To widescreen or not to widescreen (HELP !!)

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caspanis

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 6, 2005
Messages
75
Hi All,

I am in search of a new LCD monitor. Initially I was targeting the new VP930B (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116365). But I've seen no reviews from the usual sites (Tom's Hardware , Anandtech etc.) . This is freakin' me out :mad: I need the warm comfort of a review or reviews to tell me that its OK to part with my money for this product.

Note: I am currently using a Envision 7410 17" LCD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824197006 ) and before that I had a viewsonice vp171b-2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116347) and I noticed no Ghosting with either of these two monitors.

Enter the Dell 2005FPW , goes for a little less on Dell's site than the Viewsonic and is widescreen ... Yayyyy !!

My questions are :

1) Is the Dell good for gaming ? I paly a lot of FPS games (far cry , halo , HL2 etc. ) and RPGs (Morrowind) and I'm worried about ghosting :eek: . Any comments from anyone ?

2) I expect to drive this monitor with a Geforce 6600GT (PCI-E) , can it handle this monitor at its widescreen resolution for gaming ?

3) I seen compalints of flaws in the Dell (Dead pixels , backlighting issues) in this forum. This is also scary , As I'd hate to have to do returns (I live in Jamaica) . As you can imagine that would be a real hassle. Any views/comments on this matter ?

Long and short is : Which do I go with given my concerns the VP930B or The Dell 2005FPW ?

Any advice/comments or tips are most welcome.

Best Regards,
:confused: Caspanis
 
Widescreen is the way to go. Especially in light of the new technologies coming out (bluray hddvd) even with Tv's because of the High def revolution coming up they are all headed widescreen as well. I would strongly suggest My new monitor to you. it's the Gateway FPD2185W. It beats the Dell 2005 by a landslide. My buddy who has the 2005fpw is hating me right now but he's getting the same monitor as me to have 2 monitors. I suggest you do a side by side comparison with the dell 2005fpw vs the Gateway FPD2185w.

One major feature for the Gateway is HDCP a feature that is paramount if you are going to expect to play HD content on a windows environment in the future.

Here is a interesting article about the above mentioned HDCP Tech.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122738,00.asp

I forgot to address a major question, I appologize. This monitor is fabulous for gaming. 0 Ghosting. It is the total package
L.E.
 
I can't imagine a monitor beating the 2005FPW by a "landslide" as I am extremely happy with mine, probably my favorite purchase on my rig.
 
ill butt in with saying that my 2005fpw is perfect and there is absolute no ghosting and games in widescreen is just amazing and also its the wave of the future
 
Maybe the landslide thing was a bit extreme. I just compared specs side by side and the Gateway FPD2185W beats the dell 2005FPW in every single category On top of that it has HDCD and the dell doesn't. The correct wording would be that the new gateway is slightly better in all regards not to mention it's a inch bigger. The dell would make anyone happy as well as it's a great pannel but the gateway monitor is superior.

L.E.
 
Gosh,

Thanks for all the comments , I really appreciate it. I'll check out the gateway.

my BIGGEST problem now is WHERE to get either of these monitors from.

I spoke to s Dell rep. today and they said the Jamaica thing is not possible even using a freight forwarder.

At this point , seems like I'm stuck :(

P.S. Any views on the 6600GT with any of these monitors ?

Best Regards,
Caspanis
 
Lord_Exodia said:
You can get the gateway monitor at your local Best Buy or at www.gateway.com.

L.E.

PM me when you get it and let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

Last I looked, there are no Best Buy stores in Jamaica. You can have a friend buy it for you at a US or Canada store then ship it to you. They could also buy it directly from Gateway.com, but they will not ship it internationally. You would also have to have a friend pass it on to you. I would recommend having them take it out of the box, check it out, then double box it to make sure it survives the international shipping.
 
Strykar said:
I can't imagine a monitor beating the 2005FPW by a "landslide" as I am extremely happy with mine, probably my favorite purchase on my rig.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I have no regrets buying mine for $400. Matter of fact I just bought my 2nd. Excellent, affordable monitors.

And btw once you own a widescreen monitor, all others will look funny.
And you will never go back!

Go Wide!
 
I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw) :D
 
Erasmus354 said:
I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw) :D
Click to expand...

Yea, I was very tempted this week when it dropped down to $790ish, gotta have willpower!
 
Erasmus354 said:
I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw) :D
Click to expand...

yeah... that alway a problem... especially with all these ppl here in these forums with "team2405" egging us on
 
Erasmus354 said:
I love my 2005fpw....one word of caution though : Once you get a 20" widescreen...you will wish you got a 24" widescreen (2405fpw) :D
Click to expand...

It's everything I can do to keep myself from buying a 2405... if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely pay the extra couple hundred

Either way, you can't really go wrong. Both the 2005 and the 2405 are great monitors, and once you go widescreen you'll never go back.

As for the new Gateway monitor, look at the thread about it. Lots of information there (including pics)
 
Ok ,

I pride myself as being an LCD n00bie . does anyone have pictures showing really bad backlighting issues that they wouldn't mind posting or a link to some representative pictures on this site or elsewhere ? I mean send back the monitor quality backlighting !! :D

If it's already on this site somewhere , my apologies.

Widescreen or not doesn't matter :)

Best Regards,
Caspanis
 
get a 2005fpw from dell. mine is perfect for gaming and the size is just right for sitting close to it. im never going back to a nonwidescreen display
 
qbackin said:
Exactly. I have no regrets buying mine for $400. Matter of fact I just bought my 2nd. Excellent, affordable monitors.

And btw once you own a widescreen monitor, all others will look funny.
And you will never go back!

Go Wide!
Click to expand...


where do you find those for $400?
 
Hey caspanis! Have you decided which widescreen you want yet? I live in Jamaica as well and I am pondering this very question lol. But that representative from dell was wrong, I buy from dell usa all the time and have it freight forwarded here. And I DEFINITELY understand ur anxiety with dead pixels and what not, because to return it from here is VERY expensive. I have a 1905fp that I ordered from dell and was afraid, but it reached here with zero dead pixels and all was well lol. I had to have my x50v repaired though, and it cost close to $10,000 to have it shipped up and back.

pm me and I can tell you how to go about it!! I have my eye on the fpd2185w from gateway as well, but can't find any reviews yet :(
 
$10,000?!!!!?!?!?! Are you kidding, couldn't you have just bought, like, 25 new ones? I am guessing that is either not in American dollars, or not what you wanted to write.

As for Widescreen, well it also has to do with your rig. My X850XTPE can run HL2 at 1680x1050 maxed out, but I have to turn off some things in BF2, FEAR, and Quake 4. But they all run smooth at that level (I turn off Shadows and such, 4xAA)
You should also check out what your card can do in terms of different resolutions. I run Quake 4 at 14XX x 9XX, I am not sure of the exact numbers, but its is a wide screen res and looks just as good. This just makes the game run smoother.

But my card is better than yours so you should take that into consideration when thinking about gaming down the road.
 
Sorry for not being specific, but that was Ja dollars, ruffly $150 US. How well would a msi 6600gt pcie work with gaming on the 2005fpw or fpd2185w? How good is the tv functionality? Can either monitor actually double as a good tv via composite out of a cable box??
 
I finally used the pip feature with hdtv and allow me to pick up my jaw from the ground. On the Gateway FPD2185W it's awesome. HDTV comes through very well on this pannel. Pip is awesome, can use combination of any port. I've read from users of the 2005 that you can't combine all ports in pip. But from my own experience hdtv looks brilliant on both.
 
So you recommend the fpd2185w? I will be using it as both a tv and a gaming monitor. Do you have any problems with this monitor? How well does it handle 4:3 content does it allow you to scale the content to retain the ratio? How bad is the ghosting? Also, considering you are one of the few folks with one, how bout a review? :)

Where did you get yours btw? Online there is a 3 week waiting period.

I know, I know, many questions, but i'm really excited.
 
does the 2005fpw have the glossy screen that makes the colors nice and vibrant?
 
Well, I'll say this. The Dell 2005fpw is an amazing pannel. In fact many times you can get it for slightly less than $400 after applying coupons. This IS the best deal in the 20-21 inch pannel area. That being said, if the dell is not on sale the Gateway fpd2185w which I own, is a better deal. It's superior and has a better feature set. Also it's larger. I got mine from Best Buy which is the only retailer that I know that sells this Pannel so far. It's brand new. I was lucky enough to get mine cheaper because I have family that works at BB and I got it for slightly over $490. It normally retails for $599.99. I guess I can post a review If I have some time later tonight. In the meanwhile if you have any questions about it PM me and I'll answer as best and accurately as possible.
 
Not sure that anyone answered it - the 2005FPW runs great on a 6600GT. The CoD2 demo is even very playable at 1680x1050 on a 3200+.

I've run my 2005FPW just fine on 9800 Pro, FX5200, and integrated Tforce 6100 graphics at 1680x1050.

My December '04 purchased 2005FPW is still going strong with no backlighting or dead pixels, no ghosting during FPS games.
 
it doesnt look like you can get the deal on the Dell 2005fpw anymore. I guess i will have to get a Samsung instead...
 
Budwise said:
it doesnt look like you can get the deal on the Dell 2005fpw anymore. I guess i will have to get a Samsung instead...
Click to expand...

Look into the Gateway FPD2185W and compare it with the samsung your considering. It'd be a shame if you don't consider this bad boy. BTW I'm still at work. I may do a review with pics tonight if I have time.
 
get the widescreen gateway correct me if im wrong the gateway has a lower respone time than the dell which equals no ghosting.
 
or you could wait for black friday or so maybe even thanksgiving i know you live in jamaica but they also have those turkey day deals and black friday deals on the net, you may want to consider waiting.
 
standard141 said:
get the widescreen gateway correct me if im wrong the gateway has a lower respone time than the dell which equals no ghosting.
Click to expand...

Exactly 0 ghosting what so ever. In anything, hdtv, movies, games, even text doesn't ghost on hard ocp for example when you scroll down. It's amazing.
 
Budwise said:
i have a $400 budget though...
Click to expand...

Wow $400 can get you the dell or that HP. Dell has a sale every single month it seems on that pannel. Gateway is brand spanking new so it will go on sale just not yet as far as I know. I bet by black friday it'll be marked down a bit.
 
LOL!! I apologise but black friday just sounds amusing to me lol. What exactly is black friday anyhow? I can wait till thanksgiving, but that depends on how good your review is, as I may not be able to help myself after seeing it LOL. I really hope you get to do the review this evening :) Does the bestbuy near you still have them in stock btw? Because on their website their is a 2-4 week wait period just like on gateway's website.
 
Black friday is the most Ballistic Shopping Day of the Year. It is the Friday after thanksgiving. Stores Like best buy stay open even after midnight and everything is on sale pretty much. Some things are rediculously cheap. I remember last year they were selling a System with a P4 3.4 ghz AGP 8x Radeon X800 1GB Ram for like 240.00 and change. Yup, they sold out and seems they got more in stock. 3 Stores near my area have it in stock now.
 
I will hold off buying it till then. Do those sales normally include folks like me who can only shop online? Also, I read somewhere where bestbuy has horrible service when it comes to returning stuff should I indeed get a bad unit, do you have any knowledge on that?
 
im not 100% sure about online retailers HOWEVER they did last year so i dont see how it being any different. matter of fact circuit city had black friday sales before black friday and dell will probably hve the sale before black friday so just wait bud i think itd be worth it
 
None of my Sony FW900 / HP CRT brothers in here? Lol!

For that budget you can get it. I like gaming on mine more than my 2405FPW.
 
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