Widescreen Gaming Forum

First off...

Hi!

Now that that's out of the way..

Yes, this is another 'Which monitor should I get' thread...I will try to give as much info as possible so that someone can accurately suggest a monitor that would suit me.

Let me just say that:

#1: I'm SCARED of Widescreen. Yes, you heard me...scared. I've been using the same monitor for the past...7-8 years. (Viewsonic A75f flatscreen) BUT, since I would like a much bigger monitor (Past 19"), I know I have to get one. I guess my biggest fear was that it would be...I guess you could say, 'Too wide', and that the viewing height would actually be smaller than my current monitor, and just overall....look weird and take a lot of getting used to.

BUT...after looking at monitor after monitor...I finally measured MY monitor. OMG, I'VE BEEN USING A 17" (16" viewable) MONITOR FOR 7-8 YEARS?! AND THE HEIGHT OF THE VIEWING AREA IS...9 1/2"?!

So of course, this was a huge relief...knowing that not only will a nice 22-24" be wider...it will also be 'taller'.

Ok, so on with what I'm looking for in this new found monitor...

1. At least 22"
2. 2ms or 5ms (Prefer 2ms of course, NOT g2g)
3. Something UNDER $250 (If that's possible)
4. Good for gaming (Other than 'surfing', I just game.)
5. I'll just throw this in here: I game a little over 2 ft from my monitor.

Now let me explain what's going on...I recently got a new job that pays pretty well, so I'm trying to replace all my old PC equipment. My computer is 'fairly' new, about 1 1/2 old. I am currently using 2x GeForce 8600 GT's in SLi, BUT I am planning to purchase a GeForce 280 GTX with my next check, after I buy the monitor.

I am a bit confused by all the different resolutions, and how it will affect my gaming. I know most 23-24" monitors are 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 naturally, but if I were to get a 1680x1050 monitor, would that be a bad choice? I guess I just want something that will make things look amazing, but at the same time, I don't want it to affect my games in a negative way, if that's possible. If someone could like...explain the difference between the resolutions, while keeping my new GPU in mind, that would be excellent. If I go to a lower resolution than the monitors 'natural' will anything bad happen? Those sorts of things are my worry.

Other than that...I know contrast ratio is important...but is anything over 1000:1 (not dynamic) really that much better? And also, how important is the refresh rate for gaming on these? I found a really awesome monitor the other day, but it's refresh rate was 60, and I always thought that anything under 70/75 was 'bad'...but I'm not 100% sure why/if it would be problematic.

Just as a quick reference...the games I mostly play are:

1. World of Warcraft (Yep...I'm one of the 10000000000 people, and it is my #1 played game...I PvP and raid often)

2. Steam Games...MOSTLY Team Fortress 2, and sometimes CS.

3. Call of Duty: World at War...I was a beta tester for this..and I'm getting it free with my video card, so I will be playing it often.


Thanks to anyone that made it this far in my ranting...sorry about the length, but I like to be thorough =P

And thanks in advance for any advice!

-Tyrus

Hi Tyrus... Chakragod... whichever applies... :lol:

Short contribution : going for a beefy GPU like you are, it'd be foolish to pick a medium-class resolution like 1680x1050. None of the titles in your faved games list are really resource-hungry, and in the unlikely event of sluggish performance in the native res, you can always use 1680x1050 on a 1920x1200 panel. So go big !

I found a few tonight...and I'm like !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was looking through Neweggs Samsung collection...and I came across a few open items that really caught my eye.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001309R

It's an open item, so I'm guessing no cables or CD (Do i really need a cd with a monitor?)....but a 24" 1000:1 5ms 1920x1200 High Gloss Syncmaster for 118 bucks off?? oh em gee. --

Costs: $219.99 (Down from $329.99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001275R

Another open item, same specs as the first one, only no High Glossy, but has HDMI.

Costs: $216.99 (Down from $349.99)


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001317R

mmkay, another open item! This one is only 23", but it has the 2048 x 1152 resolution. Has anyone seen/tried/have this resolution? How is it compared to 1920x1200? Should I even bother with this one with the 2 other gems above me? Although, this one is WAY cheap(er)...

Costs: $152.99 (Down from $259.99)


I guess my main questions are:

1. Is High Glossy worth it? What exactly does it do?

2. Has anyone had any experience with Newegg.com open box items? They do give a refund within 30 days however...

3. Since they're open box, I won't be getting the CD that comes with them...do I really need it? (I'm sure I can find one somewhere...or DL it?)

Well I'll give you my opinion, keeping in mind that yours may differ.

I just got a 1680x1050 monitor with the future in mind since I may keep a gfx card for a long time sometimes so I didn't want to get something that would strain games of the future. That said with the 3 games you told us about, of course you could get 1920x1200 without any problem

Also since you are 2 feet above your screen as I understood it, you might want adjustable height for your screen ? In this case there's two products that I found interesting Hyundaï W220D or Hyundaï W240D ...

You might want to check out some nice screens reviews
for 22" http://www.digitalversus.com/article-358.html (some of them are 1920x1200)
or 24" http://www.digitalversus.com/article-357.html

These will allow you to check out which screens are nice for your needs depending on colours, contrast, response time ...

For perfect response time (for example) you could choose the true 120Hz samsung screen (2233rz)

Be sure to also check out the product face-offs

also always check that you can return the screen easily in case of dead pixels or something else (you can use the software "undeadpixel" to seek them out once you have the screen)

Ok, my 2 cents/

Get a 24" 1920x1200 8bit panel. Most of what you see in the Sub $300 range are actually 6 bit panels.

I personally use Dell Ultrasharp seris and we have a bunch in the office and they have been doing well. I personally used the 2405, 2407. 2709. The current 24" version of the 2709 is the 2408WFP. Watch for sales or check ebay and you can probably get one for $400 with a little patience.

Oh yea, anything over 1000:1 (real) contrast ratio is just hype. :lol: