Best 17" TFT Monitor for Gaming? (& Why)

[gurutoo]

I've been waiting for TFT's to get good enough for gaming-some tech sites and reviews say the time has come!

Your thoughts and suggestions will as always be appreciated.

[masteraleph]

It really depends on your personal vision. Currently, the fastest "response rate" available on LCDs is 16ms. The Hitachi 174SXW and NEC 1760NX are both examples of this. 16ms panels currently out are all made by AU Optronics, so there should be very minimal differences between them. There are a very limited number of LG 16ms panels made by LG, but these are not available in the US to my knowledge. Samsung is planning to bring a 16ms series of their own out, but I haven't seen any on the market yet. The AU Optronics panels all are a bit lacking when it comes to colors- they're not as vibrant as other screens.

The main issue with LCD gaming is ghosting. "Ghosting" in the LCD sense essentially means a motion blur, and is caused when the LCD's pixels don't change colors at sufficiently fast rates. That's what the "response rate" is- how fast a pixel can change. It should be noted that response rates are averages- they're typically worse than stated across greys and better than stated on other colors.

There are also 20 and 25ms panels available. In this range, all the major companies (Sony, Dell, Samsung, Viewsonic, Planar, etc) are pretty much equal on their top of the line panels. It's basically a matter of how the bezel looks and prices.

The only way to tell if you'll be sensitive to ghosting on a 25ms screen is to look at one. I'm running a 25ms screen right now, and only see ghosting when I look for it. In normal gameplay, I don't notice it at all. Some people do notice it, and thus go for the 16ms panels, and still notice it on those.

[gurutoo]

masteraleph
Thanks for your reply to my post. BTW which model are you using and what games do you play?

EDIT: Oops, I see which model you're using in your sig..


C'mon peeps, anyone else have some feedback?

[Kill-Switch]

My advice ... if you're a hardcore gamer then LCDs have yet to reach the stage where they are good for gaming. Maybe when the response times hit 10ms they might be able to compare with a CRT.

[Ohm]

I have a Samsung 191N, with a 25ms panel. I can easily notice ghosting, but I don't mind it since it doesn't affect my gameplay. I didn't notice any ghosting with my previous Hitachi CML174SXWB (16ms), but it didn't display dark tones well at all. Dark green looked almost exactly like black, brown, dark blue and dark red. Which is why I got the Samsung, I prefer accurate colour reproduction and a larger 19" screen rather than fast response time. If you prefer better colours, go for one of the 20ms LCDs (Eg. Hyundai Q17). If you don't mind not being able to distinguish black from dark green, a 16ms LCD such as the NEC 1760NX, Hitachi CML174SXW, and Benq FP767 will do. Don't bother with a 25ms 17" LCD since they are a similar price to the 20ms and 16ms panels.

[gurutoo]

Originally posted by Ohm
I have a Samsung 191N, with a 25ms panel. I can easily notice ghosting, but I don't mind it since it doesn't affect my gameplay. I didn't notice any ghosting with my previous Hitachi CML174SXWB (16ms), but it didn't display dark tones well at all. Dark green looked almost exactly like black, brown, dark blue and dark red. Which is why I got the Samsung, I prefer accurate colour reproduction and a larger 19" screen rather than fast response time. If you prefer better colours, go for one of the 20ms LCDs (Eg. Hyundai Q17). If you don't mind not being able to distinguish black from dark green, a 16ms LCD such as the NEC 1760NX, Hitachi CML174SXW, and Benq FP767 will do. Don't bother with a 25ms 17" LCD since they are a similar price to the 20ms and 16ms panels.

Thx for the info! I also prefer accurate color reproduction as I am an "eye candy" lover. The ghosting would be a definite turnoff. So in your opinion 20ms or less is fast enough to eliminate ghosting?

[GetCarter]

If you're going to college and have to save room, then go for an LCD if you've got the cash. What these people said here is right.

Otherwise, they are more expensive, and for the same price you could get an equally decent and larger CRT, and CRTs don't limit you to a certain resolution.

I'm going to miss 1600 x 1200

[marv]

This may be of interest to you:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/oth...esponse-2.html

[gurutoo]

Originally posted by marv
This may be of interest to you:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/oth...esponse-2.html

Thanks for the link marv.
Looks like Samsung does it again...

[EverlastingGod]

Just got a vp171b. ViewSonic 17", 16ms response time.

I really have to look hard to notice ghosting.

[CrazyIvan]

I just ordered a NEC 1760NX from dell (got a real nice deal, 399.06 all said and done), and I cant wait to get it. Check out this article for a nice review of 16ms panels:
http://www.tomshardware.com/display/20030221/index.html

They called the 1760nx the best panel availible for gaming! I cant wait till it comes.

And someone said the AU panels didnt have good colors? This review seems to disagree, they like the brightness and contrast plenty, though it is a few months old.