Gaming 15" or 17" LCDs
 

Hey there, another product question:

What would you all recommend for a good LCD monitor that can handle the high FPS games that exist? What monitors have a response time low enough to handle such framerates without the visible ghosting?

I've heard good things about the 17" Q17 from Hyundai and the 17" NEC1760V. What about the Q15? Any other good 15" gaming screens.

Thanks in advance, again. You guys (and girls) are great.

21" min If not then 19"

Completely out of my price range to go that large. Even 17" is pushing it.

42" Plasma :)

Unless you really want an LCD for gaming, I have to reccomend a CRT. Cheaper per inch, and they'll probably have a better refresh as well.

I have a vaio laptop, and the 16" screen on it can handle basically anything I throw at it. Unlike any other LCD at this size, however, it's native resolution is 1600x1200. Most LCDs that are 15" or 17" have a native resolution more like 1024x768, or sometimes 1280x1024. I personally don't really like 1280x1024 due to width:height ratio issues, but that may not bother you. If you want to play games at more than 1024x768, you may want to look at a very large LCD.

That said, LCD quality has come a long way, and the 19" Dell LCD I'm at right now, while not really purchased for gaming and not what I'd buy for myself, has been performing well enough.

Really, if an LCD is a neccessity, I'd just go with a Viewsonic or a Sony. You really can't go wrong with them, IMO.

I would recommend getting a CRT monitor. I have a 19" Samsung SyncMaster 957mb and i love it. With a LCD monitor the pixels can't refresh as fast as you can move the screen. Things can get blurry. I've read that this is getting to be less of a problem but have yet to see an LCD I found good enough for games.

It's a space issue, unfortunately. I would have gone with a CRT hands down, due to costs and performance, but the friend I'm buying for insists on a CRT due to her lack of space (she's putting her system in a room with 3 of her own systems and 5 of her friend's).

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/lcd.htm

VG800 or VG800b look pretty good :D

most lcd don't have adequate response times for gaming. i think you can get by with 25ms, but it'll be pricey for a large lcd with low response. i'd still go crt for games.

21" is great

If you absolutely must use an LCD, get Sony or Viewsonic. PCMag did a report on LCD's about three months ago; Sony and Viewsonic were awarded the best LCD manufacturers out of 15.

-Lasereth

i have an 18" Sony SDMS81 lcd and i love it....great with gaming too.

A good LCD has a response time of about 20 to 25 milliseconds these days. That translates to 50 to 40 frames per seconds respectively. That might be addequate, or it may be too little. I've seen expensive TFTs with 16 ms response times, but that's one or two types.

Another thing to worry about is the resolution. If you can handly *all* games at 1280x1024, go for an LCD that supports that (17"), if you can handle all of them at 1024x768, go for that (15"). Once you picked a resolution, you're pretty much stuck there. Anything higher can't be shown, and anything lower will get blurry.

CRTs have none of these problems, but are big, bulky and hot.

CRTs are definitely better for gaming, but if you have to go with LCD, I'd recommend the Samsung SyncMaster 171v. That's what I'm on right now and it's pretty nice.

Hmmm. Never gave that any thought before. I was hoping for some dual LCD monitors for my next gaming rig. I'll have to look into that now. Thanks for bringing it up :D

I dunno - my wife has a killer 15 inch LCD and it beats the HELL out of my 19inch CRT for clarity and response time. I have also seen some really crappy LCDs out there. I think you just need a good one. When you see a "cheap" LCD, it is likly cheap for a reason.

If you are buying a CRT, then make sure you get one with a decent dot pitch. I think mine must be crappy althoug I have no idea how to come up with the specs for it.

wise man. :D