Another monitor searching request

[stsai]

Been looking through the threads for some background and would now like some input before pulling the trigger.

The monitor that I liked at first was the Dell 30" 3007WFP-HC; it seems like a nice price for a large monitor and I heard it had an IPS panel. However, looking at my current graphics card, I'm not sure I can run it.
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=222-7175

Current graphics card: ATIx1650pro 512MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103017

According to the box, the card can go to 2560x1600, but only up to around 60,000-ish colors or so. My current games I play are WoW, LotRO, and a few misc titles (no FPS at the current time).

The other monitors I was considering was the Dell 27" Ultrasharp (though I'm not sure what panel is in it and I've heard that Dell likes to play "panel lottery" on some models)
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=222-7315

I've also heard good things about the NEC LCD2490WUXi (couldn't find the 2690 anymore)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002168

or the Planar PX2611W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824016084

The other thing to consider is that my current PC (3GHz, AGP, Windows 2000, 1GB DDR) will likely be replaced sometime in the next year or so and the new PC will almost certainly be a bigger machine (quad-core, PCI-16 dual-graphics cards of some time, etc), so this monitor will be the only component that will follow the old PC forward, so this monitor is sometime I'd like to consider a new long-term monitor going forward.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jaguarskx]

The 30" Dell does use a S-IPS panel, but your card is too weak to play games at native resolution even though you are not playing FPS games. The panel is rated 12ms response if I remember correctly, but I don't know if it is a conservative number.

The 27" Dell uses a S-PVA panel if I remember correctly. It is a good panel tech which is better than TN panels, but not as expensive as S-IPS/H-IPS panels which offers better color accuracy in general even though MVA, PVA, IPS are all 8-bit panels.

The NEC LCD2490WUXi and the LCD2690WUXi are both excellent monitors. BTW the 2490 is also no longer listed at Newegg.com. These monitors are actually geared towards the graphic professional; which kinda explains their high price tags. The 2490 is the only "affordable" 24" LCD monitor that uses a H-IPS panel. I own the 2690 and to me it was worth the money I spent on it. There is a little bit of backlight bleeding if I were to look at a black screen in the dark, but it is not very distracting. These monitors includes some extra electronics to improve color accuracy and uniformity. There are two versions of these monitors the "regular" monitors and the SpectraView version which includes the SpectraView hardware color calibration system; the price difference is probably $200 - $300.

The main difference between the 2490 & 2690 (other than size & price) are:
1) the 2490 has standard color gamut of about 76%, the 2690 has a wide color gamut of 92%
2) based on some user reivews; the 2490 seems to have fewer technical issues than the 2690.
3) out of the box, the 2490's default colors are slightly more color accurate than the 2690 default colors.


The Planar PX2611W uses the same H-IPS panel as the NEC LCD2690WUXi, but it lacks the extra electronics that NEC includes. Overall, a good monitor, however people have complained about banding issues when playing games at 1080i resolution with PS3 or Xbox 360. There are no banding issues with PC games. There is no such banding issues with the NEC LCD2690WUXi.

 

[stsai]

Thank you for the reply.

If I want to pursue the NEC monitors and Newegg is out, then do you have a recommended vendor?

Alternatively, should I just sit on my current system/monitor (which perform adequately) until I do get that new future computer, which would have a much more powerful graphics setup (probably dual-graphics cards) and then get the Dell 30"? Just a thought.

 

[area41]

I just did a quick froogle search and it appears that Mwave.com sells both of the NEC monitors you were looking at. They are a reputable retailer (in my opinion).

On the 30" front another monitor that's worth a look is the HP LP3065. It has similar specs but a better contrast ratio and has faired well in reviews. It is also S-IPS (a similar model LG panel iirc). The Samsung 305T is also in that price range but it's an S-PVA panel.

As you and jaguarskx pointed out, your current card really can't handle that resolution. It's a tough call as far as wait and buy 30" or buy smaller now but prices are only going to fall. Whether you're looking for size or resolution would weigh heavily for me in this decision.

If it's resolution you're after you might also want to look at the Lenovo ThinkVision L220x (22" Wide S-PVA WUXGA 1900x1200). Unfortunately it's a little bit of a gamble because there's really only one review of it i've found and it's out of stock at a lot of places.
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/...ion&thread.id=2&view=by_date_ascending&page=1
http://www.lenovoblogs.com/designmatters/?p=180