LCDs and gaming

[CMC79]

I am debating between a 19" widescreen display or a 22". I like the size of the 22" screens better, but the native resolution is a lot higher. I guess what I'm afraid of is committing myself to a constant graphics "arms race" where I HAVE to buy an upper end card fairly frequently to keep up gaming at 1680x1050, whereas 1440x900 is a little easier on my card. I have a x1900xt and I'd like to make it last the rest of the year at least. Should I go the bigger size and have to play at non-native resolution for newer games, or go smaller and be able to keep up with games a little longer on each video card upgrade?

 

[UF Matt]

I just bought a 19in LCD from Samsung, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001094 for exactly that reason (and the fact that I could have a high quality 19in vs a lower quality 20+ in). I'm very much a mid-range gamer with parsimonious tendencies. Having 1440x900 resolution will allow me to get away with cheaper parts while still enjoying what I consider to be a very comfortable resolution.

My monitor arrived ahead of my new system, and so far I'm loving it. You'll probably be happy either way, but I guess it depends on how much you want to spend.

 

[zylander]

I took some pictures for you of games at different resolutions on my 24" dell;

Oblivion at 1920x1200
Oblivion at 1600x900

Quake III at 1920x1200
Quake III at 1600x900

Starcraft at 640x480


I play all my games at 1920x1200 with the settings as high as I can get them, and that is will a 7900GT. I even ran Oblivion on a 6600GT at 1920x1200, but I did have to turn the settings down real low. An X1900XT is comperable to a 7900GT, you should have no problem running most games at 1680x1050 and still have the settings at a decent level.

Although, as you can see from the pictures above (they arent the best but you should get the idea); when you use a lower resolution the game still looks alright. Of course it will look best at the native res, but it still looks alright at a lower resolution.

 

[CMC79]

zylander--many thanks for the photos. Oblivion looks very nice on your display.

My general preference is that I sacrifice resolution before I turn most of the advanced features off (i.e. I'd prefer 12x10 with all effects turned on to 16x12 with half the effects turned off). The question is--how much savings do I get by dropping from 16x10 to 14x9? I tried going to Tom's VGA charts, but all of those are run at 4:3 resolutions, so it was a little hard to tell. Plus, the only 16x12 options they displayed had AF and AA enabled, while the lower resolution didn't.

 

[UF Matt]

1400x900 is roughly equal to the pixels displayed in 1280res. If anything, having 1440 or 1280 allows you to also use video cards with less memory (e.g. 8800GTS 320 vs 640mb).

 

[alizee]

I just upgraded from a pair CRTs where my max res was 1280x1024 to a pair of 20" LCDs with the same max res as the 22", 1680x1050.

But, with Oblivion, which was running great at 1280x1024 with HDR and 4xAA and all the settings up, to almost, but not quite, playable with everything using my Radeon X1800XT 512MB at 1680x1050. That may mean the X1900XT could handle it, but it is only a 256MB card.

HL2 and Counterstrike:Source play great with all the eyecandy on, maybe as low as 40fps, but it looks good to my eye. The CS:S video stress test stated 119fps.

It also made Diablo 2 almost unplayable as it stretches the 800x600 across the screen and it looks horrible.

Another thing you may want to look at is the Pixel Pitch. I could have gotten two 22" displays and spent only slightly more, but they tend to look grainy to me because it stretches the same resolution across a bigger screen. Go to a brick and mortar computer store and look at some displays before you purchase one online. 22" displays are usually .282mm vs .258mm. Even the 19" are .283mm vs a 17" .255mm.

 

[CMC79]

Hmm...I think I am swayed to the 19" inch. 1280x1024 with AA and AF turned on looks very good to me, and I think I'll upgrade often enough to maintain that quality level, so a 1440x900 resolution is probably best.

I am looking at Samsung, Acer, and the new HP w1907. I know the gloss finish isn't to everyone's taste, but my brother's HP laptop has the same finish I found it to be incredibly impressive in use. Any suggestions between these?

 

[UF Matt]

I guess it depends where you have your desktop. If sunlight can hit the screen directly, a gloss finish may be distracting.

 

[CMC79]

I know--I have a skylight in my living room, and it makes my HDTV sometimes very difficult to see. My office, however, is a cave in comparison.

 

[UF Matt]

Sounds like you should be good then. The glossy displays do look nice.