Considering a 24" monitor

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
160,171
Hi guys,

I'm thinking about upgrading to a 24" monitor. I currently have a 22" Iiyama 2201 which to be honest I really like and have very few problems with.

The problem is I've now got a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and I cannot connect them both at the same time, so something with HDMI inputs would be far more convenient to me.

I was therefore considering taking the opportunity to upgrade to a 24" screen, whilst gaining the HDMI connectivity I'm after. This brings with it two questions:

a) Am I going to have problems running my games at nice settings with the larger resolution a 24" monitor brings? I currently have a GTX280 and I'll be running a Sandy Bridge i5 2500K. At the moment, with a Q6600, the video performance @ 1680x1050 is excellent. Will moving up to 1920x1080 require a new video card?

b) Assuming I do decide to go ahead - where should I be looking? I'm drawn to Iiyama as I've owned Iiyama screens for years without any problems, but I could move away if something better exists elsewhere. Is LED worth it?

I need HDMI, DVI, VGA and if possibly an easily accessible button to swap between them.

Budget? No idea what i need to spend but I've noticed a lot of monitors around the £160-£200 mark so I guess thats where I'd rather go. Would I be better off with another 22"?

Thanks!
 
I can't answer question A) but if you find that you need more HDMI ports then I recommend a HDMI switch. It will automatically detect which ever is on and will switch to that. Or you can just override it with a manual switch. It's tiny and self powered.

I just bought one recently to connect my ps3 to my monitor as I don't have HDMI ports (using DVI-HDMI). So basically you can connect all 3 simultaneously via HDMI/DVI, no need to use VGA for your 360!. The HDMI switch cost me about £6ish.
 
I've just recently bought an LED monitor myself only noticeable thing is the contrast ratio. The darks look black rather than grey and the whites are super bright.

As for your video performance it would really depend on what games your playing. Although I can't see it being much of a problem.

EDIT: Oh also another irrelevant point but LED monitors are extremely thin and light. Mine weights about 2kg and is no more than 15mm thick.
 
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The difference between 1680x1050 and 1920x1080 in most benchmarks if you look at reviews just tends to be a few FPS at most, I doubt you'll need to upgrade your GPU.
 
[TW]Fox;18174842 said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-067-IY&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Whats the catch?
Click to expand...

I bought a new monitor just before Christmas. I originally had a similar budget but I found any screen I choose within the £100-200 budget meant making a compromise for my needs. In the end I went with the Dell U2311H - it has lots of connectivity options and is a very good display. I looked at the Iiyama and all of them got poor reviews and I'd stay away.
 
shine said:
I bought a new monitor just before Christmas. I originally had a similar budget but I found any screen I choose within the £100-200 budget meant making a compromise for my needs. In the end I went with the Dell U2311H - it has lots of connectivity options and is a very good display. I looked at the Iiyama and all of them got poor reviews and I'd stay away.
Click to expand...

the reviews I looked at the Iiyama's have been nearly all good and they take some beating for the money.
 
To answer your question about how games will run I've currently got a Q6600 and a GTX280 pushing 1920x1200.

BC2 I run on the highest setting with no AA I get some chugging on 32 player servers with some maps, but to me its playable for the most part.
GTA4 runs fine on a decent setting, easily better looking than on a console.

The new processor you're getting with probably give you more of a gain in GTA than BC2.

As for what monitor to buy I've got a Dell 2407-HC, the newer version of this (U2410) would take component, HDMI and DVI. If its anything like mine I couldn't recommend it enough however it is over twice your budget.
 
I can also answer your question about games running on the higher resolution since I have a GTX 280 and a 1920 x 1200 resolution monitor.

With BFBC2, you wont notice much difference at all since the game engine utilises the CPU extremely well and the GTX 280 is still good for that resolution increase, it might perform better in fact at that higher res (Nvidia drivers for BC2 are amazing). Just a slight note, if you're playing online with any margin of competitiveness, you shouldn't be using top graphics anyway (that's a different topic though), I currently run with most shadows, trees and effects on "low" but with details set to high to avoid it looking like lego.

Can't recommend you a monitor because it'll be biased towards Dell since I have the U2410 and the 2407-HC, but all I can say is that they're awesome pieces of kit.

Edit: Just noticed how similar I am to the post above me, high 5.
 
So what exactly does the Dell offer over the cheaper Iiyamas thats worth twice the price?

My E2201 is brilliant - I am hugely happy with it. It just has no HDMI..
 
the Dell is an IPS panel, not the cheaper TN type.

I have the earlier model (Dell 2408) and its has card readers, 4 USB ports, DP, DVI, VGA, HDMI, component, S-video and composite.

Basically, better panel and lots of features.
 
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But if I don't notice whatever is supposed to be wrong with cheaper TN panels it would seem a bit pointless to spend the extra?
 
I would seriously try to avoid a TN panel - i havent used any of the newer ones but from my experience the colour reproduction and viewing angles are not very good. i moved from an old 19" TN panel to a PVA panel about 3 years ago and the difference was remarkable. The colours were much richer, viewing angles were a million times better. My brothers dell 2407 which uses the same panel still takes some beating. I have used some HP IPS panels at work and these are even better -admittedly they are more expensive but considering you look at the screen ALL the time, why not treat your eyes to the best picture possible?

I liken it to cars - you spend most of your time in the car so a nice, comfortable interior and ride is way more important than what the car looks like! (crap analogy but you get my point!)
 
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franco_22 said:
Alternatively you could go with the U2311H which is £250, if these guys manage to convince you going for a IPS panel.

If you don't want to spend that much money thou I made a thread similar to this and people seem to recommend this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-090-LG&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
Click to expand...

5ms response time though, is that not as important as people say? My current Iiyama is 2ms.

I wish I could just stick a HDMI port on the side of this Iiyama, I really like it :(
 
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