Gaming LCD's...?

Domingo

Domingo

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Since my other thread seems to be a little too specific and this sub-forum seems to have a lot of 10 page threads...here's a broad question thread :)
I'm looking for an LCD for gaming and I don't have the budget to drop more than $400-500.
I dropped $500 on a sony HS94P 2 years ago and in all honesty, it's been a piece of junk. It's an 8ms panel, but it ghosts like crazy. The backlight spills out all over the screen so that it looks like a gigantic "X" on the screen. I RMA'd the unit and after a few months the next one did the same thing. The warranty's gone and I just don't want to make that mistake again.
Is it smart to get a widescreen LCD? Is it kludgy to play older 4:3 games, or is there an easy fix for that? My 16X9 TV makes some stuff look awful...and I *hate* un-needed black bars. Are there enough games that take advantage of native 16X9 or is it still kind of a pain?
If 4:3 is still a smart bet - on paper the Viewsonic VX922 and VX924 seem to be great and low priced. What's comparable to those?

I just don't want another backlight spiller and ghoster. It doesn't have to be the almighty end all be-all. I just want something I won't want to replace in a few months. I kept my last CRT for YEARS and am even tempted to go back to it, but the damn thing's too big!
 
if you have the video card to handle it, definately go for a higher res such as 1600X1200 on a 20" panel. Im not gonna get into the whole WS arguement. Lets just say i like my BF2 unstretched :)
 
Get the VX2025, spend only $350, and game happy. I have one and I love it.

WS monitors are a big thing now. There's support for almost all games now.
 
Im not gonna get into the whole WS arguement. Lets just say i like my BF2 unstretched
Click to expand...

:p True enough!

I have a ViewSonic VX2025wm, and while it's an awesome monitor for games and, well, everything, it is widescreen. I, personally, don't mind a stretched 4:3 image much, so when a game (say, Dawn of War) of mine doesn't support widescreen resolutions, it's not a big problem with me. Though, the VX2025wm tends to scale even 4:3 content very well, compared to other LCDs I've used.

It's preference, really. Having the widescreen option in games (and, of course, the desktop) outweighs the problem of having to stretch 4:3 content for me. To others, such a Budwise, stretching/borders isn't something they want to deal with (and understandably so), and they prefer having the extra pixels vertically. Both are completely valid points of view, and it's all about what you want your monitor to do.

There are certainly plenty of options for both. The only info I can give you is that if you're interested in a widescreen monitor, my vote goes to the VX2025wm. For a 4:3 monitor, hopefully other members will post their preferences. Also, as Budwise said, definitely go with either a 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 (widscreen) monitor. Honestly, even if you run games in lower res, scaling is pretty dang good these days, and you'll definitely appreciate the extra resolution outside of gaming.
 
Im not gonna get into the whole WS arguement. Lets just say i like my BF2 unstretched
Click to expand...

:p True enough!

I have a ViewSonic VX2025wm, and while it's an awesome monitor for games and, well, everything, it is widescreen. I, personally, don't mind a stretched 4:3 image much, so when a game (say, Dawn of War) of mine doesn't support widescreen resolutions, it's not a big problem with me. Though, the VX2025wm tends to scale even 4:3 content very well, compared to other LCDs I've used.

It's preference, really. Having the widescreen option in games (and, of course, the desktop) outweighs the problem of having to stretch 4:3 content for me. To others, such a Budwise, stretching/borders isn't something they want to deal with (and understandably so), and they prefer having the extra pixels vertically. Both are completely valid points of view, and it's all about what you want your monitor to do.

There are certainly plenty of options for both. The only info I can give you is that if you're interested in a widescreen monitor, my vote goes to the VX2025wm. For a 4:3 monitor, hopefully other members will post their preferences. Also, as Budwise said, definitely go with either a 1600x1200 or 1680x1050 (widscreen) monitor. Honestly, even if you run games in lower res, scaling is pretty dang good these days, and you'll definitely appreciate the extra resolution outside of gaming.
 
Sounds good to me. I'm afraid of super-high resolutions, though. I bought a 6800GT with my Sony LCD a few years ago. It's a 1280X1024 native. While nice at first, once games started coming out that didn't run so well in the native res (Fear, Quake 4, etc.) I felt handicapped. I didn't want to have to buy a new video card just so I wasn't stuck with the poor scaling down to a lower res. It was either "play in a really hazy 1024X768" or watch the framerate go bonkers. I eventually pulled out my CRT just for certain games.
I take it BF2 won't do widescreen natively?
 
I take it BF2 won't do widescreen natively?
Click to expand...

I was wondering this also and found this online....

Starting the game in another resolution

To start the game in a different or non-standard resolution, add the "+szx n" and "+szy n" command-line switches to your bf2.exe shortcut. For example:

"BF2.exe" +menu 1 +fullscreen 1 +szx 1280 +szy 1024



Using a different FOV

To fix your FOV for widescreen mode:

Go into your 'Battlefield 2 Demo\mods\bf2\Settings\' directory.
Open 'VideoDefault.con' (if you're using the default profile. If you created a new one, you'll have to choose the proper video.con file)
Look for the line that reads 'renderer.fieldOfView 1'
Change it to 'renderer.fieldOfView 1.1'.
Click to expand...
 
I definitely know what you mean, Domingo. My widescreen laptop has a bad time scaling images to fit. The difference in clarity between the native resolution and scaled was huge. That's why I was so surprised when I saw how well the VX2025wm scaled. Maybe it's just new (or higher quality, since the laptop WAS an eMachine :p ) technology, but I found myself having a difficult time trying to figure out what resolution I was running at just by looking at it (unless it was much lower than the native 1680x1050.) That's pretty danged impressive.

Is it as clear? Certainly not. But scaling has gotten quite a bit better these days, if this guy's any indication.
 
IMHO, it appears that most wide screens are immature in features and quality at this point. The scaling issue seems to be one of varying degrees across all widescreens, which has prompted me to first try the VP2030b(can't wait til Thursday).

To minimize dissapointment, get your read on and consider what games you play most (at what resolution per game). Since I play Q4, Bf2, RiseOfLegends, and Dawn of War, I may have some scaling issues if I go widescreen.

It seems that in terms of gaming performance, we are all early adopters of widescreen gaming displays.
 
Yeah, I think I'll do some shopping around from shop to shop to see what I think.
Of note - I'm looking for somethign WITHOUT a glossy screen and with as little backlight bleeding as possible. My current Sony's glossy and it's like a mirror. It's also like looking at a big "X" with all of the light bleeding from every corner.
In the store you can't see it, and even worse, the effect seemed to get worse and worse over the last year. Now playing darker games is AWFUL.
I want the exact opposite of it...except the same size :)
 
with BF2 i believe you can either stretch the screen, or play with the top and bottom cut off i think.
 
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