So while I'm waiting on my replacement video card to come in the mail, I figure I might as well find and buy a monitor.

While I'd like something around 24" width, and w/e the corresponding height. Looking to spend around $200. What I care most about is brightness, crispness, and most of all responsiveness.

Right now I'm looking at these 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254051
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052

They're Labor Day deals, so I'm gonna decide by tonight.

SEN tech help strikes again!

You didn't even ask a question. Crispness is not an issue for TFTs, Brightness and response times are given in data sheets. So what else do you need help with?
Btw. you shouldn't ask in a forum if you're short on time.

Go with the asus.

I was away from 5:00-12:00, sorry. Also, I'm no good at monitor buys. Next time, ask /g/, so long as you can sort through the >my face, install gentoo, and >implying crap. Occasionally you can get a post which has accurate and valuable information, followed usually by someone saying "helpful posts on my /g/? GTFO".

Chances are they'll tell you both suck, and get X.

That being said, I'd almost always go for the cheapest one. Speakers are pointless, if it has a pivot/rotate/heigh adjustment stand, then pay an extra $40 for it, dynamic contrast ratio is pretty stupid, and only worthwhile when watching movies, and sometimes playing games. Usually however the adjustment is so slow that you notice it, and it becomes annoying. That's why at contrast ratio of 2000000:1 vs a contrast ratio of 10000:1 is pretty much negligible. Most TFTs have 1000:1, with 5 ms response times, and 2 ms GTG (gray to gray). What changes is the view angle, the size, and the stand.

Here's a couple of guides of how and what to buy, as well as what the differences are:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/monitors/display/lcd-monitor-buyers-guide-spring2010.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/2719-7610_7-200-3.html

Do not buy a 1080p monitor. Either go up to 1920x1200 or go lower. I am extremely unhappy with how games look in this aspect ratio, its an HD movie resolution and that's what its good for. I want to replace mine as soon as I can.

For 1680 x 1050: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236097

For 1920x1200: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236047

Make sure whatever monitor you get has DVI. HDMI is okay for movies but DVI and a good aspect ratio resolution are best for gaming.

Post has been edited 4 time(s), last time on Sep 7 2010, 4:22 pm by Excalibur.

Really? Are most games just squashed and not natively supported by 1080? I've had no problems with 1080p on:
HoN, Oblivion, SCII, and even old games like SC (though it's black barred). The SC2 resolution has always bugged me, though, since you can see more with 16:10 vs 4:3. It's not exactly fair.

It sounds like the problem is with the games deviating from the normal industry standard fad of "1080p".

I was personally fine with 4:3, then the idiots above decided 5:4 was better, and then switched to 16:10. Now with the advent of HD TVs, they all want 16:9.

Personally, I'm a fan of the 16:9 aspect ratio since it makes more sense: Movies are generally 2.35:1, most videos are coming out at 16:9, our vision is better fit to widescreen. However this could all change if it's really that much of a problem for fullscreen games. Most games are being designed for consoles nowadays, and thus are 1920x1080, since that's what TVs are.

I did some comparisons with a site Anandtech linked me to, I don't recall the name, and they had screenshots of various games in various resolutions on monitors with different aspect ratios. Nine times out of ten, the image quality of the 16:9 monitors was always inferior. I think its painfully obvious on Oblivion when I look at screens of it on 1920x1200 as compared to 1080.

I'm on a 16x9 resolution (1600x900) and I haven't had any problems. It's nice when watching films, it's nice when playing SCII, and it's fine when playing older games like SC and WCIII and WoW.

Again, grab that Asus. Those extra 180 height pixels Ex wants will cost your wallet $100, and they won't add that much. It seems to have both DVI and HDMI connectors, it can be tilted, it's cheap.

I'd appreciate it if you could find it. Everywhere I look people say
or something like that. Granted they're idiots.

But considering oblivion is a game designed for the xbox 360 which runs at 1280x720 and 1920x1080, I find it incredibly difficult to believe that it doesn't look good.