What pixel response time do you need for gaming?

[Samtheman1k]

I notice some monitors do down to 2ms, but is that really necessary? Do you think that you would notice any difference between response times of 4, 5, 8, 16ms whilst playing games such as BF2?

Thanks!

 

[stoofa]

Remember that a lot of the Response Rates you see cannot be compared to what you see from another manufacturer.
In some cases the manufacturer quotes the "worst case" and in some cases the "best case" is being quoted.
With the average being somewhere between.
Some quote for black-to-white others quote for grey-to-grey.
Some had a physical panel change but the model number remained the same, so for legal reasons the slower speed is quoted in case you get sent old stock - if you get something quicker you won't complain.

I've been using LCD's for around five years now - since the purchase of my 17" NEC 1760NX (At nearly £400).
That panel had a Response Rate of 16ms and that panel was from a time when the LCD technology was all rather new (40ms - 50ms response rates were quite common).
Gaming was absolutely fine on the panel back then - so really gaming is going to be fine on more or less any panel you use these days.

I'll start the ball rolling by saying that I found gaming excellent on my Dell 2007WFP (20" Widescreen) panel.
I'm currently doing an upgrade to the 2407WFP (24" Widescreen) and passing the 20" on to the wife - I've seen the 24" in operation and that too is excellent.

 

[fish99]

The 2007WFP isn't a good example to judge things by because while Dell say it's 16 ms, that's 16 ms ISO and 8 ms GTG and that's Dell covering themselves if you get the rare PVA panel, whereas most people get the quicker IPS panel which is quick enough for pretty much anyone to game on, more like a 4 or 5 ms screen.

In generaly though you are looking at 8 ms or less for a good gaming experience. If you considered yourself a hardcore gamer and play a lot of very quick online shooters (stuff like UT2004) then it might be worth getting a 2 ms screen. I wouldn't say BF2 was particularly quick though, it's more about tactics than amazing reflexes.

2 ms also means TN+Film and that means limited viewing angles, whereas if you set your sights at 8 ms or under that opens up a whole range of PVA, MVA and IPS screens.