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LCD Recommendation

J

JPS35

Senior member
As I am working to build a new system, I am giving some strong consideration to also upgrading my monitor. Does anyone have a recommendation for a $200 - $250 price for a 17" or 19" LCD monitor (not WS), with DVI, no ghosting, great color, etc. that can operate well at a variety of resolutions? I would like the resolutions to be standard for a CRT. Thanks!
 
Understood about the resloution. I know that for me, on a 17" or 19" LCD if the native resolution is more than 800x600, which they generally are, reading, icons, etc. becomes waaaaaaaaay to small for my eyes. For games, and the added resolution to them, is not a problem. But given that my wife and I do a lot of databases, excel, and other related business adventures with it, it can create an eye strain.

Any suggestions?
 
Most 17" and 19" LCDs have 1280x1024 (5:4) native resolutions. 20" monitors and above use 1600x1200.

A 19" LCD with 1280x1024 resolution should not be difficult to read. A 17" at the same resolution will be more difficult to read. If you're accustomed to eye strain on a CRT, you'll find that LCDs are much easier on the eyes at any resolution.
 
For that price range the BenQ FP93GX is great, especially for response time. I'm not sure how resolution scaling is (you can have either the graphics adapter or monitor do it). Personally I always use native and if I need to see fonts bigger I raise the DPI (or text size % in browser).
 
Both look tempting, but what is the viewing difference between 16.2 or 16.7 million colors? How are they for fast action, ghosting, etc.?
 
Thanks for the head's up. I am considering perhaps one of these two:

1. BenQ FP93GX
2. Samsung SyncMaster 960BF

Does anyone have any experience with either of these two and how they perform for gaming?
 
Okay, I have continued to do some research on the LCD monitors, read the excellent buyer's guide, and reviewed some specific models.

The monitor will be used for a large variety of purposes, but if it can handle great gaming and fast action without tearing or ghosting, it will be fine for other applications.

It is being used in conjunction with an E6600, 2gb RAM, and a 7900GT graphics card. I would like to see some decent/great results for games like Oblivion, GRAW, FEAR, etc.

I am looking to spend around $250 give or take a few dozen dollars if it is worth the price difference.

A few more questions and recommendations:

1. What is the color difference (subjective for those that have it) between 16.2 and 16.7 million color?

2. Preferences and viewing differences between 19" or 20.1"? Preferrably no widescreen.

3. Does Pixel Pitch make much difference to most people?

4. Recommendations for 19", 16.7 million, DVI, decent contract and response time? In this category, it looks like the BenQ FP93GX may do well, but does not support the 16.7 color. Does anyone have one and how do you like it? How is it for newer games, ghosting, tearing, etc.? What is a non widescreen Viewsonic equivalent of the VX2025?

5. Recommendations for 20.1", 16.7 million, DVI, decent contrast (above 500:1), and around 8ms or less?

As always, thanks for the help, comments, recommendations, etc.!

 
its not too small. in advanced display properties one can set to large fonts. most browsers let you alter such things too. icons can be set to large too. vista will have better scaling abilities like osx.
 
Originally posted by: JPS35
Okay, I have continued to do some research on the LCD monitors, read the excellent buyer's guide, and reviewed some specific models.

The monitor will be used for a large variety of purposes, but if it can handle great gaming and fast action without tearing or ghosting, it will be fine for other applications.

It is being used in conjunction with an E6600, 2gb RAM, and a 7900GT graphics card. I would like to see some decent/great results for games like Oblivion, GRAW, FEAR, etc.

I am looking to spend around $250 give or take a few dozen dollars if it is worth the price difference.

A few more questions and recommendations:

1. What is the color difference (subjective for those that have it) between 16.2 and 16.7 million color?

2. Preferences and viewing differences between 19" or 20.1"? Preferrably no widescreen.

3. Does Pixel Pitch make much difference to most people?

4. Recommendations for 19", 16.7 million, DVI, decent contract and response time? In this category, it looks like the BenQ FP93GX may do well, but does not support the 16.7 color. Does anyone have one and how do you like it? How is it for newer games, ghosting, tearing, etc.? What is a non widescreen Viewsonic equivalent of the VX2025?

5. Recommendations for 20.1", 16.7 million, DVI, decent contrast (above 500:1), and around 8ms or less?

As always, thanks for the help, comments, recommendations, etc.!
Click to expand...

With a processer/ graphics card combo like that, and considering most LCD monitors have a 60hz refresh rate, you're going to get tearing no matter what unless you enable the verticle sync option in your display software.
If you're looking for a "great" gaming monitor that has awesome colors and a fast response time with good contrast ratio that is good enough to do FEAR, Oblivion or GRAW any justice you're looking about 3 times the price of what you're looking to spend.
Monitors with the expectations you are looking for are quite expensive, so $250 or even $350 isn't going to cut it. You're looking at $450-$700. With LCD's, just like anything else, you get what you pay for, and a cheaper monitor will give you cheaper results.
I looked extensivly a few weeks back for an LCD to buy, found a few, tried them out and didn't like them. I thought the NEC 20WMGX2 was the best out there but it's widescreen, and it was also $680. Some like the Viewsonic brands and the samsung models, but I couldn't tell you which ones they are as I use a CRT.
One thing I noticed about LCD's is that you sacrifice one thing for another, fast response time usually means not as good picture quality, and the opposite is the same, unless like I said, you want to pay bigger bucks.
Hope this helped at least some 🙁
 
Thanks for the heads up, and this may be something that I am afraid might happen. How about anyone else who has a decent system with there LCDs? Anyone else care to take a shot at it? I do realize that a great deal of it is also subjective and different for each person. I guess I would be pretty average in terms of "noticing any problems", but could get used to some. I just do not want it to be a horrible experience, but something that makes it fun!
 
hyundai L90d+ (19'")is an outstanding monitor, I play Q4, Oblivion. all in the native 1280x1024 and couldn't be happier. I'm running a 6800ultra, 1g ram AMD XP-M @2600. So I would even call it a pure gaming machine, I play all game at the high setting(like 1 notch below the top stetting and it run just fine) with your system I can only get better.

Clinth
 
I know that Dell is supposed to make decent LCD monitors, but to think of ever supporting that company shakes me to the core of my being. I get nauseous just thinking about it.
 
The cheap LCDs I've had the misfortune of using so far absolutely force you to look at them from the perfect angle, from the perfect position. A degree or two off and the color and brightness distorts. Very annoying, even more so than ghosting.
 
I have a viewsonic vx922 19" monitor and it looks awesome...works great for gamming with 2ms!!! only $260 after rebate at FRY's...also if I were you I'd go into a store to buy a monitor since bestbuy and fry's lets you power up the monitor to check for dead pixels and such.
 
Great idea on trying it out before buying it at a local shop. We have a few around here, but I am having a hard time finding the specific ones that have been recommended other than the Viewsonic 2025. I am heading to a larger city later this week and will check out the Fry's up there as well. Thanks, everyone!
 
Uhh, I don't think you noticed the part in the LCD guide where it says "problem LCDs: 960BF." Don't get the 960BF, RTC/Overshoot errors are through the roof.

To answer your questions:

1. 16.2 and .7 really don't have much difference. It depends on the type of panel used. 16.2 uses dithering to achieve this color, so some people have issues with it. I wouldn't worry though, unless you have AMAZINGLY fast eyes, then you'll have no problem with it.

No LCD under $5000 has near perfect color fidelity. Your best best is the viewsonic VP930b, although it's much too high for your budget. Read up on reviews. The electronic eye is always more accurate than the human one.

2. I prefer smaller icons hence the 20.1", because I'm 18 and eyestrain isn't one of those issues at this age =p. 20.1 is restrictive with your budget though. I don't know why no one has suggested accessibility options in windows. They allow for larger icons and many other features. That's probably your best way to get around the small icon problem.

3. Dot pitch does matter to me, since I like to see the little details. The larger the dot pitch, the more pixelated your picture will appear. A fine dot pitch translates into a smooth image.

4. You're going to have trouble finding 16.7 monitors with fast response. The panel used for true 16.7 is very slow. It shouldn't matter anyways though, the 16.2 is fine for most people.

5. Can't give you any recommendations for that, sorry. Although I can say, 8ms rated is NOT 8ms in practice. Read reviews and find out what the real one is.

It's a good idea to walk into a brick&mortar store to take a look around at monitors. Don't only buy from the view of those though. It's very important to also look at reviews, because many conditions are different at the stores when compared to at home. Also, even though a bright monitor looks good for 10 minutes when compared to the rest of the ones on the shelf, you're going to find your eyes hurting when you use it at home. Just a word of caution.
 
Originally posted by: bigstrickler
I have a viewsonic vx922 19" monitor and it looks awesome...works great for gamming with 2ms!!! only $260 after rebate at FRY's...also if I were you I'd go into a store to buy a monitor since bestbuy and fry's lets you power up the monitor to check for dead pixels and such.
Click to expand...

Bad colors. I don't like it. It's terrible for a 6-bit panel. If you get the Viewsonic VP930b, it's significantly, better, but you need to up your budget a little more

As for 6-bit vs 8-bit, it's a huge difference when you come to certain panels. The Viewsonic VP930b does a really good job and maybe that's where Talcite coems from because he mentions it. I have a Viewsonic VP191b (older brother of the VP930b), but I have no complaints about the color versus an 8-bit panel. Moreoever, the colors look a lot better than my 2405.

6-bit panels that are insanely fast like the Samsung 930B (dont confuse with Viewsonic VP930b) or a Hyundai L90, have HORRIBLE colors. My friend has a Viewsonic VX924 and it looks terrible compared to his roommate's VP930b.

Too fast = ugly. VP930b = just right
 
Originally posted by: JPS35
I know that for me, on a 17" or 19" LCD if the native resolution is more than 800x600, which they generally are, reading, icons, etc. becomes waaaaaaaaay to small for my eyes. For games, and the added resolution to them, is not a problem. But given that my wife and I do a lot of databases, excel, and other related business adventures with it, it can create an eye strain.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Stick with a good CRT. An LCD won't give you the image quality you need at lower resolutions.
There, I said it... CRT! 😛

Originally posted by: Clinth
hyundai L90d+ (19'")is an outstanding monitor,

Clinth
Click to expand...
The viewing angle is too tight... I've got one in front of me right now. 😛

 
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