room). I'd like something lighter and easier to move around, but not at the expense of image quality...

 

[Check]

honestly, for gaming I still miss my CRT monitors. Being able to bump your refresh rate to 80Hz or higher on the CRT makes first person shooters run far smoother than any LCD I've seen.

I find it annoying that most normal LCDs are run at a 5:4 aspect which forces you to run at 1208x1024 in game. I say that it forces you to run at this resolution because I don't like my games looking distorted.

If you get a 20inch lcd (non widescreen) that has a 4:3 aspect ratio it doesn't look bad if you are running at 1024x768 or 800x600 (because you are maintaining the 4:3 aspect), although 1600x1200 will look the best if your computer can run at it.

So in short, if you have a monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio then the video will be distorted if you try to run at anything other than a native resolution. For 4:3 you will be fine.

I don't mention widescreen because I find them to be worthless for gaming for the most part. Some games will support widescreen by limiting your vertical viewing angle, not by increasing your horizontal viewing angle which is BS (bioshock does this for instance).

 

[us3rnotfound]

I want my fucking trinitron back.

 

[Check]

I want both of my dell CRTs back, those babies looked sexy when I was running a dual display setup. I spent hours doing color corrections to get those to look perfect.

 

[Glavinsolo]

Originally posted by: wildside50
It's been a long time since I've seen an LCD monitor in action, and I was just wondering if things have improved. Do games at resolutions other than the native resolution of the display look fuzzy and bad? If so, why use an LCD for gaming? Seems like a waste of a nice new 8800 GT if you can't even run the game above 1280x1024 or you wanna play Crysis and your display is a 1080p display -- lord knows Crysis won't be runnin' at that resolution...

I have an NEC 21" CRT monitor now, and I love the image, but it is so bulky for where it is being used (the living room). I'd like something lighter and easier to move around, but not at the expense of image quality...

Yeah I'm sort of in the same boat. I have a 19" NEC Diamondtron and it hasn't faltered ever in the 4years I have had it. But I can't stop looking at the 24" LCDs going into stores. I hold myself back.

I think true gaming LCDs will come when the LED LCDs come to the consumer market. Right now they are for video/photoshop professionals at the current price tag.

http://www.behardware.com/arti...ng-s-1rst-lcd-led.html
$2000

 

[taltamir]

I am having a BLAST on my dell ultrasharp widescreen 24inch monitor... it is 1920x1200...

Anyways, you do not have to run on the native resolution... in fact there is a BENEFIT for running on a lower res that is the same aspect ratio...
1. You get more FPS (or can increase the quality)
2. You get "free anti aliasing"; well not really, but a similar effect... anti aliasing is basically a blur tool. And on some games max AA makes them TOO blurry. Making text look fuzzy and blotted.
The upscaling makes the monitor blend pixels causing a blur effect that can reduce jagged edges just as well as anti aliasing.


Oh and I am having a BLAST with my monitor on the things that can run at my native res at good quality

 

[Check]

Originally posted by: taltamir
I am having a BLAST on my dell ultrasharp widescreen 24inch monitor... it is 1920x1200...

Anyways, you do not have to run on the native resolution... in fact there is a BENEFIT for running on a lower res that is the same aspect ratio...
1. You get more FPS (or can increase the quality)
2. You get "free anti aliasing"; well not really, but a similar effect... anti aliasing is basically a blur tool. And on some games max AA makes them TOO blurry. Making text look fuzzy and blotted.
The upscaling makes the monitor blend pixels causing a blur effect that can reduce jagged edges just as well as anti aliasing.


Oh and I am having a BLAST with my monitor on the things that can run at my native res at good quality

Anti Aliasing is a blurring effect?? This is news to me.

 

[shaolin95]

it must like texture AA extension to the regular one
Thats the reason I still keep my CRT DEll (Sony) 21"...I can select any res I want and any refresh rate and everything looks razor sharp.
Dont forget 3d glasses too!

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: taltamir
I am having a BLAST on my dell ultrasharp widescreen 24inch monitor... it is 1920x1200...

Anyways, you do not have to run on the native resolution... in fact there is a BENEFIT for running on a lower res that is the same aspect ratio...
1. You get more FPS (or can increase the quality)
2. You get "free anti aliasing"; well not really, but a similar effect... anti aliasing is basically a blur tool. And on some games max AA makes them TOO blurry. Making text look fuzzy and blotted.
The upscaling makes the monitor blend pixels causing a blur effect that can reduce jagged edges just as well as anti aliasing.


Oh and I am having a BLAST with my monitor on the things that can run at my native res at good quality

lmao, yes blurrrrr...

so Full Screen AA, Multi Sampling AA, Coverage Sampling AA, Super Sampling AA, its all just blur?

and running below native res blends pixels and decreases jagged edges? lol

jesus christ its hard to come by so much ignorance in one post.

Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
I want my fucking trinitron back.

i agree. i still think of getting a 24 inch trinitron some times...

 

[MetaDFF]

Originally posted by: check
I don't mention widescreen because I find them to be worthless for gaming for the most part. Some games will support widescreen by limiting your vertical viewing angle, not by increasing your horizontal viewing angle which is BS (bioshock does this for instance).

Whoa, hold it there, I'm not sure what you mean by wide screen monitors are worthless for gaming. I think you are afraid that if the game's original rendering resolution is say 4:3 then on a wide-screen monitor it will look distorted since it will need to stretch a 4:3 image to 16:9 to fill the screen. Depending on your monitor you can disable the stretching or you can specify the stretching while maintaining the aspect ratio.

For example, if you are running at lower than the native resolution (say 1280x1024), the Dell 2407FPW Rev04 (native 1920x1200) allows you to either disable scaling (1:1) (the unscaled screen is in the center and black bars fill the top and bottom), or allows for scaling to fill the vertical dimension while maintaining the aspect ratio (black bars fill the sides), or full screen fill where the image is stretched to fill the screen (distorting the image).

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I have a 20" widescreen monitor and I love it. Games are a bit distorted at 1280x1024, but it's no problem with my new 8800GT - 1680x1050 all the way for me! I don't think I could go back to a non-widescreen monitor after this - there's just so much in my viewing area.

 

[Check]

Originally posted by: MetaDFF

Originally posted by: check
I don't mention widescreen because I find them to be worthless for gaming for the most part. Some games will support widescreen by limiting your vertical viewing angle, not by increasing your horizontal viewing angle which is BS (bioshock does this for instance).

Whoa, hold it there, I'm not sure what you mean by wide screen monitors are worthless for gaming. I think you are afraid that if the game's original rendering resolution is say 4:3 then on a wide-screen monitor it will look distorted since it will need to stretch a 4:3 image to 16:9 to fill the screen. Depending on your monitor you can disable the stretching or you can specify the stretching while maintaining the aspect ratio.

For example, if you are running at lower than the native resolution (say 1280x1024), the Dell 2407FPW Rev04 (native 1920x1200) allows you to either disable scaling (1:1) (the unscaled screen is in the center and black bars fill the top and bottom), or allows for scaling to fill the vertical dimension while maintaining the aspect ratio (black bars fill the sides), or full screen fill where the image is stretched to fill the screen (distorting the image).

no, I'm referring to the fact in some games (first person shooters are the most affected by this) the graphics designers offer widescreen resolutions by chopping off the a portion of the top and the bottom of the screen and moving the HUD into the new viewing range. This gives the people with a widescreen display, who wish to run the game as such, a disadvantage when playing in multiplayer. In single player it doesn't pose as much of a problem because you can reload from a save point and remember to look up when an enemy appears from off screen.

I'm not worried about games not providing widescreen resolutions. All new games offer widescreen resolutions (as far as I know) and some older games have come out with patches to support widescreen.

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I have a 20" widescreen monitor and I love it. Games are a bit distorted at 1280x1024, but it's no problem with my new 8800GT - 1680x1050 all the way for me! I don't think I could go back to a non-widescreen monitor after this - there's just so much in my viewing area.

20" Widescreens provide less pixels than their 4:3 non widescreen cousins (1680x1050 vs. 1600x1200). They also provide less physical space in square inches.