120Hz Monitor - Apparent Ghosting?

[superricey]

Hi guys, I have a Samsung SyncMaster S23A700D 23" LCD which runs @ 120Hz and has a 2ms response. This monitor has had extremely positive reception due to its lack of ghosting from its incredibly fast response time.

However, I've noticed significant choppiness, especially when turning or strafing in games. In fact, it makes fast motion seem much more inconsistent than my on my old 17" Viewsonic monitor with 8ms response time. When the choppiness happens, movement is still smooth/responsive - it's just that the output that I can see on the screen is blurry (blurry as in edges seem to duplicate).

Is this ghosting due to the monitor? How is that possible if my old, less responsive monitor seemed to have significantly less ghosting? Would this be an RMA case?

 

[thee_prisoner]

Give use your computer specs first then maybe we can help you better.

 

[bystander]

You may also want to let us know your FPS.

Your mouses polling rate, or report time can also have an affect on your results.

 

[superricey]

It's noticeable in Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike Source (although a little more noticeable in the latter). In empty servers I get 200+ fps for both games. I have a Logitech g400 gaming mouse, which polls at 1000Hz.

Other relevant specs:
Radeon 6870, Catalyst 12.8
AMD Athlon x4 II 630
Biostar A760G M2+ Motherboard
4GB Patriot DDR2 800MHz ram
Some 750W PSU, don't remember the brand
500GB HDD, also don't remember the brand

 

[bystander]

Try turning on v-sync, and let us know how it feels. Also, make sure your G400 is set to use 1000hz polling, the software lets you turn it down to as low as 250hz polling.

 

[superricey]

I've tried putting vsync on, but it doesn't help.

 

[bystander]

I've tried putting vsync on, but it doesn't help.

I have no idea on how to help you, as I can't see what you see. Being a large screen may be showing the flaws of turning, or there could be an issue. I have no idea.

 

[rlzaleski]

Someone has pictures of this, I'm looking for them again as I'm thinking of buying myself a 120 hz monitor for christmas. I know they recommended tweaking some of the settings on the monitor to reduce this effect.

I always cap my fps_max in the fps to 1 or 2 above refresh. In your case I'd try

fps_max 121

You can do it in the console for testing, but I've got that line in my autoexec. Extra frames rendered are not going to help unless you have everything else up higher (cmd/update rates) (and even then I'm not sure it'll help). It's nice to know it can run better since it shouldn't stall.

 

[rlzaleski]

Found the link I was going to consult. I was about to pull the trigger on a Samsung 27" Monitor too, but if you're thinking the 75hz monitor looks crisper, I might just hold off. I like the idea of 120 hz rendering, but I'm playing on CS:GO on 64 Tick servers anyways.

http://wecravegamestoo.com/forums/gadgetry-electronics-discussion/8220-samsung-s27a950d-review.html