monitor question

[OpTik]

so i want to get a bigger monitor, but i have some questions that I cant seem to get a direct answer on when looking around...

the main thing im wondering is will a larger screen put more strain on my vid card? i currently have an average(?) card(x700) so if the new monitor is gonna require a new card, that will in-turn require a whole new comp and im probably gonna hold off for a bit. hEh

in addition to that...whats good as far as contrast rate? im seeing monitors with everything from 700:1 to 8000:1 in the same price range? is bigger better?

also, is there a big difference when looking at response times? 2ms? 5ms?

thanks for any replies.

[MrBlah]

When looking for a monitor, a few things to look at... the faster the response rate the better. 5ms is a really good response rate and anything less than that is just icing on the cake. You all wanna look at contrast ratio. Many computer monitors will have ratios ranging from 700:1 to 1000:1 The high the better, anything greater than 1000:1 is also icing on the cake, and you said you say 700:1 and 8000:1 in the same price ratio??? high contrast ratios above 2000:1 are typically seen in HD TVs. I know The high end Sony Bravias and Sharps Aquos are up to 10000:1 contrast ratios. If you say you see a 8000:1 contrast ratio on a monitor the same price as one with 700:1, get it..... thats more than a good deal, it should be certified as stealing.

Now, as for a better video card... I'm gunna take a guess that you have an AGP x700 right? If so, yes you will need basically a new computer in some cases.


What size monitor do you have now and what size are you planning on upgrading too? That is the determining question.

[l3eeron]

Important specs to pay attention to:

size vs resolution - This is really a matter of preference. Both a 22" and 24" can run 1920x1200, its up to you if you want the pixels cramed into a smaller screen.

Response rates - The time it takes one pixel to change from one color to another. There are two response rates. Gray to gray and black to white. Many monitors will advertise the black/white response time because its ALWAYS faster than the gray to gray. Make sure the gray to gray response is no greater than 5ms. This is the most important spec to look at . If you're using it for games and movies, a slow response rate will exhibit ghosting and tearing (blurry edges, bottom half of screen might not sync up to the top half, respectively)


Contrast - This is the difference between the darkest pixel and the lightest pixel the monitor can produce. The higher the better. 800:1 is decent and should work fine. I wouldn't go any lower than 800:1.


Native resolution - This is the resolution the monitor was intended to run. Make sure your vid card can run the at the monitor's native resolution. That way there's no middle man (either you vid card drivers, or monitor has its own scaling) inbetween resampling the video signal to scale it down, inhibiting the performance.


My suggestion:

This monitor would be awesome

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2775

Samsung 2253BW 22"
1680x1050 widescreen format
2ms gray to gray
1000:1
HDCP (HDTV ready)
DVID and RBG connections

I didnt shop around for better prices, Im sure this would be an easy deal on eBay.

[OpTik]

wow, thanks to both of you for the explanation on the response rates and contrast ratios...that was very helpful!

i currently have a 17" LCD and im looking at a 22" LCD

also, after looking at the specs again, the one i was looking at with 8000:1 was actually the same monitor as the one you suggested B...it was just advertised differently?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 68&Local=y

[MrBlah]

[quote="l3eeron";p="82099"]
Important specs to pay attention to:

size vs resolution - This is really a matter of preference. Both a 22" and 24" can run 1920x1200, its up to you if you want the pixels cramed into a smaller screen.

Response rates - The time it takes one pixel to change from one color to another. There are two response rates. Gray to gray and black to white. Many monitors will advertise the black/white response time because its ALWAYS faster than the gray to gray. Make sure the gray to gray response is no greater than 5ms. This is the most important spec to look at . If you're using it for games and movies, a slow response rate will exhibit ghosting and tearing (blurry edges, bottom half of screen might not sync up to the top half, respectively)


Contrast - This is the difference between the darkest pixel and the lightest pixel the monitor can produce. The higher the better. 800:1 is decent and should work fine. I wouldn't go any lower than 800:1.


Native resolution - This is the resolution the monitor was intended to run. Make sure your vid card can run the at the monitor's native resolution. That way there's no middle man (either you vid card drivers, or monitor has its own scaling) inbetween resampling the video signal to scale it down, inhibiting the performance.


My suggestion:

This monitor would be awesome

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=2775

Samsung 2253BW 22"
1680x1050 widescreen format
2ms gray to gray
1000:1
HDCP (HDTV ready)
DVID and RBG connections

I didnt shop around for better prices, Im sure this would be an easy deal on eBay.
[/quote]

Size vs resolution, if you have a smaller screen with the same resolution a a larger screen, you will see a finer picture

Response times and what not... they have nothing to do with screen tearing and bottom half not syncing with the top half. This is the cause of vertical sync being disabled so many of us gamers can say we get 200 fps when your screen refresh rate it only 60Mhz. The screen refresh rate is the rate at which your screen changes picture. The higher the better. 75MHz and above is what you should look for.

[l3eeron]

I stand corrected.... I get em mixed, thats what I get for posting stuff off the top of my head!

That's right, when I have Vsync enabled it doesnt tear or stagger. When I disable vsync, I get like 150-200 fps but it looks like crap!

[MrBlah]

Aside from that, if you have SLI enabled, your chance for tear is greater if you do alternate or split frame sli rendering.... one can get behind and whatnot... not always good. I recommend always doing single gpu frame rendering.

[gator]

[quote="l3eeron";p="82099"]
size vs resolution - This is really a matter of preference. Both a 22" and 24" can run 1920x1200, its up to you if you want the pixels cramed into a smaller screen.
[/quote]

I think you mean both 20"/22" are typically native 1680x1050? There's only one 22" I'm aware of that's native 1920x1200 (Lenovo L220X), and I think it's having production issues right now.

Contrast ratio is kind of a crap-shoot... there doesn't seem to be any standard for how manufacturer's determine it, so most just put down a large number on the spec sheet to make it seem impressive. I wouldn't get too concerned over it.

[nesknowitall]

[quote="OpTik";p="82103"]wow, thanks to both of you for the explanation on the response rates and contrast ratios...that was very helpful!

i currently have a 17" LCD and im looking at a 22" LCD

also, after looking at the specs again, the one i was looking at with 8000:1 was actually the same monitor as the one you suggested B...it was just advertised differently?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 68&Local=y[/quote]

Many moniters have two different contrast ratios, Static and Dynamic I believe dynamic is the lower one. Some moniters (like samsung) list 1:4000 or above when really they are 1:1000. If the number is above 1:1000 or 1:2000 then it's probably the static contrast ratio.

Also you can make any moniter run at a lower resolution to reduce strain on your video card but the game will look jagged. The closer you play to your screens max resolution the better the game will look. Even 800:600 will look like crap if everything else is turned up. But you'll get nice FPS.