LCD monitor gaming question

[TitusTroy]

I'm thinking about replacing my 10 year old Sony CRT monitor with the BenQ G2400WD LCD...my worry was that I'm a big time gamer and the native resolution of the BenQ LCD is 1920 x 1200...a lot of the latest PC games won't allow you to play at that high of a resolution (Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky)...would lowering the resolution to a non-native one severely impact image quality?

or should I just buy a smaller LCD with a lower native resolution, like 1680 x 1050?...I want to be able to use my new LCD for 6-8 years and not have to buy a new one that supports a higher native res. every few years...how are people who are buying these large monitors with high native resolutions able to play games?

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: TitusTroy
I'm thinking about replacing my 10 year old Sony CRT monitor with the BenQ G2400WD LCD...my worry was that I'm a big time gamer and the native resolution of the BenQ LCD is 1920 x 1200...a lot of the latest PC games won't allow you to play at that high of a resolution (Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky)...would lowering the resolution to a non-native one severely impact image quality?

or should I just buy a smaller LCD with a lower native resolution, like 1680 x 1050?...I want to be able to use my new LCD for 6-8 years and not have to buy a new one that supports a higher native res. every few years...how are people who are buying these large monitors with high native resolutions able to play games?

Quad Crossfire, duh.

I've got a 22" LCD with a 1680x1050 native res, it's an HP LP2275W, and is an awesome monitor BTW, worth every penny, it's got a nice PVA panel. So far I'm gaming at native res, if I ever encounter a game that won't run fast enough, I'll set the graphics driver to center the smaller (like 1440x900) image rather than scale it; I'm very finicky about running an LCD at non-native resolution, it makes me feel like my eyes are bleeding.

 

[TitusTroy]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124I've got a 22" LCD with a 1680x1050 native res, it's an HP LP2275W, and is an awesome monitor BTW, worth every penny, it's got a nice PVA panel. So far I'm gaming at native res, if I ever encounter a game that won't run fast enough, I'll set the graphics driver to center the smaller (like 1440x900) image rather than scale it; I'm very finicky about running an LCD at non-native resolution, it makes me feel like my eyes are bleeding.

I've read that the monitor you have is not good for gaming as the input lag is anywhere from 25ms-50ms!...that's way too high for my tastes

 

[MichaelD]

When you say "a lot of the latest PC games won't allow you to play at that high of a resolution", I'm assuming you mean due to the high-spec hardware requirements needed to play those games at high-res, right?

Any game put out in the last two years will allow you to play at 1920x1200 and higher. I.E. that resolution is natively supported by the game engine.

What videocard do you have? That is a big determining factor as to how big of a monitor you can comfortably use for gaming.

I can tell you this; any decent LCD will make your 10-year old CRT look like crud. You don't realize how much your picture quality has deteriorated over the years until you look at it thru a new monitor.

Being that you're looking at using your new monitor for 6+ years, I'd look at getting at least a 22" widescreen. 24" is the sweet spot these days for price and performance.

Though at 19x12, games like Clear Sky will require a beefy videocard.

Which brings me to running an LCD at non-native res. I'm with mrSheik on this one. I get a splitting headache looking at a non-native-res picture on an LCD. It all looks fuzzy to me. But YMMV. Some folks are more sensitive to it than others.

I didn't buy a 24" screen to play at a lower res; I want to see it all, as it was meant to be seen. :beer:

The people buying 24 and 30" monitors are able to game on them b/c they also made the investment in a better videocard. The best (or even "pretty decent") is not cheap when it comes to PC gaming.

That said, you can get a nice 24" monitor for less than $400 these days and a very nice midrange videocard for under $300. Drop down to a 22" monitor and you're under $300 for the monitor. I wouldn't though. Spend the money now and enjoy it.

I bought a 24" Dell about 2 years ago when they were still expensive. I never regretted it for a minute.

Don't cheap out on the monitor; it's your gateway into your computer. You might not always use the crappy speakers you have (example) but you ALWAYS use the monitor.

 

[TitusTroy]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
When you say "a lot of the latest PC games won't allow you to play at that high of a resolution", I'm assuming you mean due to the high-spec hardware requirements needed to play those games at high-res, right?

Any game put out in the last two years will allow you to play at 1920x1200 and higher. I.E. that resolution is natively supported by the game engine.

What videocard do you have? That is a big determining factor as to how big of a monitor you can comfortably use for gaming.

yes, what I meant was you cannot play at those high resolutions with most graphical settings cranked up and AA enabled with a decent FPS...isn't that the point of playing games at high resolutions, so that you can enable all the advanced graphics options?...I mean if you have to lower most or all of the graphics settings to Medium or Low settings then isn't it better to get a monitor with a lower native resolution where you can play the games with more advanced options enabled?

and when you say that any game out within the last 2 years can allow you to play at 1920 x 1200 I don't think you meant with a lot of the graphical settings enabled along with AA correct?...Crysis and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky are 2 examples

I currently have an 8800GT overclocked

 

[MichaelD]

We understand each other on the "games and settings" thing.

I had the same videocard as you. Great card even at 19x12 UNTIL games like Crysis came out. Crysis is not well-coded and could run much better (but that's a discussion for another forum).

Games like Clear Sky are reallly tought on hardware too and your 8800GT won't cut it on anything bigger than a 20" monitor.

Being that you are a "current gamer" I.E. you play the newer games and not just Counter Strike, I really would encourage you to upgrade both the monitor and the GPU. Yes; it's a big expense, but you'll be very happy with the results.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: TitusTroy

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124I've got a 22" LCD with a 1680x1050 native res, it's an HP LP2275W, and is an awesome monitor BTW, worth every penny, it's got a nice PVA panel. So far I'm gaming at native res, if I ever encounter a game that won't run fast enough, I'll set the graphics driver to center the smaller (like 1440x900) image rather than scale it; I'm very finicky about running an LCD at non-native resolution, it makes me feel like my eyes are bleeding.

I've read that the monitor you have is not good for gaming as the input lag is anywhere from 25ms-50ms!...that's way too high for my tastes

I've yet to see any ghosting with either of the PVA panels I have, and the other is an old ass Samsung 193P. Better viewing angles, better color, good refresh time. I've seen ghosting on shitty TN panels with some bullshit advertised 5 ms refresh rate, and still don't see it on either PVA panel. Different strokes...

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: TitusTroy
I'm thinking about replacing my 10 year old Sony CRT monitor with the BenQ G2400WD LCD...my worry was that I'm a big time gamer and the native resolution of the BenQ LCD is 1920 x 1200...a lot of the latest PC games won't allow you to play at that high of a resolution (Crysis, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky)...would lowering the resolution to a non-native one severely impact image quality?

or should I just buy a smaller LCD with a lower native resolution, like 1680 x 1050?...I want to be able to use my new LCD for 6-8 years and not have to buy a new one that supports a higher native res. every few years...how are people who are buying these large monitors with high native resolutions able to play games?

well it used to be true, but higher end video cards now can handle 1920x resolution without much of a fuss, thats what they are for. 2560x1600 30" is where the sli is a must now, thats double the pixels of a 1920x1200 monitor. and well, more pixels=better scaling in theory if running at lower resolutions. and well a lcd lasts...and even if your caard can't quite handle it natively now, you will probably have a faster one soon, things advance so fast. dont get stuck with a lower resolution monitor.