30" monitor for gaming/dvds or stick with 24" ?

cerveau

cerveau

cerveau

Associate
Joined
12 Oct 2007
Posts
31
Ive had a dell 2405 since new - i guess thats 4 years, and Im looking to upgrade it.

Initially I looked at a few 30"ers like the dell 3008wfp, Gateway XHD3000 and HP LP3065
for gaming except maybe the gateway which u cant seem to get in the uk anyway
so that was ruled out. None of these seems to get good reviews for gaming so i decided against it.

then i looked at the new lot of 24"ers, bearing in mind, i already have an old 24er
I really was looking to get a bigger and better screen then a 24" but anyway.

at first I thought about the dell 2408, but the more i read the more confused i got,
first there was an issue with responses times for games being bad, then it was cured
with a new revision, now it seems ppl are saying its still not as good as the
NEC 24WMGX3 Prof Gaming 24"

I decided on the nec, but still nagging at the back of mind, was the fact that this
wouldnt be really an upgrade as its still the same size as I already have.

i decided against 26 to 28" screens as they all still use 1920x1200 screen res, and
i thought the image wouldnt look as sharp as 24" displaying the same res.

so, Im now looking again at the 30" screens, are they really suitable for gaiming/dvd?
Ive seen the 30" NEC LCD3090WQXi now and am wondering if that would be good.

And would my graphics card have enough grunt to run it well at 2560 x 1600

I have a single evga 295 GTX, quad core qx6850 cpu and 4 gigs of ram running XP.

So i should go for the 24" NEC or one of the 30"ers?

sorry for the long post, ive been reading these forums, as a consequence ive been
swaying between different models like a seesaw.
 
Last edited:
You'd probably have to back off the AA a bit for newer titles but the 295 should cope very well at 30" res.

I use a GX3 and notice DVDs are a bit pixelated, which I imagine gets worse on a 30" at that res but I'm only buying BD now so it's become less of an issue.
 
Look for the LG W3000H its the only newish 30" monitor without a scaler (lag) Dell 3008 uses this panel but adds a scaler. 3007 model has no scaler but is an "old" panel.
I just got mine this week and I'm loving it, it makes my other monitors look rubbish.

Edit: It took me ages of reading reviews and forums to decide which one to buy, was well worth it.
 
Thanks for the info :)

Is it right that if you use the native res ie 2560x1600, then the upscaler
isn't used and input lag isn't as noticeable?

Ive decided that if I go for the 24 it will be the nec 24wmgx3.
unless the 2408 is a better choice? - its such a hard choice
cos once its made, ill be using it for a long time.

i cant decide about which 30, they all seem to have good and bad
points. (Id also have to get a Dual link dvi cable, unless theres one
in the monitor box ?)

another reason for the upgrade is that the 2405 i have now isnt HD
capable, yet my pc has a hd/BR drive in it, the HD movies I play are
just at std def.

I have an xbox360 but its an early one and doesnt have HDMI.
I use it on the component connection on the 2405.

What res will the component connection give on the new HD monitors
(as all the new 24s are HD capable now)

if i cant decide on the 30, ill just stick with the nec 24.
 
I had a 30" dell 3008 for a while last year ( got rid of it due to light bleed issues)
I am glad I did get rid of it , trying to game a 2560x1600 was taking its toll on my system
The input lag on the dell is VERY noticable , and if you scale it down and run at 1920x1200 it gets worse.

I ended up getting the dell 27" instead 1920x1200 runs nice and fast and its large enough for me.

Give the 27" a look
 
Thanks for the reply :)

I looked at the 27", but thought cos it was the same res as the 24
ie 1920x1200 that somehow it wouldnt look as good.

Is there any downside to using that res at the larger
screen size of 27", i thought it might be bit pixelated, if it isnt then Ill
give the 27 look :) - thank you
 
I got a 3008 last year and it is the best upgrade I've ever bought. I've been playing games ever since way back when and can't say I've noticed any lag of any kind. Provided you have a card capable of running things at its native res, you should be ok. My only complaint is that it gets HOT during the summer and will melt your face off (but then you should be outside anyway :) )
 
cerveau said:
Thanks for the info :)

another reason for the upgrade is that the 2405 i have now isnt HD
capable, yet my pc has a hd/BR drive in it, the HD movies I play are
just at std def.

I have an xbox360 but its an early one and doesnt have HDMI.
I use it on the component connection on the 2405.

What res will the component connection give on the new HD monitors
(as all the new 24s are HD capable now)
.
Click to expand...

Ofcourse your monitor is HD capable? It has a res higher than 1080p. Use AnyDVD-HD to get round HDCP if thats what you mean.

Similiarly, component from your xbox 360 will be HD, 720p/1080p both work.
 
I moved to a 30" screen in December, from a 24".

I have to say that it's one of the best purchases I made. It's better for gaming; gives you that 'imax' effect a little bit. It really needs a powerful graphics card though - I upgraded my GTX280 to a 4870x2 to keep roughly the same framerate at the higher native resolution.

That said, I'm not sure it's worth it just for gaming - I guess it depends how much disposable cash you have. For desktop work it's amazing though! At 2560 you have twice the desktop space, which is comes in really handy. A lot more so than I expected.

All this being said, I bought a Hazro HZ30W when they were available for a little over £600. Fantastic screen, and at a much lower price point then similar spec'd screens as well. I think I'd struggle to justify £1000+ for a monitor, but that's based on my own budget. Also, I was coming from a 24" TN panel, so the IPS panel on the HZ30 was a massive improvement.

Anyway, it's up to you really, but I wouldn't consider DVDs as a useful application for a 30" screen. The ultra-high resolution is just wasted on downscaling to 720 or 1080p. If DVDs are your main concern, then a 42" HDTV might be a better bet. But I love my 30"-er!
 
Chris1712 said:
Ofcourse your monitor is HD capable? It has a res higher than 1080p. Use AnyDVD-HD to get round HDCP if thats what you mean.

Similiarly, component from your xbox 360 will be HD, 720p/1080p both work.
Click to expand...

thanks but i dont think the dell 2405 is HD capable
and Ive tried getting 1080p on the component connector for my xbox
and it doesnt work. i do use Anydvd for watching Hd-dvds and BR

Below is a quote from Dell themselves - link at the bottom


The Dell 2405FPW is not a HD-Ready or HDTV LCD monitor.

Used with a desktop PC or notebook PC with the correct graphics card and drivers, will display up to a maximum of 1920 x 1200 pixels (WUXGA) resolution.

The built-in AV connectors allow for –

1) Composite Video input à connection with a VCR or any AV equipment with a composite video output

2) S-Video input à connection to a VCR, VCD or DVD player or any AV equipment with a S-Video output

3) Component Video input à connection to a DVD player or any AV equipment with component (Red, Green & Blue) video output

The highest AV resolution is via the Component Video input which supports up to 480i (i = interlaced) and 480i (p = progressive scan) i.e. SDTV standard

HD-Ready (i.e. monitor without HD Tuner/Receiver) and HDTV resolution starts from 720p and 1080i


http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/335708.html


The hazro is worth a look i think, although I would be looking to hook up
at least my xbox as well, even if it means buying a hdmi xbox

Id like ask tho, how are the response times in gaming?

at the minute I seem to be deciding on the nec 24inch, if cash was
no object id look at the nec 30" though

thanks for your replies :)
 
cerveau said:
thanks but i dont think the dell 2405 is HD capable
and Ive tried getting 1080p on the component connector for my xbox
and it doesnt work.
Click to expand...

The 2405 is more than HD capable,max HD is 1080p (1920x1080),the 2405 has a native resolution of 1920x1200. The reason you can't get the Xbox to display 1080p via component is due to the limitations of the component connection,it doesn't have the necessary bandwidth to carry a full 1080p signal,1080i is the maximum res that component supports.
 
smit101 said:
The 2405 is more than HD capable,max HD is 1080p (1920x1080),the 2405 has a native resolution of 1920x1200. The reason you can't get the Xbox to display 1080p via component is due to the limitations of the component connection,it doesn't have the necessary bandwidth to carry a full 1080p signal,1080i is the maximum res that component supports.
Click to expand...

I agree with him :) My brother in law runs his PS3 through his 2405 at 1080i and it works fine; he's using component.
 
i have a hazro 30" that i got for around £800 last july, its immense. I at first hated the 12ms resposne time due to coming from a 2ms screen, FPS gaming was annoying as hell, but ive got used to it now. Playing L4D at the end on the airport level where the plane crashes, i totally phased out and jus tstared at the plane crashing down and literally felt as is if i was watching it happen. This was because it was dark in teh rest of the room and i could physically move my head to see the what was going on around me.

This also annoyed my team mates who suddenly broke me out of my trance by shouting at me down the mic to come help kill stuffs.

large monitor = ***

mates got a 28" @ 1920 and that seems fine, although i much prefer mine cause of the higher res. A single 295 gave me plenty of FPS on almost everything, Fallout 3 with 4x AA had almost constant 60, occasionaly dropping to 55ish. DOW2 was the lowest FPS at 30-40 ive had except crysis.

I fixed it by getting a second one though :)

edit: for dvds/films they do pixalate, but i only notice it if i am sat right in front of it, and you can always just watch it in a window at 24" size if you care that much.
 
What sort of prices do the Dell 2405s go for second hand? Im looking for a cheapish upgrade as my 19" acer has started to get some sort of green running line accross the top. I dont game much, mainly watch dvds and desktop stuff, net browsing. I have an 8800GT

cerveau - email in trust :)

Sorry for the sidetrack, i dont know that much about screens but would love a 30" but cannot afford one
 
I would say stick with 24 because I initially had my PC hooked up to a 32 inch TV and had that attached to the wall behind my desk. The problem I experienced was the TV was too big and it is difficult to see the whole screen when you are that close. I found myself playing games in Window mode at a lower resolution just to be competitive.
 
I found this NEC LCD3090WQXi vid on youtube
I dont know if its the multisync version or not apart from the white glow
the monitor seems pretty good for games/dvd (hd or BR)

the actual quality of the vid isnt to high, but you can still see
the results of the tests.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom