LCD Opinions

[Jgilland]

Hey guys. Where else to go but to the THG community when I need help buying an LCD monitor? Anyways, I'm looking at buying a 17" LCD for my computer and was wondering if anyone had any opinions about a few LCDs I have been looking at. I guess I should start by letting you know a little about my computer/video card.

P4 HT 3.2Ghz 800Mhz FSB
1Gig XMS DDR3200 Ram
ATI Radeon 9800XT

The Radeon video card has a DVI and VGA port. Would a LCD with a DVI port be better than one with a VGA port? Does the video card make any difference about the performance of the LCD? So you know, I am a heavy gamer and want something with a quick response time (or little to no ghosting).

Here are links to the monitors I was looking at.

<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=493172&Sku=N27-1750&CatId=167" target="_new">NEC LCD1760V</A>
<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=714197&Sku=S482-1704&CatId=167" target="_new">Scanport 171M</A>
<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7976&Sku=B145-1714&CatId=167" target="_new">BenQ FP757</A>
<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=237095&Sku=L49-1700&CatId=167" target="_new">LG L1715S</A>
<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8084&Sku=B145-1718&CatId=167" target="_new">BenQ FP767-V2</A>
<A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=541590&Sku=C26-1138&CatId=167" target="_new">Viewsonic VE700</A>

If anyone has ANY suggestions, experience, or opinions about any of these monitors then PLEASE post and let me know! If you think a different monitor other than the ones listed here are a better match for me, yell at me!

Until someone posts, I will continue to research and google for reviews of LCDs.

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new"> Joseph Gilland Inc. </A>

 

[Jgilland]

<b>Any</b> comments are greatly appreciated. Yes, I am researching and reading other posts, so don't flame me just because my user level is low. Thanks in advance!

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new"> Joseph Gilland Inc. </A>

 

[hovius1]

Hi Joseph,

I myself bought the EIZO L550 which is a 16ms. display. I decided to buy this one because of the fact that it is an EIZO (which usually stands for good quality), recommended by several people over here and next to that I really like the design of this TFT.
I too have a Radeon 9800 on a P4-3.0 800MHz motherboard. I use the DVI interface which looks really good but must confess I haven't had the time to compare it with the normal analog interface (yet) since I only have the display installed a couple of days.

You're saying you are a die-hard gamer, if this is the case please go to a shop where you have the chance to have a go yourself on a system with various TFTs (preferably with games installed you know) and compare it with your own experineces with CRT's. It is a subjective matter but I really think that for fast games a CRT is (still)superior to a TFT (if you are a diehard gamer that is). Even if the response time is fast enough (according to THG latest review of the BenQ and 172X there was no noticeable difference between a 12 and 16ms display) TFT's still have problems handling fast movements (IMO of course): I don't know what it is but have the feeling that it is due to the "sharpness" of the display which makes it tiresome after a while playing a fast game. Somehow a CRT "smoothes" it out which makes it much less tiring to watch.
All the above off course is my personal opinion, everybody experiences this differently (I noticed that some people don't have problems at all playing games at displays slower than 30ms), all I can say is "see" for yourself.

Hope this is of any help to you....

 

[Jgilland]

Thanks for the reply, it is of great help to me. Hows does the EIZO do for you with games / movies? I'm not a diehard gamer, I just want something that isn't going to ghost like a mother when I play the occasional game on it. Come to think of it, I will probably keep my 19" CRT for games, and use the LCD for the coolness factor. Again, how do you like your monitor with games / movies? Thanks for your response.

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new"> Joseph Gilland Inc. </A>

 

[hovius1]

Joseph,

As said: I don't see any real ghosting on the EIZO, it is pretty impressive how fast it is. For the occasional gamer its performance will be more tan sufficient I myself think that a diehard gamer will start complaining because of that effect described in my previous response.
If you're thinking about setting up a dual monitor configuration why not go for a 25ms/24bit panel (capable of showing real 16.7mio of colors and usually have wider viewing angles for your desktop TFT?

 

[Jgilland]

Thanks for the comments. I'm thinking I'm going to take your suggestion. I'm going to keep the 19" CRT on the analog line and use it for gaming. I'm going to buy a nice, colorful 17" LCD and keep it on the DVI line. Do you have any suggestions for nice, colorful 17" LCDs that have DVI input? Thanks.

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new"> Joseph Gilland Inc. </A>

 

[hovius1]

Hi Joseph,

Again as said before: I chose the EIZO L550, have it up and running for a week now and must say that I really like it. Somehow the TFT screen has to grow on you, first time you're a bit overwhelmed by its sharpness and brightness since you're used to a CRT screen but after a while it is really fantastic to look at (both design and content).
One of the nice features of the L550 is the automatic brightness controll ("PrimEdge" series). I have been waiting for a review on this panel a long time (I wanted to know how it compared against its competitors) but only found a polish review of which I could understand a bit.
According to the amount of posts about the 172x one could conclude this is a very good panel too. At least it is a very stylish one! But if speed isn't that much of an issue you might consider f.e. EIZO's L557, which is 24bit.

Success,

 

[Redwolf]

If you want real recommendations, you should just read the reviews written up on tomshardwareguide.com. For highest quality colors, I believe the benq vp757-12 or whatever their new 17" 12ms panel is, if memory serves, has some of the best colors out there for an lcd. It's not really about who makes the monitor, it's who makes the panel (screen) inside the monitor. THG tends to say the Hydis panel is the best for gaming, even though the samsung 172x and the benq are supposed to be 12ms response time and therefore much faster. Hydis can be found in the hyundai q17a at outpost.com. Most other monitors use an AU Optronics 16ms panel, which isn't bad either.

 

[Stickx]

I have just been on outpost.com and can't find the q17a listed anywhere. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Redwolf]

Nothing wrong, just seems like it's not available anymore. The discontinued it last year, but after Tom recommended it so highly the demand was great enough to have them remanufacture it. But it was only available at outpost.com for $550. Guess they're out and not going to sell it anymore. I'm going to hold out for the new 10ms Hydis panel. Hopefully that'll kick ass.

 

[Jgilland]

Just wanted to give everyone an update. On 4/20, I ordered the BenQ FP791 from TigerDirect ($499, 16ms panel) <A HREF="http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=637720&sku=B145-1706" target="_new">linky</A>

I see <b>NO GHOSTING</b> when playing games such as Colin McRae Rally 3, UT2K4 and Quake 3 Arena. This monitor is freaking awesome. The text is clear and easy to read. The OSD has brightness presets for text and games (brighter for games, dimmer / easier on the eyes for text). The monitor also has a media reader on the top that turns it into a slideshow photoframe. You can even adjust the slide delay in the OSD. It has DVI and Analog connections, SRS speakers that sounds great (but can't replace my 5.1 speakers).

Highly recommended for anyone who is shopping.

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new">JosephGilland.com</A>

 

[cecil009]

how does it compare to the benq767v2? which one is better for pure gaming?

 

[Jgilland]

I have never actually seen the 767v2, but I did read reviews and user comments on the net. Some of the comments I saw said that after a while the 767v2 would get "dead spots of color." All I really know is that I love my FP791 and I'm very happy with the purchase. I think it is better than my friend's Samsung 172x.

Joseph Karr Gilland
<A HREF="http://www.josephgilland.com" target="_new">JosephGilland.com</A>

 

[rx7000]

Pickup the april issue of maximum pc, they just had a lcd shoot out and showed which new ones were hot and which werent.

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 400 Mhz(2-2-2 cas),Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800Fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 4,WD 80 Gig 7200,GeForce 4 MX440 (PCI),Nec Multi-Sync LCD 1830