Question Prolonging life of CRT monitor?

[rcgldr]

I have a Viewsonic G225f CRT monitor, with a native mask at 1920 x 1440 (@ 75 hz, 1600 x 1200 or less @ 85 hz). I run it mostly at 1280 x 960, thinking this will help prolong the life of the monitor, as opposed to running at 1600 x 1200 (which I do use for some legacy games).

Is using 1280 x 960 versus 1600 x 1200 really helping to prolong the life of this CRT monitor?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

....Is using 1280 x 960 versus 1600 x 1200 really helping to prolong the life of this CRT monitor?

Nope, not a bit. The electron guns and phosphers age the same no matter what resolution you use.

 

[rcgldr]

Thanks. I was thinking in terms of sweep cycles, painting 1200 lines versus 960 lines at 85 hz, and pixel transitions in the beam, 1600 versus 1280. If this isn't making a significant difference, I'll switch to 1600 x 1200 as default.

I am running lower brightness, which I've read helps, usually 35%, except for night modes in games (that seem to be oriented towards LCD monitors which can't do black).

 

[geofelt]

I would not worry too much.
Run it at the resolution and brightness that looks best to you.
Such a monitor is all but obsolete. If it should fail a replacement is not expensive.

I remember long ago how much better a lcd monitor looked when I replaced my old crt monitors.
The only negative was that my cats no longer had a nice warm spot to nap.

 

[rcgldr]

So even 1920 x 1440 shouldn't be an issue?

I haven't seen many 20+" 1920 x 1440 (the actual max is 2048 x 1536, but mask is 1920 x 1440) CRT monitors for sale.

LCD monitors have improved, and I recently bought a Dell U2412M 1920 x 1200 IPS LCD monitor as a backup monitor. When they first came out, the panels used 6 bit color while CRTs have 10 bit color (although few video cards or games used 10 bit color).

I've read that recently gamers have been buying old CRTs since the response time is so much faster than LCD's, eliminating motion blur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CRT,_LCD,_Plasma,_and_OLED_displays

 

[Solidjake]

@rcfldr Never knew people still used CRT monitors. Interesting read on them (in regards to response time and the colors). Thanks

 

[rcgldr]

I have two CRT monitors, Viewsonic G225f (20" viewable, 1920 x 1440), and Hitachi CM 772 (18" viewable, 1600 x 1200), but my collectors "monitor" is a Sony KV-1311CR TV, which can be used as a 640 x 480p monitor for an Atari ST (both over 30 years old, rarely used, but still working).

Apparently some article about CRTs being good for gaming has triggered some demand for them, the Sony GDM-FW900 being the rarest, a 24" 16:10 aspect ratio (2304 x 1440p).

I should note that the GeForce 900 series was the last with a DVI-I connector. The Viewsonic monitor also has a RGBHV BNC input (one type of component input, RGB plus H - horizontal sync and V - vertical sync), which were more commonly used for video projectors. Looks like there are HDMI to RGBHV connectors, but they are expensive, and I don't know if they are limited to 60 hz.