Dell Monitors - which one should i get (for gaming)?!

ilovesfa13

ilovesfa13

ilovesfa13

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Hi all, thanks in advance for any advice, i really need some! Any input would be extremely appreciated.

I'm going round in circles figuring out which monitor i want, but basically decided on Dell as a brand (for now). I'm currently on a 19" Philips TN monitor connected through VGA which is about 4 years old.

I would like;

- 22"/23" size - I've seen these sizes in shops and they are plenty big enough for me.
- To be really great for gaming and just give really great, sharp vibrant image quality. I do absolutely zero photo/video editting.
- HD compatible
- The cheaper the better, i'm not wealthy and do not want to spend more than £250.

Also;
- Viewing angles are not a concern. It's just me, in my room, on a small desk!
- Wall mountable would be nice, but not essential.
- I'm not really after any speakers or added features.
- I don't have a blu-ray drive (so HD movies aren't so much of a priority i guess) and will be running the monitor off 2 GTx280s in SLI, so will be running off DVI.
- It is solely for dedicated PC use, no consoles will be plugged in. Gaming, web-browsing, and a bit of movie watching being the main uses.

From what i gather, the e-IPS panel will absolutely outclass the TN panel anyday...right?
Would an IPS panel connected in DVI be much better in image quality than a high-spec TN connected in HDMI?
Should i be paying more attention to a 3D monitor with 120hz refresh rate instead, for smootheness in gaming? (I have no actual plans to switch to 3D, however)

I anticipate people will recommend the Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA!
I have been giving some consideration to the Dell SP2309W also though.

What do you guys think? Anyone have anything specific in mind they can suggest? Also, it does not have to be a Dell, feel free to mention any brand if you think it is better for gaming than a Dell Ultrasharp!!

Kind regards
 
I was giving serious thought to that monitor also, was one i originally had my heart on. The specs are very impressive and the sheer amount of great reviews seriously tempted me, especially at that price!! Plus it is 24" as well which is crazy and has the DVI and also the VESA mount going for it. I know that this is the one a lot of magazines have been recommending and putting on their A-lists.
The BenQ is still very much a contender for me at this point, i'm just keeping my options open =) The e-IPS vs TN is still a concern for me.
 
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I would go for the Dell 2209WA. It seems a brilliant monitor for the price. If you get an IPS panel you won't want to go back to TN.

Also, it may also be worth looking at used Dell 2407WFP and 2408WFP monitors, if you're prepared to look for second hand monitors. They're superb monitors and have PVA panels with 1920x1200 resolution. You could get one within £250, espcially the 2407WFP, which you could get for quite a bit less than your budget.
 
"Gaming, web-browsing, and a bit of movie watching being the main uses."
"Viewing angles are not a concern. It's just me, in my room, on a small desk!"
"The cheaper the better, i'm not wealthy and do not want to spend more than £250."

...Then forget IPS panels. Go for the BenQ you had your heart set on originally.
 
Hey guys, OP here =)

Thank you very much for all the swift responses, it's much appreciated and all your input and advice is very much appreciated. It's making a big impact about my feelings about it all!

@Derek W - Went for the 2209WA eh?! Do you have much of an issue with weak contrast or the pink/green colour hues i hear about?

@Dazza_Random - Good shout on the U2410 as it is one which i have seen and read about and, in an ideal world, i would most likely go for. But i simply cannot stretch to that price =(

@matkeys - exactly, point made =)

@lcg - yeah, i hear a LOT of people saying that after IPS people simply can't settle for less afterwards. Thank you for the shout on the 2408WFP, it looks spectacular and pretty much all i could ask for...a PVA panel as well which truly is impressive. I found a 2407WGP going within my budget which is incredible considering its original £800 price tag. I will be considering these monitors also, with 08' model being a pretty best-case scenario. Have you much experience with PVA panels? Is their quality that impressive, especially when gaming?

@PCM2 - you raise an important point here which, i think, is ultimately the question here. TN vs IPS for gaming. The question, potentially, might also be TN vs PVA for gaming. I am quite prepared to follow your advice here PCM2 and get the BenQ, but i would ask have you personally experienced the difference between a TN panel and an IPS panel when it comes to gaming to testify the difference in quality? What would you say the reasons are to go for the BenQ? Are IPS panels in fact inferior when it comes to gaming? I do not doubt your knowledge at all, i just need to get spoon fed the facts because i'm still learning =)

I'm very interested to hear all your thoughts on this!

Thanks again guys, lifesavers!
 
I have used a large number of different panels including IPS, PVA, CRT, TN and even OLED. The reason I would advise against IPS panels is not necessarily that they are much worse for gaming. If you are particularly sensitive to ghosting and response times then you may have some issues, but they are fairly minor issues for Dell's IPS screens. The reason is that, for gaming, a good and bright TN panel will offer you a fantastic experience at a much lower price.

I would never recommend a TN panel for professional use and I would never recommend an IPS over a good TN panel for gaming regardless of budget.
 
On a technical level - I completely agree with PCM2 - for your uses most of the benefits of an IPS (wide viewing angles, colour accuracy) will not matter much to you and the benefits of a TN will (low input lag, low response times, more screen area for your money).

However, even with all these things in mind - I'm using a PVA monitor and I will never go back to a TN, even though I mainly use it for gaming. The same is true for my flatmate who recently bought a cut-price 2209WA. The image quality is simply superior - and the thing about viewing angles is not only an issue when you are looking at the monitor from some crazy angle - with a TN the colours will shift even when you move your head a little. This video gives a nice demonstration of viewing angles.

As well as viewing angles - IPS technology uses true 8 bit panels, the majority of TN panels use 6 bit panels and achieve the same number of colours using sub-pixel tricks like dithering. Suffice to say - the colours on an IPS screen look much better. This is not only evident in photoshop - but it brings added beauty to games. For these reasons, I will not be going back to TN panels for my primary monitor.

However, with your budget you can afford a 120Hz TN "gaming screen" like this or this. These are the ones that can do 3D, but if you run them in 2D mode then they are VERY smooth and provide an excellent gaming experience similar to a good CRT. Therefore, if you are heavily into fast-paced competetive FPS games - then a monitor like this would be useful, but you wouldn't get any of the advantages an IPS screen brings.

One thing that may be useful would be to go to a shop that sells both Apple computers and PCs. The vast majority of PCs sold in these shops use TN panels, but the new apple iMacs use IPS screens. You could compare them directly there (though likely not in games) and get a feel for the differences.
 
I have to say that I haven't actually used the BenQ G2420HDBL. I am currently reviewing the Samsung XL2370 (again), which is a TN panel. The experience that it gives in games is simply phenominal - and at times the colour reproduction in such applications makes you forget it's a TN panel. This is also the best implementation of LED backlighting I've seen in any monitor and the purity of whites is every bit as good as Apple's IPS LED Cinema Displays (lovely panels BTW).

The XL2370 is a bit beyond your budget and I do agree that it is rather expensive for a TN panel, but if the BenQ gives an experience that's nearly as good I think it will be perfect for your uses. We will have a full and comprehensive review on our website by the end of the week and I will be looking at several aspects of image quality on a variety of games, movies and other applications. In the meantime I do suggest you check out Apple's LED cinema displays, if you can.
 
Very interesting comments guys, again, thank you!

It is true, i have no professional uses for a monitor at all - no photo editing, no video editing, no technical graphical design or anything like that. Arguably, then, an IPS would be fairly wasted on me? It would seem that there isn't much an IPS could specifically do for me as opposed to a very good TN.

Let's not forget that i would still like a display that, in a general everyday sense, provides beautiful images and makes things very sharp, image quality is pretty much the bottom line. But i'd have to be honest with myself that when i have my future monitor and i'm tucking into an atmospheric session of Metro 2033 or Batman or Company of Heroes or WoW etc, i will want to feel that i have a monitor that's pretty much the best out there that i could ask for at dazzling me on these occasions (within the price bracket of course!).

You guys have done a good job of considering the things i mentioned in my opening post, and am feeling progressively more humbled into a decent TN but i'm still unsure. The IPS has undeniable strengths.
Thanks for that video link, i watched that one and some others which were very useful. The strength of the colours in IPS monitors are very impressive, and it is very much a big factor along with contrast etc. I would definitely want a TN that manages to excel at these things should i choose to go for one. I'd probably experience and enjoy the better response rates on TN panels as well.

I'll keep the Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA as a potential choice if i take the IPS road (although i don't know what this 1:1 scaling issue is about that i keep reading for it).

The 3D monitor route is still tempting, simply for the 120hz smoothness and potential future possibility of 3D. Whether or not the high refresh rate is worth it or not though is the issue with these.

Does anyone have any high quality TN panel recommendations besides the BenQ G2420HDBL?!
 
If you are prepared to pay for it and are happy with 1680x1050 resolution the Samsung 2233rz (120Hz) is simply superb for gaming. There is some dithering if you compare it to a true 8bit panel but nothing that would bother you unless you were doing serious image editing. With calibration the colors, clarity and sharpness are excellent and the display has very low residual image problems (the real bane of gaming) and very responsive.

For reference I'm using these settings - which are advised elsewhere and also match the spyder 3 results for my panel so probably work for most people:

Brightness: 23
Contrast: 75
Red: 48
Green: 35
Blue: 41

and sharpness: 40

If you want to emulate a CRT type look turn the brightness upto around 40 and sharpness 60 :D
 
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Problem with buying IPS, etc. for gaming... you really really have to do your research. You could easily end up with something that you find has noticeable residual images or nasty input lag... and someone sayings its fine for gaming might not be a good indication as they might only use it for playing wow and if you play say counter strike its a whole different story.
 
Sorry to thread jack. but this is on topic and the OP has his conclusion lol. but basically iv been looking into some screens and was wondering thoughts on these 3:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-050-AC&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-005-HP&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-036-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

i really like the look of the acer LED screen but is it any good? primary use will be for gaming. probably will go eyefinity too. but thats at a later date.

oh and the thing that puts me right off the LED screen is the connectors. as i eventually want to go eyefinity i would kinda like a displayport screen of good quality that i will enjoy staring at for far too many hours of the day :P
 
ilovesfa13 said:
@lcg - yeah, i hear a LOT of people saying that after IPS people simply can't settle for less afterwards. Thank you for the shout on the 2408WFP, it looks spectacular and pretty much all i could ask for...a PVA panel as well which truly is impressive. I found a 2407WGP going within my budget which is incredible considering its original £800 price tag. I will be considering these monitors also, with 08' model being a pretty best-case scenario. Have you much experience with PVA panels? Is their quality that impressive, especially when gaming?
Click to expand...
In April I bought a second hand 2407WFP A04 as an upgrade from my 2007WFP A04 (IPS). I've played some games on it such as GTA IV and CS:S, and it performs very well with no lag. According to Dell, the response time is 6ms on the 2407WFP, so it has a response time typical of TN panels, whereas the response time on the 2007WFP is 16ms. Gaming on my 2007WFP is really good too, even though the response time might indicate otherwise. I don't notice any input lag on it either.

As others have said, a very good TN panel will suit your needs, and I'm sure you'll be happy with one. As Rroff has said, if you get an IPS panel it might have input lag, and be bad for gaming. However, in my experience, my 2007WFP has been a great IPS panel and it's shown no problems for gaming.
 
jakspyder said:
Sorry to thread jack. but this is on topic and the OP has his conclusion lol. but basically iv been looking into some screens and was wondering thoughts on these 3:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=mo-050-ac&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=mo-005-hp&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=mo-036-de&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

i really like the look of the acer led screen but is it any good? primary use will be for gaming. probably will go eyefinity too. but thats at a later date.

oh and the thing that puts me right off the led screen is the connectors. as i eventually want to go eyefinity i would kinda like a displayport screen of good quality that i will enjoy staring at for far too many hours of the day :p
Click to expand...

are you aware that the acer is just a tn lcd with an led backlight, so in terms of image quality it will be a fair bit worse than the two ips lcds you also post. also, according to this review the overdrive has been set too agressively and reverse ghosting is exhibited.

If you want an IPS, displayport screen - the HP you link to is a good bit of kit (here is a review). The new Dell U2311H may also be of interest to you - but I suggest waiting for some in-depth reviews to come out which assess how it handles fast-paced games.
 
i was not aware of that cmndr. shame because i liked the look of it a lot. but cheers for the heads up. will look into that dell and check that review. thanks.

are there any other screens worth looking at?
 
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