[PIMPDURB]

What is the best gaming monitor for under $500

[Albyno]

none. :P the 245t by samsung for 800ish or the 24" dell uses the same panel get that much better then the sub 500 ones

[Shiggity]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009125

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014169

I'd pick between those two.

[7keys]

When you say gaming monitor I’m assuming you mean TN panel monitor with fast response times.

Take a look at the BenQ G2400

[grimm003]

I just got this monitor, Samsung T240, and I get tons of complements and I think the picture looks great. So far, I've only played company of heroes and NWN2 on it, but it looks awesome.

[doublejack]

I have this 24" Gateway and I absolutely love it. BB and CC often have it on sale for $389. I use it extensively for gaming and also viewing HD-DVD's.

[Az00123]

I have this monitor, haven't had any problems with it and everything looks good to me

[JonSimonzi]

I have last years model of the Acer Shiggty linked, I love it.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

I too have my eye on the Acer P243W, I have a 19" CRT that takes up wayyy too much space on my desk.
The Acer has a nice price and seems to have great reviews/specs. Most likely gonna get that in the next few months...unless someone has a better idea

[Firey_chasm]

I dont know how much this will be in the US, but I am currently looking at getting the ACER G24 when it is out.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...20Orange/Black
at £329 (~$660) it is quite expensive, usually things are cheaper in the US though so it might well be around the $500 mark

the 50,000:1 contrast ratio just stands out for me, along with the normal 1920 res, 2ms responce time. The one area of concern is the brightness is only 400cd/m2, rather than the 500 some monitors offer

[Freezer7Pro]

I got my Packard Bell 240W for around 400€. It should be a lot cheaper in the US, and it does ok for gaming. 5ms, 1000:1 (2000:1 dynamic), 1920x1200.

[@crilicM@n]

Originally Posted by Firey_chasm

I dont know how much this will be in the US, but I am currently looking at getting the ACER G24 when it is out.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...20Orange/Black
at £329 (~$660) it is quite expensive, usually things are cheaper in the US though so it might well be around the $500 mark

the 50,000:1 contrast ratio just stands out for me, along with the normal 1920 res, 2ms responce time. The one area of concern is the brightness is only 400cd/m2, rather than the 500 some monitors offer

Interesting monitor... is it TN panel or pva/s-pva... ?

The 400 cd/m2 is not trouble, as we almost never use the bright at max, usually 200-300....

[Firey_chasm]

Originally Posted by @crilicM@n

Interesting monitor... is it TN panel or pva/s-pva... ?

The 400 cd/m2 is not trouble, as we almost never use the bright at max, usually 200-300....

pretty much everything I know about it is at that link, google search only brings up the initial press releases which dont go into much more information

EDIT: rereading I spotted: Viewing Angle (H/V): 160°/ 160° (TN Panel + Crystalbrite)
Personally I Dont know what TN or pva/s-pva is I am kind of monitor ignorant

[Hauzdaug]

i just got me a 24" Widescreen Samsung 245BW and so far i love it .... everything looks great to me. cost me just under 400 bux

[stockhatch]

I just bought a Samsung 240T. It is my first LCD, and I came from a 19" CRT after 6 years. The first thing I did was fire up a FPS and crank the resolution to 1920x1200. I have nothing but love for this monitor. Coming from a CRT, I notice no loss in gaming performance. No ghosting, nothing. blacks are black, colors pop.

Supposedly, the thing has a 20,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, but I trust those ratings about like I trust response time ratings(this one claims 5ms BTW...)

I don't know why it took me so long to make this leap. Well, besides the money. It was $499 at BB.

I read tons of reviews online for monitors, but decided I was not going to trust my $500 to some Internet persons opinion. I went to all the big box stores to see for myself what was what. The BestBuy peeps even took the monitors down, hooked them to various PCs and let me watch 1080p movie clips and stuff to make a decision. It was pretty cool.

BTW, I stood in BB looking at the different 24s for almost an hour. I was having a very hard time deciding on a monitor until the lady helping me told me "look, you have 14 days to return this monitor if you aren't satisfied with it". So I went ahead and bought it, but it wont need to go back

[@crilicM@n]

Originally Posted by Firey_chasm

pretty much everything I know about it is at that link, google search only brings up the initial press releases which dont go into much more information

EDIT: rereading I spotted: Viewing Angle (H/V): 160°/ 160° (TN Panel + Crystalbrite)
Personally I Dont know what TN or pva/s-pva is I am kind of monitor ignorant

I'm not the monitor genious too, but there are basically 3 kinds of panel, the TN, the PVA/S-PVA, and another wuich i don't remember the name.. The S letter usually counts for "super" and add something to the characteristic... The PVA panel have a better angle viewing, from all angles, something usefull for biiiig monitors... bigger than 24"... They usually have a true 8 bit color rendering/support, where most of the TN are only 6 bits, and then create some colours trough a process called "dithering" or something like that (sorry, not native english speaker) what most of the times is "ok"... Most... The PVA are more expensive pannels, with some supposed better atributes, except for the response time, where they are arround 6-5ms, and not 2ms like some tn panels... But I don't think 5ms is bad...

I must say be careful with some auto functions of some monitors that, disable some options when are in "dynamic contrast" enabled and stuff like that... wich sometimes enhances the contrast but looses definition... If I could, I'd buy a S-PVA 24 in panel, like those who uses the samsung 245t panel... Dell has an 24"S-pva panel too i think is 2408...

[Proletariat]

If you play fps games mainly, get something with a TN panel and no image processing stuff (usually on ones that can double as a TV). The pva and more expensive panels (that look nicer) suffer from input lag. Also, see if you can get something that can run at over 60hz at its native resolution (might have to force it manually).

Here are some good resources:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y
http://www.anandtech.com/displays/sh...px?i=3302&p=12 (keep in mind they compair these to another lcd which is going to have some input lag as well, compaired to a crt)
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.p...&p2=3107&ph=12

Also, make sure to buy it from somewhere that you can return/exchange it with no restocking fee. Its hard to tell if you will like it in the store. Alot of the retail stores have them all hooked up by vga and not running at their native resolution. The colors/contrast might look a lot different in a dark room too.

[realtadiquantu]

For $525, you can call up Dell small business division and apply a 20% coupon and get the 2408WFP, I didn't even have to give them the coupon ).

That's what I did, since I am a contractor and self-employed as well.

(I actually had the 5 year wrrty + accidental on it, so my total was $577.5)

[@crilicM@n]

Originally Posted by Proletariat

If you play fps games mainly, get something with a TN panel and no image processing stuff (usually on ones that can double as a TV). The pva and more expensive panels (that look nicer) suffer from input lag. Also, see if you can get something that can run at over 60hz at its native resolution (might have to force it manually).

Here are some good resources:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y
http://www.anandtech.com/displays/sh...px?i=3302&p=12 (keep in mind they compair these to another lcd which is going to have some input lag as well, compaired to a crt)
http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.p...&p2=3107&ph=12

Also, make sure to buy it from somewhere that you can return/exchange it with no restocking fee. Its hard to tell if you will like it in the store. Alot of the retail stores have them all hooked up by vga and not running at their native resolution. The colors/contrast might look a lot different in a dark room too.

Nice link at digitalversus... Yeah, I must admit, if it´s for gaming, just go with a decent TF panel and you will be Ok..Don´t know if there are good 8 bit TN panels out there... S-PVA it´s more suited for image professionals with huge displays I think...

[nightelph]

Originally Posted by realtadiquantu

For $525, you can call up Dell small business division and apply a 20% coupon and get the 2408WFP, I didn't even have to give them the coupon ).

That's what I did, since I am a contractor and self-employed as well.

(I actually had the 5 year wrrty + accidental on it, so my total was $577.5)

Did dell fix the ghosting issues that were rampant on the 2407?

[stockhatch]

Unless you can actually look at it in person, I dont know how you guys are willing to drop over $500 on an unknown. What if it totally sucks? You think Dell, or Newegg will take it back because you don't like it? I don't know. Maybe they will, just be careful relying on other peoples opinions for that large a purchase IMO.

[@crilicM@n]

Originally Posted by nightelph

Did dell fix the ghosting issues that were rampant on the 2407?

There seems to have different revisions and firmwares for that monitor, some earlier ones really sucks: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...07WFP_monito/4

That's why I rely much more on what dozens of people are telling me in the forum before go with a well known brand just becouse of it's name! Even good brands make sucking products from time to time!!! The reviews and "scientific" like tests and comparisons are what we really need!

Remember, there are a bunch of names in the monitor market, but only 3 real panel manufacturers! So, sometimes it's just a calibration difference, the number of inputs and external visual which differ... Off course, the support and warranty after you buy it is what usually differ the small from the big "caps"

[nightelph]

Originally Posted by @crilicM@n

There seems to have different revisions and firmwares for that monitor, some earlier ones really sucks: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...07WFP_monito/4

That's why I rely much more on what dozens of people are telling me in the forum before go with a well known brand just because of it's name! Even good brands make sucking products from time to time!!! The reviews and "scientific" like tests and comparisons are what we really need!

Remember, there are a bunch of names in the monitor market, but only 3 real panel manufacturers! So, sometimes it's just a calibration difference, the number of inputs and external visual which differ... Off course, the support and warranty after you buy it is what usually differ the small from the big "caps"

At the time that I was looking for a 24, there was nothing but bad news.

Your words above speak the truth.

[@crilicM@n]

Originally Posted by nightelph

At the time that I was looking for a 24, there was nothing but bad news.

Your words above speak the truth.

OFFTOPIC: "What's the Ctrl-Alt-Del for a Mac?" - JWA
I loved that one

[@crilicM@n]

Back to the topic, since the method of testing may vary from site and reviewer, I recomend to narrow the search to 3 or 4 monitors with good reputations and start to search as many reviews you can find about the piece of hardware as you can.

Than you got something like 90% of chances of find exactly what you wish to, in a price/performance ratio... That's my 2 cents...

[nightelph]

Glad you like it.

[robotcha]

Originally Posted by nightelph

Did dell fix the ghosting issues that were rampant on the 2407?

I'll have to Google that one, I was thinking of getting the 24" ultrasharp...

[gigabit]

MVA panel and Price: $279.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...757&CatId=3774