What Makes A Good Gaming Monitor??

[rHy0]

Hi der, i really need to know if the (expensive) monitor i just ordered will be good, or better than average for modern gaming?? Its an LG Flatron 19" LCD, have a look at the specs here: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309691&view=detailed Thanks.

 

[llama_man]

Wait for it to arrive and you'll find out!


Helpful, aren't I?

 

[Cochise]

Well I checked it out and it should do OK.

The response time is rated @ 8ms which is decent and the contrast ratio is 500:1 which is not great but decent enough from what I've seen.

You may want to do some searching and see if you can't find any reviews for that particular LCD to get a better idea.

 

[rHy0]

What is contrast ratio exactly and how would it affect quality/performance? I just wanna know cause ive seen alot of cheaper LCDs with mostly 700:1 ratio and it seems im not getting what i paid for! By the way i havnt tried it out yet.

 

[delanooch]

I would like to know more about how the contrast ratio affects gaming myself, but from my experience with several LCD monitors... all different brands and sizes, my best experience so far is with my Viewsonic 2012 - 20.1 " widescreen with 8 ms response time and 1680 x 1050 native res.

not all games support that res. but most games, not all you can set the custom res. in the config file. Alot of newer well made games will auto detect and let you chose this resolution. I still have a few more games to try out.

 

[HoldenMcGroin]

Wait for it to arrive and you'll find out!


Helpful, aren't I?

I gotta agree with Llama Man. The proper order of operations is:

1. Ask us
2. Buy monitor

NOT

1. Buy monitor
2. Ask us

Typical rookie mistake...................

 

[Mobius]

What makes a good gaming monitor?

A CRT!

CRTs have LCDs beat by a country mile, and that's only considering ONE aspect of their performance: Refresh Rate. LCDS typically operate at 60Hz, with the best of them supporting 75Hz. Top CRTs will make 100Hz or better, and this is a substantial improvement over 75.

Remember, it doesn't matter how many FPS your GFX card can poke out, if the refresh rate is 60Hz then you can NEVER see more than 60 frames per second with V-SYNC enabled. With V_SYNC disabled, and say 300 FPS from the graphics card, you will be limited to seeing only 20% (1/5th) of each frame before the front and back buffers flip.

I won't even begin to touch on how shocking an LCD looks when it is scaled away from its native resolution.

Nope, gamers have been sold dogs for quite a while now, and the people who actually care about image quality and high data rate will still buy CRTs for gaming.

 

[HoldenMcGroin]

Of course if you suck at gaming, refresh rate won't matter one hill a beans.

Mobius, I thank you for your fervent support of CRTs. I'll bet you still have one, which explains your loyalty. I've had both. Gamed with both. CRTs have a higher refresh rate, true, but I like the vivid colors on an LCD better. Question is therefore: which will help you game better? Your game may run smoother on CRT, perhaps you think you can perceive it. You may even be right. I tend to think all the smoothness in the world won't matter to my gaming if I have to squint to make out the enemy. A problem I don't suffer from on LCD. And I perceive my LCD to be just as smooth, because I can not tell the difference beyond a certain refresh rate anyways.

Just my two cents worth.

 

[delanooch]

Of course if you suck at gaming, refresh rate won't matter one hill a beans.

Mobius, I thank you for your fervent support of CRTs. I'll bet you still have one, which explains your loyalty. I've had both. Gamed with both. CRTs have a higher refresh rate, true, but I like the vivid colors on an LCD better. Question is therefore: which will help you game better? Your game may run smoother on CRT, perhaps you think you can perceive it. You may even be right. I tend to think all the smoothness in the world won't matter to my gaming if I have to squint to make out the enemy. A problem I don't suffer from on LCD. And I perceive my LCD to be just as smooth, because I can not tell the difference beyond a certain refresh rate anyways.

Just my two cents worth.

I agree just because I went from CRT to LCD (27") then played on an LCD I bought just for LAN parties to try it out (20.1") OMG I was so ready to go back to my 27" , I have a 17" CRT at work in my docking station. I prefer to leave my laptop out and use the LCD screen. the CRT's give me headaches and eyestrain for some reason now.

I agree the CRT's look fantastic! but 24" to 30" high res Widescreen LCD's make me drool now !! LOL