Used Samsung 305t Plus worth getting for $250?

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TheDirtiest

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Just as the title says would a used 305T Plus be worth getting for about $250?

The seller says it's in good condition and without any dead pixels and has no objections to me coming over and viewing the monitor before purchasing it.

The only thing I'm worried about is how old the monitor is and how problem ridden these Samsung monitors seemed to be while I was reading up on them.

It would mostly be used for photoshop, with some casual gaming every once and awhile (diablo 3, skyrim, l4d2, etc.) Card is a gtx 580.

Opinions anyone?

Thank you!!!:D
 
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30" 1600p S-PVA for $250? sounds good to me, if you don't plan on gaming with it anyway.
 
Well it would mostly be used for photoshop, but say I wanted to casually play some games. Nothing new or on super high settings just something like Diablo 3 or Skyrim every once and awhile would it run horrible? I have a gtx 580 sc. Also thank you for your input!
 
TheDirtiest said:
Well it would mostly be used for photoshop, but say I wanted to casually play some games. Nothing new or on super high settings just something like Diablo 3 or Skyrim every once and awhile would it run horrible? I have a gtx 580 sc. Also thank you for your input!
Click to expand...

there shouldn't be much blur but it does have ~29 ms input delay. i've personally never used anything with more than ~7 ms of input delay as my main screen so i can't give you a definitive answer, but it'd most likely be perfectly fine for slower games like those. take the seller up on his offer of letting you see it in person and see how you feel about it.
 
its a great screen for casual gaming etc.. at least mine is..

Im comparing it to a eizo foris 2421 and there is a difference, but for all but demanding gaming the 305 is a great screen!
 
If it hasn't died yet it's probably gonna keep chugging, from what I can tell the ones that died their logic board overheated, so just keep it ventilated... I use one at work and it's very good for productivity, gaming there's going to be some lag but it's probably fine for casual gaming.

It's rather heavy so if you get a VESA arm for it, you will need a heavy duty one like the Ergotron MX (I'm using this one).
 
I wouldn't bother, I've had a 305T that died and now I have a dead 305T+, if it hasn't died yet it's probably getting close. These things have a serious design flaw in that the display processor isn't properly cooled, so it's only a matter of time before it fails.
 
No. It's old and you never know when it will break down. Save your money and get something newer. Maybe 2-3 years when 1920x1080 was the standard consumer res it would have been worth it but now 2560 panels are a lot cheaper.
 
Yeah, the 305T is infamous for dying and it can't display colors in games properly because it is a wide gamut monitor.
 
The 305T has *TWO* design flaws:

1). Scaler board uses brittle solder that microfractures due to it's high temperature causing massive heating/cooling cycles. It can be temporarily fixed with an oven to reflow but you need to rig a heatsink/fan for the scaler chip otherwise it will fail again. Eventually it will break permanently and scaler boards are no longer available.

2). The internal power supply has crappy capacitors that rupture. Replacements ones are about $20 if you know how to solder, but you are assuming it doesn't do anything stupid like fry the electronics.

I wouldn't pay $250 for a 305T, most I would pay for a *WORKING* 305T is $100 and I would be prepared to mod the heck out of it. I have 2 Gateway XHD3000's (same panel/scaler as 305T), a 305T, and a 305T+ and I didn't pay more than $150 for each of them 3 years ago (when scaler boards were still being manufactured). One Gateway's scaler is already permanently bad, I plan on keeping them until they all permanently blow out, replacing them with either Nixeus 30" ($700) or look seriously at the 34" 3440x1440 monitors that are coming out now.
 
I have a dead 305T+ sitting on my desk. The monitor was amazing when it was working, but the scaler is kaput.
 
I already baked it. The LED changes colors when you put signal into it, but the screen never turns on.
 
I have 2 of these monitors that I have used for years with no problems. I would buy another for $250 definitely worth it.
 
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