24" - stretched display and performance concerns

Ben909 · 12 Jun 2007 at 23:30

I'm considering buying either a Samsung 24" SM-245B or a Dell 24" 2407WFP. I've got a few main concerns though (mostly around gaming), which despite searching, I can't find mention of anywhere. I'll try to explain...

I currently have a 17" non-widescreen TFT with a max resolution of 1280 x 1024. My PC is high-spec including an NVidia 8800GTX. Games obviously look great at the moment.

1. I'm assuming a widescreen aspect will stretch games horizontally, unless the game actually supports a widescreen aspect. But, what if a game simply looks 'wrong' when stretched? Is there a way of forcing a 'traditional' aspect ratio? I'm picturing two vertical black bands either side of the screen, with a 4:3 game display in the middle. This is probably a silly question really, and people with widescreens are probably wondering 'What is he thinking?', but having no experience of widescreen gaming, this has been one of my concerns. I guess running the game in windowed mode would be a good solution, but only with games that support that.

2. I've seen a pretty cool benchmark tool which seems to illustrate that when playing games at the native resolutions of these two monitors, my FPS could well drop by 30% over what I currently experience. Presumably on an even bigger screen, the FPS drop will be even more noticeable too. I'm hoping that the 8800GTX will make this something of a non-issue at the moment, but doesn't such a large screen effectively 'age' the graphics card more quickly? That in itself doesn't particularly concern me, depending on the answer to the first question. i.e if I find performance drops to be too great in the native widescreen resolution, I think it would be great to switch to say, 1600 x 1200 or less, with the hypothetical vertical black bands I described above.

3. Also, I've not been able to determine whether both of these monitors feature picture-in-picture. It's something I know exists on another Samsung 24" and I'd really like to have that.

I know it may seem like I'd actually be better suited to a non-widescreen monitor, but I do use the PC for much more than gaming... it's just that I have no concerns at all about these monitors for everything else

Besides, it's not like I'd prefer not to play in widescreen - it's just that I'd like the ability to switch if performance degrades too much, or if things look strange when stretched.

Thanks for any advice you can offer... this is the one thing that's holding me back from buying the Dell or pre-ordering the Samsung (incidentally, it would be great to hear from people who favour one over the other, and why).

g0th2000 · 13 Jun 2007 at 06:12

1. The nvidia drivers allow you to choose to stretch or maintain the aspect ratio and have the black bars, look in the LCD scaling section of the nvidia control panel, if you didn't have an nvidia card you'd be in the hands of what the monitor supports scaling wise, but with nvidia you're sorted. Most games from the last couple of years support widescreen modes anyway.

2. With a GTX you won't have any trouble running at 1920x1200 all day long, unless you go really wild with the quality settings

.

3. The Dell has PiP and I've never used it, it's er, not really that useful

Ben909 · 13 Jun 2007 at 07:45

Thank for the response

I think answers 1 and 2 are just what I needed to hear. I do intend to whack all the graphics settings up on all games (that's why I got the GTX), but if/when it becomes noticeable to performance, it seems I have the option to introduce the vertical black bars to revert to a normal aspect. In fact, having looked at the Nvidia options, it seems I can even have black bands at the top and bottom too if need be (although this would seem a bit silly on a big monitor!)

I think the only thing I need to find out now is whether that Samsung monitor supports PiP or not. (I'd use it to display a TV signal).

fish99 · 13 Jun 2007 at 15:00

The screen has it's own 4:3 mode through the OSD menus.

Also if you do find a game is too slow in 1920*1200 you can just drop down to 1680*1050, 1440*900 or even 1280*800 (all stretched to fill the screen) and it will look ok, a little softer than native res, but fine for gaming. I've played plenty of games in 1280*800 on my 2007WFP (1680*1050 native res) and it looks fine, and I would notice if it didn't.

The Dell PVA is a better panel than the TN+Film in the samsung btw. The Dell will give you much better viewing angles, better colours, plus it has the extra inputs. Don't pay too much attention to the high contrast ratio on the samsung btw, they're just quoting a different measurement. The 'static' contrast ratio of both panels is 1000:1 IIRC.

Ben909 · 13 Jun 2007 at 23:04

Thank you fish99

Presumably the comment about the screen having its own 4:3 mode applied to both the Dell and the Samsung?

I've today seen a different model 24" Samsung with an Nvidia card, so I have had the opportunity to test out what g0th2000 was talking about, and I think it suits my needs perfectly (assuming Nvidia never remove that scaling feature from their drivers). Built in 4:3 mode in the monitor would be a welcome bonus for me.

I appreciate the opinion on the Dell being better than the Samsung. I'm very much open to be swayed by other people's opinions, especially when they clearly know more about what they're about than I do. But is it better enough to justify the extra cost? I'm yet to actually find much in the way of opinion/review of the new Samsung.. I assume nobody's actually had chance to use one yet? (going on the basis that it's still on pre-order only at OC).

I spotted an obvious but fatal flaw in my plans for the picture-in-picture function... sound! lol. I intended to use a TV signal as a secondary input (thus making the tv card in the PC redundant - Vista doesn't like it very much), but I hadn't even considered that there'd be no sound! Oh well, PiP would have just been a bonus I suppose.

Thanks again for the advice. You've helped me commit to definitely going for a 24". It's just a case of which now.

fish99 · 14 Jun 2007 at 14:29

Ben909 said:
Presumably the comment about the screen having its own 4:3 mode applied to both the Dell and the Samsung?

No idea if the Samsung has a 4:3 mode, but the Dell definitely does. As for sound you can get a soundbar for the Dell, which clips onto the bottom of the screen.

I personally think the Dell is worth the extra money, especially at the prices I've seen it available for. The LG L245WP is another one to have a look at with it's MVA panel. I would always advise against a TN+Film panel since I hated the two I owned. The vertical viewing angles of TN+Film mean you get a colour gradient from the top to the bottom of the screen on what should be the same colour, and you see colour shift every time your head moves vertically. For me that's too much of a compromise on a £380 screen. I could accept it on a £200 22" screen cause you're getting a lot for your money, but the Sammy is £180 more for an extra 2" and the extra resolution, but no extra quality.

Ben909 · 14 Jun 2007 at 17:10

Thanks again

I've taken the plunge and ordered the 24" Dell from OC, which I'm expecting to receive tomorrow... can't wait!

That 'soundbar' sounds interesting. It's not something I'd want on the monitor permanently (I haven't seen it, but it must surely spoil the good looks of the monitor somewhat) but it would solve the PiP issue.