Widescreen Gaming Forum

Ok so after reading all these great reviews of the Dell 2405fpw and realizing that 19 inch just won't cut it for me (especially since I got xbox 360) I am ready to become a widescreen gamer 8)
I just have a few concerns and questions that I want to ask before getting one.

1) As I already said I am looking at getting a 2405fpw. I've read quite a bit about it, but are there any issues I may run into while using it with normal computing/gaming/xbox 360? Or is there another monitor around the same price point or lower that I should consider?

2) I have an x800 pro flashed to 16 pipes, 2 gigs of ram and a 2.8c ghz p4. Is playing at the higher resolution (currently play stuff at 1280x1024) going to severely drop my framerates, or should I be fine for a while longer?

3) One issue I have with my current monitor is that things not playing in the native resolution look bad! If I get the 2405fpw and it turns out that some games don't play in widescreen, will using the black bars on the left and right to show 4:3 pictures make the games still look good?

4) And finally, with this HDPC crap coming up in thw 2407fpw, am I going to end up being screwed when I buy a 2405 and have it become obsolete the next day?

Thanks, sorry for asking so much!

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Have you used the search function and read the threads that already contain the answers you are looking for? There are a lot of opinions about the 2405 here, the quality of the monitor itself and it hooked up to a pc and a xbox 360. There are some screenshots of the 2405 and nfs:mw on the 360. It´s good to keep the same question threads to a minimum so you don´t have to search forever to get all the answers. Some opionions is to wait buying a WS as a new generation is coming. You can read threads about that to, pros and cons.

Myself I have a HP L2335 and I am very pleased with it. I got my xbox 360 hooked up to it via component 1080i and all my games looks really good(except the AA problem). All 360 games are made for 16:9 so it will only look better in WS.

Playing pc games in the monitors native resolution will drop your fps quite a bit. But it depends what kind of games you play and on what quality if you will notice a difference.

EDIT: ctrlsteef, that was close :).

About the 360 and the 2405 has been writen a lot. The search is on the left. You should use it. But since i'm not a bastard here is a link to the biggest topic about this.

Comfirmed! 2405 FPW HD-Component input for Xbox 360! :D

then there is the videocard. Depends on what games you play. I have a x800 aswell with a 20" screen and i play most current games at the native res with lots of options at high or medium. But since the 2405 is a little bigger you may want to consider buying a new gpu.

point 3: They look just as they would on a 4:3 screen, just with black bars on the side. No other differences.

Poitn 4: I have no knowledge about this, someone else can answer this?

Hello ... welcome to the WSGF ... 8)

1... Great monitor ... antialiasing when using the 360 looks bad ... :( ... that's the only issue I have ... :D

2 ... I will think you will see a big drop in framerates when you are running games at 1920x1200 with the same details you had at 1280x1024 ... :(

3 ... Playing games at non native resolutions doesn't mean that they are not widescreen resolutions ... :D
...... If a game doesn't support widescreen resolutions then you can either play it stretched or with black bars on the sides (using graphics card drivers) ... :D
...... Non native resolutions scale up very well on the Dell 2405 ... :D 8)

4 ... Sorry I don't know ... :(

EDIT: ctrlsteef, that was close :).

Damn, you just beat me to it. :evil: :wink:

i don't think you will drop in framerate too much at 1920x1200, as long as you leave AA off. (i don't think you need it at that res anyway)

And non-native resolutions actually look ok on the 2405.

Of bigger concern to you if you like first person shooters is the ghosting. I found the blurriness when moving the scene around fast was unacceptable and i returned mine yesterday. I havent' decided on a new one yet.

On point 4... not sure.

I don't think the 2405 will be obsolete overnight; but playing Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies on Vista won't look great.

But it'll be a fine computer monitor for a while yet. :)

1) As I already said I am looking at getting a 2405fpw. I've read quite a bit about it, but are there any issues I may run into while using it with normal computing/gaming/xbox 360? Or is there another monitor around the same price point or lower that I should consider?

- As the Xbox 360 is optimized for TV's not PC monitors depending on the media source Game/DVD it may or may not look good.

Tutorial: Viewing Image Quality - Monitors, Consoles, DVD

2) I have an x800 pro flashed to 16 pipes, 2 gigs of ram and a 2.8c ghz p4. Is playing at the higher resolution (currently play stuff at 1280x1024) going to severely drop my framerates, or should I be fine for a while longer?

- An X800 will be dragged down by 1920 X 1200. You will have to reduce some high end newer game settings.


4) And finally, with this HDPC crap coming up in thw 2407fpw, am I going to end up being screwed when I buy a 2405 and have it become obsolete the next day?

- Read here Post subject: Latest HDMI/HDCP News, Rumours, Projections & Truth

I should know within the week whether HD-DVD & Blu-Ray players will have component out or other than HDMI ones.

You would also be well served to read through these:

Tutorial: Initializing Your Gaming PC Hardware & Software

Tutorial: Types & Uses of Monitor Input Cables

How-To: Choose WS Resolutions & Aspect Ratios

Tutorial: Using & Un/Installing ATI Based Drivers

Tweaks: Ultimate Gamer Mother Lode ! ATI/nVidea/Win XP/Games

Thanks for all the help guys...I've pretty much decided I REALLY want a 2405FPW ...my only question left is how can I raise some money?? :lol:

I am in University and have no income, so I'm selling off a few things but I'm still a bit short! Oh well, I'll get there somehow.

I just kind of wish I had a credit card so I could finance it from dell, even though I know that's bad :oops: (not really though since I'll be working full time starting april)

Try and avoid the credit card thing until you actually have the means to pay it off. Trust me... I learned my lesson in my early 20's. Hell I really didn't get free of the debt until recently.

Poor student eh? Been there. You can sell blood or plasma, or sell pot. (I am just kidding man... lol. You can't have a 2405 in jail.)

However you manage it, you will love the 2405.