Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC LCD monitor - 5 months on.

[HEXUS]

Dell raised the ante with its high-colour 30in LCD monitor. Is it really as good as it sounds? Let me spill the beans after using it for 5 months.

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[DR]

I've got one of these panels too - and I've got to say it hurt my eyes for a while when I moved from the 3007 to the HC edition - it was contrast/colour ratios - now I am used to it my eyes love it...

[Tobeman]

These 30" beasts have always confused me.

I mean, how deep is your desk to be able to sit in front of it comfortably and play FPS games? I've got a 20", and I could see 24" being the limit for sitting comfortably and playing at my desk.

I think I'd be more tempted to get something like the Samsung SM244T for a little less, but with the extra inputs, and (to me) a more sensible size for PC use

[this_is_gav]

It depends on what you're doing most of all. Gaming isn't much of a consideration for me (though I do do some). I'm sitting here at the moment using my 2405FPW with VMWare WorkStation running a couple of OSes (testing some things in Server 2003 with a Client next to is) and reading up on some forums and things while waiting. I can't comfortably fit everyone on the screen at 1920x1200, so I can see where the 3007s will make perfect sense. If I was buying one of these monitors now it would be the 3007FPW (I need an analogue input as well as DVI though, so the HC would be no use to me).

[Tarinder]

Tobeman,

I sit just over 2 feet away from the screen and can take it all in.

I have a 2405FPW sitting on the next desk and it seems soooo small.

this_is_gav

It's interesting that you note the 3007 has analogue inputs. My previous non-HC didn't.

[rjpearce]

I have one of these aswell and its truely a liberating experience. If you have lots of applications open they arent getting squished on the taskbar you can see all the names clearly, the start menu doesnt wrap onto 2 pages.. its just the little things like that.. But also for gaming its amazing your not sat there looking at a rectangle with a picture in it.. your sat there in front of a giant picture, its to your left and right, peripheral vision comes into play.. BF2 in 2560 x 1600 with all the gubbins turned on is astounding. I dont think i could ever go back to a small monitor (19" 1280x1024) ever again..

[dangel]

Downside is... more pixels means more graphics power required. 2560x1600 is no doubt amazing but really out the confort zone for single card solutions for the more challenging games surely?
Thoughts?

[this_is_gav]

this_is_gav

It's interesting that you note the 3007 has analogue inputs. My previous non-HC didn't.

Really? I didn't check, but stupidly assumed it would have both the DVI and VGA, as the 2407WFP. My apologies. Does it have dual DVI connectors? It wouldn't matter which, so long as there are 2 standard connectors, not that I'm getting one anyway. I love my 2405FWP, but I doubt I could justify moving up to a 3007.

[Tarinder]

gav,

Both models only feature a single DVI input, sadly; one of the drawbacks of the screens

[James Thorburn]

Really? I didn't check, but stupidly assumed it would have both the DVI and VGA, as the 2407WFP. My apologies. Does it have dual DVI connectors? It wouldn't matter which, so long as there are 2 standard connectors, not that I'm getting one anyway. I love my 2405FWP, but I doubt I could justify moving up to a 3007.

Only 1 input, but HP do a 30" panel with 3 x DVI-D inputs.

The reason for no analogue inputs is simple, the 3007WFP (and the other 2560x1600 panels that I know of, HP and Apple) only have a very simple scaler. This means basically it can do doubling and nothing else. Hence if you use a single-link cable the monitors maximum resolution is 1280x800, if it's anything else then scaling has to be carried out by the graphics card and transmitted at 2560x1600 or 1280x800.

Turn off the graphics card scaling, drop the resolution and you get a black border around the outside.

Tarinder, I use a 2407WFP, and have used 3007WFP's in my previous work. Very interesting to hear about the difference the HC version make as was looking at buying a 2407WFP-HC and going back to dual desktops. Shame they won't match now mind

[rjpearce]

For my screen I use a GF8800 GTX its does a real good job of keeping the fps up despite the high resolution. But when you combine that with the cost of the screen .. its pretty damned expensive.

[Odc]

For my screen I use a GF8800 GTX its does a real good job of keeping the fps up despite the high resolution. But when you combine that with the cost of the screen .. its pretty damned expensive.

Especially when the cost of the PC is less than the monitor

[gibant1]

Had my HC for about 6 weeks, great screen. Moved from HD42" screen so looked a little small at first but that resolution is amazing.

The only drawback:- My 7900 GT KO superclocked didnt have the power to play games at 2560x1600 at a good framerate.

Purchasing a 8800gtx utlra superclocked sorted that out, only to give my a headache with the case temperatures and noise from the damned card lol.

So, after a better heatsing/fan on videocard and upgraded case fans etc, was it worth it..... damned right it is!

Sell your dog, children whatever is required, dont worry about dept just get one lol

[jonazo]

Has anyone who has bought any of these Dell monitors ever regretted buying it? I doubt it. I bought a Dell 2705 FPW for 600-700 pounds about 2 years ago, and have never looked back with even the slightest twinge of regret.

With screen technology like LED-backlit LCDs (such as the one I have on this VAIO VGN-SZ38GP/C laptop I'm using at the moment) moving forward all the time, and things like OLED on the horizon, you would have thought that any money spent on a soon-to-be-obsolete monitor would give you nagging feeling of money down the drain. Not so with these monitors.

Dell prices these monitors (with the all-important screen parts themselves coming from market leaders Samsung and/or LG, I think) so aggressively that not only can many enthusiasts, such as myself, afford one, but you just can't resent the fact that something new and better comes out not that long afterwards. I'm not worried about the fact that the model I bought has been superceded since then. It will do me fine for a while. If and when I finally resign myself to making an upgrade to Bluray or HD DVD and other high-definition level standards, then I will need HDMI, but otherwise I see no pressure to replace mine right now.

Dell PCs may be arguably a bad investment (I built my own) but these monitors are not. Buy one.

[MooBear]

Hi All,

The above monitor has given me days to no end of viewing pleasure at 2560x1600- fed by Nvidia 8600 GTS.

For those who are planning to play PS3 or Xbox on this monitor (which is btw HDCP capable) read up and weep:

I decided to get me an Xbox 360 Elite (so that's full 1080p, not just 720p, right?) with GTA4 and an HDMI to DVI-D cable to use the Dell monitor instead of forking out 600-700 hundred quid for a 1080p TV.

I even called Dell and asked prior to my purchase - can I use the monitor as described above? And they said yes.

Well, yes... but no - as it turned out - after hours of swearing and purchasing yet two more HDMI to DVI-D cables from Maplin and from another shop, I still have no picture from the Xbox.

After hours of wait on the Dell's support line, I finally got the answer - this 30" somehow has something called scaling and can only display 2560x1600 or 1280x800 image resolution. With the signal from the Xbox being 1920x1080, I can't see a thing.

I'm still really puzzled as to how the monitor can show different resolution from the Nvidia card - i.e. at 1920 x 1200 or even 1920 x 1080 or hell... 1440x900 how can it not show the 1080p feed from the Xbox?

And more importantly, is there any way to fix that? Any sort of device to 'scale' the image between the Xbox and the Dell?

Or could I stick the DVI-D cable from the Xbox in the Nvidia Graphics card? it has two of them after all... although they might be just outputs...

Well, anything that could help my situation will be greatly appreciated, oh and, I know - I still may need to buy that fullHD TV...

Isn't there a graphics card which can actually take the input from an Xbox and then send it to the monitor?

Thank you all in advance?

Regards
MB

[Fraz]

Hi All,

The above monitor has given me days to no end of viewing pleasure at 2560x1600- fed by Nvidia 8600 GTS.

For those who are planning to play PS3 or Xbox on this monitor (which is btw HDCP capable) read up and weep:

I decided to get me an Xbox 360 Elite (so that's full 1080p, not just 720p, right?) with GTA4 and an HDMI to DVI-D cable to use the Dell monitor instead of forking out 600-700 hundred quid for a 1080p TV.

I even called Dell and asked prior to my purchase - can I use the monitor as described above? And they said yes.

Well, yes... but no - as it turned out - after hours of swearing and purchasing yet two more HDMI to DVI-D cables from Maplin and from another shop, I still have no picture from the Xbox.

After hours of wait on the Dell's support line, I finally got the answer - this 30" somehow has something called scaling and can only display 2560x1600 or 1280x800 image resolution. With the signal from the Xbox being 1920x1080, I can't see a thing.

I'm still really puzzled as to how the monitor can show different resolution from the Nvidia card - i.e. at 1920 x 1200 or even 1920 x 1080 or hell... 1440x900 how can it not show the 1080p feed from the Xbox?

This is because the graphics card is doing the scaling - not the monitor. The 3007wfp has no hardware scaler... it is quite literally a computer monitor. These issues were rectified in the 3008wfp. The 3008wfp can take an input from pretty much any resolution, and it has several types of input connector.

And more importantly, is there any way to fix that? Any sort of device to 'scale' the image between the Xbox and the Dell?

Yes - I think you can buy such boxes.... not sure how cheap they are.

Or could I stick the DVI-D cable from the Xbox in the Nvidia Graphics card? it has two of them after all... although they might be just outputs...

If you are talking about your 8600GT, these are both outputs.