I need a good gaming monitor for my new computer (E6600 or E6700, Bad axe 2, 2 ATI Radeon x1950 pro or 8800GTS,WD Raptor 150 GB, Seagate Barracuda 250 GB, OCZ 700w) and i cant figure out whats better LCD or CRT? I've heard people say that CRT is better, but LCD has better image quality/brigter colors. Furthermore i dont know what size to get, once again, i've heard peopel say that one would need at least 24" to take advantage of 8800 cards or SLI/Xfire, is this true?

I would like to play all of my games in as high a resolution as possible, what do you think would work for me? I always liked the Samsung monitors personally but i dont know if they are still good, which brands are considred good today?

i dont know if thats true, but i use a 21" crt and a 17" crt, they work great i think and the picture quality is great too especially running quake 4, and my 21" is a samsung, i plugged it in and it was recognized automatically and its great, and most of my games run great in 1600x1200 at 32bit color on my crt... but the disadvantage i found was i need huge desk to hold the monitors, and talk about heavy, if you space saving monitor get a fp, and all around fp are great but me personally prefer crts (because they are cheaper too!) so id would get a 21-24 in crt if you can find one, i love mine...

Yep, LCD is expensive, i dont think i'll be able to spend more than $500 on a monitor, fortunately i do have room on my desk (4' L x 33" W) for a CRT and the pc. So you a think that Samsing is a good brand for monitors as well?

yes samsung is great

I've got an Acer 22" widescreen flat panel monitor, and it does just fine for me, and I surf the web and play all kinds of games. Very competitive price, (dropped $40 since I bought mine, just before Christmas). It may not have specs as great as some others, but it's fast for gaming, sharp, and colors look good, at least to me, also, no dead pixels. I highly recommend it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009094

$20 cheaper in silver.

Personaly I think LCD monitors show more detailed pictures, I heard CRT monitors tear more easily if your FPS goes over your Refresh Rate

If you dont know what Tearing is then look at this picture.
When your FPS ( frames per second ) goes over your Refresh rate of your monitor ( happens more in CRT monitors ) it starts to mess up the image. It does not cause permanent damage to your monitor but it does get annoying,

Thanks for the suggestions! I dont know what Tearing means so i cant appreaciatr the pic. However, I do have one question, i've heard that CRT use a lot more power like close to 100W, i hope that power com,es from the outlet, not power supply, right? I know its a dumb question but i have to make sure

No a monitor couldnt use 100w, that's alot if you really think about it... Most PSUs that comes with computers are usualy around the 300-400 range

But a CRT does have bad image quality, so just stick with a LCD but if you would rather spend less money then CRT is good enough ;)

I have a 21" Dell. Got it on Ebay for $150 and wouldnt trade it for any other monitor. The picture is stunning, especially playing Quake 4 at 1600x1200.

No a monitor couldnt use 100w, that's alot if you really think about it... Most PSUs that comes with computers are usualy around the 300-400 range

But a CRT does have bad image quality, so just stick with a LCD but if you would rather spend less money then CRT is good enough ;)

Hey,

Well, i'm getting a 700w ocz PSU, with my system, and i think i already found a monitor a would like to get. Its a 24" LCD Acer widescreen, one of the very few mionitors that supports 1920 x 1200 resolution:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009089

I've read some reviews for very similar monitors and i like whjat i hear. I need a monitor that will last me several years and take advantage of high-end cards, its a bit more than i want to pay, but i dont mind spending for something futureproof. what do you guys think?

I think LCD would be the best. Something with 8ms or lower would be great, I would recommend wide screen also! 22" on newegg should be around 300 bucks, I have a 19" and its 200 bucks, its rated as 5ms and the picture quality is great! no ghosting just a little light bleed in the edges when the screen is all black. LCD's save a lot of desk space too, so I am sure you would like it.

Well, the one i'm thinking of getting fits your parameters, but i do like the that resolution on it. i would like to do more searching to see if i can find something similar. But i just wanted to know if this is a quality monitor, lets put price aside for moment, and also how good is Acer brand anyway?

oh yeah Acer is a pretty good brand it fits in with BenQ and Viewsonic, but I would choose BenQ over Acer any day =] , but thats just me. For the price an extra 2" isn't worth the 200 bucks. Look around newegg and read the reviews it should help you a lot.

Oh, i intend to do more research, i never heard anyone saying anything good about BenQ, but then again, i'm no monitor expert and i rely on folks who know to provide advice. that particular piece was recomended by someone who knows monitors and its not as expensive as the rest of the high-end pack and it does meet my futureproof requirement. so i'll just keep looking and not going to make any hasty decisions.

Well, i'm getting a 700w ocz PSU, with my system, and i think i already found a monitor a would like to get. Its a 24" LCD Acer widescreen, one of the very few mionitors that supports 1920 x 1200 resolution:

Actually, a lot of 24" LCD monitors, and some sizes of CRT's for that matter, do use in the area of 100 watts power, according to there specs. But, they have there own power supply built in, so you don't have to worry about your computer power supply being large enough for the monitor. Below I've got a couple of links to 24" LCD's and a CRT that use around 100 watts +/-. And if you decide on a different brand of 24" monitor, I think they will all support 1920 x 1200 resolution. I would have the Acer 24" if I had the extra money when I got my Acer 22". At any rate, I happy with Acer.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/20491-156249-156249-156249-172197-12401732-73206675.html?jumpid=oc_R1002_UKENC-001_HP%20LP2465%20Flat%20Panel%20Monitor&lang=en&cc=uk
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001222

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116121

That HP looks very nice, cheapest i've seen it was $650, my only problem wioth it it that its silver. My system will be all black so i need either black or black/silver. The Samsung looks awesome, unfortunately i'm not prepared to spend $800, spending over $600 already puts me over the amount i want to spend. As for that CRT monitor, i probably wont be getting CRT, from i keep hearing the difference between them is not that great, but LCD is lighter and looks better too.

Also another question: how do HP and Acer compare in terms of quality? The only problem is see with HP is that iit s not Vista certified, i was told to get a monitor that is, because i do plan to switch to Vista when all the glitches are fixed.

No a monitor couldnt use 100w, that's alot if you really think about it...
CRT monitors can use more than 100W easily, especially bigger than 20" ones.

But that shouldn't have anything to do with the computer PSU, the days when they had a bypass power plug for the monitor are long gone along with AT cases. Even then, the current the bypass wires could handle was way more than any monitor would use.

well CRT monitors are huge, of course they'll use alot of power ;)

But for LCD I dont think they'll use that much

ok, guys, i've looked around a bit more and found another monitor. So right now i'm considering these 2:


http://accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4335

This 24" Dell widescreen for $679, though i'm not sure if it has Vista certification.

or

Acer 24" mentioned above

Any comments on these 2, which would be better?

I like the Dell one, because the look is more cleaner.

Yes, it does. I just have to find it out if its Vista supported, i would think that it is, since Dell are peddling Vista with their PCs, thats right,they dont even let you pick XP anymore, which kinda sucks.

Tearing occurs equally on LCD and CRT monitors. LCD monitors with lower response times usually are better at keeping tearing to a minimum, since the refresh time between consecutive frames is much reduced. For a good gaming monitor, Dell's UltraSharp series is the best by far.

ok, Rage, thnx! Another vote for dell then.

well CRT monitors are huge, of course they'll use alot of power ;)

But for LCD I dont think they'll use that much

The aforementioned Dell 24" specifications say "100 to 240 VAC / 50 or 60 Hz ± 3 Hz / 2.0A (Max)".

100V * 2.0A = 200W.

The aforementioned Dell 24" specifications say "100 to 240 VAC / 50 or 60 Hz ± 3 Hz / 2.0A (Max)".

100V * 2.0A = 200W.

Is that good or bad?

Edit: Ok, i have to ask 1 question. I spoke to a friend today who knows monitors and he told me that not all games support widescreen with good clear pictures and that the image will look stretched out or squashed. Does anyone know anything about this? Cause now i'm concerned

Most new games support 1600x1200 and higher resolutions nowadays so I don't think it will be a problem. Others might have a different opinion so wait for theirs before coming to any conclusion.

ok, i will wait. I'm also curious to hear from people who actually own a similar widescreen, how is it working for you? Did you have the problem i was talking to above?

I play most of the new games, at least shooters I should say, and I haven't had many problems with this. Older ones could be a problem. However you can go to the below site, and check your games out, and if they don't do native widescreen, you might find a hack to make them work in widescreen. I have never been sorry that I got my widescreen, it's great.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Thats the reason why i brought this up, my computer is old, i play mostly older games and i want to keep playing them but i want to play new ones too whem i get new pc. Thanks for the link i'll check it out!

Oh, i intend to do more research, i never heard anyone saying anything good about BenQ, but then again, i'm no monitor expert and i rely on folks who know to provide advice.
I have 2, and I really like them. The only monitor I've ever used that I like more was my 17" Philips 107P that isn't made anymore. It was capable of doing 1920x1440.

Here (http://gammaxi1275.googlepages.com/bedroomcomps.jpg) are my 2 Benq 20.1s

I have 2, and I really like them. The only monitor I've ever used that I like more was my 17" Philips 107P that isn't made anymore. It was capable of doing 1920x1440.

Here (http://gammaxi1275.googlepages.com/bedroomcomps.jpg) are my 2 Benq 20.1s

They look nice, are they widescreen? thats how they look anyway. Would you mind posting a link to a store or provide model#?

Have you had any of those problems, like the ones discussed above, with older games with those Benqs?

Yes, they are widescreen. Here is a link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014105 really good monitors in my opinion. I've had no real "problems" gaming. I have played Warcraft 3 and Starcraft on them and it gets stretched, so depending on how sensitive you are to that...

They are pretty big, if you take an 8.5x11" sheet of paper, you can fit exactly 2 of them side by side on one monitor (viewing size). I had no dead pixels on either. A friend of mine also bought 2, he didn't have any dead pixels on his either.

People have complained about the controls being hard to see/use on them because they are buttons on the side of the monitor and not on the front, but how often do you really use those? Plus I think it looks better having a nice clean frame, not one filled with buttons.

Thanx for the info!

your monitor doesnt have to have vista certification to work with vista

and i dig the 24" acer DVI is a great feature also (if you have dvi) and the crt i use refreshes at 85hz in 1600x1200 of course i have the card to back it up...

So you would recomend getting that Acer over a CRT? The reason i ask is because i know that LCD monitors work best only in their native resolutions and quality deteriorates when switching to another resolution. It is of a particular concern to me because i play a lot of older games usually at 1600x1200, there are even some that dont support that kind of resolution, so if i get a monitor with a native resolution of 1900x1200 the image quality will deteriorate when i go to a lower one. Can anyone comment on this?