Viewsonic VP912B at 640x480

[Wolfshanze]

I'm very interested in the Viewsonic VP912B LCD monitor (from my current CRT), as I would love it for it's sharp picture, fast response time, and all the benefits of an LCD like low eye-strain, low heat output and space saving.

As much as I love current games like Doom3 and Far Cry, I also do play some very old-school games (dual-boot computer) in fixed resolutions like 640x480. I know most LCD monitors aren't very good at non-native resolutions, but I was wondering if anyone has tested the Viewsonic VP912B at such a low resolution as 640x480?

I know this is an odd request, but I live in the boonies and the only way I will get my hands on a good LCD is by mail-order, so this is a blind-faith thing.

If I get an LCD, will I still be able to enjoy old-school gaming at 640x480, or will I be cursed with a blurry unfocused screen? For what it's worth, I do have a modern 6600GT video card with a DVI output (which I would use... I presume DVI is better then analog).

 

[Wolfshanze]

Wow... nobody with a VP912B knows about non-native resolutions?

Help please?!?!

 

[argoldst]

I have the vp912b and it is as great as the reviews and other say.

However, like most LCD's my experience in none native resolutions are not that good.

Is it playable? Yes. Does it compare to the native resolution? Not even close.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
I'm very interested in the Viewsonic VP912B LCD monitor (from my current CRT), as I would love it for it's sharp picture, fast response time, and all the benefits of an LCD like low eye-strain, low heat output and space saving.

As much as I love current games like Doom3 and Far Cry, I also do play some very old-school games (dual-boot computer) in fixed resolutions like 640x480. I know most LCD monitors aren't very good at non-native resolutions, but I was wondering if anyone has tested the Viewsonic VP912B at such a low resolution as 640x480?

I know this is an odd request, but I live in the boonies and the only way I will get my hands on a good LCD is by mail-order, so this is a blind-faith thing.

If I get an LCD, will I still be able to enjoy old-school gaming at 640x480, or will I be cursed with a blurry unfocused screen? For what it's worth, I do have a modern 6600GT video card with a DVI output (which I would use... I presume DVI is better then analog).

It looks absolutely horrible (ok fine, not absolutely horrible). It doesn't look blurry...it looks chunky... It's like reverse 16x anti-aliasing. 800x600 is OK and at 1024x768 you can hardly notice a difference. Use the DVI output, because it's slightly sharper than VGA (I know this from real-life experience). I wish LCDs used bicubic resizing...then it might be a lot better...maybe. Instead, they use a simple algorithm due to the sheer amount of data being processed.

 

[xtknight]

I take that back. It really depends on the game! My Wolfenstein can look horrible at 640x480 but I ran Quake 2 and Quake 3 and can barely tell a difference. Last time I witnessed Wolfenstein 640x480 was with my Radeon 9500 so maybe it depends on the graphics adapter too. To be completely honest with you, with my GeForce 6800 I can barely tell a difference between the resolutions.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Thanks for the replies.

xtknight, mostly what I'm concerned with at low-res 640x480 is the WWII game Pacific General which I still maintain a site for and still have a dedicated community for. It's an old-school turn-based wargame with a mix of graphics and text; a slightly more advanced game then the better-known Panzer General (1).

For an idea of the kind of graphics I would be looking at, I'm mostly talking THIS kind of stuff.

Odd that I can enjoy Doom 3 one minute and fire up an old 640x480 game the next, but that's life.

Anyways, I was just hoping I could get away with playing both Doom3 and PacGen on the same LCD monitor, and was hoping that with DVI and a little luck, I could get a respectable screen at 640x480 with the Viewsonic VP912B.

Do I have any chance, or am I out of luck? If not, what is the hands-down best LCD monitor that can handle 640x480 resolutions with some semblance of clarity?

 

[Wolfshanze]

Does anyone scale their LCD monitors to a lot of differant resolutions?

Any input on which LCD monitor(s) is the best at interloption to differant res's?

 

[Wolfshanze]

Bumpety bumb...

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
Thanks for the replies.

xtknight, mostly what I'm concerned with at low-res 640x480 is the WWII game Pacific General which I still maintain a site for and still have a dedicated community for. It's an old-school turn-based wargame with a mix of graphics and text; a slightly more advanced game then the better-known Panzer General (1).

For an idea of the kind of graphics I would be looking at, I'm mostly talking THIS kind of stuff.

Odd that I can enjoy Doom 3 one minute and fire up an old 640x480 game the next, but that's life.

Anyways, I was just hoping I could get away with playing both Doom3 and PacGen on the same LCD monitor, and was hoping that with DVI and a little luck, I could get a respectable screen at 640x480 with the Viewsonic VP912B.

Do I have any chance, or am I out of luck? If not, what is the hands-down best LCD monitor that can handle 640x480 resolutions with some semblance of clarity?

Does anyone scale their LCD monitors to a lot of differant resolutions?

Any input on which LCD monitor(s) is the best at interloption to differant res's?

I heard the monitor I have is supposed to be pretty good, which is one of the reasons I got it. Check my sig. It is still very expensive though. Most from reputable manufacturers (ViewSonic, Samsung, NEC) contain decent scaling. Sometimes the graphics card does the scaling, so it may not matter anyway. I tried 'monitor scale' and 'graphics adapter scale' in my ForceWare control panel and couldn't notice a major difference, giving the slight edge to the graphics card scaling. If you play Pacific General, you shouldn't notice any difference at all. It's games like Half Life 2 that might take a hit. I don't blame you for playing old games. One second I'm playing Half Life 2 and then I'll go play some good ol' Quake 2 multiplayer. I feel nostalgic.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Thanks for the reply... does anyone know if the Viewsonic VP912B has the option to run in "letterbox" mode for 4:3 aspect ratios (in otherwords blanking out 32 pixels at top and bottom?), or is that a software feature?

 

[HeatMiser]

Wolf - from what I understand, that is a software feature, and you should be able to do that from nvidia drivers. I don't know for sure, so maybe someone else has a more complete answer.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Thanks HeatMiser... anyone have a firm answer on this?