Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > TV/Video Cards > Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Forum Graphic & Displays : TV/Video Cards - Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!

Ask the community Add a reply

Bottom Search this thread

I'm planning on both revamping my computer and getting a new, wide screen display. I want a new monitor to get better resolutions for gaming, so I have a few questions I need help with.

1) What size monitor is reasonable priced and good for gaming?

2) Which manufacturer should I get the monitor through?

3) What resolutions are best for those monitors?

Add a reply

I got the Westinghouse 24" monitor because it's probably the best picture you can get for under $600 (it's around $400).

Why 24"? Anything less requires excessive scroling to view large images, due to the short vertical resolution of widescreens. You usually need a 24" monitor just to get 1200 vertical pixels.

Yeh, when it comes to anything EXCEPT watching movies, widescreens kinda suck. Even in games I like a little extra vertical resolution to get the status bars and so forth out of the way.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Crashman on 12-02-2007 at 04:02:04 AM

Reply to Crashman

Um you didn't mention a budget?

If cost is no object than why not a 30" 2560-by-1600-pixel resolution display like this one:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-AP [...] =M9179LL/A

If cost is an object, please state the budget.

No matter what you decide to do you should go to a brick and mortar store and see what type of monitor you like. Personally I can't stand those new glossy/glare type monitors, but some folks love em. You need to check it out for yourself.

Reply to lakedude

If you get a 24" monitor or bigger you'll probably want two video cards too.

If you've got a good budget look at Samsung 275T and 305T. A bit expensive but great.

Reply to aevm

If you got money to burn you can buy the 26" NEC LCD2690WUXi.

I bought mine for $1,200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824001096

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor

Im running two of these and they work great.

Reply to Rohmaan

I'm gonna put my vote in for BenQ FP241W 24" monitor. Rave reviews. Not sure in contrast with the westing house... anyone wanna comment on that?

Reply to a2love

The $650 BenQ is one small step up from the Westinghouse in panel quality and one giant leap ahead in ergonomics. Plus, I think it has PIP

Reply to Crashman

I would have to put a vote for Dell.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna [...] l=en&s=dhs

------------------------------ Q9550 @ 3.8GHz - 4GB OCZ SLI Platinum
2x8800GT
2x74GB WD Raptor + 2x500GB WD
Reply to tgstyle

What do you guys think the impact of the lower FPS and 6ms response time has on gaming versus smaller monitors? sorry haven't really figured how important this is yet

Reply to a2love

The lower the ms the less ghosting you will see. All are rated from black to white and color.

Edit: For FPS anything over 60 looks like crap on a LCD anyway because the LCD can only refresh at 60Hz. I always recommend turning vertical sync ON for a LCD.

Message edited by tgstyle on 12-11-2007 at 11:16:14 PM

------------------------------ Q9550 @ 3.8GHz - 4GB OCZ SLI Platinum
2x8800GT
2x74GB WD Raptor + 2x500GB WD
Reply to tgstyle

how does vert sync help?

Reply to a2love

Vertical sync will limit your video card to output 60FPS regardless. A Flat Panel only does a 60Hz refresh which is 60 refreshes in 1 second. Anything over 60 will cause image tearing and make a game say putting out 100FPS look terrible on a flat panel because it cannot refresh the information on the screen fast enough.

------------------------------ Q9550 @ 3.8GHz - 4GB OCZ SLI Platinum
2x8800GT
2x74GB WD Raptor + 2x500GB WD
Reply to tgstyle

I bought a 24" Samsung 245bw for $330 on Black friday and its fabulous but if i hadn't found that deal, my second choice would have been the 24" WestingHouse. I would say dont go above 24" unless you have 2 VERY GOOD graphic cards (2 gtx or 2 gt, or 2 gts G92). Overall, i think 22" is the best price/performance right now though.

With my 24" and GTS 640mb SC, i get miserable FPS in Crysis but the other games run fine at max setting at 1920x, so in order to run EVERYTHING on max stick with a 22", and for gaming i would say save some money by buying a TN panel (like the Samsung, NOT the WestingHouse).

Reply to Kabobi

Depends what resolutions you want to view and game at

if you havnt got a high end spec machine getting a 24inch with 1920 x 1200 res might be a waste of specs in a monitor for yourself.

reasonable... look at 22inch monitors... dell's 22in is a very good product so is samsung's and most will all be around the same ballpark.

------------------------------ "Ah, yes, divorce, from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." - Robbin Williams
Reply to jamesro

Crashman wrote :

Why 24"? Anything less requires excessive scroling to view large images, due to the short vertical resolution of widescreens. You usually need a 24" monitor just to get 1200 vertical pixels.

Yeh, when it comes to anything EXCEPT watching movies, widescreens kinda suck. Even in games I like a little extra vertical resolution to get the status bars and so forth out of the way.

A very good point that, and not one I'd thought of before. Although for games and internet I reckon the 24" is just about right.

The only trouble with 24" over 22" is that you need a more powerful graphics card to support it.

Reply to ethel

Ask the community Add a reply

Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > TV/Video Cards > Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Go to:

Help |
Forum rules

There are 849 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Page generated in 0.311 seconds

Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel

Focus On

Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Forum Graphic & Displays : TV/Video Cards - Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

Please mind