HELP : 17" or 19" LCD Monitor ?

[Steve]

Hi there,

As part of my ongoing upgrade, I am now going to buy a new LCD
monitor. I am aware that the response time is important so I am going
to look for one with 12ms or less.

I use my computer at home and use WinXP Pro, and Word etc.
I also play games (Doom3, Half-Life2, Sims2, Rome Total War etc) but I
am not a games fanatic but I do like to see the games displayed well.
My Video Card at the moment is a Gainward 6600GT and my monitor is a
3yr old 15" HP Pavilion f5ps.

My questions are :-

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?
I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?
Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?
I apologise now for my lack of knowledge and if this is a silly
question !

3. Anything else I need to know or should consider ?

Thanks in advance !

Steve

 

[YardSale]

As part of my ongoing upgrade, I am now going to buy a new LCD
monitor. I am aware that the response time is important so I am going
to look for one with 12ms or less.

The lower the response time, the better for games or video or anything
where there is a lot of fast moving action. Of course, exactly what
12ms means from manufacturer to manufacturer remains to be seen, but
even brand-name 16ms screens seem pretty good. If you think about it,
your TV set is approximately 16ms response time as each field of 60
fields (2 fields/frame) per second (OK, 59.94) takes just over 16ms.
And these monitors are drawing the entire frame, not just every other
line (as in interlaced TV). Computer screens are Progressive Scan,
which is starting to be the big thing in TVs, DVDs, etc. because it
gets rid of strange artifacts due to the interlaced images being
1/60th second apart in time.

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?
I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

The LCDs are MUCH smaller than the CRTs. I don't think you'll
find very many of them too big (except maybe the Apple 30" monster).

In fact, maybe just get 2 17" displays, since I think the 6600
will drive both independently, and you'll have MUCH more screen area.
I've had (at least) two screens on my machines since 1990 (actually,
I once had 4: a Black and White, a Grayscale, 16-bit color and 32-bit
color -- of course, this was on a Macintosh II).

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?
Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?

Anyway, the 6600 is a nice (quite new) card. I wouldn't even think
of upgrading unless you actually run into a situation where upgrading
the card would make a difference. These cards will all drive large
monitors with no problem. It's only when you start turning on
anti-aliasing features and making use of multiple pixel pipelines that
the higher end cards pull away in performance.

All I can say is read reviews, but don't switch until you actually
have issues (or build a completely new system).

Paul

 

[kony]

Hi there,

As part of my ongoing upgrade, I am now going to buy a new LCD
monitor. I am aware that the response time is important so I am going
to look for one with 12ms or less.

I use my computer at home and use WinXP Pro, and Word etc.
I also play games (Doom3, Half-Life2, Sims2, Rome Total War etc) but I
am not a games fanatic but I do like to see the games displayed well.
My Video Card at the moment is a Gainward 6600GT and my monitor is a
3yr old 15" HP Pavilion f5ps.

My questions are :-

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?
I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

No it's hard to find a monitor "too big" unless it simply
won't fit in the space allotted. Also, since the monitor
will be far shallower, you may find a desire to move it back
further on the desk so you have more free work area.

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?
Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?
I apologise now for my lack of knowledge and if this is a silly
question !

3. Anything else I need to know or should consider ?

G600GT is fine.

 

[DaveW]

Both 17" and 19" LCD monitors use 1280 x 1024 as their Native Resolution
(i.e. the REQUIRED resolution, unlike CRT's where you have a choice.) Thus
the text and images on the 19" monitor will be easier to view. And the cost
of 19" monitors has come WAY down in the past 6 months so they are now very
affordable.

 

[Stoneskin]

Steve left a note on my windscreen which said:

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?
I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

No. I use a 19" Samsung 913N (IIRC) at home and it's great for desktop
apps + gaming. Since a 17" would probably use the same resolution
(1280x1024) the text and icons will be easier to see on a 19".

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?
Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?
I apologise now for my lack of knowledge and if this is a silly
question !

No. The 6600GT is a nice card and probably the 'best' card for price vs
performance you can buy at the moment. Certainly no need to upgrade
yet.

 

[Bob Adkins]

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?
I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

No, a 19 (or 20, 0r 21) is not too big.

However, I recommend getting a pivot monitor if above 17". They're great for
Web browsing.

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?
Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?

Unless you are a true game aficionado, keep the 6600GT. If you *were a game
aficionado, you would not have asked the question.

-- Bob

 

[Kadaitcha Man]

Hi there,

As part of my ongoing upgrade, I am now going to buy a new LCD
monitor. I am aware that the response time is important so I am going
to look for one with 12ms or less.

I use my computer at home and use WinXP Pro, and Word etc.
I also play games (Doom3, Half-Life2, Sims2, Rome Total War etc) but I
am not a games fanatic but I do like to see the games displayed well.
My Video Card at the moment is a Gainward 6600GT and my monitor is a
3yr old 15" HP Pavilion f5ps.

My questions are :-

1. Would the 19" montor be too big for normal home use ?

No. I have just bought a 19" LCD to replace a 21" flat CRT, which I thought
was dead but managed to ressurect for the cost of a .25c resistor.

You will find that the 19" monitor will function better at the higher
resolution, so the larger physical size is a better choice IMO. Verically,
the 19" is the same height as the 21" CRT. The 19" will not take up that
much more room than the 17" anyway.

I usually sit 18" or so away from the monitor.

Same standard for 19" LCD.

2. Would I need a better Video card, say the 6800GT or 6800 Ultra ?

No, though I have a 6800 Ultra (Asus V9999), but that's for gaming when I
use the flat 21" CRT. If you get a mid-range card and a higher response-time
LCD, you will find the LCD may not be able to fully keep up with the card
when doing certain things.

Or would say, the 6600GT I have be OK for the 17" and not for the
19" ?
I apologise now for my lack of knowledge and if this is a silly
question !

Get the 19", go for as low a response-time as you can afford.

3. Anything else I need to know or should consider ?

Always wear condoms when you're ****ing someone other than your wife.

Thanks in advance !

Get ****ed in advance.

 

[Bill Turner]

No, a 19 (or 20, 0r 21) is not too big.

_________________________________________________

That depends on the individual. For me, a 19" is too big, partly
because I have to have it set a bit close for my eyes to focus
correctly. With it that close, I can not see the whole screen at once.
I have to swivel my head to take it all in. That gets annoying after a
while, and a 17" does not have that problem.

My point is, there is no correct answer for everyone. That's why they
make different sizes in the first place.

 

[John Weiss]

No, a 19 (or 20, 0r 21) is not too big.

However, I recommend getting a pivot monitor if above 17". They're great for
Web browsing.

I have a Samsung 193P (P for Pivot). I don't use the pivot feature much, but
it's a great monitor.

Those high-end cards are only needed for gaming and 3D rendering. A $49 card
will with 64MB VRAM work just as well for office use and static (photo)
rendering/editing.

 

[dawg]

LCD's like to run at native resoultion.They look better at that rez.The
larger monitor will have have a higher native resolution so your video card
will have a harder time running 3D games a 19" LCD at 1600x1200 than a 17"
running at 1280. A 6600GT will probably be pretty slow at 1600 in 3D games.

 

[kony]

On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 18:35:55 GMT, "dawg" <don't

LCD's like to run at native resoultion.They look better at that rez.The
larger monitor will have have a higher native resolution so your video card
will have a harder time running 3D games a 19" LCD at 1600x1200 than a 17"
running at 1280. A 6600GT will probably be pretty slow at 1600 in 3D games.

The typical 19" native res. is 1280 x 1024.

 

[Byte]

It's really all up to you. >Would a 19" be too big for normal use?
Probably not, most moniters are 17" (2" smaller) but can you afford
one? Do you need it?

 

[Bob Adkins]

That depends on the individual. For me, a 19" is too big, partly
because I have to have it set a bit close for my eyes to focus
correctly. With it that close, I can not see the whole screen at once.
I have to swivel my head to take it all in. That gets annoying after a
while, and a 17" does not have that problem.

My point is, there is no correct answer for everyone. That's why they
make different sizes in the first place.

Does it pivot? Someone I know has a 20.1" and uses it pivoted. It does away
with a lot of scrolling on web pages. Looking up and down isn't nearly as
tiresome as left to right.

-- Bob