Best Cheap(ish) Gaming Monitor

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 08:24

Hi..after trolling some through some threads here...im looking for recommendation on choosing a 22-23" LCD for sons computer. Will be used for mostly gaming and web browsing. Maybe some movies also.

Ideally want HDMI and DVI-D connections in so can use with PC and possibly PS3 also without having to switch connectors.

Budget...£150 max (or less)

For around this price im looking at the following...

Iiyama Prolite E2273HDS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-075-IY&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-027-AS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

slightly over budget...but could do if worth it

LG IPS231P-BN
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-099-LG&groupid=17&catid=1425&subcat=

Iiyama Prolite E2473HDS
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-071-IY

there also seems to be some decent BenQ 22-24" around this price range..but a bit unsure. A good TN panel would be OK...doesn't have to be IPS, although I think the LG above is about the cheapest IPS. I haven't really used a TN panel for a long time for something other than office work, at least 5-6 years...and my opinion of them isn't the best, but I think they have come a long way since then!

Anything else I should look at?

Cheers

numatic.nathan · 22 Oct 2011 at 08:43

If you can afford it, get the LG IPS monitor, great screens for the price

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:11

numatic.nathan said:
If you can afford it, get the LG IPS monitor, great screens for the price

does the LG have a HDMI in connector also...some places say yes and some no??

PCM2 · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:18

toxic said:
Hi..after trolling some through some threads here...im looking for recommendation on choosing a 22-23" LCD for sons computer. Will be used for mostly gaming and web browsing. Maybe some movies also.

Ideally want HDMI and DVI-D connections in so can use with PC and possibly PS3 also without having to switch connectors.

Budget...£150 max (or less)

For around this price im looking at the following...

Iiyama Prolite E2273HDS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-075-IY&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-027-AS&groupid=17&catid=949&subcat=

slightly over budget...but could do if worth it

LG IPS231P-BN
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-099-LG&groupid=17&catid=1425&subcat=

Iiyama Prolite E2473HDS
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-071-IY

What kind of gaming will he be doing? The LG really isn't ideal for faster paced gaming as the pixel responsiveness is poor compared to the 'decent IPS gaming monitors' from the likes of Dell and HP. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20274772&postcount=18

The two Iiyama monitors are good choices for the price but there are a few issues which may or may not be problematic depending on how particular your son is. The 22" version has good contrast performance and colours which are good once tweaked a little - it has well implemented pixel overdrive making it the best choice for gaming out of the models you've been looking at. The 24" Iiyama seems to have better colour balance straight from the box but the overdrive is not very well implemented, leading to noticeable 'reverse ghosting' which could prove even more distracting than the conventional trailing of the LG!

Personally I would recommend a certain Samsung model above any of those for your son's uses but OcUK don't seem to have this one in your price range. Did he have any particular preference on size, himself? The bigger the better perhaps?

P.S. The LG does not have HDMI. Only DVI and VGA but I'm not sure if this will be a problem?

numatic.nathan · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:22

toxic said:
does the LG have a HDMI in connector also...some places say yes and some no??

Sure it only has DVI and VGA.

Would a HDMI to VGA cable work? Can be picked up for a few quid, just unsure if you'd lose quality?

Brumboy · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:50

Try and get a Samsung P2450H second hand? They're awesome!

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:53

PCM2 said:
What kind of gaming will he be doing? The LG really isn't ideal for faster paced gaming as the pixel responsiveness is poor compared to the 'decent IPS gaming monitors' from the likes of Dell and HP. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20274772&postcount=18

The two Iiyama monitors are good choices for the price but there are a few issues which may or may not be problematic depending on how particular your son is. The 22" version has good contrast performance and colours which are good once tweaked a little - it has well implemented pixel overdrive making it the best choice for gaming out of the models you've been looking at. The 24" Iiyama seems to have better colour balance straight from the box but the overdrive is not very well implemented, leading to noticeable 'reverse ghosting' which could prove even more distracting than the conventional trailing of the LG!

Personally I would recommend a certain Samsung model above any of those for your son's uses but OcUK don't seem to have this one in your price range. Did he have any particular preference on size, himself? The bigger the better perhaps?

P.S. The LG does not have HDMI. Only DVI and VGA but I'm not sure if this will be a problem?

Probably FPS and racing games pretty much. He is 13...and this will be his first PC....so i don't think he will notice much to be honest. Think he wil just be overwhelmed at having his own

He and myself have gamed on my PC for years...I have a BenQ FP241W which i have used for at least 4years or so. Was a bit of the dogs danglies at the time when i bought it, but i dare say compared to new technologies...this might be a bit dated now. However, i think its an P-MVA panel (according to TFT)...which at the time people say was more likely to ghost..i don't think Ive seen any at all to be honest

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/benq_fp241w.htm
http://www.trustedreviews.com/BenQ-FP241W-24in-Widescreen-Monitor_Monitor_review

What i don't want to do is buy a screen, look at it and go oh-no...and have to change it in a years time , if you know what I mean. At the same time I don't want to spend too much, PC is already costing me a bit to put together.
Can do bigger as long as its not overly expensive...Samsung yes..any particular model you think. Im open to model suggestions..
Would kinda like to keep within budget if i can.

Cheer for the input.

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 10:43

PCM2....how do you rate the Samsung S24A350H 24" panel mate?

Looking more into this...i see you are a bit of a monitor PRO

PCM2 · 22 Oct 2011 at 11:27

That's very complimentary of you - usually 'PRO' is replaced with 'freak'.

That was the Samsung model I was getting at earlier. I know it is a smidge over your initial budget but I reckon it's worth it. I have some articles on it and a review of its very similar larger sibbling (S27A350H) on my website if you want to take a quick look (link if you click my name). I reckon your son would be very happy with that one - I would have loved something like that when I was 13!

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 11:38

cheers mate...can be had for arround 150 odd...which is pretty good especially of its recommended. Could be a go-er

doesn't have HDMI and DVI though...any idea how the D-dub connection looks when using it? In my experience I always found it looks blurry when compared to DVI.

All the monitors that I was liking the look off, links/reviews always seemed to point in you direction

hence the comment

PCM2 · 22 Oct 2011 at 11:43

If you do settle on the Samsung one thing to remember is that it only comes with a VGA cable. Doubt your son would notice any problem with this but you might want to get a simple HDMI cable if you don't already have one, too. There is a slight bit of 'noise' that you can see if you look closely over VGA but that monitor handles the signal better than most. I know that HDMI is all the rage with the kids at the moment though

.

Edit: Some experience with the BenQ, yes... Not a scratch on the Samsung in my opinion. Colours simply aren't as good no matter what you do and it has some gamma and response time issues too. Most people would be quite content with the BenQ and it's a good deal really, but the Samsung is worth the little extra for the extra performance and build quality.

toxic · 22 Oct 2011 at 11:48

OK cheers...guess you could use HDMI from both the PC and PS3 and just use a HDMI switch to select input instead of changing cable about.

PCM2 · 22 Oct 2011 at 12:31

That is a possibility. You may find the VGA signal works really well so he may be happy just to use that. But if you already have an HDMI switch and it doesn't noticeably affect the signal then that should work too. I haven't had any experience with HDMI switches but being a digital signal you shouldn't have any problems.