Need a new Widescreen monitor for Christmas

[hershey_highwayman]

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?

 

[Crashman]

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.

 

[lakedude]

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-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=B0137FD9&fnode=home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/displays&nplm=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.

 

[aevm]

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.

 

[jaguarskx]

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

I bought mine for $1,200.

 

[Rohmaan]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001096

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor

Im running two of these and they work great.

 

[a2love]

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?

 

[Crashman]

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

 

[tgstyle]

I would have to put a vote for Dell.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=6761&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[a2love]

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

 

[tgstyle]

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.

 

[a2love]

how does vert sync help?

 

[tgstyle]

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.

 

[Kabobi]

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).

 

[jamesro]

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.

 

[ethel]

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.