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Flat Panel Monitor - Where to choose?

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Viper69

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2003
I have a great CRT, but it's only 21".

Building a new rig Intel i5 2500K
Intel Cherryville SSD 80gig
Vid card GTX 680
1TB HD

I haven't look at Flat Panel monitors seriously in many years. This will be for a gaming rig. I recall Samsung Syncmaster series being good, but that was ten years ago.

What brands should I be looking at? I play FPS games and RTS too.

With a CRT you didn't have to worry native resolution, refresh rates, and all the other nuances that people have to worry about now.

At the moment, I'm only interested in getting 1 monitor.

Does a game look better on a 24inch or slightly larger monitor?
 
I have a great CRT, but it's only 21".

Building a new rig Intel i5 2500K
Intel Cherryville SSD 80gig
Vid card GTX 680
1TB HD

I haven't look at Flat Panel monitors seriously in many years. This will be for a gaming rig. I recall Samsung Syncmaster series being good, but that was ten years ago.

What brands should I be looking at? I play FPS games and RTS too.

With a CRT you didn't have to worry native resolution, refresh rates, and all the other nuances that people have to worry about now.

At the moment, I'm only interested in getting 1 monitor.

Does a game look better on a 24inch or slightly larger monitor?

i tend to find 24" to be perfect for gaming! What kind of money you looking at spending? I have an old samsung syncmaster 22.5 which was my primary monitor for a very long time ( about 5 years) and it was amazing. ( rez was 1680 ×1050)

I Recently bought a 24" Benq 1080 monitor ( no hdmi, but dont really care because I'm using it for my PC) to replace it as my primary and now my 22.5 is my secondary ( which replaced my 19" which was on the fritz)

And wwowow the difference between My new 24 and old 22.5 is amazing, the brightness colours, white and blacks look so different ( in a good way)

I personally dont see the need for a bigger screen, i think that's ample for gaming, unless your sitting really far back! Also my benQ was only £115, cheap, but it doesn't compromise on picture quality.

Also if you wana go bigger ( like a 27") you wont be getting a better resolution than 1080 really unless you spend £300+ ( or $400+).
 
i tend to find 24" to be perfect for gaming! What kind of money you looking at spending? I have an old samsung syncmaster 22.5 which was my primary monitor for a very long time ( about 5 years) and it was amazing. ( rez was 1680 ×1050)

I Recently bought a 24" Benq 1080 monitor ( no hdmi, but dont really care because I'm using it for my PC) to replace it as my primary and now my 22.5 is my secondary ( which replaced my 19" which was on the fritz)

And wwowow the difference between My new 24 and old 22.5 is amazing, the brightness colours, white and blacks look so different ( in a good way)

I personally dont see the need for a bigger screen, i think that's ample for gaming, unless your sitting really far back! Also my benQ was only £115, cheap, but it doesn't compromise on picture quality.

Also if you wana go bigger ( like a 27") you wont be getting a better resolution than 1080 really unless you spend £300+ ( or $400+).

Well there are other factors, like Display technology. IPS vs other types. I really don't know what's the "right" technology.

CRTs were so much easier and better. You didn't have to worry about native resolution etc. If this monitor was larger, I'd never replace it.

I've heard Dell, Apple, and Nec, and Benq make good monitors

This section from Anandtech sums up my feelings on Flat panels

"Back with a CRT...We didn’t have to worry about lag, we could run multiple resolutions on a display without worrying about a native resolution, and higher resolutions, faster refresh rates, and better sharpness, were likely going to work for most power users. Now the field is a little different, as you have to worry about the native resolution of your panel, the response time, viewing angles, color quality, and more. "
 
I run a pair of 1920x1200px HP LA2405wg monitors and love them to death. My wifes rig is running a hannspree 23.6" 1080P screen and it also looks very crisp. Unless you have an especially well trained eye you wont notice much difference in most LCD/LED monitors @ 1080P. LED use less power and tend to be brighter(I dont like brighter) but are likely to outlast a traditional LCD screen. Theres also a thread floating around the forum about some 27" korean made 2560x1440 IPS panels that can be had for about $400 right now.
 
I run a pair of 1920x1200px HP LA2405wg monitors and love them to death. My wifes rig is running a hannspree 23.6" 1080P screen and it also looks very crisp. Unless you have an especially well trained eye you wont notice much difference in most LCD/LED monitors @ 1080P. LED use less power and tend to be brighter(I dont like brighter) but are likely to outlast a traditional LCD screen. Theres also a thread floating around the forum about some 27" korean made 2560x1440 IPS panels that can be had for about $400 right now.

I suspect 24" will be fine in size. My concern is the native resolution. I think it SUCKS, that w/this technology you are stuck with a max resolution. I didn't have to worry at all w/my CRT! For visual detail, I'm VERY detail oriented. I notice a lot, as I work with imaging. I don't need the monitor for imaging work though, but I want a great screen! I wish my CRT was bigger!
 
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With a 680 you will be able to run pretty much anything you want @ 1080P 3d, 2d, or otherwise. If you dont need true colors dont worry about an IPS panel. If you dont mind balancing the colors yourself get an LED monitor they produce the least heat. Look for native resolution of 1920x1080 if you like 16:9 or 1920x1200 if you prefer 16:10
 
Lol, I just sold my 2 week old LG E2750V-PN LED TN 1920x1080 monitor cheap ($150) so that I could buy a Yamakasi Catleap Q270 27" IPS LED screen (mouthful hey). I only had the other screen for two weeks. I'm going to have to lower my detail settings in Battlefield 3 to run this at 2560x1440. It's costing me $327 all up so excellent value (until you factor in a loss of $150 on my last screen). There's a thread over here

Turns out the screen can be soft modded to run at 100Hz so its unbleieveable value for money, especially as it uses the same 27" LG panel used in current 27" iMac computers. ;)

I voted for this one with my cash. :thup: Should have it late next week (Friday or the following Monday). Very much looking forward to it, though I'm not looking forward to having to drop my quality settings in BF3 to run at that resolution.... :shrug:
 
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There's a few different IPS screens listed on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...H&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=ips+24"&x=0&y=0

This Dell U2412M would be alright. None are good value compared to the 27" Catleap. If anything the NewEgg pricing drives home what a great deal the Catleap really is. Can't get a decent 27" IPS screen for less than $600 here in Australia.

I get worried about buying electronics off of eBay. If it breaks or something, warranty etc..you are screwed. At least with a store, you can walk down there and "beat" them over the head w/a broken monitor until they give you a new one or something.


WOW, the price on Newegg for 27" is crazy. I'd never pay that!
 
^^^While true, when was the last time you had a screen die? Seems to be the most reliable part of a computer these days
 
^^^While true, when was the last time you had a screen die? Seems to be the most reliable part of a computer these days

Well, this CRT is my first and only screen I've owned actually haha. When flat panels came out, all I heard about was ghosting, DEAD PIXELS!!, and I just laughed. So I have the impression they aren't too good.
 
Lol, those were the early days of LCD's. Things have improved significantly since then.
 
Lol, those were the early days of LCD's. Things have improved significantly since then.

But the early days, seemed to be more like early YEARS. I'd like more screen real estate for sure. Well maybe I'll get what you just picked up. I'll call Square Trade see if they will back it up.
 
Maybe wait till I have mine and see if I'm happy with it hey? I mean, you already have a perfectly good screen there so you're not in a hurry
 
Maybe wait till I have mine and see if I'm happy with it hey? I mean, you already have a perfectly good screen there so you're not in a hurry


No rush..I'll wait. Plus, I still haven't fully decided if I'm going mATX or mITX or exactly which GTX680 I'm going to get.
 
I nearly went down mATX just because I wanted to, but geez up love my current Micro Tower. I can't dream of replacing it with anything else.
 
With a 680 you will be able to run pretty much anything you want @ 1080P 3d, 2d, or otherwise. If you dont need true colors dont worry about an IPS panel. If you dont mind balancing the colors yourself get an LED monitor they produce the least heat. Look for native resolution of 1920x1080 if you like 16:9 or 1920x1200 if you prefer 16:10

I suspect I'll get an IPS if I get a new monitor. However, I really don't think I understand or know what the differences are between those 2 aspect ratios. I'll have to take a look. I hope my local stores have both!
 
They should do. If you have any large stores like our own Harvey Norman stores then you'll be able to look at them no worries. I'd never buy from Harvey Norman though, overpriced as ;)
 
My dell 2405 that I got in 2005 still works like a champ. LCD screens dont die that often, that ive seen. I also just got a catleap, got it set up last night, and I am so very happy with this screen, words cannot describe how good it looks...
 
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