What Monitor...?

[acidrainy]

Im looking into buying a TFT monitor.... Wont be doing so for a while yet but still, I'm window shopping

I like the idea of going 18.1" but ive also been looking at 17"'s.
I have looked at the 181T, this looks interesting

The only thing though.... I like to play games at lower resolutions than the "native resolution" of these monitors... Does this effect quality?

I'm not sure about spending allot of money on something that cant really handle 1024*768 or even 800*600......

I do use 1280*1024 on my Current 17" CRT so im used to a small desktop.... if i was to get a larger monitor Iwould like it to be able to stay a simmilar size.... ie, run a higher resolution that would create the effect of the same size but utilise the extra monitor space

[luke313]

Using a different resolution to the native resolution will result in poorer image quality. Don't know how to describe it best, but somebody else will come down and explain it to you.
As for monitors, try to get one with the lowest response time as possible. Less than 20ms is the standard for most people not to notice ghosting effects.

[spikegifted]

If you're looking to say with CRTs, a good quality 19" unit will do just fine. Most 19" flat screen CRTs will handle 1600 x 1200 @ 75Hz and beyond.

BTW, if you're using TFT LCDs and you want to go down in resolution to play games, a lot of the times you'd ended up having a box - game being played in the middle of the screen while a thick black edge surrounds it...

[acidrainy]

I currently have a 17" crt.... was thinking about moving away from them.....

becoming a pain around lans.....

(my 17" CRT weighs about the same as most 19"'s )

[spikegifted]

Originally posted by acidrainy
becoming a pain around lans.....

Ok... It's for LAN meets!!

Here's spike's very own money spending tips!! Get yourself a cheap PCI video card and a TFT LCD!! That way, you get to use dualhead when you're at home and then just take the panel with you to your LAN meets...

[Stoo]

I'm hunting for a decent tft that will do 1600*1200, for some reason there's only one 19" I've found that will do it, and it's big and ugly

The next choice are the £1000+ 20" jobbies

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by spikegifted
Ok... It's for LAN meets!!

Here's spike's very own money spending tips!! Get yourself a cheap PCI video card and a TFT LCD!! That way, you get to use dualhead when you're at home and then just take the panel with you to your LAN meets...

Why would I need the extra PCI card...??

(note look at sig )

[spikegifted]

Originally posted by acidrainy
(note look at sig )

Doh!!

[PanzerKnight]

the samunsg 191t is amazing, what i have

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by PanzerKnight
the samunsg 191t is amazing, what i have

whats it like for say.... cs at 1024*768 ?

[PanzerKnight]

not sure, dont play cs anymore
runs fine with games like quake 3,vietcong and raven shield

native resolution is 1280 x 1024 at 60 Hz

u can pivot the monitor which is quite cool when looking at laods of text or working on documents

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by PanzerKnight
not sure, dont play cs anymore
runs fine with games like quake 3,vietcong and raven shield

There is no difference with quality at lower resolutions.... ??

[PanzerKnight]

play vietcong and raven shield at 1024, and think i play quake ar 1280

runs fine

they stock em in pc world so if interrested go in there and have a peek at it

[Aaron]

I've got a Samsung 181T and if you want to play a game at a lower resolution it just displays a smaller image on the monitor (if that makes sense).

If if you play at 1024x768, it'll leave a black boarder all around the image. The picture is smaller but the image quality is excellent.

The alternative method is for it to take up the whole screen but then the picture becomes blurred.

I play CS, WC3, Operation Flashpoint, etc on a regular basis and the 181T does a very good job on all of them. No sign of ghosting on mine. Just remember to use it with a gfx card with DVI.

However, the 181T isn't exactly the newest model on the block these days so perhaps there's something around that's even better?

[chrisf6969]

I have a 19" Planar flat panel. Its native resolution is 1280x1024, if I use it at a lower resolution for the desktop/word processing it looks blurry. But in games you don't notice it not being at the native resolution. You just need a high end computer/video card to power those high resolutions. NO PCI video cards!!! PCI cards suck in general.

P.S. My 19" flat panel moniter was supposed to have a 25ns response time, but I see ghosting in games. So I bought a 21" trinitron that I can play at 1280x1024 with a 100Hz refresh rate and 120+ fps in my games. I notice the frames not being fluid unless I have a REALLY high refresh rate & FPS. Now I use the flat panel at work.