monitors: looking for 19" flat panel. im a gamer and programmer.

[robotcaptain]

hey all,

i did some searching through the forums but couldn't find any topics that really fit what i'm looking for.

I'm in the market for a 19" flat panel monitor, and I'm looking for suggestions (either specific or sites I can go to for my own research).

I'm a big gamer but also a big programmer. I don't know if refresh rates come into play with flat panels but right now my 17" can only go up to 1024x768 at 85hz and that is NOT satisfactory for programming (i can't stand anything lower than 75-85hz and I need a high resolution, ideally 1600), i really need a huge space so I can work with many different files at once.

At the same time I'm very hesitant to get a flat panel because of the trailing issues when playing games, I mostly play FPSs.

I could set up my 17" CRT with a new flat panel and do a dual monitor display (using the CRT for gaming) but really I don't want to have to deal with two huge monitors on my desk.

Any suggetsions/help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

edits: just clarifying some things

 

[Matthias99]

First off, LCD monitors don't flicker like CRTs, so for 2D work it makes the refresh rate less important.

Second, all current 19" LCD monitors are 25ms or worse in terms of response time. This means they trail and ghost noticeably while playing high-speed video or action games -- although some people don't care, it drives me nuts.

They do make 17" LCDs with 16ms and 20ms response times, which are better for gaming, but I'm still not ready to pay a premium for one yet. Perhaps a dual setup with two of these (or one of these and a better CRT) would be what you're looking for? You can get a large desktop area and good gaming performance at a lower price. I personally can't run 1600x1200 on anything smaller than a 20" CRT -- the text is too small for me to work comfortably for long periods of time. I use a dual monitor setup when I need lots of screen real estate.

You may want to look into the Dell 2001FP, a 21" LCD screen with 16ms response time and a native 1600x1200 resolution. Of course, it's also about $1000 and not out for a few more months. But hey, you get what you pay for.

Tom's Hardware Guide (www.tomshardware.com) has done several comparison reviews of the "gaming" LCDs released over the last two years, so you may want to check them out. There are *tons* of LCD monitor reviews out there, so I doubt you'll have any trouble finding them if you search a little. Even just searching this forum will probably turn up a lot -- this question comes up on a weekly basis, pretty much.

 

[robotcaptain]

yeah, from what ive read so far it seems like the best option might be to just get a nice 19" crt and wait for the lcds to progress to a point where they satisfy my needs.

also ive done a good bit of searching for monitor reviews on the web and you're right there are a TON of reviews out there, which kind of makes it difficult because I feel like i have no direction of what to look for. I was looking at tom's hardward stuff but the only very recent roundups are the affordable 19" (all of which seemed terrible for gaming) and a feature on 17"s.

Thanks a ton for all the advice. If anyone else has suggestions I'm all ears

 

[zephyrprime]

Yeah, refresh rate hardly matters for LCD's.

There is one 16ms 20" LCD but I wonder if it doesn't have some ghosting also. After all, 16ms is significantly but not hugely faster than 25ms.

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[robotcaptain]

i see that lcd's have a "native" resolution. what would happen if i run a game at 1024 in a monitor that has a native resolution of 1600? will it look terrible? Because my radeon 9600 and athlon 1.4 can hardly support running the newest games at 1600.