buying a new lcd

[Foosa]

Well, my girlfriend wants to buy me a new lcd for my computer that is soon to be built. I have been looking at 19in with 8ms and lower delays, but have been stuck by 20.1 widescreens as well. As i dont know much about lcd and would like some input into something that i will be pleased with and able to mainly play games and what ever else i decided to get into as i build my computer. I am coming from a huge crt that is showing its age but been very good to me. So anything would be an improvment to me.

Price range is up to $350ish
video card has yet to be decided on but will be able to run almost any res.(7900. atleast)

[Freakitchen]

Deciding between a widescreen vs normal aspect ratio depends on what you do most on your computer. I recently purchased a Viewsonic widescreen, and really appreciate the extra space, particularly for movie viewing. and multi-tasking on the desktop.

However, if gaming is your thing, then you might run into a few problems. While some games deal with widescreen resolutions just fine, others involve a bit of tweaking and/or manually forcing via hacks to run them (games such as the Need for Speed series, and FEAR spring to mind here).

You should be pretty pleased with either, moving from a CRT, if you choose correctly. My suggested brands would be Viewsonic, Samsung and DELL.

FK

[Foosa]

thanks for the input freakitchen.

Mainly my build will be an all purpose computer with the ability to game as i see fit.(hopfully a good bit school and work permitting)

will the games you mention work with the widescreen at all? If so i think i could deal with it.

Any suggestions on lcd would be great as well.

[hagatha]

8ms is OK for most uses like movies and web stuff. but if your a gamer and coming from using a quality CRT you will most likely not be happy with it. (This is the voice of experience) I first bought a Samsung LCD that was 12ms and it was terrible!!!! I tried my buddies LCD on my system a Samsung that was a 8ms.... still not very happy (but better). I went to a large retailer and sampled a few other models and I found one that I was thoroughly impressed with. Give this link a try and read the spec.... goto their website too. ViewSonic VX922 Black/Silver 19" 2ms LCD Monitor 270 cd/m2 650:1 0.294mm Pixel Pitch, $269 on newegg

The viewing angle is a little small, if your watching someone else play... I found the response time to be very good for gaming and video's. I has no dead pixels in the one I got. I've had it about a month and am very pleased..... Though I still miss my old "huge" 19" CRT.

If your playing area has normal lighting (no fluorescents) you shouldn't have to adjust the colors.

Also I'd stick with a straight 19" the wide screen thing get a little weird with some games..... looking all stretched this way and that!

Checkout the XFX Geforce 7900GT video card - easy to OC if thats your thing and XFX has the best warranty on the market!

[Foosa]

i think im going with a 19in. with as low Response Time as i can find. I am really like the viewsonic VX922 you suggested hagatha. Thanks for the help guys.

[Prew]

My computer is mostly used for high end gaming and I use a Sony LCD with xbrite. Never had any problems even with fast FPS games such as Half-life 2, F.E.A.R, and Quake 4. The color is amazing- much better then the Viewsonic 19" CRT I was using before.

[ammo]

you should get a LCD with a good constrast ratio also. I'd say at least 600:1

[Dheann]

Maybe 8ms isn't the best but to the tell the truth I've never really had a problem with it. I love my 19" it looks great, games and movies.

[ammo]

8ms is fine for certain games, but when you play fast action gaming it can be a little choppy.

[jfk]

8ms is fine for certain games, but when you play fast action gaming it can be a little choppy.

Hmm, the 8ms response on my Samsung 940B handles FEAR, BF2, RVS, FarCry, HalfLife2, GRAW, COD2, Oblivion, etc. etc. without a speck of choppiness. Can't think of any more demanding games out there than some of these. You must have exceptional eyesight or a poor quality LCD to notice it.;) :D

[ammo]

you have a good quality LCD. Some of the lower end brands are very noticeable. The military gave me a good attention to detail so I notice eveything.

[Freakitchen]

I personally think that response time is somewhat over-emphasised. I've played games on LCDs higher than a 12ms response time, as well as those much lower, and I couldn't tell any difference at all. For me, the bottom line is to buy quality, and to go for a screen with DVI-in (assuming your video card has DVI-out)

FK

[juppy]

I just recently got the Samsung 940B that jfk mentioned and I love it. No choppiness or ghosting in games (I play Half-Life 2 alot). And that's at the native resolution of 1280x1024. No dead pixels on mine either. Great monitor.

[Foosa]

i found out that office max had 100$ in rebates on the viewsonic 2025 20.1 widescreen, so she bought it for me. And it is FREAKING SWEET!!

No dead pixels and its GINORMUS! Thanks for the help with everything.

how can i go about cleaning the screen? I dont wanna mess it up with how i cleaned my crt.

[Maqqie]

I am an owner of the Viewsonic VX922 19" LCD. In terms of response rate I am happy, however, this is the first LCD monitor I have used so I can't compare it to another monitor with a higher response time. From what I've read, any monitor with a response time of 8ms black-to-white is good and no ghosting should be visible. However, it should be noted that most low response rate monitors that have times around 4ms or 2ms, are most likely talking about the grey-to-grey scale, rather than the black-to-white.

I am not disappointed with the VX922, it certainly was value for money (bought it for around $430 Australian Dollars), however, I did wish it had a higher contrast ratio. The text and images would look much richer if it were so. But in terms of gaming, the monitor should not disappoint. I have not noticed any ghosting at all so far.

I've also placed an order for a new pc (AMD FX-62 @ 2.8ghz + 2 x XFX Geforce 7950 GX2 (Quad SLI) :D ) and I also ordered a 24" Dell. It has a 1000:1 contrast ratio, so I think I'll be happy with that.

Maqqie

[Freakitchen]

I clean my viewsonic widescreen in a rather crude way, but it works very well.

Take a piece of "kitchen roll" as we brits call it, or a different kind of lint free cloth, and dampen it slightly. Leave your screen running for a while for it to warm up, then switch it off and gently wipe the screen. The cloth will leave very subtle streaks, but these will evaporate since the screen is warm.

FK

[Strider]

You got to becareful when looking at reponse times for LCD, for manufactorers do their testing for response time differently. For example, Company A might have an LCD with a reponse time of 8 ms and Company B might have an LCD with a repsonse time of 12 ms, one by looking at them would jump to the conclusion that Company A's LCD was better. That might not be the case, it's best to look at independent reviews of the particular LCD that interest you and the reponse time. One last thing, be a little leary of websites who sponsors are LCD manufactorers for you might get bias reviews.

[glc]

It also depends on the screen type - TN, MVA, etc.

[Stretchman]

However, if gaming is your thing, then you might run into a few problems. While some games deal with widescreen resolutions just fine, others involve a bit of tweaking and/or manually forcing via hacks to run them (games such as the Need for Speed series, and FEAR spring to mind here).

This is actually a good point to keep in mind. As a long time widescreen gamer I can attest to the occasional bouts of frustration this has caused. I think that if widescreen gaming were as simple as widescreen television/dvd's, then we'd all be using them by now. While gaming in widescreen is great, You can simplify your experience enormously by sticking with a regular format screen for now.