The Switch to LCD, a newbie gamer's question

[GZFant]

Right now I am playing on a decent rig I bought about 6 months ago. 6600GT, Athlon64,ASUS SLI on socket 939. I am in no reguard a heavy gamer because 1280X960 with no AA or AF suits me just fine with every game. I was just curious, if the move from a Sony CDP500 that is an absolutely brilliant 21" monitor is worth to sacrifice for a 19" or 21" LCD. The reason being, I am running out of room, the monitor is incredibly hot and I am tired of lugging it around (I move every 6 months or so). I have been looking at various monitor companies; Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Sony, Viewsonic etc....I have read many reviews by Anandtechers for all kinds of monitors and I just don't know where to go.

Basically, I love playing games but do not need resolutions past 1600x1200 or 1280x1024, graphics from medium to high (6600GT does very well now, not upgrading anytime soon). Are the LCD monitors worth it right now or is there something around the corner that I should wait for?

 

[duragezic]

I doubt you will find a LCD with a better overall picture than your Sony for a reasonable price. The Dell 2005FPW is a HOT deal at $400 or under but it is one of the few of that size and quality for under $400 (and for this price you need to visit Hot Deals). But the problems with your Sony CRT are solved by an LCD. I upgraded from a Samsung 900NF 19" CRT to a 2005FPW for similar reasons. This little LCD can get warm too, but I think it barely affects the room temperature since its not as hot as well as being a much smaller surface area of heat being distributed. But the desk space is killer. I love being able to finally slide my monitor to the back of the desk where it should be and have room in front for books and notebooks. Sitting close to a CRT, well any monitor can't be good as well. And finally, it's great to be able to rotate the LCD in all types of directions for watching things around the room. My CRT had such a huge, deep and bulky cabinet it is a huge plus to have a LCD.

So all I can personally comment on is the 2005FPW and it's GREAT. And for the record, I notice NO ghosting. I can't personally say that I know how ghosting looks (first LCD I've used), but given that I had a superb aperture grille CRT for 5 years, I would notice my games ghosting, but they don't, and they look just as good as the CRT.

Finally, I am running a Barton XP 3200+, 1GB ram, and a 9800 Pro, quite a slower system that yours. I run HL2/CS:S/DoD:S, Guild Wars, Unreal 2k4, Savage, and others at 1680x1050. I usually have to lower details but its worth it to run the native resolution. I probably can't run any new games at 1680x1050 (Quake 4 would be a FAR stretch, very very doubtful), but hopefully they will incorporate lower 16:10 resolutions like 1280x800. Also, I have no problem running games at 4:3 resolutions with black bars on the side; its the same as runniing them on a 4:3 monitor.

So to sum it up, I doubt you can pick up a monitor with equal or better quality than your current, especially as a gamer, but if you feel greatly enough about the CRTs disadvantages, then a LCD is your solution. And again, I recommend the 2005FPW. Widescreen rocks.

 

[stelleg151]

You might want to give the L90D+ a shot, if you really do move every 6 months.

As far as I know, there wont be anything new coming out any time soon that wont be twice the price of what is available now.

Edit: Oh yeah and what he said too ^^^^ , except that I think I can kind of notice a TINY delay when playing Counter Strike. Thats the only reason I recommended the L90D+. But if you are interested, I would get the 2005fpw, cause its sick.

 

[kmmatney]

I think you'd be pretty happy with a 19" LCD. Ita a good match to your 6600GT, and is great for 1280 x 960 or 1280 x 1024 resolutions.

This monitor is very good for the price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090