Re: Best LCD for FPS gaming

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 11:29:09 -0400, Fred T. <no@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>Questions:
>
>1. If money is no object, what is the best LCD available for gaming
>today?
>
>I prefer 20" or larger, but I've got some concerns about response
>time.

Can't say what's the best, probably the 24" widescreen Samsung LCD
(243T, I think) but the one I am constantly checking for any special
sale price deals is the Dell 2005FPW. It has the same LCD panel as the
20" widescreen Apple Cinema display and it seems more than a decent
gaming monitor.

I have seen it running ATI graphic demos (plenty of dark scenes) and
the contrast ratio, picture quality (lack of motion blur) and colours
are just gorgeous.

Currently it's about $499 at Dell website.

>2. Are there any 20" or larger LCDs with a response time that is
>acceptable for FPS games (without ghosting/blurring)?

This is a very subjective issue. I recommend that you first watch any
LCD monitor at a nearby store, running some challenging games before
you decide to buy it.

>3. If I get a 19" LCD with native resolution of 1280x1024, will it
>look okay if I drop down to a lower resolution? I typically play at
>1152x864 with FSAA and other eye candy turned on, depending on the
>game.

I'd recommend buying a graphic card that can let you run games at
1280x1024. Normally when my Dell 1800FP (18" 4:3 1280x1024) scales
down to 1024x768 or 800x600, the picture quality does drop down. The
game fonts in particular get blurred. It's pretty much like running an
anti-aliasing filter.

>4. On a widescreen LCD, what happens if you play a game in a non-wide
>resolution (such as 1024x768). Does it just put black bars on the
>sides?

That's one reason I like 2005FPW. It has this option of either
stretching the 4:3 image to its native 16:10 aspect ratio and it can
also put the image with black bars on the sides. Its native resolution
is quite strange, 1680 x 1050. A 4:3 1280x1024 plays fine
non-stretched.

>If it helps.....the games I spent the most time with : Battlefield2,
>Counterstrike:Source, HalfLife 2, and so forth

All three games support widescreen resolutions. Although most
widescreen games support 16:9 at 1600x900 or 1920x1080 (what's called
1080p HD) or 1280x720 (720p). So 2005FPW will have small black bars at
top and bottom for 1600x900 and like I said the image can be scaled
up.

Half-Life2 however supports 16:10 1680x1050 resolution natively.

If you do get interested in getting a 2005FPW, be warned that there
have been some complaints about certain units having unusually high
backlight levels. The ones I see in stores have been perfect so I am
willing to take that chance. Dell normally replaces the monitor with
these kind of issues. It's still a potential hassle.

By the way, you need to be careful about LCD monitors that claim very
low response times. Some of these do that at the cost of reduced
colour depths and some response times don't really reflect the actual
quality and performance in FPS games. That's why watching the LCD
running different applications is so important, before you make any
decision.

My 2¢
--
Noman
.

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