My 2 cents on the Samsung 172X

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TheGameguru

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 31, 2002
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A little background first..

Heavy gamer..mostly online FPS's such as Wolfenstein:ET, UT2003/4, BF 1942, WC3

Have owned or currently own

Dell 1703FP, 1702, 1901FP, 2000FP, 2001
Samsung 172T
Sony SDM-V72B, SDM-HS73
Apple 20" Cinema
Hitachi CML174B


Right now I have the two Sony's, my 2 Samsung 172T's and now also 2 Samsung 172X's

I replaced 2 Dell 992 Sony Triniton CRT's on my gaming bench in my basement..

First off..these monitors are incredible looking...they are tiny! The amount of deskspace you recover from a 19" CRT is insane... I literally now have to get a new desk for my basement since the one I have now is too big..

Gaming performance is a toss up between the 172X's and my Sony SDM-V72.. they are very close...I feel the 172X's ghost less but have slightly worse color contrast than the Sony...

Sony is widescreen though which really is nice for the games that support 1280X768 resolution...

I dont believe its a 12ms panel but probably a lot closer to the 22ms the Sony is rated at..

Both the 172X and the SDM-V72 blow away the Hitachi 16ms AU panel I owned...and frankly are lightyears ahead of most of the Dell LCD's I've owned..

I use a Dell 2001 at work and its killer deal is that its got better than average gaming performance at arguable a great price ($760ish) plus its a 20" LCD..which really makes it a great buy... I'm less than impressed with its color contrast and general build quality.

The Samsung 172X's are expensive.. I paid $595 a piece for them...If they made a 20" version I'd be all over it though..

So even now over 1 year later I still feel the Sony SDM-V72 is the best gaming LCD on the market...but the 172X's are very very close and cheaper to boot.
 
nice, i think my friend just ordered the 192t the other day, i cant wait to see how it looks
 
How does the 172x compare to the 172t? I had a 172t and loved it and I'm thinking of getting a 172x when I build my next computer.
 
Originally posted by OutInTheCold
How does the 172x compare to the 172t? I had a 172t and loved it and I'm thinking of getting a 172x when I build my next computer.
Click to expand...

Superior in every way..

Less ghosting, brighter, better color contrast, even more stylish..

which is saying alot because the 172T's are beautiful.

I'll throw some pics up when I get back from business.

Minor drawback on the 172X's is that currently they are only available in silver...

But there is so little bezel and stand to them that they literally appear to be a floating screen...especially if you tuck the stand under your keyboard.
 
According to THG reviews, they say that they have talked with samsung and all the 172x on the selfs right now are 16ms models. The 12ms models wont be out to reviews until sometime in may.
 
Tom's monitor reviews are pure unadulterated shit. They have no clue what they are talking about. Every other tech site as well as Samsung themselves says every single retail 172x has had a 12ms panel and always will. Other tech site actually TESTED the response times themselves as opposed to just spewing out the stat sheet. 13.3ms seems to be the average people are getting.
Releasing a product with stats you know are false is a quick ticket to a class-action lawsuit. Misleading is ok, but flat-out telling a hardware review site like Tom's that they are really 16ms panels would be pure idiocy on Samsung's part.
An interesting quote from Tom's:

"This is the first TN + Film monitor that does not fade to black when viewed from below."

Oh really? Maybe that's because it IS NOT a TN+Film panel. It is a PVA panel. An easy way to spot a PVA panel is that is 'does not fade to black when viewed from below.' Again they just assume the stat sheet is correct. Lazy dumbasses.
 
Originally posted by GetFunk01
According to THG reviews, they say that they have talked with samsung and all the 172x on the selfs right now are 16ms models. The 12ms models wont be out to reviews until sometime in may.
Click to expand...

That makes zero sense... In essence Samsung would be marketing two different products using the same model number..

Again...take any manuf. claim to rise/fall times with a grain of salt...

It's all in the eyes of the beholder. I couldnt care a less what the actual rise/fall is on the 172X I can simply compare it to all the other LCD's I've owned and my CRT's

Is it as good as a CRT in gaming? no... but its very very close.
 
I think the 172X in stores are 12ms.

The THG Editor said this about the review:

"We tested the 172X 16 ms and wrote, as you've read it, that it was not a good display for gaming. Samsung took our review very seriously and decided to stop it's production (they wanted to launch this display in November but cancelled it), waiting for a new generation of panels with a new response time, 12 ms instead of 16 ms. This new 172X is coming right now. I'm waiting for it. I should have a new unit al least in April. It should be published in a new review in April or May."

It sounds like to me that Samsung gave them a 16ms to review and not a 12ms. This might be because Samsung was going to release the 16ms in Nov. before the 12ms. Samsung decided to wait until the 12ms were ready instead and that happened in Jan.

I don't think THG is "full of it" but that Samsung has been unclear about the screen specs. We have heard in many reviews Samsung claiming these retail screens are indeed 12ms, and it seems people have tested that fact to the same conclusion.

This THG Editor quote would seem to indicate that same.

Still happy with mine, and many of those posting what they think of the 172X in this forum, are impressed with it as well.
 
The 16ms version was released in Europe and Asia in Fall of last year. The North American version has always been stated to be 12ms (which is why it was released so much later). Perhaps this is where THG is getting confused?
 
I guess this thread convinced me on buying 172x. The only problem I'm having is the place to get it from. Newegg doesn't have it, and I never really owned an LCD and don't know here to get it from.
monitorsdirect.com has it, but never bought form them? ANy ideas what would be best place to purchase it from?
 
I got mine from (dont laugh) Dartek...

But MonitorsDirect is a great place.. I've purchased from them in the past..but at the time I believe they didnt have them in stock so I went to Dartek.
 
Got mine from MonitorsDirect also. I think ZipZoomFly carries it as well. I'd suggest spend the extra $5 and go with MD since this is your first LCD purchase. Their return policy is much nicer :)
 
Yeah, I returned mine to monitorsdirect and they really were good about it.

I probably would have kept it if it didn't have a stuck pixel in the center. Gaming was either great or really bad. I could jump, spin around, and fire a linkgun at the same time and not find ANY ghosting in UT2004 demo. Then I launched Counter-strike and had ghosting. Colors and images were extremely sharp though...wish I could have tried a movie. The low height adjustment on the stand either forces tall people to mount it on a wall or put it on top of a stack of books or something awkward.

So it's not perfect, but it's still a great monitor.
 
GAMEGURU, nice to see you still around, still posting real fine info-stuff.
Have you any info or opinions on these LCD's (for gaming)?
New Samsung 243T 24" 1920x1200 Pivots, rotates, thin black bezel.
Viewsonic VP211B 21.3" pivots, rotates, slides up/down 6", black thin bezel.
Benq's new FP231W 23" 16ms. Supposedly out next month, no price set. Have you any, or can you get any---info?
Thanks. BTW, that's an impressive gaming operation you're running at home :D
 
Originally posted by Rim
GAMEGURU, nice to see you still around, still posting real fine info-stuff.
Have you any info or opinions on these LCD's (for gaming)?
New Samsung 243T 24" 1920x1200 Pivots, rotates, thin black bezel.
Viewsonic VP211B 21.3" pivots, rotates, slides up/down 6", black thin bezel.
Benq's new FP231W 23" 16ms. Supposedly out next month, no price set. Have you any, or can you get any---info?
Thanks. BTW, that's an impressive gaming operation you're running at home :D
Click to expand...

I've used the VP201B at work...we have 2 of them...not very impressed.. The VP211B sounds nice..I'm not a big Viewsonic guy though..

The BenQ looks to be very impressive... I was close to ordering the LG 23" WS LCD the L2320A but at $3000 I couldnt find a place that carried it with a decent return policy.
 
Gamegurus, Andersos, thanks both for replies. I'll search those links. The vp211b was included in my list because I've never found anyone (besides me) that has one.
 
Anyone else have some feedback on this monitor? I am going to college next year and I need to get an LCD but I'm debating as to whether I should go for one giant one such as the 2001fp or if I should just get one 172x now, and then eventually add a second one. I game, so the 172x is tempting, I also love the sleekness of the design. The main game I play is CS, which I hear ghosts on most LCDs due to the darker colors and fast paced action, however this would probably work best. Anyone else got feedback on this monitor?
 
Originally posted by TheGameguru
I dont believe its a 12ms panel but probably a lot closer to the 22ms the Sony is rated at..
Click to expand...

This is what I foresaw happening.

Manufactures will soon (It's probably already too late) get into a response time race where we have super low response times in monitors that do not perform any better in gaming than other monitors with higher response times.

Thus response time != amount of ghosting

There are other factors that effect ghosting which can't be gauged by a numerical figure.

The only way to see if a monitor performs to your needs is to actually go out and physically evaluate the monitor in its digital input mode.
 
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