Looking for a gaming monitor.

[CidHighwind]

Im looking for a gaming monitor. Im gonna place the budget somewhere around $300. I think anything much higher is insane.
But anyway, Ive been gaming on a 17" CRT monitor that is... *ahem* 6+ years old. It reaches a maximum of 1280*1024 and 72 Hz. I regularly run it at 1152*864 and 70Hz. Any different, and things becomes to small, or out of square, or gives me a headache. Somehow, I cant see the flicker at 60Hz or anything, but changing things around tends to make me sick to my stomach (oddly enough).

Anyway, to the point, ive got lots of old habits with monitor settings, and most things dont bother me, but I need a change. Even though I dont notice it, something easier on the eyes would be nice. LCD, CRT, I dont care. I dont understand most things about monitors, so just some recommendations would be nice.

Right now Im thinking: Sharp colors, 1200*1600 (I cant see going any higher) at good Hz. I run a Radeon 9800XT (it sure was nice... last year, too bad I havent been able to put my computer together since then)

 

[ITPaladin]

for max price of $335 if you have the space and sturdy desk, you can get the HP branded Sony Trinitron 24" widescreen CRT from ruminahui2 on Ebay. If you spend $400 you get the Sony brand that is black with silver from the same seller.
JRW and others here have bought from this power seller. Unfortunately mine is in lost status between two different DHL facilities in my city. It was expected on the 13th and I have yet to receive my HP.

The only difference according to the seller is the color (black being apparenlty more popular).

I am currently running on the 2005FPW at native 1680x1050 with 9600xt.

 

[CidHighwind]

Those are VERY nice monitors for their price. BTW, they are selling for about $100 LESS than you quoted them, making them 220 and 300, respectively. A couple questions: How sharp would the picture be? Wouldnt the size of the screen warp or stretch such things?

Color isnt completely right, but I might overlook that.

Anyway, if any others have their own suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: CidHighwind
Those are VERY nice monitors for their price. BTW, they are selling for about $100 LESS than you quoted them, making them 220 and 300, respectively. A couple questions: How sharp would the picture be? Wouldnt the size of the screen warp or stretch such things?

Color isnt completely right, but I might overlook that.

Anyway, if any others have their own suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated!

Even though you pay 300 for the monitor, shipping is still a whopping 100 dollars.

 

[ITPaladin]

Exactly. I told you the shipped price.

HP is $335 with shipping an optional $10 insurance.

Those are VERY nice monitors for their price. BTW, they are selling for about $100 LESS than you quoted them, making them 220 and 300, respectively. A couple questions: How sharp would the picture be? Wouldnt the size of the screen warp or stretch such things?

Also, these are flat screen AG Trinitrons. What more can you expect?

 

[Reiniku]

AG Trintrons. Let me try to sum it up for you.

It will have great image quality and color reproduction. You will notice that getting perfect geometry settings (a PERFECTLY straight edged output) will be damned near impossible. You'll notice 2 horizontal lines going across the screen. Text will be somewhat blurry, but gaming will be wonderful... did I miss anything?

 

[BenSkywalker]

I regularly run it at 1152*864 and 70Hz.

I think I would gouge out my eyes staring at that

Seriously, it you can stomache that setting then pretty much any CRT you pick up will be signficantly easier on the eyes.

AG Trintrons. Let me try to sum it up for you.

It will have great image quality and color reproduction. You will notice that getting perfect geometry settings (a PERFECTLY straight edged output) will be damned near impossible. You'll notice 2 horizontal lines going across the screen. Text will be somewhat blurry, but gaming will be wonderful... did I miss anything?

Yes, that AG Trinitrons run a distant second to AG Diamondtrons

 

[ITPaladin]

People that gripe about the TINY lines on the top and bottom of the screen are those that neatly place their white socks in one drawer, their black in another, and fold their underwear in neat squares.

I TOLD YOU NO WIRE HANGERS!

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: Reiniku
AG Trintrons. Let me try to sum it up for you.

It will have great image quality and color reproduction. You will notice that getting perfect geometry settings (a PERFECTLY straight edged output) will be damned near impossible. You'll notice 2 horizontal lines going across the screen. Text will be somewhat blurry, but gaming will be wonderful... did I miss anything?

Yes - you forgot the fact that you can actually change resolutions and therefore not need to buy a new $450 video card every year to play new games like the 24" LCD crowd....although you still will probably have to buy one every two years, every little bit helps.

 

[CidHighwind]

I think I may buy it! Thanks!

$100 shipped? Ouch. But... I may as well pay for the twelve UPS guys' hernias before they get it to my door.

 

[ITPaladin]

DHL finally found mine. It should be here today by 5pm.
It somehow lost all labels or other info from the outside.
If you do get it from the ebay sale, just know it may take 6-14 days depending on where you live from MA.
Anyone know exactly what they mean on their website when they say shipped guaranteed?
It should have been here around the 13th.

 

[Kaifu]

Check out the 21"+ CRTs over at www.azatek.com. Most of them are off-lease (read: slightly used), but otherwise fine. Make sure, of course, that you get one that's Aperature Grille based and not Shadow Mask.

Some of them have free shipping and most are in your price range.

 

[CidHighwind]

Im still browsing around a bit, but unless I find a better deal (see: Doubtful), I'll stick to this.

 

[kaishaku72]

Originally posted by: ITPaladin
People that gripe about the TINY lines on the top and bottom of the screen are those that neatly place their white socks in one drawer, their black in another, and fold their underwear in neat squares.

I TOLD YOU NO WIRE HANGERS!

I store my socks and underwear in nearly the manner described,
but AG wires do not bother me at all. They didn't even bother me
when I first started using an AG because the other 99.9% of the
screen was spectacular versus shadow mask.

These aren't "big" 1-pixel lines on your screen. They're not exactly
paper-thin, but they are close. And, if you filled your monitor with
them you wouldn't even notice... in fact, you might mistake it for
a strange looking invar shadow mask...

All CRT text is "blurry" at "bad" resolutions and refresh rates...
Text on good CRTs is great at "good" resolutions and refresh rates.

EDIT-for-pseudo-on-topic-ness:
I just bought a second AG CRT (2070SB), but also own 2 shadow
mask CRTs and an LCD.

 

[ITPaladin]

read: anal / howard hughes

 

[CidHighwind]

I bought it, its on the way. Thing is, Ive never heard of BHT shipping prior to now, and my tracking number doesnt seem to work on their site. Regardless, it will probably take longer than usual to ship because their is no local BHT warehouse around here.

Either way, Im glad I got such a nice deal, (even though I have to get rid of a TV to make space for this monitor!!) and I'm also glad that the new rig works in every way. Well, every way except that windows is giving me activation grief, but thats another forum section.

 

[ITPaladin]

You bought the HP or Sony CRT from the ebay people?

I am running my HP at 1920x1200 @ 85 hz. Nice room, easy on eyes so far. I can play EQ2 at this res as long as stuff is turned down, but I have to have a certain option down because of ATI VPU recover bugs with the game.

Be sure to download Nokia's monitor calibration program ntest. Wait 30 minutes after it is on and use the image restoration function under the color menu.

You can also get a pdf manual from the HP website if HP.