blar

are LCD monitors good for gaming? i am thinking about buying a new monitor but i don't know if i should stick with crt or change over to lcd

FunkyLamb

I find they're much better. I've had a 19-inch LCD for about 6 months now and my eyes are much less strained when playing games all night.

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blar

really what do i look for to determine which are good and bad?

i heard if its 16ms or less its good is that true? is the higher the number good or bad?

sailor

That is the response time, sorta like the refresh rate on a CRT. The lower the number the better. You arent going to find anything drastically less than 16ms, but fortunately, most monitors are headed that way--my 19" Dell that I paid $300 for is 16ms. I use it to casually game, and can't tell any difference between it (in terms of contrast, brightness, or response time) and my old Sony Trinitrons.

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Slavakion

A higher number is bad. I don't know what specific number is good for gaming, but a lower number means the screen will respond faster. That means that you don't get blurring and ghosting in fast-paced games like an FPS. If you wait around for lasereth, he'd probably know.

Krycheck

My understanding is that they should be 20ms or less. I've heard people using 22ms with no complaints. I have two 17ms Sony 17" and I love them.

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blar

ah yes thats what i heard was bad the blurring effect

i heard dell's lcds were good maybe i should look in to those

teflonian

16ms is often quoted as the magic number for LCDs, but you will obviously find people who insist that isn't fast enough.

I have recently purchased a viewsonic VP201b (20.1") and am loving it. The difference between it and my old 19" CRT is amazing and I love playing games on it. I have yet to notice any eye fatique like I did with my CRT. I even have it up to 1600x1200. In short, you will have to pay a little more to get what you want with an LCD, but you won't be dissapointed if you do.

-Ever-

The Dell's are usually rated very highly. I've used their 2000FP (21inch) for a few years and now I've got a dual 1901FP (19inch) setup that I love.

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SiNai

Ghosting.. You live with it, if you buy an LCD. No response time will completely get rid of it.. But, for the space saving, and the general attractiveness of the display, LCD all the way

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FngKestrel

I use a 2005FPW with a 12ms response time and it's great. Splinter Cell looks great on the screen and is clear and crisp.

A caveat about response times. There is no standard method of measuring just yet, so that number should be taken with a grain of salt.

JeremyS

I play competitive Counter-Strike, and I have a 17" LCD with 16ms response time at 75Hz, and I have no problem with it. Only problem to me is that it's just a little darker than CRTs.

blar

yea well i use to play competitive CS back in the days i just play for fun now but all my games are first person games so its great to hear you have no problems

thanks for the info guys

Cynthetiq

also sharpness.

all the high end graphics people I know all prefer CRT for it's color calibration and sharpness.

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FngKestrel

That is a good point. None of the artists where I work are allowed to use LCDs.

Slavakion

If you're not sure what to get and have plenty of desk space, go with a CRT. You'll get more screen for less money.

ChickenNinja

I've got three NEC 2080UX+s, only one complaint: the one I'm using primarily has developed a dead pixel. It's red. Curses.

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Rdr4evr

^^ I just recieved my 20 inch Dell LCD and it's perfect for gaming, sharp as hell. I too have a blue dead pixel almost in the center that is annoying as shit, but unfortunately they don't replace the monitor unless you have 8 dead pixels. Ridiculous, but what can you do.

skaven

As opposed another kind of gaming?

liquidlight

I didn't notice anybody mentioning this so here goes.

If you can put off buying an LCD monitor for another 6-12 months you'll be glad you did. Supposedly this summer the first commercially available OLED screens will hit the market. They're cheaper, brighter, faster, and use less power (isn't technology wonderful?). I would suspect that initially they'll be priced higher than the LCD's to try to clear out inventory, but this also should have the affect that you should see some killer sales around christmas on the older LCD screens.

Then again, the forecasts could be wrong, I'm talking out of my ass, and LCD's will be your best option for a few more years.

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JeremyS

I don't know what you mean.

-Ever-

I think he's saying that he plays more seriously than the next guy, IE in tournaments and such, thus implying that he takes his computer equipment seriously, like his LCD choice.

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JeremyS

Correct. As well as other equipment that can change your game. ( keyboard/mouse/mousepad/etc )

killeena

I love my LCD, it is sooooo much easier on my eyes. I agree if you are going to be doing high end graphic stuff, then stick with a good CRT, but for gaming, I have had no problems with my LCD, and love the lack of eye strain.

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skaven

Awww come on it was a joke, guys!!! Lighten up!

JeremyS

No, I really just didn't understand what you meant. lol

portwineboy

But do you find that the artists want LCDs? Our graphics people run all dual proc G5s and when you ask, they all want Apple cinema displays! I tell them they are crazy, especially since color matching is a HUGE part of what we do, but they want the 20-23" Apples and since what creative wants, creative gets....

I don't mind since I got one too and WoW looks great on it. and they are SO much easier on my back.

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Bratwurst

Do any of you guys run into issues with running games at resolutions that aren't native for the LCD? LIke if I had an LCD that had a native resolution of 1280 x 1024, and I wanted to run a game at something lower like 1024 x 768 so I could get more fps, is it going to not look as good because it is running at lower than native resolution?

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FngKestrel

Hell yeah, I wanted to get one but my art director put his foot down. Ironically enough, we put our work onto cellphones...which are little LCD screens in themselves...

JeremyS

Nope. I run Counter-Strike at 800x600 @ 32bit & 75Hz, and my monitors native reso is 1280x1024.

eeef2

i use a 17" sharp LL-M17W1U with PIP and a built in tuner. My friend has one also-no complaints. They are even on sale at www.tigerdirect.com. but they are refurbished.

Hanabal

running a LCD at lower than native will look crappy on the desktop, browsing the web etc, but for games i doubt many people could notice because of the amount of movement happeing.

eye strain is a biggie, ive had an LCD for a couple years now, at UNI i used LCDS all the time, now however, my office is fitted with a CRT and boy do my eyes hurt, I used to be fine with them, 75 htz used to be fine for me, but now that ive been spoiling my eyes with LCDs, I cant take it.

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McG

I bought a 16ms LCD about a year ago. It was smaller then the CRT i currently had but i would never ever go back to crts. The LCD is much nicer to look at.

n0nsensical

I've never had a dead pixel, but all of the LCDs I've used look like total crap in nonnative resolutions. That and the fact that very few desktop LCDs have a native resolution of at least 1600x1200 means I'll be sticking with CRTs for the forseeable future.

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