monitor dilema

[bru]

OK Ive currently got a OCUK 24" 1920 * 1200 monitor (one of many who got one in this thread) but now it has begun playing up.
it doesn't come on when you turn on the computer on, it will display the the red box that normally says "no connection" for half a second then it goes blank, it repeats this for about an hour then eventually springs into life and works fine as long as you don't let it go into sleep mode or any other mode that turns of the monitor.

So obviously it looks like it needs replacing, but the issue come to with what.
Now only a couple of weeks back my wifes 19" OCUK 1680 *1050 monitor packed up but that one fortunately was under warranty, anyway Ive replaced it while we wait for DGM to fix it with a nice cheap one of these and while the wife is over the moon with her upgrade and my son (hes on a 17" 1280 * 1024) is looking forward to getting the 1680 *1050 for himself when it comes back fixed.

So I would like to replace it with something of at least the same resolution, but 1080 seems to be all the rage, and now everybody says how good 120Hz is. Of course 1920 *1200 monitors don't come cheap, so looking in that price bracket Ive got it down to a short list of these.

Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Midnight Grey [U2412M] £239.99 inc VAT

Hanns.G HZ281HPB 27.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black [HZ281HPB] £199.99 inc VAT

Samsung S23A700D 23" 120Hz 3D Widescreen Gaming Monitor - Black [LS23A700DS/EN] £203.99 inc VAT

or of course just to keep the missus happy one of these
OcUK 2436VWA 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black [2436Vwa] £113.99 inc VAT

the rest of my machine is
Intel i7 920@4GHz
8GB ram
Nvidia GTX 470@800Mhz
Intel 80Gb SSD

Games I'm currently playing.

WOW
Diablo 3

I don't really play any FPS anymore although I used too and I'm sure I would again if the right one came along, I am normally happy with cranking the details up as long as I keep the frame rates above 40 fps, and using Vsync to keep the 470 from working too hard to keep the noise and temps down. So at 120Hz the 470 would be working harder in low intensity scenes (not capped at 60fps) therefore increasing noise and temps. I'm not really fussed about 3d, as I'm a glasses wearer anyway and wearing two sets of specs just seems odd.

hopefully this has made some sort of sense and somebody out there will come up with a good reason to go for one monitor over the others, there are no other upgrades on the horizon for the foreseeable future.

 

[Diggsy]

it will display the the red box that normally says "no connection" for half a second then it goes blank, it repeats this for about an hour then eventually springs into life and works fine as long as you don't let it go into sleep mode or any other mode that turns of the monitor.

These symptoms are almost definitely that of failing capacitors. If you can, crack open the back of that unit and look at the caps on the PSU. They are likely to be bulging/leaking and if so, this is a very easy fix with some good quality high temp/low esr Panasonic/Nichicon caps.

It sounds like the exact symptoms the Samsung SM206BW and SM226BW failed with and it was dodgy caps used there.

 

[bru]

I might have a look at it after I get a new one, but I have decided to get a new monitor for myself I just don't know which way to go.

 

[Nightglow]

Samsung S23A700D 23" 120Hz 3D would be my first choice.

Don't forget Sammy has the Zero Dead Pixel Guarantee.

 

[bru]

Samsung S23A700D 23" 120Hz 3D would be my first choice.

Don't forget Sammy has the Zero Dead Pixel Guarantee.

So that would be going down in resolution and down in screen size all with the GTX470 not really having the horsepower to run games at anything near 120 fps, I'm really not convinced that is the best option.

 

[Mercurial]

I can only post about the 2412M.

I have tried many LCD monitors in the past but have always ended up relying upon a 2001 era Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u CRT as my main display.

The 2412M has finally replaced the CRT as my main monitor.

It has very nice image quality compared to other TN/IPS monitors I have had and apart from a little IPS glow when viewed off centre is a nice even display.

Its significantly cheaper than the last 24" 1920x1200 display I tried a few years ago (a HP ZR24W which cost close to £360) and knocks the spots off that.

As for gaming I've been playing Diablo 3 and Arma2 recently and it seems to handle that fine, no noticable smearing (to my eyes at least).

Hope that helps.

PS. If you do get one it does need adjusting out of the box. I use;

Brightness 45
Contrast 75
Sharpness 50
Gamma PC
Aspect 16:10
R 97
G 92
B 94