What specs should I look for in a gaming LCD

[mikeny]

My CRT is small and Im thinking of getting a nice LCD for my gaming machine. Anyone have recommendations both company, refresh rate, resolutions and so fourth? I dont play FPS. Just Simulations, strategy, sometimes RPG, and maybe sometime next summer, World of Warcraft but I havent played a MMORPG since City of Heroes. I might get back into a MMORPG...after the wedding lol. Thank you....

 

[mpjesse]

Low response time and high refresh rates.

Generally, anything under 8ms is good for games (response time). And anything over 70hz is good for refresh rates. Beware though, anything higher than a 1600x1200 can't do >60hz refresh rate on ANY LCD. It's just not possible (yet).

Widescreen might be a good idea... more and more games are supporting a 16:9 ration now. But that's a matter of taste. Personally I prefer 4:3 for games.

 

[picture_perfect]

it looks like although some lcds claim refresh rates higher than 60, they really CAN'T go any higher.

 

[mikeny]

On my CRT, Im content on my 1064x768 setting. i was just curious if I should invest in a LCD. I was also thinking of hooking up 2 monitors since my video card supports it.

 

[mikeny]

I was looking in the circulars, whats your opinion on this LCD, Acer 19" LCD widescreen, 5ms response time, 7000:1 contrast and 1440x900 max resolution for $179

 

[picture_perfect]

VX922 - image delay (not related to ghosting) is another problem with all lcds and something you should check for. the viewsonic vx922 has only 2ms worth of image delay which is far better than other lcds behardware tested. i would recomment the vx922 over all lcds based on that alone. add to that it has just about the fastest average response (ghosting) time of any lcd and there you have a good gaming lcd.

 

[mikeny]

Hi. Very nice LCD and cheap. Thanx

 

[mpjesse]

yeah, high refresh rates look way better on CRT's.

 

[LoneTiger]

Great refresh rates on LCD's are less than 5ms for gaming.
A CRT screen has a refresh rate of 0.01ms.

If want to spend good money you can get any LCD from 17" to 19" and a very good price from newegg, those sizes have the best refresh rates.
Samsung or Viewsonic aregood choices in both analog and digital.

 

[FOOS]

Do NOT go with Samsung! I have one and was very dissapointed. The ViewSonic VX922 is by far the best and performs wonderfully. The colors and viewing angle seem to have taken a slight hit, possibly from the fast response time, but if you are using this for games you cannot ignore the need for a fast response time and the color and viewing angle really isn't all that bad - it's just not the best. Read my review of the Samsung and ViewSonic a few posts down for a detailed experience with both. If you go with the wrong one you will be very dissapointed and out a couple hundred bucks - be careful of Samsung.

 

[mikeny]

I was looking at CRT prices....22" is like 300-600 bucks. I could get a 19" LCD for a little over 200. The viewsonic is good price I was looking at that one and the Samsung 19" widescreen LCD which with rebate is $186. My video card supports digital.

Im torn between the 2 Samsungs and the ViewSonix vx922. I was on cnet.com and the widescreen samsung got excellent reivews, yet foos says dont be fooled by going with Samsung. Lol puts me back in the spot i was in before......dont know which to get.

I was wondering how Civilization4/Sims2 Pets, rollercoaster tycoon 3 and Simcity4000 look on a LCD. I look at the LCDs at bestbuy and Im like..mmmmmm lcd monitor. But which one lol

 

[david_uk]

I'm stuck as well, currently using superb LG L1710B but feel like I've outgrown resolution of 1280 x 1040. Getting fed up with constantly having to scroll left-right, up-down. Was shocked to learn there are hardly any LCD's of 1600 x 1200 that support gaming. I would prefer to see Samsung 204B in action (demoed), rather than read about it, before passing judgement. Don't mind going widescreen (1680 x 1050), but concerned about how my older games would take to a resolution that is not 4:3.

 

[mikeny]

Yeah I know about the older games not taking LCD. Im curious if Sicity4000 falls under tha category that widescreen will mess it up. I was thinking of getting the widescreen samsung for $190 Im stopping at Bestbuy today, they have the Samsungs on display. What got me to think about LCd was seeing Civilization 4 on LCD and it looked great.

I also was eyeing the Viewsonic 922, but the Samsung thats not widescreen has same specs but much higher contrast ratio and is 20 bucks cheaper than the viewsonic so my head is spinning on deciding.

 

[david_uk]

I've read good reviews about the Samsung 204B (1600 x 1200), except for the one on here! Might give them a ring next week to try and find out the truth.

Apparently for games that don't support 4:3 ratio, on widescreen they play ok, just that black bands appear on the screen to the left and right, reflecting the fact that they (the games) do not support widescreen.

 

[mikeny]

Im pretty much use to it. heres the link below showing the 2 samsungs i was llooking at. Then theres the viewsonic thats creeping into my head lol


http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Category=19&name=Monitors
Monitors, LCD Monitors, Computer Monitors, LCD Flat Screen Monitors, Widescreen Monitors at Newegg.com

 

[david_uk]

there are a lot of monitors there to choose from and all a lot cheaper than here in the uk.

 

[ScarletSpider]

Forget what others say, I have a Samsung Syncmaster 931BW. It's a 19" widescreen with 2000:1 contrast ratio and a 2ms response time. When compared to my older Mag lcd, it was sooo much brighter and more colorful. Go in to BestBuy and check them out. It's the only place I could find one, and luckily got it on black friday for only $140(including tax).

For everyone that has been making recommendations; either give the model with contrast, response, and size or dont bother. Telling someone to get a lcd because of response time only, is retarded. You never know if they might mistakingly get one, but also has a contrast ratio of 500:1. So yeah.

And mikeny, are you sure that screen you were looking at was 7000:1? That is impossibly high for lcd. The highest I've seen was 2000:1, and that's on my own lcd. There are however, lcd hdtv's which support either dvi or hdmi support for use with a computer, but I'm not sure about their response times. All I know is that from what we have (at CompUSA), the best screens are Samsung and Sharp. Both have a native 4000:1 contrast ratio and the larger sizes support even 10000:1. But like I said, just check what your buying, and make sure it has all that you want from it.


And to the moderators, why not sticky a thread regarding specs to look for in lcd purchasing? A LOT of threads are about this subject.

 

[mikeny]

So what do you think Scarlet, Im in a bottleneck of what to get. What do you think of the Samsung 931c (2ms, 2000:1, 1280x1084) vs. Viewsonic vx922 (650:1, 1280x1084, 2ms). I saw the Samsung 941bw (1440x900, 4ms, 500:1) all 19"

I saw the widescreen 941bw at bestbuy today and it looked kind of small and I wasny amazed.

 

[Hose]

"... And mikeny, are you sure that screen you were looking at was 7000:1? That is impossibly high for lcd. The highest I've seen was 2000:1..."

Contrast Ratio claims of "2000:1" and the like are just BALLOON JUICE. "Creative marketing" [read, DECEPTION] as non-informed buyers perceive that the higher the CR, the better. (Actually, IF it were true, it WOULD be better.)

[The way they get to claim "whatever" in CR goes something like this...
1. The EFFECTIVE CR would be "usable brightness/darkest dark" on the same image. In most cases, that would be only about 120nits/0.6nits, or 200:1, so nothing to brag about.

2. The MAXIMUM STATIC CR would be "brightest possible bright/darkest dark" on the same image. That could be 300nits/0.6 nits = 500. But it would be soooo bright, you'd have to put on sunglasses to view it for very long.

3. DYNAMIC CR is more deceptive.... "brightest bright on ANY image/darkest dark on any image".... not both on the same image. Duh!

4. Then, to bump the CR further, they claim... "if we could cut the backlight power by 50%, we could claim DOUBLE the CR"... and if we could cut it by ANOTHER 50%, we could claim QUADRUPLE the CR"....

The whole business of pumping up the CR numbers is really quite skanky.]

In reality.... ambient light GREATLY affects the CR you will actually see. Unless you run your monitor in a darkened closet, you're unlikely to experience even 500:1 CR.

 

[mikeny]

so what would be a good gaming LCD? Any of the ones i mentiomed above?

 

[Hose]

so what would be a good gaming LCD? Any of the ones i mentiomed above?

Probably one with the best reputation for lacking motion blur... like maybe a Viewsonic VX922, or maybe one of the Samsung "BF", "BX", or 931C. And as long as you're not yet decided, let me suggest you check out the NEC 90GX2 (4ms claimed) with the glossy, Brite screen. Unless you've already decided you don't like that, it's maybe worth it for you to check it out. It gets CRAZY-high marks from buyers at Newegg. Also, there's a new model coming very soon, "90GX2 Pro" with a claimed 2ms response.

One time at Best Buy I saw a couple of Samsungs side-by-side, and a pointer was set up to "highlight the greater contrast of the one with 2000:1, Dynamic"... I think it was a 931BF. When I looked closely, I could say, "yes, the black area which was pointed out was *slightly* darker". Otherwise, I'd have never noticed.

I don't think CR should be a genuine concern in gamer models.

 

[mikeny]

SO basically I cant go wrong with any of them? I saw the NEC one you mentioned on newegg, it does look great but its over $300. I saw the Samsung BW at bestbuy and the stand looked a little low and the screen looked smaller than the 19" that it is. I'll go back and see it again. They were suppose to have the other samsung I was looking at but it wasnt there, maybe hidden somewhere lol.

I compared the brightness of the 931c and BW..the BW is brighter and its brighter than the vx922. the again the vx922 and 931 are 2ms.

Yeah Im still undecided.

 

[FOOS]

Well I can tell you this for certain considering I own botht eh Samsung 204B and the ViewSonic VX922. The Samsung has better colors and a better viewing angle. How much better? Not enough to convince me to use it as my gaming LCD. For gaming there is no question in my mind that the VX922 is better in that the blur is less. Granted I am playign FPS games where it is more important, but here is one other thing to consider ... when I used the 204B not only did it blur, but I was forced to enable V-Sync otherwise it was completely unplayable due to the screen literally repainting in front of my eyes. This is pretty worrisome in my opinion. To be fair I have not tried the other Samsung models but with the 204 I can say this with certainty. The ViewSonic on the other hand plays wonderfully and has little blur and I can run it with or without V-Sync enabled. The V-Sync thing is important, because with it turned on you are limited to a frames per second based on your refresh rate (at 1280X1024 that is only 60). Without V-Sync it allows your hardware to set the frames per second (on my machine this is around 120-130 - big difference from the 60). The difference there is just the smoothness of the game. But again, this is much more of an issue with shooters than it is for like Civ4. Personally I would be more concerned with the performance over the small difference in the CR (but again that preference is certainly biased by the types of games I play).

 

[mikeny]

What would equal performance? (what should I look for)

 

[mikeny]

No. What i mean, foos said his personal preference is because he plays FPS. I was wondering what I should look for. He mentioned "Personally I would be more concerned with the performance over the small difference in the CR (but again that preference is certainly biased by the types of games I play)" Like I said before, i dont play FPS so what I should look for is brightness and speed? I saw the samsung 941bw on cnet with great reviews. I read the customer revies on the viewsonic. Some people told me to get the samsung 931c but I was leaning towards the 941bw. If I pick the 941 bw (300 for brightness), but with 4ms speed will this be the deciding factor (4ms)?

Im spinning my head wondering which one to choose with the VS vx922 looming in my head also.