New monitor questions

[crazymage]

I'm consider moving to a flat screen monitor but i dont know much about them and was looking for some background on what kind of refresh speed i should look for i hear they can be slow with high graphic games.

[Apotheosis]

if that's your only concern. as far as I know, CRT's still have the widest color gamut (range of displayable colors) then any other monitor out there.

Oh and I know LCD monitors tend to develop dead pixels over time (sometimes really bad, sometimes not).

that's about all i can say on the topic..

[crazymage]

which is why ive stuck with crt, but it takes up half my new desk which is glass, so im also worried its gonna fall through!

[Back]

I have Apple’s 23" Cinema and I couldn’t be more pleased. It requires a DVI port (video card) which ghost-powers it. The contrast is striking and the colors are vivid. Its only around an inch and a half thick, but tilts a bit so it has a footprint of around 6-7 inches.

The video card is key. Most new bigscreen HD TVs, the good ones, have DVI ports. Ask SHM.

Also, I can tell you, imagined or not, I don’t feel as physically drained after hours of looking at it.

[AnticorRifling]

Dual DVIs or bust!

[Skirmisher]

Dell UltraSharps in the various sizes always get excellent ratings for picture in comparison articles I've read in various PC magazines.

My sister and both parents have them and love them as well.

I think SHM just bought one of the biggest models they sell, you may wish to ask him also.

[Drew2]

You want at least a 170ish degree viewing angle. 8ms response time is probably about as low as they come I think. Although I've usually seen that if the response time is low, the contrast ratio suffers a bit.

600:1 Contrast ratio is a good minimum, I'd say.

[Wezas]

Dell 17" Ultrasharp LCD is what I got with my new PC. It's such a jump from my previous 17" CRTs (only 16" viewable, measure it).

Clear as hell.

My suggestion is to check http://www.hot-deals.org/co/31/ daily (even multiple times per day). They put up awesome coupon codes for 35%+ off of alot of Dell items and list examples of how much you'd spend on monitors, computers, etc.

Most of the coupons expire within a day (or sometimes less) so you really need to jump on it.

If you're looking at video cards I'd recommend (and other people have mentioned as well) a Geforce 6600 GT 128mb card. It blows most 256mb cards out of the water and relatively inexpensive ($160ish). Dual DVI output (one for your monitor, the other for either a second monitor or to your HDTV), and it also has an S-Video output.

[Back]

Originally posted by Tayre
You want at least a 170ish degree viewing angle. 8ms response time is probably about as low as they come I think. Although I've usually seen that if the response time is low, the contrast ratio suffers a bit.

600:1 Contrast ratio is a good minimum, I'd say.

Don’t listen to Tayre, he’s a pretentious tool and a hateful little freak. Just buy the monitor and the card to drive it. You’ll be happy happy love love sunshine Hello Kitty.

[YancyDC]

16ms is fine for response time. I have the Dell 2005 FPW, 20.1" widescreen. It's really incredible. I'll post some pics tonight. Check dealmein.net when you start looking for one, I got mine for 407 shipped. The guys who runs it is cool, too.

[crazymage]

i have a geforce 6800, 256mb. So i shouldnt have a problem. Thanks for all the help.