Advice on a good 22'' to 24'' monitor for high spec gaming

[nate_2011]

I have just completed my gaming rig and now in the market for a new monitor...

I am currently using a Full HD 1080 42'' Samsung through HDMI @ either 1680 x 1050 or 1920 x 1080 for desktop and games such as the new NFS Hot persuit, and AVP2, as i play them with the 360 contol, both maxed out spec and runs beautifully. (must compliment Dx11!!)

But for games such as fallout 3, ST: Online and other RTS/RPG's i like to play using conventional keyboard + mouse on a desktop monitor. I am currently using a HD ready 22'' TV that has a native resolution of only 1280 x 720 so when playing games i cant max out the resolution,
i.e. ST: online with fully maxed graphics looks Cr*p, if i up to 1080 i loose about an inch all round and the picture becomes fuzzy.

I would appreciate advice from anyone with good knowledge in this area. A good computer purpose 22/24'' with HDMI (for xbox) and sharp image and refresh rate for gaming. I have a budget of £150 - £200.

And if anyone can explain the difference between a HD TV and a purpose built computer monitor......... even if both display 1080 resolutions?

Phenom II X4 955 Black edition
4GB DDR3 Memory
XFX 5870 1GB
700w PSU
Samsung Blu-ray disk drive

 

[nate_2011]

maybe even a screen running 120Hz......... Although i havent read about a decent way to run 3D with ATI yet

 

[nate_2011]

anyone?

 

[jaguarskx]

Generally speaking, the LCD in a HDTV is designed for better looking shapes and objects and on a PC monitor, the text would look sharper. I believe that has to do with orientation of the pixels.

People using a HDTV as a monitor might experience the desktop not scaling to the full size of HDTV. Sometimes it's too small so you get black borders. Sometimes it's too large so the entire desktop doesn't fit on the screen. You need to go into CCC to look for the scaling option and move it to 100% I believe.

120Hz monitors and 120Hz HDTVs operates differently. 120Hz monitors accepts two (or dual) 60Hz inputs. 120Hz HDTVs only accepts 60Hz input so you cannot use it for 3D gaming. 120Hz and 240Hz HDTVs do internal image processing to basically insert frames which makes movies and video play smoother. However, this internal processing causes input lag so it's best to set the HDTV to 60Hz mode for games.

The exception may be "3D Ready" 120Hz HDTVs. I have not researched them 'cause I'm not interested in buying one. Too gimmicky for my tastes. I assume these HDTVs do accept 120Hz inputs, but you better do the research to make sure they can be used for 3D gaming.

AMD (ATI) drivers do not support 3D gaming. Unlike nVidia, AMD is not developing 3D support for their cards within the company. They have released the tools and allowing the community to develop the 3D drivers. It will take a while...

According to others, a 120Hz monitor will make games play better because they allow higher FPS to be displayed than a regular 60Hz monitor. Assuming your GPU is powerful enough to push high frame rates. Therefore, there are benefits beyond 3D.