Monitor Exploded?/ Buying suggestions

BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
edited March 2006 in Hardware
Hello,

I am a world of warcraft fanatic and my monitor litteraly went black and smoke came from the monitor.

Now I have my CRT monitor hooked up and looking for a new LCD for gaming.

Im looking around newegg for a new monitor for high gaming, I have my radeon 9800 video card.

What should I look for in a monitor?

heres one I found but I have a budget of around 200-350 dollars

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824005026

Comments

  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    You're looking for a monitor with a native resolution you're comfortable with, a response time of 16ms or less, a contrast ratio of 500:1 or better, and a DVI input. That panel looks pretty good.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited March 2006
    so what exactly is the contrast ratio, i never really knew. I know what the pixel pitch, response time, ect...... just not the contrast ratio.

    I know my samsung has an 8ms response time, 800:1 contrast ratio, and a native res of 1280x1024, 17"
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    I was wondering what happened to you bubbleman :D

    We've lost a lot of good men to WoW :p
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Contrast ratio is a measure of the difference of brightness between the brightest and darkest levels the monitor can achieve simultaneously (e.g. a black pixel side by side with a white pixel). Monitors with poor contrast ratios (<200:1) can appear blurry and faded while monitors with great ratios (>500:1) appear sharp and vibrant. If you watch a lot of movies or play much games you really need 500:1 or better.

    I do my monitor shopping in person to see if it actually looks decent. You don't have to buy the monitor in-store but it helps to have at least seen the thing.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    primesuspect wrote:
    I was wondering what happened to you bubbleman :D

    We've lost a lot of good men to WoW :p


    ;)
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    Is 16ms a big diff then 12ms?

    Like 16ms is better for gaming then 12 right?
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    Because I found on monitor with

    16ms, 17", 450:1 now... 450:1 isnt that bad is it? would it be really blurry?

    I hope I didnt screw up
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    ****

    I screwed up... im such a noob...


    I hope to god I can return this for a warranty, I am a gamer not a typest


    ohhh my stomach ... i feel ill
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    16ms or less is good. 12ms < 16ms = faster. The thing with response time is that if it's too high (>25ms) then the monitor can't keep up with the changing image and you get massive headaches and have a difficult time playing twitch games like first person shooters. RTS players aren't affected as much.

    450:1 might be tolerable, YMMV. Like I said, I do most of my monitor shopping in person.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    So is it better to go with monitors that are 2MS and 8MS, highs of 700:1 for a extreme gamer?

    I have the monitors plugged into a Radeon 9800 pro
  • danball1976danball1976 Wichita Falls, TX
    edited March 2006
    NewEgg has a nice Viewsonic with response times of 2ms gray-to-gray (avg.); 2ms white-black-white (typ), 270 cd/m2 and 650:1 Contrast ratio. Also it has a dot pitch of .294. It is a 19" with 1280x1024 Native/Max resolution. It cost $369.99, and free 3 day shipping. Click below.
    http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824116375
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    wow that owns... But im gonna try to find one at least a bit cheaper like 250-300$
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824021019

    this one looks awesome
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Bubbleman wrote:
    So is it better to go with monitors that are 2MS and 8MS, highs of 700:1 for a extreme gamer?

    I have the monitors plugged into a Radeon 9800 pro
    Personally I would think those specs are a little excessive but if you can find a monitor that has them at a decent price by all means go for it.

    I haven't seen a bad panel posted in this thread yet.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014104

    This is what is making me upset, that I bought this monitor without any knowledge of what my needs were...

    I just hope I can return it and get a refund, im not sure this monitor can handle my games... ugh why why did I have to be in such a rush

    i really hate myself
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited March 2006
    I got one of these a while back - http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=10037&GroupID=1172
    It wasn't the cheapest but all my interaction with the PC is through the monitor. I think it is the most important part of the PC and not something that should be scrimped on if you're a gamer. I play a lot of CoD2 online and this monitor is superb.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    I hate to say this, but you need to visit Toms Hardware and read some reviews. They actually measure contrast ratio, brightness uniformity and response time. And when they measure response they do it for every color tansition. The one that is reported is usually the fastest one. Often other transitions are two or three times as slow. Don't belive any numbers under 12ms, and even then it doesn't tell you much.
    http://www.tomshardware.com/graphics/index.html

    Why do people want LCD's? The are slower, have lower resolution, poorer colors, and less contrast than CRTs. I am still buying used 21" and larger CRTs for a song and my eyes thank me.
  • botheredbothered Manchester UK
    edited March 2006
    Well I went from a 19 Iiyama CRT to a 19 inch Iiyama LCD. I wouldn't go back. The colours and response are at least as good as far as I can see.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    I used to use a Viewsonic P225fb (21" CRT) and I wouldn't go back from my Dell 2405FPW. I've noticed CRTs are seldom "focused" across the entire screen and that if it's clear in one part it is blurry in another. Color matching isn't so bad on an LCD if you have the monitor profile installed.

    16ms LCDs are as fast as CRTs to me. The mouse doesn't leave trails on my LCD any more than it does on any CRT I've owned. My 24" LCD is also a hell of a lot lighter than my 21" CRT and takes up much, much less desk space. I used to be a LCD naysayer too but last year the technology matured enough to supersede CRTs. The resolution is poorer but keep in mind most people don't run their CRTs that high. I regularly see 17" and 19" CRTs running 1024x768. I ran my 21" at 2048x1536 so stepping back to 1920x1200 was somewhat painful but I don't regret it.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    Would I notice a big difference if I went from 16MS to 8MS monitor? while playing gaming
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    Not quite sure if you'd notice a difference, I'm no expert.

    That said, I'm using a Samsung 740B (17'') and I love it. The only regret that I have about it is that I didn't spring for the 940B (19'') at the time. :buck:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001070

    Its under your price range. :thumbup
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    thx
  • BubblemanBubbleman A Desert
    edited March 2006
    Is the DVI cable a lot better than D-SUB cable?

    In terms of quality for gaming,

    I bought a 19" 16ms (which I regret getting) 450:1 and the font colors seem a bit... washed out and kinda hard to read.

    Im running it on radeon 9800

    will a dvi cable improve sharpness?
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2006
    A DVI cable will improve image quality since it takes out two analog stages but that may not solve your washed-out problem.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited March 2006
    I actually have 2 lcd monitors, a Samsung 913V and a Samsung 913T. The 913V is an analog only monitor I bought a year ago, but it does have a good clear picture and doesn't show any problems due to the lack of a DVI input. It also has a 12 ms response time and I don't see any streaking while gaming or watching a DVD. The 913T I bought around 2 months ago and it has both analog and digital inputs and it's rated response time is 8 ms. The picture quality on it is also bery good too and I have no problems gaming on it either.

    I bought both at Sam's Club and I payed less than $300 out the door for the 913T. I much prefer buying my monitors at a store where I can walk in and return it if I get home and find dead or stuck pixels, but that is just me.
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