Should I Go LCD, or Stay CRT.

[Hellbound]

I love my CRT, but I know I'll eventually have to replace it. The question is, should I wait till it breaks, or just replace it now. I definitely would want to go larger.. Any suggestions on a good LCD? I am an avid gamer btw. So I would want something with fast response time with limited ghosting.. I run a dual gtx295 in quad sli setup.

tbh, I don't know much about LCD's

 

[darkvine]

Most monitors don't ghost to bad now days.

What is your budget? Do you want a HD monitor and size are you looking for?

 

[dokk2]

Hmmm.If you can find yourself a computer store that has a few systems on display,it matters not wether they are oem's or not you are just looking at the monitors,ask a few dumb ??,,questions then check out some reviews on the web,after all you are the one who is going to be looking at your selection for a long time,you will most probably be able to run two lcd's and it will cost about the same as what you are running now,maybe even a little less..

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Yesterday I was at a Fry's Electronics Store here in Phoenix, AZ. Among other things I was looking at new flat panel LCD monitors. A sales rep showed me a brand new 19 inch AOC slimline LED monitor. He also told me the store was expecting a shipment of LG 25 inch slimline LED monitors later this week. I told the rep I wanted to see a variety of photos because I do a lot of digital imaging editing for a web site that I manage. The photos looked good to me. It might be worth waiting a little bit longer to see if it's worth upgrading to an LED monitor.

 

[4745454b]

Ok, here's my story if you want to hear it. I recently made the switch, so you might be interested. I used to use a nice 17" dell CRT monitor. I hated the idea of LCD monitors. Back lite, so no true black, ghosting if the pixels turn on and off to slow, can't show colors correctly unless you get the best monitors so they use "dithering", etc.

My wife's 21" monitor was died, so I have to get a replacement. We went out and bought her a 19", 5ms, LCD. Before I hooked it up to her system, I tested it on mine to see if I could see the color problem, ghosting, etc. I fired up TF2, and gamed for a bit. The colors were way off, but I didn't see the ghosting 95% of the time. (only when I turned REALLY fast, which almost never happens in that game.) The colors was the biggest problem I had, they looked badly faded. I realized however I could adjust that, so I set off to get my own.

I found one online and bought it. 20", 5ms HP LCD. For whatever reason, the colors weren't faded when I hooked it up to mine, though the limited ghosting problem remained. I was afraid I'd need a new video card, I wasn't sure my 8800GS would handle the new 1680x1050 res. I was happy to see I could keep the details maxed, and still use 2x MSAA in TF2. I have a larger display, and only ghosts if I try. The colors look great, and I'm pretty happy.

I got lucky buying online. If you want one, and have the $$$ and serious about gaming, go to a store and look at their 2ms models. Buy one that looks good to you. Unless your eyesight is a lot better then mine, you'll be pretty happy.

 

[Upendra09]

Aren't CRTs better for gaming? that is what i heard, they are supposed to have better color and other things like response rate

 

[p05esto]

What? Get a nice S-IPS LCD monitor (not TN) and you'll be VERY happy. I bought an $800 26" Planar and I'm happy. It's great for gaming, movies, programming, graphics work etc.... Toss that CRT, it's a heap of junk and can't compete today.

 

[Upendra09]

thanks for the indirect answer^

 

[thesupermedium]

I didn't read all of the posts, but WHAT?? Dual GTX295?? Get like two 24" Viewsonics or something, You would have no problem. I was running on my old HP CRT that came with my Pentium (original Pentium) Pavillion, and I was amazed at the difference between a CRT, and say a 1920x1080 LCD. I now use a 1680x1050 because it performs better with games, and looks fine in my opinion.

 

[darkvine]

Colors just as good on LCD if you spend the money for it. And if you wanted to get really pricey you could go with LED monitor. There is no choest what so ever on my monitor and it is an very old crappy Dell LCD monitor. Make sure you have a 5m response time and a good, well review monitor and you will have no ghosting at all. ASUS I believe even makes a 2m response time monitor.

If you want really bright, vivid colors you should get a glossy screen BUT remember that glossy LCD screens will reflect light like crazy.

If you want glossy then go with the HP Pavilion w2558hc. 26" glossy screen screen with a 3m time.

 

[gamerk316]

No LCD should ghost at this point, as Response Time's are typically 8ms and under. Even then, I'd go more to a moniter with a <5ms Response Time, as it does vary a bit over the color spectrum...

The only real reason to stay CRT is for 120Hz models for competitive gaming.

 

[Hellbound]

Thanks guys for the replies. Lots to think about here. I'm definately going to look into the LED monitors JohnnyLucky pointed out.

 

[4745454b]

I would have gone with one of those, or a 2ms monitor, but I'm broke so I went with what I could afford. Just wanted you to know that as a former CRT user, even the 5ms TN panels look pretty good.

 

[jaguarskx]

Thanks guys for the replies. Lots to think about here. I'm definately going to look into the LED monitors JohnnyLucky pointed out.

There is nothing special about LED LCD monitors other than the relatively high price. Standard LCD monitors use florescent backlight where as LED monitors uses LED backlighting. LED uses less power and the monitor screen itself can be thinner, but is that worth the extra money? No in my opinion.

Additional money is better spent on better panel technology which can truly produce 16.7m colors. Those panels are MVA, PVA and my preferred IPS panel tech. These panels can produce colors closer to that of a CRT and have less color shifting than crappy TN panels. Color shifting basically means you start at the screen, you move your head side ways and the colors on the screen (even solid colors like blue or red) changes slightly. The more off center you are to the monitor, the more the color shifting. MVA and PVA has less color shifting and IPS panels has the least compared to all other LCD panel tech.

TN panels are crap, but they are good enough for the average consumer and gamer, and they are affordable. Color reproduction of current generation TN panel monitors ranges from adequate to good enough. They have the fastest response times, but those are artificial numbers for ideal conditions, actual response times varies depending on what images are being displayed.

Go to the following link for more info about LCD panel technologies:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/specs.htm


Note: All stores you walk into, with the exception of B&H Photo in NYC, will have TN panel monitors on display since their low prices encourages people to spend money on them. Monitors based on MVA, PVA and IPS panel tech are usually only found online. Individuals who knows nothing about LCD monitors are usually not willing to pay the $200 - $300 price difference between a TN and MVA/PVA panels.