Resolution/GFx cards Opinions needed.

MooSey-UK

MooSey-UK

MooSey-UK

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Joined
29 Aug 2006
Posts
635
The time has nearly come to retire my trusty CRT and get a TFT.
I've put this in the gaming section as it's directly related to gaming, and Im only interested in gaming opinions.

Im after a new monitor and matching GFX card. Ideally i'd like a 24" such as Dell's 2407. I intend to match this with an 8800GTX but am concerned about what details I can expect to run in the real world at 1920x1200.
I specifically want to make sure I can run modded Oblivion at near max settings.
Whilst i've read plenty of reviews etc on gametests and resolutions I wanted real world feedback on how peoples setups perform at higher resolutions.

I also wanted some feedback on how TFT's look when you are forced to reduce resolution due to high demands from the game. Ie if a new game came out which was a bugger to run and I had to reduce rez, what does it look like? with 1.1 pixel mapping do you get bands around the monitor edge? I'd rather have a reduced window than a lower resolution displayed on the screens full size.

Im not ruling out the idea of a 20" 1680x1050 monitor. It's going to be a rare oppotunity for me to buy the best monitor and graphics card on the market.
Whilst I can deal with the fact that I'll have to muck about with settings on future release games, I'd like to know how people are coping with games now at 1920x1200 so I can make a proper informed decision before parting with cash.

thanks

MooSey

P.S. why is it spending cash is so much harder than whacking it on the credit card :D

*Edit* I posted this queery here as I wanted to avoid any fanboy based predjudice you get in the graphics card section. I wanted pure gaming opinions not benchmarks etc.
 
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Thanks.
As I expected.
However I did want personal opinions from members here based on their experiences rather than just what the benchmarks say.
 
The gtx will be fine, ive got a slightly overclocked 8800GTS on a Dell 24" 2407 (GTX wont fit my case) and it handles everything i throw at it.
Running such a high ress u wont need so much AA , i generally have x2 or x4 standard AA and play all my games on the highest settings.

As for running a lower ress, ive never used this option and never will so cant tell u how the dell performs with this :p
 
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I've never had a TFT so don't know what they look like at a reduced resolution.
With my CRT when the gfx card is getting on a bit I can reduce resolution with no quality loss. Its important to me to be able to do this as I generally change GFX card once every 12mths. In 12 mths an 8800 will be old hat and I might have to reduce resolution!
In 24mths a good 24incher will still be a good monitor!

P.S.

whats the most demanding game you play? Like I said in initial post, Its important to me I can Do Oblivion justice and keep it smooth.
 
I'd look at the LG 22"er on TWO, specs look good for gaming (2ms response time and 3000:1 contrast ratio), plus a great price at under £200.

It also means 1680x1050 which will run better in Oblivion than 1920x1200. Plus how a 8800gtx will handle games in 2008 is anyone's guess.
 
Another issue is while an 8800GTS/GTX will do 1920x1200 now, in 12 months time you'll need to upgrade your card again.

Whopping resolutions are all well and good, but you'll need to stay on the cutting edge of graphics cards to maintain that native resolution.

If you don't, you might have to reduce the res below native to keep the FPS, and "omgz blurryz graphix" :p
 
this is my main concern, dropping rez due to high requirements.
if a monitor, such as the new dell 2407 has 1.1 pixel mapping. what does it do when you drop resolution?
does it give the same image size at lower rez using pixel interpolation. giving you nasty jaggies etc. or does it drop to the actual corresponding screen size. ie if i dropped the rez to 1680x1050 would it drop to a 20" diagonal with black bands around the picture or just splurge the lower rez on the full screen?

If i could maintain image quality by the actual picture reducing in size i'd be happy. at least you have the choice of running games at high or lower rez depending on their requirements. i can't cope with a messy full size screen or massively dropping detail sliders though.

probably why i've hung onto crt for so long. there is'nt any nasty non native resolution buisness.
 
MooSey-UK said:
probably why i've hung onto crt for so long. there is'nt any nasty non native resolution buisness.
Click to expand...

Yeah from a purely technical perspective (i.e. ignoring size, weight, heat, cost etc) a quality CRT really is better than TFT for gaming. You can use any resolution you like without penalty, higher refresh rates, better colour reproduction (blacks especially), no backlight bleeding, faster response etc.

Now obviously some of these differences aren't as great as they once were, but there's no getting away from the fact that TFTs are sub-optimal in anything other than native resolution (either you get a stretched image, or your whole screenspace isn't used).

This is one reason why I would err on the side of caution in terms of resolution. With a lower resolution, you can always crank up the AA to make things look better and help make up for it. It's much harder to go the other way.
 
I have a 2407 and an 8800GTX and recommend the combo 100%. The 2407 A04 does indeed do 1:1 pixel mapping (centred image with black borders around), although beware of the Nvidia drivers as the option that enables it is broken by default. There is a fix, however, and I posted it here last week http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17730483.

As an example of the performance, on the HL2: Lost Coast video stress test, with the resolution at 1920x1200 with HDR on and every setting turned up to full, I achieved 138fps at stock speeds and 168fps with my CPU and GPU overclocked. As a comparison, when I ran the test at 800x600 with everything turned off/lowest settings (still overclocked CPU and GPU though) I got 179fps, which shows where it's being limited by the CPU. At those sort of speeds I have to play with v-synch turned on to prevent tearing.

Once you've played on a 24" you'll never want to go back!
 
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