need a crt monitor for gaming

[Synon25]

I need an opinion on what the best crt monitor for gaming is. My budget is around 250 - 300 dollars. I've been looking around at alot of reviews but I haven't really been able to decide on anything. So far i've liked the samsung 997 df. What do you guys think of that monitor, and for the money can I get anything better.

 

[Insidious]

"better" us such a subjective thing once you have it narrowed down to one technology (CRT).

It sounds very un-geek-like, but you might want to take a trip to BB or somewhere like that and just take a look to see what display you like the best. They ALL will display your games..... the rest is really down to personal taste. (for example, I like Viewsonic CRTs but others hate them.... go figure)

-Sid

(you DEFINITELY want a flat screen CRT)

 

[Synon25]

I know it's very subjective, I was just hoping to get some peoples opinions on different monitors so that I could way up the pros and cons and decide on which monitor I buy. 250 bucks is a lot of money to spend so I want to make sure I make the right choice

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: Synon25
I know it's very subjective, I was just hoping to get some peoples opinions on different monitors so that I could way up the pros and cons and decide on which monitor I buy. 250 bucks is a lot of money to spend so I want to make sure I make the right choice

I hear ya! Sorry I don't know enough about their inner workings to give you better insight

Someone is sure to show up here that does know more

FWIW, I have been using Viewsonic PF790 here for a pretty long time... no issues with aging or performance.

-Sid

 

[Synon25]

It appears most of the good monitors have been discontinued. Here is a list of monitors that I did manage to find. I found a dp930 sb however it is factory refurbished. It's 200 dollars and 28.54 for shipping. And for another 40 bucks I can get a 2 year extended warranty. What do you guys think? Should I go for that or one of these other monitors?

NEC AccuSync AS120-R
Mitsubishi Diamond Pro DP930-SB-BK- Factory refurbished
Samsung 997 df
Viewsonic P95+

 

[deadseasquirrel]

:thumbsup: dp930sb

 

[globalcitizen]

Viewsonic G90f

 

[Last Starfighter]

I had a bit of an ordeal with some iiyama monitors a while back flatscreen 22" models - they all had terrible picture quality, with a green / red halo effect on all of the units they sent me. (So I'd avoid them)

I settled on a LG Studioworks N2200P - 22".

Nice flat, crisp, colourful, bright and responsive picture - excellent.

 

[J S Jackson]

I'm still using a ViewSonic PF790, also. It still looks very good against some of the newer models I've seen, and in many cases, better. Sadly, my wife has been cleaning it recently with Windex (contains ammonia) and removed some of the anti-glare coating... so after 5 years of faithful service, it's getting retired.

Based on my own personal experience with this ONE monitor, I'd say ViewSonic is top notch. However, I have heard some reports that the P95f+ is fairly blurry with text, and that ViewSonic in general has declined in quality over the last few years. I'm not sure whether to believe it. Many of those same people also complain of the "lines" (damper wires), so I suspect they are new to an aperature grill, which tends to make text look a hair fuzzier.

The only computer store within 50 miles of me has exactly TWO monitors, so I can't really preview a wide selection myself, so I'll have to rely on subjective opinions from some of you folks. These are the three I'm looking at online:

Samsung 997DF
ViewSonic P95f+
Nec FE991SB

Any opinions? I'm a medical editor and spend a lot of time looking at text and graphics, so it CANNOT be overly blurry beyond what is normal for an AG at this price range, but I also do a lot of gaming, so rich vibrant color and high refresh rates are also important.

I don't mean to Hijack your thread Synon25. I just figured that since we're both looking for the same thing, I'd put this here, rather than start a new thread.

 

[Synon25]

Hey man,

I don't mind you using this thread to post. If anything it might generate more responses which would be good for both of us. I think you are right about the viewsonic monitors from what I have seen it seems as if they have declined in quality. If you would like a point of reference just go to cnet.com and take a look at their reviews of viewsonics crt monitors. I think out of the list of the monitors that you posted the best option would be the 997 df i've heard a lot of good things about it, and people seem to think it's a good monitor for the money. I've also heard that the best monitor that you can buy for gaming is the dp930 sb, and i've had a few people mention the viewsonic g90f. Either way let me know what you decide to get. I'm interested to know which monitor you end up choosing.

 

[imported_Reck]

I've used both the 997 and the G90F. Picture quality wise the G90F is better and the screen is much flatter. Unfortunately viewsonic quality has dropped, i'm now on my 3rd RMA...first one had blurry text past 1024x768 and the second one never even turned on at all.

Spend the extra to get a brand new nec 930sb...

 

[DragonFire]

I used two Viewsonic A90's and now a P95F+. The only thing I don't like about my P95F+ is that when looking at the desktop I can really see the two lines at the top and bottom. Sometimes even in games when there is a lot of white....

 

[Synon25]

Ok guys well I went ahead and got the refurbished dp 930 sb. I would have liked to get a new one but the new ones have been discontinued. It's got a two year warranty so hopefully everything will be alright. I will write you back and keep you updated on how it goes.

 

[J S Jackson]

Thanks for all the opinions folks.

I had considered getting a 930SB, but everywhere I look they are out of stock, and from what I understand, they are discontinued. I'll be interested to know how the refurbished one turns out for you. I'm usually very paranoid about buying "used" stuff.

Reck - Sorry to hear you had to RMA that monitor twice. I'd be pissed beyond belief.

Hope everyone had a merry christmas.

 

[J S Jackson]

Seems the ViewSonic's are very "hit or miss" in regard to whether or not you get a good one. All the professional reviews I've read usually place them in the top 5, but the user reviews at online stores seem to show a trend toward poor QA on ViewSonic's part. The blurry text at high resolutions is a very common complaint.

With Samsung, I see quite a few complaints about poor geometry and moire.

NEC/Mitsubishi doesn't seem to fare as high (though not low either) in the professional reviews, but user reviews seem very consistant and high. Very few unsatisfied customers.

 

[Synon25]

Well the dp930 sb has a 1 or 2 year warranty so if anything goes wrong with it it you can always get it fixed. If you want a look at the website I got it from here it is. http://www.nm-select.com

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Synon25
Well the dp930 sb has a 1 or 2 year warranty so if anything goes wrong with it it you can always get it fixed. If you want a look at the website I got it from here it is. http://www.nm-select.com

This is where I got my "used" 2070sb. Trust me, I've inspected every cm of this thing to look for the slightest clue that it had been even turned on previously. I swear they sent me a new-in-box. I was tempted by the additional 2-yr (making it 3 total) warranty, but figured if it lasts just 1 year, it'll last 5+.

 

[Synon25]

I've looked for that monitor that your talking about and I can't find it. I guess they don't have it anymore. I went ahead and got the two year warranty just in case something happened to it after the first year. Your probably right about it lasting 5 years if it last 1 but I figured for 40 bucks it was worth it. Hopefully mine will be in as good as condition as yours was. I've got my fingers crossed. We will see how it goes. Thanks for all your help in choosing a monitor guys

 

[InlineFive]

1. Although this is biased I'll say get a Viewsonic CRT. Even though I have Viewsonic LCD now my Viewsonic CRTs were pretty darn good.
2. Make sure it's flat panel.

 

[BFG10K]

Whichever you get make sure it's AG, totally flat and can run 2048x1536 comfortably.

 

[J S Jackson]

Well the wifey and I took a road trip (2 hours away) yesterday so I could get a look at a couple of these monitors. The only ones, on my list, that I actually saw were the:

ViewSonic P95f+(aperature grille) - by far the best picture quality. Deep rich color, geometry seemed dead on the mark, good purity across the whole screen. But when I cranked it up to 1600 x 1200 text was quite visibly blurry. 1152x864 was still crisp and well focused. 1280x960 was still acceptable, though very slightly blurry. I, normally, do most of my work and web surfing at 1152x864, so that would be acceptable.

ViewSonic G90F - They had one on display, but it was not hooked up to a computer. I asked the salesman to connect it for me so I could have a look, but he got sidetracked and never got around to it. The place was PACKED with people, and since I had already used a good portion of his time screwing around with the Samsung, I didn't bother to ask again.

Samsung 997DF(shadow mask) - At first look I thought that it must clearly be defective. Colors were very pale and washed out, and the black was quite gray. Assuming that it was simply miscalibrated, I played with the black level at several different contrasts in both the monitor OSD AND, later, the video card software to try to correct it - but to no avail. I tried color temperatures of 6800 and 9200. I made sure that the extra bright feature was turned off etc. No matter what the salesman and I did, we could not get that sucker even close to black. He even reinstalled the drivers/color profile etc. - no change.

In addition to that, the texture was extremely grainy and blurry no matter what resolution/refresh I selected. My wife has a Dell shadow mask CRT which also has this grainy texture to the screen. I just can't get used to it.

Well I finally gave up, deciding that the particular unit was simply defective. So, we went over to Circuit City who also had one on display... SAME THING. It looked identical to the other one!

I really find it difficult to understand why this monitor is highly regarded in reviews across the web. It was HORRIBLE. I suppose it's possible that both of them were defective? If I hadn't checked it on both monitors, I would have thought that the extra bright feature was stuck ON, which might account for the inability to achieve proper black level and color saturation. Maybe someone who owns this monitor can give me a clue as to the problem. It doesn't seem possible that it's supposed to look so ugly. Maybe there is some hidden setting that we overlooked. I don't know.

They had also some Compaq and HP CRTs, but mostly 17", so I had to rule them out from the start, although several of them looked fairly good.


Unfortunately, neither Best Buy nor Circuit City had any Mitsubishi/NEC to look at. Tomorrow we will have a drive to Montréal and check MicroBytes. They carry ViewSonic, LG, NEC/Mitsubishi, and Samsung. So hopefully I'll get a look at some other decent models.

 

[J S Jackson]

I had a look at NM-Select, Synon. I feel more at ease knowing it's a subsidiary of the actual manufacturer. They really have some good deals there. If I can get a look at the DP-930SB tomorrow, in person, and it looks good, I might get one too. Can't really beat that price.

When is yours due to arrive? I'm curious to know your opinion of it.

 

[imported_Reck]

Yea that's exactly why i returned the 997 hehe. i played with it for a long time so it wasn't a setting problem.

 

[Shinei]

I use a 997DF, no pure-black problems or fuzzy text on mine... Runs great from 1024x768 to 2048x1536 (althout my 6800GT starts to wheeze a little at that resolution), although there IS a graphical glitch that pops up in the non-standard aspect ratios (1280x960 in particular, I haven't tested any higher but I get the feeling all resolutions in the same ratio as that are affected); it's just a series of strange curved lines that you really can't see unless you're against a pure color surface. I can't isolate the problem and blame it on the monitor just yet, since I only have my 6800GT to test the monitor with...
Anyway, I recommend the 997DF, but nobody else will because I'm apparently blind or something.

Edit: Oh, and there's another oddity in the display, whenever I paste an image that's clearly properly colored into Photoshop, the display is very hot and tinted orange/red. Didn't happen on my NEC monitor...

 

[J S Jackson]

I'm sure you're not blind, and I trust what you say for one reason. The monitor has gotten good reviews across the web - both professional and amateur reviews. Surely everyone isn't lying, or blind? That's why I thought that:

a) they were both defective, or;
b) I'm not setting it up properly, or overlooking some special setting it has, etc.
c) something wrong with my vision

I'm not talking about about a very small defect in picture quality. I'm saying that the monitor looked worse than any monitor I've ever laid eyes on! So obviously that's wrong. Something is amiss. Usually when comparing two high quality monitors, the differences are very subtle. That was certainly not the case here.

Oh well, I'm not going to obsess over it, but it certainly does make me wonder what was the deal.