Hi - new forum member here with another of those requests for help with a choice of new monitor.
My faithful Iiyama 21" CRT is finally beginning to fade - after 6 years I think that's more that fair enough! Don't think its just going to die abruptly - it will probably just get darker and darker until its unusable (this happened with my previous Iiyama CRT after several years) so I may have a few months before I have to buy a replacement - so fingers crossed no rush.
I use my PC fairly equally between gaming and browsing/reading - I don't do anything serious like photo or video work. I do some FPS gaming - but not competitive; only coop e.g. as found in CODMW2. I also like RTS, driving games, MMO - come to think of it I go through intensive phases of playing most genres, so the monitor would have to be happy gaming all round.
I have done quite a lot of online research and think that in an ideal world, I would like a good 27" 120Hz monitor. However my wallet won't stretch to this - my budget is approx £300.
As far as I can tell this means going for a 24" 120Hz or a 27" 60Hz. 24" is my minimum size as I don't want to lose vertical desktop size compared to my current 4:3 setup.
As you can tell, once I buy something I stick with it, so I really want to get this right as I can for the current monitor situation. I won't be buying a new improved solution for a few years after this purchase.
So my questions re both types of monitor are:
27"
1) I'd guess my budget means a TN panel. I thought I was happy with this till I saw people refer to the image being "off" at the periphery of view even sitting directly in front of the monitor? (I sit about 2 feet away from the screen). Is this typically true? - coming from a CRT the concept is worrying...
2) Does a 27" monitor at 1080 seem ok text-wise? Just wondering as its the same res as the 24 screens I've been looking at
3) This one is really subjective .... everytime I have bought a bigger monitor or TV, Ive gone wow. This lasts for about 10 days lol. After that I see the screen as normal - great and all - but "normal" size. Do you 27" owners still go "wow" after acclimatising?
24"
The only reason I am considering this size is the possiblity of nvidia 3D with 120 Hz. I don't think my current PC is up to it - it too is quite old - though it was on the NVidia 3D compatabilty list about a year ago - but no longer! (AMD 4800+ on XP with a 9800GT). I will almost certainly get a new pc in the next 18 months (recession willing..) so am thinking I will be niggled if
I can't try out the 3D stuff when that happens.
So the questions here are:
1) Is 3d really worth investing in? Is it an amazing novelty or is it really the way to go for the daily gamer's needs??
2) Can you play for long without side effects (headaches, eye weariness or whatever?)
3) Is it worth waiting for a larger range of lightboost monitors to come out or are last years models of 120hz basically ok?
4) Really confused about the BENQ 2410XT - there seems to be polarised opinion on it. Was it bad but the new iterations are ok now?
Anyay, Sorry about the long post - thanks for sticking with it! And thanks in advance for your feedback.
So what do you veterans reckon? Does 3D cut it? Or would you rather stick with a huge non-3d 27"? What are your best buys if you lean in one direction or the other? Please help this CRT dinosaur come into the modern age
Cheers!
My faithful Iiyama 21" CRT is finally beginning to fade - after 6 years I think that's more that fair enough! Don't think its just going to die abruptly - it will probably just get darker and darker until its unusable (this happened with my previous Iiyama CRT after several years) so I may have a few months before I have to buy a replacement - so fingers crossed no rush.
I use my PC fairly equally between gaming and browsing/reading - I don't do anything serious like photo or video work. I do some FPS gaming - but not competitive; only coop e.g. as found in CODMW2. I also like RTS, driving games, MMO - come to think of it I go through intensive phases of playing most genres, so the monitor would have to be happy gaming all round.
I have done quite a lot of online research and think that in an ideal world, I would like a good 27" 120Hz monitor. However my wallet won't stretch to this - my budget is approx £300.
As far as I can tell this means going for a 24" 120Hz or a 27" 60Hz. 24" is my minimum size as I don't want to lose vertical desktop size compared to my current 4:3 setup.
As you can tell, once I buy something I stick with it, so I really want to get this right as I can for the current monitor situation. I won't be buying a new improved solution for a few years after this purchase.
So my questions re both types of monitor are:
27"
1) I'd guess my budget means a TN panel. I thought I was happy with this till I saw people refer to the image being "off" at the periphery of view even sitting directly in front of the monitor? (I sit about 2 feet away from the screen). Is this typically true? - coming from a CRT the concept is worrying...
2) Does a 27" monitor at 1080 seem ok text-wise? Just wondering as its the same res as the 24 screens I've been looking at
3) This one is really subjective .... everytime I have bought a bigger monitor or TV, Ive gone wow. This lasts for about 10 days lol. After that I see the screen as normal - great and all - but "normal" size. Do you 27" owners still go "wow" after acclimatising?
24"
The only reason I am considering this size is the possiblity of nvidia 3D with 120 Hz. I don't think my current PC is up to it - it too is quite old - though it was on the NVidia 3D compatabilty list about a year ago - but no longer! (AMD 4800+ on XP with a 9800GT). I will almost certainly get a new pc in the next 18 months (recession willing..) so am thinking I will be niggled if
I can't try out the 3D stuff when that happens.
So the questions here are:
1) Is 3d really worth investing in? Is it an amazing novelty or is it really the way to go for the daily gamer's needs??
2) Can you play for long without side effects (headaches, eye weariness or whatever?)
3) Is it worth waiting for a larger range of lightboost monitors to come out or are last years models of 120hz basically ok?
4) Really confused about the BENQ 2410XT - there seems to be polarised opinion on it. Was it bad but the new iterations are ok now?
Anyay, Sorry about the long post - thanks for sticking with it! And thanks in advance for your feedback.
So what do you veterans reckon? Does 3D cut it? Or would you rather stick with a huge non-3d 27"? What are your best buys if you lean in one direction or the other? Please help this CRT dinosaur come into the modern age
Cheers!