Let's talk about monitors

[superfresh]

My monitor is on the fritz. It's served me well but the thing is a relic now - an IBM P201 roughly the size of a lawnmower. It's like 8 years old.

Since I spend a lot of time at my PC I thought I'd go ahead and cough up some good cash for a decent monitor, but I've read that flatpanels are less desirable for gaming because of some sort of refresh rate limitations.

Is this true? Flatpanels worse for gaming? Would love a good recommendation since NC ppl seem to have a good grip on game gear.

[Toilet-Duck]

Flatpanels are great for gaming providing you get a good monitor with a fast refresh rate, otherwise you will find when playing games you willl get a ghosting effect on gaming.

The one I have is the Sony SDM-HS74P great for gaming however it was quite expensive a little over £400... (http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002IASD4.01-A1NDBS7YGOPBD6.MZZZZZZZ.jpg)

If you cant afford one with a fast refresh rate then it will be a waste of money, and you will be better off buying a lcd.

[-Demon-]

Not sure if I beleive all that ghosting thing...I have like a 30ms+ TFT which doesn't seem to ghost at all...maybe cuz it's just a good monitor i dunno.

Theres lots of TFTs out there now for gamers...but like already said they are on the expensive side..you don't mention if you are in the UK or wherever. Check out ebuyer.co.uk for prices though.

Panasonic I heard are quite good makers.

[Capt. Rik]

This is my new monitor:
http://www.benq-eu.com/Products/LCD/index.cfm?product=413

[Terayon]

Only a few things i can say about tft, flatpanel, lcd monitors, which are all the same BTW (seems like duck thinks his is a flat panel as opposed to an lcd :wtf: or ment to say crt.).

The higher the contrast, brightness, and MS, the better. I found a very nice lcd on newegg for a good price. (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=24-014-074&depa=0)
I personaly dont like lcd's much but know lots of people who do. They are very vibrant and thats nice, but they seem fuzzy at the same time. My friend had a 16ms one so maybe that was why. You may want to play some games with one before you buy one though. You know, see if you like it before you spend lots of money on one.

I am happy with my 21" trinitron crt monitor. 190EUR is what it cost me, or 300$CDN. Also my pixles wont just die on me. I am going to wait for the tech to sink in more so they get cheaper for the ones you can actualy play games with.

[Lexxuk]

All LCD monitors have the same refresh rate, 60Htz, normal CRT displays have a gun at the back which shoots stuff from top to bottom, the amount of times it does that per second is the refresh rate, so at 120Htz the gun shoots its load 120 times per second :eek:

TFT Monitors though, aye more expensive is better, but I'd natually suggest you do lots of research on them, remember its a buyers market with loads of different monitors out there, and research pays dividends! Best thing to do is:

First look at PC Mags sites, like http://www.pcplus.co.uk and look for their reviews of monitors, their best of the lot so to speak, you want the best performer or best overall.

Look at other review sites for monitors, making note of any critical faults they pick up on.

Draw a shortlist of 3-5 monitors you really like the look of, make a note of their manufacturer and model number

Use Google to search for topics on the 3-5 you chose, if you find lots of sites with "strange problem with.." or "lots of dead spots" for that type of monitor, avoid like the plague!

When you've narrowed your list down as much as possible, use http://froogle.google.com to find the cheapest you can (thats where I found my AMD4000+ for £55 instead of £555) and there you go!

[jernau]

No LCD compares to a decent CRT (or these days even most budget ones) for gaming or for prolonged usage. It's not just about the refresh rate, there are a whole range of reasons.

That said - the difference for most people isn't great and there are other advantages to LCDs - space and energy concerns being the main ones of course.

If you do go LCD you should work out what resolution you run your games at most and ensure that is the "native" resolution of the screen you choose. Most LCDs are 1024x768 or 1280x1024 though some cheap ones are lower and the best ones are higher and/or widescreen. I wouldn't look at anything under 1280x1024 for windows (even that is too pikey IMO) but that may be pushing your graphics card beyond it's limits in some games.

[Lexxuk]

I'm considering getting a TFT myself, my 17inch CRT is.. crap basically, 1280x768 :( Runs games fine at 1024*768 but I dont want a 1024*768 display, so I gotta get a 17 inch monitor. I'll add it to my list of things to buy... first up its them IDE Cable Tidy thingys, and a case, and some flashy lights! Or maybe a GB of RAM, or both! Or maybe I'll just go back to playin Suikoden 2! :D

[dem0n]

I'd settle for a 21 inch CRT\TFT, size does matter yes yes.

[superfresh]

Yeah 21" was around what I was thinking. I guess I should've mentioned I got suckered into some deal a while back and bought this NVIDIA Gforce 6800 which apparently is not the choice of the gaming pros.

[edit] Good help btw- I'm checking out your suggestions...

I'm going to toss this in here since its not worth a seperate thread-

Does the fact that my console is well over 10 Mb have anything to do with performance? Unless I'm mistake the log was reset every time you restarted the client in NC1. I was just looking at this thing and its massive- everything I have said and done since NC2 came out...

And no its not a very exciting read. :p

[jernau]

Yeah 21" was around what I was thinking. I guess I should've mentioned I got suckered into some deal a while back and bought this NVIDIA Gforce 6800 which apparently is not the choice of the gaming pros.You mean a 6800 and no "GT" or "Ultra" after it? It's a long long way from being a bad card, just not as good as it's big brothers.


I'm going to toss this in here since its not worth a seperate thread-

Does the fact that my console is well over 10 Mb have anything to do with performance? Unless I'm mistake the log was reset every time you restarted the client in NC1. I was just looking at this thing and its massive- everything I have said and done since NC2 came out...

And no its not a very exciting read. :pYou mean the console.log file? Yeah I noticed that it now seems to no longer be cleared when the client starts, no idea why that changed. I wouldn't have thought it was a good thing though I doubt it would be slowing you down much - rename or delete it if you are worried.


wrt monitors - 21" is the only way to go (or 19" for LCDs). The more of them the better.

[Terayon]

ya, you gotta run lcd at their native resolution or they look worse. aparently.

[Agent L]

yeah, LCDs just doesn't work with games.
- they can't change resolution (in theory they can, but only top models can do it with acceptable effects)
- they have long switching time, that means you'll get motion blur
- they have low brightness, you'll have to play in dark room
- they have shit colours

Of course most expensive LCDs are better, however they're only trying to catch up with CRTs. At comparable price CRT >> LCD.

LCDs have some advantages, but I don't think they're on top of the list:
- low power consumption
- small dimensions
- lightweight (great for transporting, ie. lanparties)
- no EM radiation (if you believe in radiation...)

All that doesn't mean that it's impossible get LCD which will give acceptable picture. It means that a CRT for same price will give outstanding picture.

[Obsidian X]

I got a 19" TFT. 16ms, and yes it does ghost, I posted a thread about it a while ago. Nevermind, I'm starting to get used to it.

:eek: <---- what my eyes look like now :lol:

[QuantumDelta]

http://iiyama.electronics-directory.org/Display/CRT/Iiyama_Vision_Master_Pro_513.html

It speaks for itself, if you can find specifications on it.
Godly.
I'd like to see a TFT touch that.