DELL 1905FP and Gaming

[tren001]

Hello all:

I know this is probably the fifth thread on the 1905FP and whether it has ghosting while gaming or not, but I am still a bit confused after reading all the posts.

I got my 1905FP hooked up to my new Dell 8400 computer (3.2 GHz, 1G RAM, Geforce 6800) on the 6800's DVI connection, and the crappy 17" E173P LCD that came with the computer is on the VGA connection. Initial impressions were the 1905 is bright, but the colors a bit washed out, with razor sharp lines and uniform colors (esp black) due to the DVI versus the E173P. However I am getting variable results on gaming, so what I did is set the video card on clone mode, and examined lots of games and how they look on the two monitors.

Here are my test impressions:

Driving games: I tried a wide range from old to new, from NFS Porsche, to NASCAR 2002, to NFS Underground 2, to F1 99-02. The 1905 has some streaking on NFS Underground, none on NASCAR/F1, and pretty bad streating on Porsche.

2D Games: Fallout 2, Starcraft etc. Both monitors just fine. BTW those old games with their low res and low color look pretty horrible on a big 19" LCD, and didn't look much better on a 17" either.

Sports Games: NBA Live 2005. Both monitors seem to work fine.

FPS: here's the big problem. I tried games old and new, from Halflife (1998), to System Shock 2, Unreal Tournament, to Jedi Academy, as well as Freelancer, which is like a First Person Flying Shooter. The 1905 was ghosting like hell on everyone of these games except Freelancer.

Other: I also tried out Freedom Force, and what I noticed is that the 1905 will run it well, all sharp and colorful, but when you scroll around the city, the buildings/people/cars will streak in the direction of the move.

Throughout all my testing, the E173P only had minimal ghosting, and EVERY game is very playable, but playing any FPS on the 1905 is a head-dizzing affair. The E173P is certainly not some great monitor, and you have to stare straight at it to look good (unlike the seemingly infinite viewing angles on the 1905), but at least I can play half life on it.

So the question is, is all this due to the 20 ms refresh rate, or did I forget to turn off the "make your FPS game look like crap" button in the Nvidia control panel? I know some people are more sensitive to ghosting than others, but my side by side comparo with the E173P proves that the 1905 is ghosting like mad.

Sorry for the long post, but I have to decide whether to return the 1905 and bite the bullet on a 2005FPW, which people on the forums seem to uniformly recommend for gaming, unlike the 1905, so I would appreciate any and all advice everyone can give me.

Cheers

 

[QuestionsandAnsweres]

2005FPW is a great monitor IF u get lucky and get one with minimal or no backlight bleeding. Mine had tons... I prefer the viewsonic VP912B over the Dell 2005FPW... less to no backlight bleeding, less ghosting and streeking, better viewing angles. Dell 2005FPW did produce tad more vibrant colors and it was widescreen..

 

[Machine350]

You might wanna check out this Hyundai monitor. It's been getting a lot of praise.

 

[JBT]

the 1905 supposidly has pretty bad ghosting.

 

[tren001]

Originally posted by: JBT
the 1905 supposidly has pretty bad ghosting.

Update: Well I went home and installed Doom 3 and Warcraft 3 too and tried to play them, and now I'm even more confused. Doom 3 ran okay, but it is still ghosting like all my other FPS games, and the "washoutness" of the 1905 is more apparent in this darker game, but Warcraft 3 ran beautifully with no ghosting whatsoever. Warcraft 3 and Freedom Force are bascially the same kind of game where you scroll around in a large 3D environment, but one streaks while the other doesn't. Is there a software problem here? The computer is brand new so I think the Nvidia drivers should be up to date, so I don't get why the monitor seems set up for good Warcraft3 but bad Freedom Force.

In any case I'm seriously considering returning the 1905 and swapping it for a 2005FPW if I can get it at the $510 pricepoint, anyone have any suggestions on how to do this with the Dell customer service people?

 

[nitromullet]

....return the 1905 and bite the bullet on a 2005FPW...

Yes! Do it! The 1905FP is horrible compared to the 2005FPW for gaming. You will be glad you did.

This is my take on the 1905FP...

When I ordered my 2005FPW Dell mistakenly shipped me a 1905FP by accident first, so I decided to check it out. I read the review on AT, and I would have to disagree with their opinion. IMO, this monitor has way too much ghosting to be acceptable for gaming. I put that screen back in the box about 10 minutes after hooking it up and went back to my CRT while I waited for my replacement 2005FPW - that was how much that monitor annoyed me. I was a little concerned that the 2005FPW would suffer from the same issues, but the 2005FPW has proven to be much, much better for gaming than the 1905FP. The poor gaming performance of the 1905FP is a shame really, since the 2D image quality was very nice and crisp and the pricetag isn't bad if you can find a few coupons.

The E173P is certainly not some great monitor, and you have to stare straight at it to look good (unlike the seemingly infinite viewing angles on the 1905), but at least I can play half life on it.

Honestly, my 2005FPW is a little like this as well. The viewing angle isn't all that great, but the ghosting is way better than the 1905FP.

anyone have any suggestions on how to do this with the Dell customer service people?

I would just return the 1905FP outright for a refund, and then just buy a 2005FPW.

 

[tren001]

Thanks for your opinion Nitromullet!

Damn all you people on Anand forums forcing my to shell out more and more money for a computer! My $1000 system is now heading towards $1700

On the other hand, I do salivate at the thought of Doom3 on a widescreen 2005, though I might have to tweak it a little for performance. It was pretty jittery even with my 3.2 GHz/1 Gb RAM/Geforce 6800 256 Mb.

 

[MrMiyagi]

Originally posted by: tren001
Thanks for your opinion Nitromullet!

Damn all you people on Anand forums forcing my to shell out more and more money for a computer! My $1000 system is now heading towards $1700

On the other hand, I do salivate at the thought of Doom3 on a widescreen 2005, though I might have to tweak it a little for performance. It was pretty jittery even with my 3.2 GHz/1 Gb RAM/Geforce 6800 256 Mb.

Sorry I keep replying like this to these posts, but.... you are still going to see noticeable ghosting on your 2005fpw. I notice it constantly on mine. How it compares to the 1905 I don't know.

 

[tren001]

Originally posted by: MrMiyagi

Originally posted by: tren001



Sorry I keep replying like this to these posts, but.... you are still going to see noticeable ghosting on your 2005fpw. I notice it constantly on mine. How it compares to the 1905 I don't know.

Hmm... I guess different people have different sensitivity to ghosting, and you and I are probably highly sensitive. I guess my question is have you compared the 2005 to any other LCDs. If the ghosting is down to the E173P (dell's cheapo 17" monitor) level then I am perfectly happy with that, since I'll have noticeable but minimal ghosting, while having the size/sharpness/color/DVI of the more expensive 2005. I figure the 12 ms >$500 2005FPW ought to at least match the E173P, or there's something wrong here. I mean the 1905 is seriously bad; it is worse than my 3 year old IBM Thinkpad's LCD screen!

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: tren001

Originally posted by: MrMiyagi

Originally posted by: tren001



Sorry I keep replying like this to these posts, but.... you are still going to see noticeable ghosting on your 2005fpw. I notice it constantly on mine. How it compares to the 1905 I don't know.

Hmm... I guess different people have different sensitivity to ghosting, and you and I are probably highly sensitive. I guess my question is have you compared the 2005 to any other LCDs. If the ghosting is down to the E173P (dell's cheapo 17" monitor) level then I am perfectly happy with that, since I'll have noticeable but minimal ghosting, while having the size/sharpness/color/DVI of the more expensive 2005. I figure the 12 ms >$500 2005FPW ought to at least match the E173P, or there's something wrong here. I mean the 1905 is seriously bad; it is worse than my 3 year old IBM Thinkpad's LCD screen!

I own a 2005FPW, and used my brother's 2001FP extensively before that...I don't have much experience with smaller LCD's besides having seen some in passing either at computer labs at school, or at a LAN party, etc. I'm one of these "ghosting-sensitive" people too, so I was surprised to see ghosting on the 2001, when it had been praised on these forums as being free of ghosting (although my brother says he didn't notice any). My 2005 is better (I suppose because of that "12ms" spec), as well as having somewhat better contrast and brightness. Bottom line - I can still see ghosting on the 2005 and would be lying if I said I didn't - but I've decided that I can live with it. It's not that bad, you get used to it to an extent, and it's just such a great monitor otherwise as well. (Plus it doesn't weigh 70 pounds like the CRT I had before it does. )

-My $0.02

 

[nitromullet]

Sorry I keep replying like this to these posts, but.... you are still going to see noticeable ghosting on your 2005fpw. I notice it constantly on mine. How it compares to the 1905 I don't know.

He's right, the 2005FPW is still an LCD so it's not perfect, but I find the trade off for the windescreen aspect ratio, the much clearer 2D/text, and the reduced size to be worthwhile for the little bit of ghosting you get. IMO, the 1905FP was unplayable, while the 2005FPW is not only playable, but quit nice for gaming actually.

 

[MrMiyagi]

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: tren001

Originally posted by: MrMiyagi

Originally posted by: tren001



Sorry I keep replying like this to these posts, but.... you are still going to see noticeable ghosting on your 2005fpw. I notice it constantly on mine. How it compares to the 1905 I don't know.

Hmm... I guess different people have different sensitivity to ghosting, and you and I are probably highly sensitive. I guess my question is have you compared the 2005 to any other LCDs. If the ghosting is down to the E173P (dell's cheapo 17" monitor) level then I am perfectly happy with that, since I'll have noticeable but minimal ghosting, while having the size/sharpness/color/DVI of the more expensive 2005. I figure the 12 ms >$500 2005FPW ought to at least match the E173P, or there's something wrong here. I mean the 1905 is seriously bad; it is worse than my 3 year old IBM Thinkpad's LCD screen!

I own a 2005FPW, and used my brother's 2001FP extensively before that...I don't have much experience with smaller LCD's besides having seen some in passing either at computer labs at school, or at a LAN party, etc. I'm one of these "ghosting-sensitive" people too, so I was surprised to see ghosting on the 2001, when it had been praised on these forums as being free of ghosting (although my brother says he didn't notice any). My 2005 is better (I suppose because of that "12ms" spec), as well as having somewhat better contrast and brightness. Bottom line - I can still see ghosting on the 2005 and would be lying if I said I didn't - but I've decided that I can live with it. It's not that bad, you get used to it to an extent, and it's just such a great monitor otherwise as well. (Plus it doesn't weigh 70 pounds like the CRT I had before it does. )

-My $0.02

Actually I'd like to refer to ourselves as ghost "admitting" (not "ghost sensitive"), where as others are ghost denying. It's there but some choose to ignore it.

Anyway, its a sweet monitor...definitely PIMP sitting on the desk. Really bright too. Mine has that whole "backlight issue" thing too but it doesnt bother me at all.

My buddy has a Samsung 710N (or something) that's a 17" and supposed to be 12 ms. He's gonna bring it over tomorrow to set it up side by side my 2005fpw. I'll let ya know what I think with regard to the ghosting comparison.

 

[tren001]

Originally posted by: MrMiyagi

Originally posted by: SynthDude2001

Originally posted by: tren001

Originally posted by: MrMiyagi

Originally posted by: tren001


Actually I'd like to refer to ourselves as ghost "admitting" (not "ghost sensitive"), where as others are ghost denying. It's there but some choose to ignore it.

Anyway, its a sweet monitor...definitely PIMP sitting on the desk. Really bright too. Mine has that whole "backlight issue" thing too but it doesnt bother me at all.

My buddy has a Samsung 710N (or something) that's a 17" and supposed to be 12 ms. He's gonna bring it over tomorrow to set it up side by side my 2005fpw. I'll let ya know what I think with regard to the ghosting comparison.

Hey thanks a lot everyone. Last night I was fed up enough with the 1905 that I decided to plunged for the 2005FPW while it is still at $506, and ended up on the phone for hours between the Indian lady at technical support who was nice but knows nothing about computers and monitors, the Indian man at product return who didn't want to pay for shipping the 1905 back, and the american lady at sales who didn't want to give me the stackable $55 coupon on the 2005FPW, and it took a lot my persuading/demanding to get them to come pick up the 1905 and put a 2005 on order at $506. So I guess I am still satisfied with Dell since they eventually did what I wanted and it only cost me a lot of saliva, and I await my widescreen with bated breath.

BTW, I opened up my computer last night to put in a spare hard drive I had laying around but the Dell only has ONE ide port for the optical drive (versus FOUR S-ATA ports)! So my hard drive is useless... Maybe I'll get a external enclosure for it or something.

Anyhow, thanks for everyone's opinions. I sure hope that sweet 2005 rocks.

 

[jamesbond007]

FWIW, I have a Dell 1704FPT. I came from a Samsung 191T Plus and this monitor has what I would call no ghosting. It supposedly has a 12ms refresh rate, but whatever it is, it's incredible! I have it hooked up via DVI to my 6800. (Dell XPS Gen4)

Have you tried a similiar monitor like this before?

 

[tren001]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
FWIW, I have a Dell 1704FPT. I came from a Samsung 191T Plus and this monitor has what I would call no ghosting. It supposedly has a 12ms refresh rate, but whatever it is, it's incredible! I have it hooked up via DVI to my 6800. (Dell XPS Gen4)

Have you tried a similiar monitor like this before?

Well as I said my Dell E173P (non DVI 17" LCD) doesn't ghost as much. I think smaller LCDs handle ghosting better for whatever reason. I have been using my 1905 a lot before I have to pack it up to return it to Dell and I also seem to be getting used to it a little bit. Hopefully between me getting used to it and the faster 2005 it should be all good.

I still suspect there must be something on the software side too, since identical game types have varied ghosting on my 1905, like Freedom Force versus Warcraft III and NASCAR racing versus NFS Porsche. BTW, after seeing how vibrant a game like Warcraft III is on a good LCD screen, I'm never going back to CRT again, ghosting be damned!