Mission: Buy a higher resolution gaming monitor/tv

[catatafish]

Couldn't find the applicable sub-category in Graphics, so I hope I've found the right forum to post this in.

I sit 3 feet away (1 meter).
My budget is sub-$300.
My target is a 27" screen with minimum 1080 resolution.
My video card target is sub $200 (different thread).
I'll be running a 2nd 19" 1440x900 monitor as a secondary to keep up IE8 for reading boss strategies prior to and during the fight.

Currently I'm using my old Sony Bravia 720p television as my main. I got pretty excited that I was running SWTOR on max settings with integrated HD3000 onboard graphics. Then I realized I could see the pixels on my screen, and it dawned on me that a higher rez (and graphics card) were needed for me to be totally convinced that I was actually killing real jedi.

Some questions:
1) I understand that pixel pitch is important insofar as not seeing the pixels on my screen at 1 meter away. I see them ranging from .211 to .311. What should my target be, or, does this not matter as much as the resolution?
2) In television, 1080 is the ceiling. In gaming, will a higher resolution be dramatically noticeable at 27" 1 meter away? What rez should I be targetting? (understanding that this decision will drive my video card selection)
3) Given the progress in televisions, should I be considering just buying a 27 or 32" TV at 1080? Or will the distance I'm sitting at preclude that as a viable option for something that big?
4) Is there something else I'm not considering that I haven't mentioned?

Cheers and thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

if you are going above 1080 then you'll need more than 200 on the GPU, so 1080 should be your limit.

 

[alvine]

Hello catatafish,

I personally use this monitor
$300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001431

I got it for $200 refurb, its a great monitor if you are looking for a 27"


if you like that model but want to opt for $50 LED backlit option check this product out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001481

For pixel pitch the lower the better..you have more pixels packed to the same space giving you better quality BUT if you want a 27 inch you will have a higher pixel pitch than let's say a 21.5 1080p screen. You are running the same resolution on 27 and 21.5... I personally like having the bigger screen, in games you will be able to see small details better. Much easier to see people camping in games and such lol

As for 27 or 32" I would go for a bigger model. Again bigger is better, the image will be easier read

 

[signor]

asus ve276q

Top quality 27 inch monitor, 2ms response time, 1920x1080 resolution, vga dvi hdmi and displayport input, led backlight.

Good quality with nice picture image and built quality.

 

[bucknutty]

I am not much of an expert when it comes to monitors, but I do demand a good picture. I have 4 LCD TVs, 3 traditional back light and one with an LED. I also have 5 wide screen monitors. The TVs simply don’t look as good as the monitors when reading text or looking at line drawings. When watching a film the look the same. Both the TVs and monitors are plugged in via HDMI they are running 1920x1080at 60hz. The specs on the 23 inch TV and on the 24 inch monitor are very similar as far as contrast ratio, pixel pitch, and refresh rate, yet they TV has a bit of blurriness to it.

I have used expensive viewsonics and Samsungs, and cheap Acers and Asus’s and honestly it seems to be luck of the draw. No 2 units even of the same make model and batch will look the same.

Any way my advice is to get a Monitor with DVI and HDMI, an LED back light, a resolution of 1920x1080 and a refresh rate of 2. The contrast ratio is often a worthless number because all the manufactures measure it in their own way so you never get a good comparison.

A higher resolution is always good if you can afford the monitor and the video card to drive it. Many people will also claim that a 120hz monitor provides a better picture however I am unable to see the difference.

 

[catatafish]

Thank you for all the responses so far.

Agree on the jury rigging of the contrast, I'm not paying much attention to that.
The higher cost video card to support higher than 1080 is duly noted, and I learn that a higher resolution would really benefit me, I will raise my $ ceiling.
Thanks for the Acer and Samsung recommendations, I'm putting those both on my list to consider.

For those of you that are using a 27" or higher and sitting 1 meter away, is 1080 sufficient or should I be shooting for something higher than that? Is there a point of diminishing return, where above a certain resolution the human eye just can't really notice it much more?

 

[deadjon]

Currently the top price/performance 27inch monitor with 1920 x 1080p resolution will be the

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236091 - ASUS VE276Q Black 27" 1920X1080 2ms - $279.99

Its excellent, a good friend of mine has 3 of these for eyefinity and loves them. Beautiful contrast, excellent viewing angle and extremely fast.

As for a graphics card to run this? this leaves you with $220.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125401 - Gigabyte GTX560ti 1GB - $209.99

The GTX560ti 1GB is pretty much Price/Performance king for anyone running resolutions of 1920x1080 or less. This is one of the cheaper versions of the card but as you may know, Gigabyte are well trusted and high quality brand.

I hope this helps.

 

[catatafish]

Thanks everyone, I ended up ordering a Samsung. After reading countless reviews I concluded that they all seemed relatively similar and after being exhausted from walls of text I ended up ordering the one that was pretty much up on my screen at the moment exhaustion occurred .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001431&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-MonitorsSKU-_-NA-_-NA

Also pulled the trigger on an MSI card. Again, after countless hours of reading it looked pretty much like the more you paid, the more you got. There's also the issue of card size. I didn't want a super long card, and this may be a silly requirement, but I just don't like super tight fits in my case. So this fit the bill nicely and it comes with an overclocking utility that I can play with. "Mil spec" gets me every time . http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

These should do nicely for SWTOR and who knows, I may even give BF3 and Skyrim a whirl.
Thanks again everyone for your thoughts.

 

[catatafish]

Best answer selected by catatafish.