Using my 46-inch television as a monitor?

im getting a gaming computer soon, and I dont want to use much money on my monitor, I my plan was to use it on my TV, but my friends say that unless you have a really powerful computer, it will lag the PC to pieces. so I was wondering if my computer could handle my 46 inch samsung plasma TV?

specs:
motherboard: asus P8Z77-V pro Z77 S-1155 ATX IVY
procesor: intel core i7 3770K 3,5hz 8mb s-1155 IVY
graphics card: asus geforce gtx 570 directcu II 1280mb pci-e dvi/hdmi
harddrive: seagate barracuda 2TB 7200rpm sata/600 64mb
powersupply: corsair hx 750w atx12v 2.2 / eps12v
RAM: corsair 8gb ddr3 vengeance l pc3.12800 1600mpz cl9 (2X4GB)
 
It is possible that the TV could introduce a bit of latency, depending on the system and type of interface, but perhaps not, so I reckon there's nothing to lose by just trying it, and if it's pants, then start saving for a monitor! ;)
 
okay I've been using my LCD TV as a primary monitor for a while now. here are my opinions regarding LCD/LED TV and LCD monitor designed for computer use:

1. Refresh rate
Typically modern LCD/LED Monitors have very low latency and higher refresh rate compared to modern TVs. Sure some TVs are 200hz motionplus but im not sure how they fare in computer gaming. What happens with my LCD TV is that when I'm gaming if I'm moving too fast then it will be 'chopped' and most of the time I will need to turn the vsync on. on a pretty fast lcd/led monitor it occurs less frequently, of course different 3D games will give you different results.

2. Sharpness
When you plug your computer into your TV first thing you need to do is to adjust the picture settings. Some TV have "PC" preset available that reduces the sharpness and makes texts much easier to read, compared to the 'default' preset. I've never need to calibrate sharpness in any LCD/LED monitors so far.

3. Power-saving mode
All LCD/LED monitors are designed to go standby when no signal is detected. Rarely the case with modern TVs. I really miss that feature where I can just hit the shutdown button and leave without turning off my monitor manually.

Since I've actually never worked with plasma, things might get different at your site. So in nutshell, your computer is much more powerful than your TV. It is your TV that might probably couldn't handle your PC performance. But there's nothing wrong with just trying it out with a HDMI cable at your disposal.
 
I think his friends were referring to the TVs HD screen resolution of 1920 X 1080. Your GTX 570 and CPU combination should be able to create hundreds or frames a second for many older games around sixty frames per second for newer more demanding games. I don't think your computer will induce video lag for most of the games you play.

I have a 1920 X 1080 screen and a older HD5870 paired with a Q9550. My video card is roughly the AMD equivalent of your card. Your card fares a bit better than mine in the review I read. I don't usually have video lag in the games I play, and I don't have your much newer processor either. I think you'll be happy with your results.
 
ok, it isn't any problem to just try it out once I built the PC. if it doesn't work, I'll just buy a monitor, but reading this make me feel confident that it will work well enough for my needs. thank you.
 
Many people I talk to who are not very technical assume that the larger the display the higher the resolution. I assume your friends are thinking this very thing and it's not terribly uncommon. Any TV you can buy these days for under $10,000 is going to max out at 1080p which equals 1920x1080 and if it's a cheapo it could be as low as 1280x720. That's also the typical resolution of a 23-27" monitor (except the high end 27"ers). It won't be any harder to drive games on that display as one of those monitors. Also, as others have mentioned, you will need to calibrate things for crispness. There are different technologies used by TV manufacturers to improve picture quality of your different sources - this can cause havoc on a computer source. Make sure you're not using any of the smoothing or color enhancement features of the TV for the PC's input.
 
I don't usually have video lag in the games I play, and I don't have your much newer processor either.
shard.gif
 
well I have been using a 42" LCD HDTV for sometime now as my monitor. The only problem I have is the contrast and the text. I usually have to zoom in to read text.

But for gaming and movies its perfect.

this is just my experience
 
I've never been able to successfully use a TV as a monitor for video-calculation-heavy tasks on the computer, like games and 3D rendering. For this reason, I would recommend a specialised computer monitor, higher-end of course. Everything nismo91 says is certainly accurate. I've not had Cinders's experience, but if you think a TV will work for you, then go for it! Let us know how everything goes.

If you need a place to start looking for monitors, try this review guide for thin monitors. The same writer has done several other guides which may be of help to you in your hardware quest--check them out: he's a friend and very knowledgeable on such matters.
 
I've never been able to successfully use a TV as a monitor for video-calculation-heavy tasks on the computer, like games and 3D rendering. .
The issue here is, large TV panels are slower response, higher input lag technology panels, than the TN 2ms jobbies you might prefer for video gaming.
 
Back