24" Gaming TFT... Sorry but i'm a TFT n00b...

[Legless]

Looking for an awesome gaming 24" TFT for fast action games (UT3/COD4/TF2 etc), to go with the new system i've built in my sig...

I'm a complete n00b when it comes to TFT's, i'm still on a 17" CRT, so i didn't wanna trawl through hundreds of threads trying to find what i was looking for (sorry for being lazy, but i'm desperate to get a 24"er quickly)...

I've heard a lot of problems with things like ghosting and lag, which i'm sure would effect fast action games, especially online... These have always been terms that have put me off buying a TFT, but i feel the time has come to move on...

So, whats the best 24" TFT for gaming, price range upto £450 (maybe a touch more at a push), although the less the better, then i've got more beer money left...

Noticed the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" is on THIS WEEK ONLY... Is this any good for gaming... As stated, it must be GOOD for fast action games...

Sorry for the long post... Any help much appreciated...

 

[Kalpsn2000]

That's a nice rig mate

You would be looking to get a TN panel as they have the quickest response time.

Iirc the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" has a VA panel.

I don't have any experience of TN panels to recommend any, (I have just received the OcUK VA panel), but I am sure the wealth of knowledge on the OcUK forums will oblige.

 

[DrBombcrater]

The 2408WFP may not be a great choice for fast shooters because it has an S-PVA panel that suffers from very high input lag (ie, what you see on the screen is delayed by a fraction of a second). It's also a high-gamut monitor so colours in games don't come out quite the way they should.

A lot of gamers prefer TN based monitors like the Hyundai W240D because they have low input lag and good response times, but TNs have relativley poor image quality so you're making a big sacrifice.

To be honest, I think the best gaming 24" around right now is the MVA version of the OcUK Value 24". It has almost no input lag, fast response times, and because it's a VA panel the image quality is very good too. Unfortunately if you buy an OcUK you're not guaranteed to get the MVA version. A small percentage of them have S-PVA panels, which have stunning image quality but high input lag (not quite as bad as the Dell, but still significant). I play UT3 and Half-life on an S-PVA panel and I don't even see the lag, but it does drive some people completely bonkers.

 

[mrbios]

A lot of gamers prefer TN based monitors like the Hyundai W240D because they have low input lag and good response times, but TNs have relativley poor image quality so you're making a big sacrifice.

While what DrBombcrater says is true (at least i assume so) if you have never used a TFT screen with anything other than a TN panel before then you wont notice the worse colours of a TN panel

Having only ever used 2 TFTs myself, both being TN screens, when i bought my Hyundai W240D i was absolutely gobsmacked at the quality, though im sure for someone on a PVA/IPS panel it may seem like a bit of a downgrade in quality, can highly recommend the W240D as a gaming screen, im a very FPS focused gamer and love to watch movies on it too, it took me about 4months to choose what screen to buy and i just dove in with this one in the end, defintely recommend it

 

[philjohn]

Remember also that whilst TN's are only 6bpp, leaving you with around 255,000 colours they use clever tricks like FRC to dither up to 16.2 million. Whilst that will never be good enough for colour critical work a TN is really the only sane choice if you are a twitch shooter player that is used to a CRT screen.

I used a TN for a couple of years before I got the Hazro S-IPS screen I use currently and apart from the viewing angle issue (not an issue when looking dead on - just don't slouch!) the picture quality was acceptable for the price I paid.

 

[DrBombcrater]

... a TN is really the only sane choice if you are a twitch shooter player that is used to a CRT screen.

Most VA panels (excluding S-PVA) are now comparable to overdriven TNs in terms of lag and response time. TN isn't the only choice for games, it's just the easiest one because TN monitors are everywhere now while getting a suitable VA takes a bit of digging around.

On the TN image quality issue, I think it's very much personal preference. Lots of people aren't very demanding about that and provided the the thing doesn't lag or ghost are quite happy (as shown by the high sales of TNs these days). But I do wonder how people put up with the viewing angle problems on large (22"+) TN panels. Any brand new monitor that can't even show a screen full of solid colour without all sorts of gradient and colour shift effects is kind of crazy in my book.