LCD monitor for the holidays

[SneakyStuff]

Hey guys, I figured i'd go ahead and get an LCD monitor for christmas, I spend a good amount of time on the computer, doing internet and schoolwork, but I mostly use my computer for gaming. I play games like World of Warcraft, Unreal 2k4, Doom III, and things of that sort. Here's a few of the limitations/wants of mine.

- Under $400
- 17' size
- Analog and DVI inputs


The rest I would love to hear from you guys, any experiences and wisdom you could share would be great, and also, where's your favorite place to buy an LCD? I'm some-what fearful of dead pixels. Thanks a bunch guys and happy holidays!

 

[Nessism]

Lots of good reviews around on the net. Try Xbit Labs and Tom's Hardware Guide and start reading.

My opinion is toward the Hyundai Q17. I bought a L70S for my mom and it's very nice in my opinion; very sharp image (dispite being analog only) and fast enough for gaming.

Good luck.

Ed

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I went through the same thing this Summer. I decided on the VP171B. Very adjustable stand and pivot is really sweet and the response time was as good as anything else I tested.

 

[SneakyStuff]

I've got some black Dell CRT right now, from about 2 years ago. People say that CRTs are better for gaming, is this true even if the monitor is just some 17 incher that came with my old Dell? Or would a nice LCD actually yeild better gains?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Nessism
Lots of good reviews around on the net. Try Xbit Labs and Tom's Hardware Guide and start reading.

My opinion is toward the Hyundai Q17. I bought a L70S for my mom and it's very nice in my opinion; very sharp image (dispite being analog only) and fast enough for gaming.

Good luck.

Ed

Ooh, nice! Good to see my 710T has the 'best ever' response time according to Xbit and is right up there with the best on Tom's Hardware Guide.

And Tom's mentions the excellent lower-resolution scaling too. I try to tell people this is the (17") monitor to get. Now, finally I have the proof (and it IS better than the 172X too!).

 

[Tiamat]

I have had great luck with Samsung displays. No dead pixels whatsoever

 

[Nessism]

Ooh, nice! Good to see my 710T has the 'best ever' response time according to Xbit and is right up there with the best on Tom's Hardware Guide.

And Tom's mentions the excellent lower-resolution scaling too. I try to tell people this is the (17") monitor to get. Now, finally I have the proof (and it IS better than the 172X too!).[/quote]

710T is sweet, no doubt. Unfortunatley, it's top dollar as well. In my opinion, you can get 90% of the performance for about $175 less in a Hyundai.

 

[kmmatney]

In my experience LCDs are fine for gaming, Personally I think 25 ms response time is good enough, but you can get a 16ms or 12 ms LCD to prevent ghosting.

For $400, you can easily get a 19" LCD with DVI and 16 ms response time.
19" BenQ

I use a 19" Samsung LCD at work, as well as a 17" BenQ. I really can't tell the difference in image quality between the two, although I like the larger pixel size on the 19" Samsung. A lot easier to see things.

The best 17" monitor you can get for $400 is probably this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=24-001-146&depa=1

It has a 12ms response time, and a lot of great reviews, and is about as good as it gets for gaming. I personally think its a bit much to spend for a 17" LCD. Having DVI really seems to drive the price up on the 17" LCDs. You really don't need DVI for that size - it should only make a difference at higher resolutions. If you drop the DVI requirement, you can easily get nice 17" LCD for $300.

 

[ponyo]

May I suggest Dell 1704FPV? It's slower panel with 25ms response time so it's not the best gaming LCD. I know that's what you wanted but it's my belief that 25ms is good enough for most people and most LCD manufactors inflate response time anyway.

It's 8-bit panel so you'll get true 24-bit 16.7 million colors unlike those 6-bit panels 16ms or 12ms resposne time panels. It boasts 1000:1 contrast ratio but that number is likely inflated and bogus. It has 4 USB 2.0 ports along with DVI and VGA connectors and comes with both cables.

It's also nicely priced at $369 but with Dellf 25% off LCD coupon and $30 off $300 or $35 off $350 stackable coupon Dell always runs, you should be able to get it for around $245 shipped. If I was in the market for 17" LCD, this is what I would get but displays are pretty subjective.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
In my experience LCDs are fine for gaming, Personally I think 25 ms response time is good enough, but you can get a 16ms or 12 ms LCD to prevent ghosting.

For $400, you can easily get a 19" LCD with DVI and 16 ms response time.
19" BenQ

I use a 19" Samsung LCD at work, as well as a 17" BenQ. I really can't tell the difference in image quality between the two, although I like the larger pixel size on the 19" Samsung. A lot easier to see things.

The best 17" monitor you can get for $400 is probably this:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=24-001-146&depa=1

It has a 12ms response time, and a lot of great reviews, and is about as good as it gets for gaming. I personally think its a bit much to spend for a 17" LCD. Having DVI really seems to drive the price up on the 17" LCDs. You really don't need DVI for that size - it should only make a difference at higher resolutions. If you drop the DVI requirement, you can easily get nice 17" LCD for $300.

If sacraficing DVI meant saving $100 I most likely wouldn't care, I just want the monitor to last that's all.
What are the benefits of DVI other than people saying it has better image quality?

What about this one?
newegg.com

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: kmmatney

It has a 12ms response time, and a lot of great reviews, and is about as good as it gets for gaming. I personally think its a bit much to spend for a 17" LCD. Having DVI really seems to drive the price up on the 17" LCDs. You really don't need DVI for that size - it should only make a difference at higher resolutions. If you drop the DVI requirement, you can easily get nice 17" LCD for $300.

DVI is a subtle but measurable improvement over analog; it all but eliminates the ghosting and smearing of analog screens and is considerably sharper than analog. I can clearly notice a difference between DVI and analog, having used both types of screens at home and at work, and I find the improvement of DVI worth the extra money.

 

[ponyo]

Sneaky, read this part about picking a good LCD. This might help you with some of the basics.

link

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: kmmatney

It has a 12ms response time, and a lot of great reviews, and is about as good as it gets for gaming. I personally think its a bit much to spend for a 17" LCD. Having DVI really seems to drive the price up on the 17" LCDs. You really don't need DVI for that size - it should only make a difference at higher resolutions. If you drop the DVI requirement, you can easily get nice 17" LCD for $300.

DVI is a subtle but measurable improvement over analog; it all but eliminates the ghosting and smearing of analog screens and is considerably sharper than analog. I can clearly notice a difference between DVI and analog, having used both types of screens at home and at work, and I find the improvement of DVI worth the extra money.

OK, so back to DVI as a requirement.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Dell has this one for $332 or so, and it has DVI, but a 25ms refresh rate, but after reading your links that some of you suggested, I'm beginning to hear that ms doesn't affect ghosting in games. Does that look like a good monitor for gaming? (mostly world of warcraft right now) I need to make a descision here in a few days to give the folks enough time to order. Thanks a lot guys you've been really helpful thus far.

edit: Why does the 15 inch one carry a 16ms response time? smalla

 

[worshipsf]

I have a 1703fp and I love it (paid over $300 a few weeks ago, and that's with the 25% off Dellf coupon I should've waited...)

If you go for a Dell, be sure to look for a Dellf coupon, and also one of the $25-$35 off coupons you can get from coupon sites.

 

[SneakyStuff]

What's the difference between yours and the 1704FPV? And where do I get coupons? I still get Dell catalogs would they have one in it?

edit: If anyone has a value code could you PM me?

 

[xtknight]

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 710t (17", d-sub and dvi) and am extremely happy with it. You might manage to get it for under $400 by Christmas time. At Newegg, it's $435 right now. http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=24-001-164&depa=0

Good response time, good for games. Yes, there is a little ghosting, as there is with any LCD out there. However, you get used to it in 2 days (literally). Limiting the FPS in your game to a little less than the reciprocal of the response time will help (about ~55 fps for this monitor), as well as disabling vsync. Increasing the refresh rate to 75Hz will help too. Overall, I'm very happy with it. I use it to play Wolfenstein (fairly dark game, effects of ghosting won't be as pronounced). I can't comment on games like Far Cry which are fairly 'sunny outside' games as I haven't tried it yet.