Is my gaming being let down by my monitor?

Chris01

Chris01

Chris01

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Hey all!

Ive just built a new rig with a dual core 2.2 @3.1ghz, 2gb Ram, 8800gt.

I currently only have a 4/5 year old TFT Sharp monitor. Is my gaming being let down by this? As i look at the 360 being played in shops and think the textures etc look much nicer on their HD TV's.

Don't get me wrong, the graphics are excellent, but am i being held back? especially on games such as Crysis?

Cheers :)
 
I think you would see a noticeable difference if you bought a new monitor. Colours are more vivid and brighter, better viewing angles, faster response times on screen (less blurring), etc.
 
I've got a 22" Samsung 226BW and a Viewsonic 17" VP171b-2. The Viewsonic is about 4 years old now, whereas the Samsung is months old. Each of them were considered one of THE best monitors in their class when I bought them, and I now run them as a dual setup. It's clear to see that image quality, contrast, brightness, have all improved in panels over the years, the Samsung looks markedly better than the Viewsonic. Are you being held back though? Probably not really, as long as you've set up your monitor correctly with greyscales, colour banding etc. Will things look slightly more vibrant on a newer monitor? Almost definitely, but such is the price of progress.

Looking at it from a slightly different angle, getting the big 22" and going dual has been one of the best computing decisions I've ever made.
 
Last edited:
Makhaira said:
I've got a 22" Samsung 226BW and a Viewsonic 17" VP171b-2. The Viewsonic is about 4 years old now, whereas the Samsung is months old. Each of them were considered one of THE best monitors in their class when I bought them, and I know run them as a dual setup. It's clear to see that image quality, contrast, brightness, have all improved in panels over the years, the Samsung looks markedly better than the Viewsonic. Are you being held back though? Probably not really, as long as you've set up your monitor correctly with greyscales, colour banding etc. Will things look slightly more vibrant on a newer monitor? Almost definitely, but such is the price of progress.

Looking at it from a slightly different angle, getting the big 22" and going dual has been one of the best computing decisions I've ever made.
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aha! exactly what I needed to know :) As I'm looking at upgrading to that particular monitor! :)

What did you really notice when you were gaming? (Just thats what the upgrades for tbh!)

Thanks for your reply :) appreciate it!
 
I don't have a decent digi camera or I'd take a photo.

What did I notice....hmmm....

Horizontal viewing angle is much improved

Screen feels a LOT bigger than the size difference (http://www.k-designs.org.uk/DSC00315.JPG)

The vibrancy of colours is markedly better on the Samsung. This is added to by the custom boosting technologies Samsung use, although generally I have them turned off as they make the screen a bit too garish for my tastes.

No difference in flickering between the 2 - I can't spot any on either panel (The Viewsonic is 8ms), so they're both equally good for gaming in that regard.

Some games support extended fields of view with widescreen, TF2 is a good example, so you get that benefit with the 22" widescreen.

Erm, I'm not sure what else to say, ask away if you've got any questions. I'd STRONGLY advise you to keep your original monitor, as duals are absolutely fantastic, and you won't look back.
 
thanks man :) I'm definitely gonna go ahead and purchase this beast! Looks really awesome and I can see gaming being much improved! :)

And I most certainly are taking your advice on dual monitors ;)! Looks so good how you can be gaming while msn'ing your friends etc!

Cheers buddy :)
 
Sure dual monitors are good, but extra electric always worries me lol, I am running duals at the moment, proberbly going to go back to one, done it many times. Only thing my second monitor gets used for is radio, msn and newsleecher.

You cant game and msn your friends without minimizing the game, as that would be what happenes anyway if you wanted to move the arrow onto the second monitor.
 
When i bought an HP w2207 monitor last year it was probably the best purchase i ever made. Id been gaming on a crap 17" crt for so long. New screen with widescreen and vivid colours makes the experience much better.

I recommend HP screens actually, they are gorgeous and come with stands on them that most other monitors in the price range wouldnt match
 
willhub said:
Sure dual monitors are good, but extra electric always worries me lol, I am running duals at the moment, proberbly going to go back to one, done it many times. Only thing my second monitor gets used for is radio, msn and newsleecher.

You cant game and msn your friends without minimizing the game, as that would be what happenes anyway if you wanted to move the arrow onto the second monitor.
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Unless you play the game in windowed mode.
 
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