What monitor to choose? 22" for some gaming and regular use

[Shad0w]

Hi

I am about to buy a new monitor, to replace my old 19" CRT. It should be a 22" widescreen monitor, as I think this size is right for me. 24" is gonna be too big.

I am using my computer to play games, and just regular use. It's important that the monitor is really good for regular use (text-edit, browsing, photoshop some times, etc.), but should be fast enough for good performance in games. I also hope to find a nice looking monitor

I would also like the monitor to be adjustable in height if possible.

I'm not sure if all these things can be fulfilled at the same time though..

What monitor would you suggest?

So far I have been looking at these two monitors:

- HP w2207h
Pro: Height adjustment, Glassy screen (could also be a minus due to reflections though, not sure about this)
Cons: Design - I think the stand is clumsy and I don't like the silver on it, Glassy screen

- Samsung T220
Pro: Design
Cons: No height adjustment

Thanks in advance

 

[Shad0w]

no one able to help? 🙁

 

[jaguarskx]

If my 19" Planar PX191 (secondary monitor which I don't really use anymore) from 2002 was to die, I would probably replace it with the Viewsonic VX2255wmb. It's somewhat old (from 2007), but it seems to be the best for my needs.

See review:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/689-12/22-inch-lcd-monitors-the-3rd-wave.html

+ Rated as having very good color for a 6-bit TN panel monitor
+ Height adjustment
+ Rebate at Newegg.com (in the USA) if you buy it now

- It's a TN panel monitor (but I won't be using it much if I had to replace my current secondary monitor)
- 160/160 viewing angle which I consider at best "fair". But if you are always sitting in front of it when using the monitor then it should be "ok".

Or I'll just save up more money for a monitor that uses a S-PVA panel.

 

[Shad0w]

Thanks for some input

I am willing to put more money into a monitor, but it seems that other panels like S-PVA etc., is too slow for good gaming performance? I might be wrong though?

I'm not a fanatic gamer, but I do play fast-paced fps games, so the monitor should be fast..

Another potential monitor I have come across is the Samsung 2263UW - I think it's got a really successful design, does any of you have some comments about this monitor? I think it's a quite new model.

 

[jaguarskx]

Nowadays S-PVA and P-MVA panels are "rated" at 6ms which is only 1ms slower a typical TN monitor. Of course TN panels are "rated" as fast as 2ms.

Response time is not absolutely constant. It represents the fasted possible speed under ideal conditions (which very rare). Most monitors rated 2ms or 5ms have an average response time of anywhere 15ms - 25ms to as high as 50ms. While watching someone else play on a TN panel I have from time to time seen ghosting, so even on the faster (fastest) "rated" monitors I have seen some ghosting. It's different for every monitor and it's also different for every person 'cause everyone's brain does not process the images the eyes transmit to it exactly the same way.

With only a 1ms difference between a slower TN panel monitor and a S-PVA / M-PVA... well it's not that big of a deal on paper. I would say go to a store to check out a monitor with a S-PVA / P-MVA panel. But stores (Best Buy, Circuit City) generally do not carry them in the store because they are more expensive and are less likely to be sold since TN panels are so much cheaper.

If color accuracy is not high on your list and you can deal with some image artifacts from time to time (shouldn't be really noticeable when gaming) then just stick with a TN panel monitor.

 

[Shad0w]

Well I can't really tell how high color accuracy is on my list. I have never had a LCD screen before, so I'm used to a CRT monitor's image.

I haven't had the chance to use a monitor with a TN-panel and it's not ideal to go to a non-online store since no one got the relevant monitors for showoff where I live anyway (Denmark) - it's also nearly impossible to judge monitors in stores in my opinion.

I have been reading through a bunch of forum threads among many sites, and this makes me doubt whether a TN panel is good enough for me - it seems impossible to find a monitor without any big drawbacks.

I don't watch movies with my upcoming monitor at all, so I guess a big viewing angle is irrelevant.

So, though I do some gaming, it's just as important that I get a nice image for other work - web surfing, writing text, some photoshopping (at amateur level only though) etc.

Also, it's like the 20" monitor segment is not big - either people buy a 22" TN or some 24" with better panel. But 24" is definately too big for me - so these are out of question.

Based on what I use my monitor for, what panel type would you guess is suited for me?

 

[jaguarskx]

For your purposes I think a TN panel monitor should be sufficient.

I would recommend the Viewsonic VX2255wmb if you can buy it in Denmark based on the following review (same review as the previous link, but different page):

http://www.behardware.com/articles/689-4/22-inch-lcd-monitors-the-3rd-wave.html

If you can't buy the Viewsonic them I recommend the following based on the review article:

1. Belinea 2230S1W
2. Asus PG 221
3. NEC LCD225WXM
4. Samsung 226CW

You can 2232BW if it is still being sold, but you will have to deal with a panel lottery which is why it is listed twice.

 

[Shad0w]

The VX2255wmb should be available - though it appears that there are two models with the same name - one listed with 3 ms response time and the other with 5 ms.

Do you know of this 3 ms model? In the review you quote it's listed at 5 ms..

 

[jaguarskx]

The "3ms" and "5ms" models are the same. The websites are probably mis-quoting the repsonse times. There is no panel lottery for that model.

I've seen advertised response times ranging from 5.5ms to 8ms for my NEC LCD2690WUXi.

 

[Shad0w]

I saw a site quoting 5ms for some other measurement type than g2g, together with a 3ms g2g response time.. so both specs might be right

But.. I was almost decided for this monitor, but then I saw at another forum that the Viewsonic apparently doesn't work with the nvidia driver's fixed aspect ratio setting, allowing for black bars when not using the native resolution :/

This is sadly enough for me to discard this monitor if this is true 🙁

If anyone have success in disabling the stretching through the nvidia driver with this particular monitor, I would be happy to hear.

 

[jaguarskx]

How important is nvidia's fixed aspect ratio option? I think you only need to worry if your video card is too weak to play a game at native resolution (Crysis). Or if you play an older game that does not support widescreen resolution.

 

[Shad0w]

Well, I think it's important for me to have it working - or get a good monitor with 1:1 pixelmapping (which is nearly impossible though) - since I play older games quite often (quake, diablo, etc.).

I also like to have the option of lowering the resolution to get more performance in games. I have an all new PC with Q9450 and 8800GTS 512mb, but I am probably more critical than many others are about having a steady fps

Even in 1280*1024 I get some frame drops to 30-40 fps in games like cod4, that's fine, but I don't know how it would be in 1680*1050 - that will have to be tested when I get a new monitor.

Also, new games are of course getting more demanding, so I would have to upgrade fairly often to keep up with the games in 1680*1050.

 

[Shad0w]

Well, I have nearly decided on ASUS VW222U - I would just like to be sure if the nvidia scaling options work with this monitor? So you can show for example 1280*1024 with black bars around a centered picture.

So if anyone got an nvidia card and this monitor I would be happy to hear from you