Help me decide: 8bit@1680x1050, or 6bit@1920x1200?

[soccerballtux]

Will be powering with 8800GT.

I've seen 1920x1200 deals for <$300 around lately, and am having difficult deciding between that and a higher quality, lower resolution monitor.

My laptop is most obviously a TN panel, and ... I don't think it's that bad. So I'm really tempted to go for a 1920x1200, except for a few reasons:

1). Not sure what I'm missing in 8-bit because I'm not sure if I've ever seen one in action. (more on this later)
2). 1920x1200 I've heard of (and felt this myself some in the Dells at the library) general eye-tiredness being a side affect of such a large display (turning down brightness didn't help too much). Or rather, this is a side effect of large monitors.
3). 1920x1200, while the 8800GT can drive now, it might not hold up as well with newer games (?). However, I hear Nvidia's cards can do image rescaling before outputting the native 1920x1200 signal. This is win.
4). Will be gaming on this monitor, perhaps some wow, definitely some FPS's (getting pretty good at Instagib CTF and finally enjoying it.

I think at this stage most helpful would be if someone with previous knowledge could flip through Best Buy or Office Depot online websites and point out any 8-bit panels. That way I could go to them, look for that model, and try to compare the colors and see how big of a difference I find. Because while my laptop screen looks fine (and wow looks much much better than on my 19" CRT), my friend got some LCD panel and the colors looked horrible-- the primary colors particularly Blue and Red, looked way over saturated, and it wasn't anything in the graphics drivers because I checked those, it was just something crummy about the display. So I'm mainly afraid of getting something crummy like that.

 

[Obsoleet]

I use a SIPS 8bit panel, 1680. I will never get a higher resolution screen. This is easier to push in games and simply fits for a desktop. Not to mention it takes a lot of money to get a high quality 1920 panel.

 

[soccerballtux]

Ya.

Whats your brand/model number on the panel?

 

[tyler811]

Most LCDS 22 and above cannot display 8 bit color (16 million color) they use 6 bit (262,144). They employ a method of pixels that are nearby and use varying shades of the color to trick the human eye into seeing the color. Depending on what you do with it, you might not notice a difference. The best thing to do is go to your B.B. or O.D. or somewhere and compare the two. Make sure however that they are displaying the same thing.

 

[soccerballtux]

Ya that's what I plan to do, however I have no clue (and neither do the clerks there) about which is 8 and which is 6bit with dithering.

 

[tyler811]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Ya that's what I plan to do, however I have no clue (and neither do the clerks there) about which is 8 and which is 6bit with dithering.

Go to somewhere where they have clue. You can also go to a store and fnd the ones you like then look up and print off the info from the web. Then go back to the store and check them out.

 

[kmmatney]

The monitor in my sig is an 8-bit 24" LCD @ 1920 x 1200, with an SPVA panel. It also has hardware scaling to 4:3 resolution for older non-widescreen games. Its on sale for $300 at OfficeMax - a great LCD for the price.

Don't get too hung up on color you see in the store. All LCDs are slightly different, and they probably aren't calibrated in the store. You just need a few seconds to calibrate the colors to your liking in windows. I have 5 LCDs at home and it is easier to get the colors to my liking with my 8-bit panels versus my 6-bit panels. With my current LCD, the colors were a little off out-of-the-box. I just downloaded a new ICM file online and now they look great.

 

[qbfx]

Today's 6-bit panels are not that awful since most of them use dithering and FRC at the same time, and the combination of the two seems to trick the eye pretty well. And, thing is, if you only play games (and don't do say photo editing) you probably wont notice any difference between 8 and 6 bits. If I were you I'd go with the Samsung 245BW, it's probably the best 24" TN for gaming, has a nice design, has the adjustable stand (height, tilt, swivel, portrait) and is pretty cheap (399$). Good luck.

 

[qbfx]

Originally posted by: Obsoleet
I use a SIPS 8bit panel, 1680. I will never get a higher resolution screen. This is easier to push in games and simply fits for a desktop. Not to mention it takes a lot of money to get a high quality 1920 panel.

If you did 3D and CAD you wouldn't think so about the resolution

 

[soccerballtux]

Hm......Ya I don't want to spend $400; and it seems like 1920x1200 isn't necessary.

So sounds like I could just pick out a newer 1680x1050 display and I"ll be ok. I'm really just not seeing wanting 8-bit if it's like this cheapo laptop screen (compaq, with 1280x768), and it'll probably be better.

 

[Obsoleet]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Ya.

Whats your brand/model number on the panel?

I use an old 2005FPW. I've had great luck with it but these days I'm liking a BenQ listed in the LCD FAQ. If I were to buy today thats what I'd get (been a while since I've checked into LCDs so I don't recall the exact model).

 

[scoobyx13x]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
The monitor in my sig is an 8-bit 24" LCD @ 1920 x 1200, with an SPVA panel. It also has hardware scaling to 4:3 resolution for older non-widescreen games. Its on sale for $300 at OfficeMax - a great LCD for the price.

I can vouch for this monitor as well. I got it on impulse on BF and have overall been happy with it. However, in gaming it has pushed my old x1900 to its limits, so I will be looking for a new card soon.

If you get it, be aware that several people here have reported issues with the included DVI cable. I had to use an after market one myself simply because I needed more length, so I can't really speak from experience.

I'm not sure about the tiring on the eyes. My old monitor was a 21" CRT running at 1600x1200 and that was very tiring for anything other than games. I didn't even like web browsing at that resolution.

 

[MegaVovaN]

I have a chimei 22" 6 bit panel, had it over a year (since black friday in 2006).

It is a good monitor, no tiredness, plays games well, etc. I have big table (Text, Text2), so naturally, I want an upgrade in size to 24".

 

[soccerballtux]

There's no way a 1920x1200 SPVA panel is $300??? This one? http://officemax.shoplocal.com...vid%3dOfficeMax-071230

 

[qbfx]

Don't buy it. I've read about it on other forums too and it seems there's a reason it's more than two times cheaper than other PVAs.

 

[soccerballtux]

Ya the one I just looked at on display at OfficeMax had one of the dreaded horizontal lines of pixels near the bottom. I hear those are 8 in 10. No thanks.

 

[Riverhound777]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Ya the one I just looked at on display at OfficeMax had one of the dreaded horizontal lines of pixels near the bottom. I hear those are 8 in 10. No thanks.

Then you can take it back. I picked up one two days ago and love it so far. No issues whatsoever.

 

[brikis98]

Some comments:

1. Check out this stickied thread - the recommendations section mentions for quite a few of the monitors which ones are actually 8 bit.
2. If you are doing any photo editing or anything that requires accurate color, there is no question: get an 8 bit screen.
3. For gaming and normal use, the latest 6 bit monitors are pretty tough to distinguish from 8 bit.
4. Unless you upgrade every 1-2 years, 1920*1200 will always be tough to drive for 3d shooters, at least with settings on high. Currently, only crysis will choke that card at this resolution, but more will come. I'm not a fan of the IQ loss when scaling, although with games, this isn't too noticeable, especially with good LCD's/video cards. Try it out and see if you could live with it.
5. If you use a lot of "productivity" apps, such as programming IDE's, MS office, etc, you may want a lot of screen real estate. In this scenario, 1920x1200 wins. However, two screens (even if they are lower resolution) are even better...

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: Riverhound777

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Ya the one I just looked at on display at OfficeMax had one of the dreaded horizontal lines of pixels near the bottom. I hear those are 8 in 10. No thanks.

Then you can take it back. I picked up one two days ago and love it so far. No issues whatsoever.

But I can't just take it back, because college + public transit + 4 trips to Office max and $50 later + the warranty, I could have bought a simply higher quality display :/

 

[soccerballtux]

Originally posted by: brikis98
Some comments:

1. Check out this stickied thread - the recommendations section mentions for quite a few of the monitors which ones are actually 8 bit.
2. If you are doing any photo editing or anything that requires accurate color, there is no question: get an 8 bit screen.
3. For gaming and normal use, the latest 6 bit monitors are pretty tough to distinguish from 8 bit.
4. Unless you upgrade every 1-2 years, 1920*1200 will always be tough to drive for 3d shooters, at least with settings on high. Currently, only crysis will choke that card at this resolution, but more will come. I'm not a fan of the IQ loss when scaling, although with games, this isn't too noticeable, especially with good LCD's/video cards. Try it out and see if you could live with it.
5. If you use a lot of "productivity" apps, such as programming IDE's, MS office, etc, you may want a lot of screen real estate. In this scenario, 1920x1200 wins. However, two screens (even if they are lower resolution) are even better...

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

[win32asmguy]

Definitely go with something 8-bit. I'd suggest watching craigslist or something similar for someone who "upgraded" to a 24" panel over Christmas from their 20" Dell (2005wfp or 2007wfp) that came bundled with their machine. This way you could inspect the panel personally for defects and quality, which you can't really do in a store, unless you are willing to make a few return trips.

 

[soccerballtux]

I'm having a lot of trouble discerning the need for 8-bit. TN tech is really mature.

I've looked at all the panels in the Best Buy, Office Max, Office Depot, and not only do they all look fine to me, they look great, colors and everything.

I think I'm going to go with a 1680x1050 TN panel :/

This will be supplementing my CRT so its not like I need a double wide display.

I'll probably get a 22", nice size, don't think I need the resolution, and don't want to upgrade graphics cards all the time to drive it for games.

 

[qbfx]

I'll probably get a 22", nice size, don't think I need the resolution, and don't want to upgrade graphics cards all the time to drive it for games.

Why do yall guys think that if your display's native resolution is 1920x1200 you must 100% play at it ?! Go see this and tell me if you see that much of a difference.. http://prad.de/en/monitore/rev...-hp-w2408h-part14.html I say go with a 24". There are people who are switching from 22" to 24" and I don't think it's for the 2"...

 

[soccerballtux]

.

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Ya the one I just looked at on display at OfficeMax had one of the dreaded horizontal lines of pixels near the bottom. I hear those are 8 in 10. No thanks.

After seeing mine, 2 friends of mine bought the same LCD, and have no problems at all. I also have an Acer 22" TN panel - the Soyo is much better when compared side by side, not too mention having a larger panel is much better. If you don't like it you just take it back...

I also agree with the above post about scaling. My video card can't run too many games at 1920 x 1200, but the scaling is excellent so you just run games at whatever resolution your video card can handle.

Edit: I should mention that the main improvement between the Soyo 24" SPVA panel and my Acer 22" is that the contrast is much better on the Soyo, especially when playing darker games, or watching dark scenes in a movie. The Acer is an 8-bit TN panel.