Help me ditch my CRT once and for all

[imported_Hamlet2000]

I'm looking at buying my first LCD screen and I want to make sure I choose a screen with a native resolution that my setup can support.

Let me first say the main reason I haven't switched over until now is I really enjoy being able to switch resolutions on my CRT monitor; having the ability to scale the graphics to match the demand of the game has been great.

But I'd like to get a widescreen LCD - which resolution will be the most "future-proof" for the demand of upcoming games?

I'm looking at 1440x900 (19") or, if the card can handle it, 1680x1050 (22").

I'm going to be upgrading my graphics card too, to either a 320MB or 640 MB 8800 GTS.
I don't have an SLI capable board, so that isn't an option until I hit a major upgrade in a couple of more years.

Here's my basic setup:

AMD 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core (Toledo)
2 GB G.Skill


What resolution would you recommend with a 320MB 8800 GTS, particularly for games like Bioshock and Crysis (I've seen some postings about frame rates in the 30s for Crysis, which makes me think the 1440x900 would be a safer bet)?

Would a 640MB 8800 GTS allow me to jump up to a 1680x1050 resolution comfortably?

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

Why don't you just get a 22" (1680x1050) and drop the resolution down if your card can't handle it. I don't understand this obsession with running at native res, yes it looks better, but non native res's don't look that terrible. Modern scaling algorithms are general quite good, and you don't really notice the interploation issue in a game or movie as much as you do with a windows desktop, unless you've got your eyeballs pressed against the screen, though you're not going to play games that way anyway.

Can we please drop the obsession with running at native resolutions, your eyeballs aren't going to pop out or anything!! Just get the 22" and be done with it.

 

[imported_Hamlet2000]

Hmm, I wasn't aware that you can run at non-native res and not notice. That's good to know. I'd love to be able to see that for myself, though - one persons "doesn't look bad to me" might drive me batty.

 

[potato28]

Get a 20" at 1680x1050, and a 640 mb 8800 GTS? I really can't comment on the newer video cards, but I think that should be enough to play Crysis and Bioshock with good fps's.

 

[Rebel7254]

Make sure your monitor supports multiple resolutions with the correct 16:10 ratio in addition to the native resolution.

My Viewsonic Optiquest 20" Q20wb is 1680x1050...and that's IT for 16:10 resolutions. It does not support any others. It'll do 1600x1200, 1600x900, 1280x1024, etc. It won't do 1440x900 or 1280x800. How stupid is that? I would have never bought it if I had known. I did not see anyone mention this horrible feature of the monitor when I was looking up reviews prior to purchase. So I either have to play at 1680x1050, or deal with distorted geometry.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Yep, I hate that about my monitor too. But otherwise it's great. And once I get a new video card, everything should be playable at 16x10.

 

[richwenzel]

$210...

no ghosting, no dead pixels, very sharp

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16824252008

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

Originally posted by: Hamlet2000
Hmm, I wasn't aware that you can run at non-native res and not notice. That's good to know. I'd love to be able to see that for myself, though - one persons "doesn't look bad to me" might drive me batty.

Well you would notice (if you looked carefully), but it isn't that bad. I play Colin McRae Dirt on my 1680x1050 20" NEC at 1024x768 with 2xAA and it still looks great. 1680x1050 would obviously be a lot better but I'd rather have 30fps than 10fps.

 

[imported_Hamlet2000]

Originally posted by: Rebel7254
Make sure your monitor supports multiple resolutions with the correct 16:10 ratio in addition to the native resolution.

My Viewsonic Optiquest 20" Q20wb is 1680x1050...and that's IT for 16:10 resolutions. It does not support any others. It'll do 1600x1200, 1600x900, 1280x1024, etc. It won't do 1440x900 or 1280x800. How stupid is that? I would have never bought it if I had known. I did not see anyone mention this horrible feature of the monitor when I was looking up reviews prior to purchase. So I either have to play at 1680x1050, or deal with distorted geometry.

Wow that sucks. How do you figure out if a monitor will scale to a lower resolution before you buy?

 

[imported_Hamlet2000]

Originally posted by: Sunday Ironfoot

Originally posted by: Hamlet2000
Hmm, I wasn't aware that you can run at non-native res and not notice. That's good to know. I'd love to be able to see that for myself, though - one persons "doesn't look bad to me" might drive me batty.

Well you would notice (if you looked carefully), but it isn't that bad. I play Colin McRae Dirt on my 1680x1050 20" NEC at 1024x768 with 2xAA and it still looks great. 1680x1050 would obviously be a lot better but I'd rather have 30fps than 10fps.

Hmmm I'm sort of a stickler for good graphics and perfect gemoetry, if something is off it sticks out like a sore thumb to me. . . .

Makes me think that leaning toward a 1440x900 with a 8800 GTS will allow me a better range of perfect resolution and a card that can handle it.

 

[Rebel7254]

Just look for user reviews at Newegg and stuch, and see what people say. Usually there will be some mention that "even resolutions outside the native looks pretty good". Didn't work out well for me, but maybe it will for you. I read several comments saying resolutions outside 1680x1050 didn't look bad on my monitor, but obviously they couldn't tell a distorted image when they saw one.

There are plenty of monitors out there nowadays where you really can't tell much of a difference in games. Yeah, you'll definitely notice when an LCD is not in native resolution by looking at text, but in games it's a lot harder to tell if you have a quality LCD.

btw, I was wrong about 1680x1050 being the only 16:10 resolution my monitor would do....it'll do 1920x1200, but that's no good because the image is too large for the screen. It cuts part of it off. It is safe to say though that 1680x1050 is the only widescreen resolution my monitor will display properly.