Replace my 24" dell with the 30"?

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 11:45

Hi Guys,

As the title says. I'm looking at swapping out my 24" dell at some point in the future for the 30" version available. I know i'll need another gfx card in there, that isn't a problem.

But will I see much of a gaming performance as regards ghosting etc etc?

Thanks all,

Agent.

Robert · 27 Feb 2006 at 11:53

First thing - why do you want to swap?

HEADRAT · 27 Feb 2006 at 12:48

I would say get another 24" for uber dual screen goodness,

2 x 1920 x 1200 is > 1 x 2560 x 1600

HEADRAT

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 12:55

Wanna swap 'cos i'm one of those guys who isn't happy 'till I get the best.

But going on what your saying, i'll stick where I am.

Thanks none the less guys.

Agent.

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:00

Robert said:
First thing - why do you want to swap?

I'm taking a wild guess here, but it might be because it is bigger?!

A LOT bigger. It's like going from a 19" or 20" to a 24", but slightly bigger still (it's a screen area increase of over 50%). I don't think it has the useful video, vga, etc connections like on the 2405.
Screen refresh is apparently the same on the 24" and 30", the only main difference is a slightly lower contrast ratio on the 30".

I'm thinking of swapping out one of my 24"s for the new 30" and there are 2 things that I've had to consider.

1) Does my GFX card setup support dual link DVI mode (NB this is NOT SLI)?
I have a 7800GTX setup, the 7800 does support dual link and I have been advised by the Overclockers staff that Dual Link will work over SLI too.

2) Will my games run well at the monitor's native resolution of 2560x1600?
Erm.....no idea - I've not seen any results anywhere yet. Anyone care to comment on real expereince or point to a reliable review somewhere?

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:02

HEADRAT said:
I would say get another 24" for uber dual screen goodness,

2 x 1920 x 1200 is > 1 x 2560 x 1600

HEADRAT

Hmmm, well I have three 24" at the moment (I must post a photo of my setup sometime!) and I'm thinking of swapping out the middle one for the 30", but based on the native resolution I might leave it until the next wave of GFX cards arrive.
Won't be that long then!

HEADRAT · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:10

To be honest I've considered another 2405FPW but that would be 72" of display and thats just too long IMHO, just not very usable if you sat in the middle the far left and right edges of the screen on the end would be 36 inches away!

HEADRAT

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:25

I suppose I should mention that they are running on one PC each

HEADRAT · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:28

So do you have a seperate keyboard for each or do you use a KVM?

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 13:48

A seperate keyboard for each..... plus a KVM on one of them to switch between a couple of laptops. One of the 2405s is also connected to my SKY+ box via a wireless sender unit.

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 14:11

Mmm, i'm seeing what Darkblade is talking about and he is certainly putting a lot of use through his.

I'm only using mine for one PC and just for gaming too.

Is there any great difference between the monitors apart from viewing area?

Agent.

AWPC · 27 Feb 2006 at 14:44

Gaming on the 30" @ native is the biggest issue you face, it will need everything you can throw @ it power wise just to get smooth FPS.

Probably better to get a 42" LCD/Plasma wall mount it and sit a little further back + then just get a cheap LCD for web browsing unless you can live with the larger text size needed to be readable @ 1360x768 (bit cheaper too!).

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 14:56

Or wait for the graphic card chipsets to catch up - which is probably what I'll do.

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 15:41

AWPC said:
Gaming on the 30" @ native is the biggest issue you face, it will need everything you can throw @ it power wise just to get smooth FPS.

Probably better to get a 42" LCD/Plasma wall mount it and sit a little further back + then just get a cheap LCD for web browsing unless you can live with the larger text size needed to be readable @ 1360x768 (bit cheaper too!).

Hmm, i've already got a DLP to play with

. Feel free to brouse the photos...

Link

Just wanting to know if there is a way I can for from gfx card and onboard sound to Scart. Can you? If so i'm getting it NOW!!!

Cheers guys.

Agent.

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 15:47

Agent WD40 said:
Hmm, i've already got a DLP to play with . Feel free to brouse the photos...

Link

Just wanting to know if there is a way I can for from gfx card and onboard sound to Scart. Can you? If so i'm getting it NOW!!!

Cheers guys.

Agent.

Hmm, why Scart? Doesn't your DLP support DVI inputs?
Time to upgrade your setup to HDMI perhaps?!

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 16:05

darkblade said:
Hmm, why Scart? Doesn't your DLP support DVI inputs?
Time to upgrade your setup to HDMI perhaps?!

Yeah, but I need sound... And I know I can do scart through the VCR and run it through the loverly amps and onto the projector.

Any other suggestions as to how I can get my PC onto the projector + sound?

Thanks,

Agent.

P.S. I dont want to play around with the settings too much, my rents had to pay a load for the system and dont wanna go playing around with it and break it o_0

UOcUK Poopscoop · 27 Feb 2006 at 16:22

darkblade said:
Or wait for the graphic card chipsets to catch up - which is probably what I'll do.

Trouble is that will never happen.

You go for a 24inch+ display you will always have to be almost continually upgrading your system to keep up with the demands of new games.

Getting the huge display is just the first of a continual upgrade spend.

If you got the money though, what the heck!

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 16:23

Agent WD40 said:
Yeah, but I need sound... And I know I can do scart through the VCR and run it through the loverly amps and onto the projector.

Any other suggestions as to how I can get my PC onto the projector + sound?

Thanks,

Agent.

P.S. I dont want to play around with the settings too much, my rents had to pay a load for the system and dont wanna go playing around with it and break it o_0

Is your projector getting its audio and visual feed from the AV amp (the amp acting as a switching unit)? The best thing to do would be to get a sound card that has a digital optical or coax output, then you can feed this straight into your AV amp along with the video signal. It's worth checking out the Sound Blaster Audigy and X-Fi cards for this.

Otherwise I'm not quite sure what the problem is. Does your projector have DVI and phono audio inputs?

Agent WD40 · 27 Feb 2006 at 16:27

Mmm, i'll have to check it out when I get home. I dont like the idea of feeding into the amps too much 'cos i'm not too sure how its all been set up! So if it aint broke kinda thing.

As for the Projector, it is getting its feed from the AV amp, I believe. So the best way to make sure its all going to get to the right place feeding into a Scart will mean that video goes to video and sounds goes to sound.

Does such a cable exist?

Thanks for your help again darkblade.

Agent.

darkblade · 27 Feb 2006 at 17:10

Agent WD40 said:
Mmm, i'll have to check it out when I get home. I dont like the idea of feeding into the amps too much 'cos i'm not too sure how its all been set up! So if it aint broke kinda thing.

As for the Projector, it is getting its feed from the AV amp, I believe. So the best way to make sure its all going to get to the right place feeding into a Scart will mean that video goes to video and sounds goes to sound.

Does such a cable exist?

Thanks for your help again darkblade.

Agent.

Firstly - we seem to have hi-jacked this thread slightly - apologies for that!

There is not a cable that I am aware of that will do this - as you will need to convert the signal somehow. There are probably convertor boxes for this, I would imagine the cost would be 40-70 pounds. However, if you have spare connections going into the AV amp you will get a much better picture and it will be much easier to connect. Might be worth having a quick phone call with the installer? Failing that, whereabouts in the country are you?