Which of these monitors would you choose?

[T0bias]

Hi,


I am about to purchase a new monitor for some gaming (sometimes quite much ) and normal use (web surfing, photoshopping (at amateur level), text editing, etc.).

After a lot of research I have narrowed it down to a couple of models:

- ViewSonic VX2255WMB
- Samsung 2253LW or BW
- Samsung 2232BW
- LG L227WT
- Asus VW222U

Which of these would you choose for my purposes?

The drawback on the Samsungs is probably the possible panel lottery, don't know if it's stille true though.. the drawback on the Asus is probably the design, it's a bit boring, but the design shouldn't be decisive.

 

[PingSpike]

I have the viewsonic. One problem is that nvidias fixed aspect ratio scaling does not work with this monitor. ATI's however, does. Why this is so, I have no idea.

 

[T0bias]

Are you really sure about this? Tried updating the driver etc.? I was leaning towards the Viewsonic but if this really is as you say, it will cut me off from this monitor (I got an nvidia gfx card), as I would like to lower the resolution without any stretching

 

[OCGuy]

Love my 2232BW+

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: T0bias
Are you really sure about this? Tried updating the driver etc.? I was leaning towards the Viewsonic but if this really is as you say, it will cut me off from this monitor (I got an nvidia gfx card), as I would like to lower the resolution without any stretching

All I can say as this: I spent forever trying to get this to work. I stopped using my x1900xt because nvidia seemed like the better bet at the time, and moved to a 8800GTS...it never worked for me. Some other people seem to have gotten it to work with later drivers and different monitors then mine, but I haven't seen anyone with a viewsonic widescreen get it to work.

Starting with I think the catalyst 8.6, and x1xxx and beyond series cards are suppose to support this. It works terrific using a x1900xt I bought. I am selling my perfectly good 8800GT because it doesn't do this with my monitor and buying a 4850. I'm adandoning them since I think now that it works for most people, the complaints will die down and I'll never see it fixed in my case. At any rate, ATI does have it fixed so I'm outta here nvidia!

Nvidia's drivers pretend like they can do it, but then do weird stuff like putting black bars on the bottom or stretching the image off the sides of the screen. I am DONE with them. I'm DONE with this annoying problem hopefully!

 

[T0bias]

I thought it would work with all monitors, and it's really difficult to find a good 22" monitor with 1:1 pixel mapping, so it can maintain the aspect ratio by itself... it's getting impossible to find a nice monitor

 

[PingSpike]

It has been awhile since I've been monitor shopping...but 22" panels were generally all the same feature wise when I was out there. The only 22" that had 1:1 pixel mapping was a sceptre of dubious quality and I heard a few reports of a gateway monitor being able to do it.

If you want to stick with nvidia, I would try search for some of the forum threads around for when fixed aspect ratio scaling was fixed in the new drivers were released and see if you can find a confirmed monitor working before buying. I think the method nvidia uses doesn't get along with certain monitors for some reason.

I think ATI may use a more robust method that even annoying monitors such as my own are unable to defeat. I don't remember seeing anyone without it working when it first came out (which wasn't very long ago I admit).

 

[The Keeper]

I own L227WT and I have no problems with it. So one vote for L227WT.

 

[T0bias]

I can't remember where, but actually I saw someone describing some problems with this feature with the ATI drivers for some monitors aswell..

But, I'm not a fan of nvidia or something, I just buy what gives me the best performance/price at any given time, and that was a 8800GTS when I bought a new PC 1-2 months ago In the future I might go with some ATI card (would probably pick an ATI now if I was about to buy now).

So actually, both ATI and nvidia drivers should work with the monitor I buy - that would be the optimal solution.

I guess I will have to do some more researching. I hope someone in this forum got the Viewsonic and an nvidia card, just to verify that it still doesn't work, or that they might have fixed the issue.

 

[PingSpike]

I tried it with the latest drivers as of a week ago with my 8800gt and there was no change. I wanted to check it before I pulled the trigger and did a sidegrade to a 4850.

 

[ArchAngel777]

LG227WTG (glossy panel)... Beautiful display and the best monitor I have ever owned. Also, the Samsung 2232BW is subject to the panel lottery... They are also making it difficult to know what panel you have as well.

 

[T0bias]

Pingspike: That's bad news

Archangel: Thanks for the recommendation But I think I'll skip monitors with glossy panels because of the possibility of reflections. Do you know if 2253LW and BW are also subject to panel lottery?

 

[ArchAngel777]

The LG 227WT also comes in a matte format... I believe Newegg sells that version. You would want to check the reviews first. But that panel is really well rated, IMO... I'd have gone with the matte version if I preferred matte over glossy.

I am not sure about the Samsung 2253LW specifically... Samsungs in general are really good *IF* you get one made with their own panels. Since they have such high demand, they outsource 2/3rds of their panels which are sub par in quality. In general, I'd skip on the Sammy until you can verify through other sources that there is only one panel type made that the specific model you are looking for.

Also, the glossy display isn't as bad as you think... If you purchase at B&M, say, Best Buy, you could always return it if you could not handle the reflections. It isn't much different from a CRT, though. Anyway, pick one you like! Only you know what you will be happy with, but don't be affraid to try if you have the ability to return/exchange.

 

[BassBomb]

LG is the best of the pack there

 

[T0bias]

But how about the colors on the LG ? I have read some reviews where color problems are pointed out (maybe because of the wide color gamut stuff?).. for example here: http://www.digitalversus.com/article-358-3278-35.html - besides gaming I also do some work in photoshop, so I would like to have good colors too.. so what do you think about this?

Also the stand is not height adjustable, but I guess I can buy a Neo-Flex stand if it is needed..

 

[ArchAngel777]

There is another review that ends up with a totally different conclusion than the one you linked too... It is in the main thread... XTKnight had a link for it, I think... If I had more time I would find it and link it.

My LG color looks great!

 

[BassBomb]

Of all the reviews there was only one online that showed the LG in a negative light, they probably got a bad one (I know my cousin had to return two until he got one without a buzzing noise or dead pixel).

How worried are you about colors.. all the above panels I believe are TN's which won't ever have spectacular color accuracy

 

[T0bias]

Well, it's difficult to tell how good the colors should be. They should be good enough to be able to make some websites and stuff like that, so you actually know how the website looks

But it's only at amateur level. It appears to me that other panels are mostly recommended for prof graphics. I'm not sure how big differences we are actually talking about since I have never seen a TN-panel in home-like environments..

Regarding the LG monitor I'm wondering if the wide color gamut is a bad thing to have when making websites/graphics etc. since most monitors got sRGB colors?

 

[BassBomb]

Post in the LCD thread about sRGB and wide gamut, you will find better answers there

 

[T0bias]

okay

 

[Pugnate]

Of those, the VX2255wm has the best image quality AND the least ghosting. Do NOT go for the Samsung. Trust me, I saw two of those running side by side, and one looked like it was behind a blue filter; it was a very obvious blue shade. I wouldn't have believed the extremity, had I not seen it with my own eyes.

Here is a comparison of the VX vs the Samsung (C build):

http://www.digitalversus.com/d...6&mo2=278&p2=2617&ph=5

The Samsung is off the chart.

 

[TC91]

I have the viewsonic, its a really great monitor no ghosting and games look great on it, however i do have one complaint as it does take a long time compared to other monitors when switching resolutions, the delay is like 2-3 seconds.

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, you shouldn't take my suggestions as a bashing of the monitor. I don't really notice any ghosting, and it had a 3 year warantee and no dead pixels and I thought the IQ was acceptable. I kept it for a few good reasons, choosing to fight with the graphics cards instead. My complaint is more with nvidia's poor implementation of the scaling feature and ATIs late addition of the feature. (Although, they did technically get it working first for me!)

TC91...just to confirm...can you get GPU scaling/maintain aspect ratio working with your setup? (if its the same as your sig)

 

[TC91]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
Yeah, you shouldn't take my suggestions as a bashing of the monitor. I don't really notice any ghosting, and it had a 3 year warantee and no dead pixels and I thought the IQ was acceptable. I kept it for a few good reasons, choosing to fight with the graphics cards instead. My complaint is more with nvidia's poor implementation of the scaling feature and ATIs late addition of the feature. (Although, they did technically get it working first for me!)

TC91...just to confirm...can you get GPU scaling/maintain aspect ratio working with your setup? (if its the same as your sig)

Hey PingSpike, I tried out the scaling / maintain aspect ratio on my setup (same as sig) but unfortunately I can't get it to work (I never noticed this before since I always play at native resolution so it's not a big deal to me). Whenever I try to select the maintain aspect ratio (or any of the other options other than "use my display's built-in scaling") and applied the setting, the control panel doesn't apply it, rather it just reverts back to the "use my display's built-in scaling" option. Using latest 175.19 WHQL drivers as of today as well. Weird stuff, I would think nvidia would support this since it's an option in the drivers but I guess I'm wrong.

 

[T0bias]

I'm most likely going with the Asus VW222U instead, though I don't like the design

The aspect ratio problem with the nvidia driver is just a too big drawback for me, since I don't like only having only one resolution displayed correctly.

Really annoying since I've heard so much good about this Viewsonic monitor, and I like it's design too.

Thanks for confirming that the problem is still there TC91