What do you look for in a screen?

Leyzer

Leyzer

New member
Hi I am in need of a new monitor and i don't really know what to look for.
I know that the size is preference ( 23", 27")
And that with ms lower is better but how much difference does it make and what do the other numbers they give actually mean?

I thought a 23" monitor from Samsung just cos it looks cool and shiny but shiny isn't a good thing to base a monitor on.
And there are a lot of different monitors all different prices.

Any Help will be appreciated
thanks
 
Obviously resolution is important, if you want full HD then 1920*1080 is what you should be checking out.
Contrast ratio is also important, i personally would suggest anything above 500000/1.
And refresh rate is also something you should look at but I think most monitors these days should be quite good in this respect.

If you can get an LED it should have all the above and is also quite low on power usage.
 
It depends if you are a competitive gamer or not, then response time will play a huge role in the choice of a screen. If you are a casual gamer that enjoys Role Playing Games or World of Warcraft size will probably matter more. I just want a screen with a decent resolution, good response time and vivid colours. :)
 
Sorry, but I really, really feel like I should add something in reply to the thread name:

What do you look for in a screen?
Click to expand...

I usually never stash my stuff inside my screen, but what I generally look for in a screen is to see the game I'm currently playing.






:P
 
There are a few additional points that are really important:

There are 2 main types of monitors:
- Twisted nematic (TN)
-In plane switching (IPS)
These are the way that the panel interacts with the light passing through it.

Basically TN lets like pass through in a straight line and therefore only perpendicular to the pixel is perfectly reproduced and therefore only one point on the screen will look good on a TN screen. They are cheaper and usually have lower response times.

IPS however allows the light to pass through at up to 180° and therefore looks a lot better passively across the whole screen. They are also more expensive because of this.

The second point is the frequency...

Lcd screens generally operate at 60Hz. This is well above what our eyes notice and way above what normal movies and videos refresh at. This means that games are also limited to 60fps.

There are monitors that operate at the higher 120Hz (usually by using 2 panels) which can make games appear smoother and allow you to use your gpu without tearing and other issues. They are usually more expensive and make movies degrade (refreshing too often for the video) but allows 3d and gaming smoothness.

Continued in next post...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
Third issue is backlighting...

The current main two types are cold cathode and led.

Cold cathode is a better producer of white light and therefore is better in that respect. However the long bars of cold cathode are horribly inconsistent across the monitor.

Led has much better consistency but produces white quite poorly.

there are other issues but that is too detailed.

Continued on next post...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
The last issues are the general issues...

Response time you would want to minimise in most cases.

Resolution, you want this to be as high as possible but remember your gpu has to produce each extra pixel so it can affect performance without a huge increase in looks to go for higher res. Also note that here is a limit to the human eye resolution.

Size always matters :P but going too big does mean that your have to look around a large screen.

Contrast... A lot of companies over state this. It will be highly beneficial to work out what they are using or ignore that they have stated it at all.

Interface... You may think that it doesn't matter, but the interface affects viewing in general and not using the right one can be pervasive displeasure.

That is all i can think of right now.

The end.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
Good thread will be using this when looking for my next screen. I'm pretty happy with my 21" but it's not Full HD (1920X1080) so I'll have to get a bigger screen some or other time.
 
Take everything that DarthSWNT said in account when choosing your monitor, but you also have to look at how much glare you get in the room you have your PC in, if there's a window behind you, you will have a lot of glare if you buy an LCD screen, but an LED eliminates glare very well, and would then be the better choice. Also, if you move your rig around al lot (go to LAN's and stuff), you might want to consider an LED, as it is much more slim and light than an LCD. And of course, contrast ratio, resolution, and response time are important, and yeah, size is just a personal preference. 23 inches is wide enough for me, as larger would stretch games out and make it look bad. That's all advice I can think of right now.
 
I like at screen size, the bigger the better :D

On a serious note though, I would say the biggest downside to most LCD screens is back light bleed. Have had that on a number of screens.
 
Think my phone needs a better spell check.... Geez my posts are riddled with grammatical errors and spelling errors... I guess that is what happens when you are running low on battery.

You get the jist though.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
to0kenZA said:
Sorry, but I really, really feel like I should add something in reply to the thread name:



I usually never stash my stuff inside my screen, but what I generally look for in a screen is to see the game I'm currently playing.






:P
Click to expand...

haha Secret compartments are the first thing to look for in a screen. :D
 
Thanks for all the info guys.

Here's more info about me if it'll help
the games I play: tf2, Hon, SC2, BFBC2, use to play cod4

I had a streak of bad luck and my dual 17" monitors died with in a week of each other.
So I'm currently using a friends Old 17" Flatron L1720p

I was hoping to spend R1500 or so but the R2500 screens (as always) have better features/stats.

My idea of the monitor was
- 1920*1080
- 2ms ( the current screen has a 16ms response time so how much difference is the 5ms and the 2ms. really?)
- LCD (I do lan but LED isn't that much lighter so doesn't make that much difference)
- 180 viewing angle.
- Frequency most monitors are 60hz now days anyway, right? THe older ones some were 75Hz i think.
- Glare has never been much of an issue.

Is it worth paying R2500 for a monitor?
Cos it seems like the best is only for a short period anyway.
 
 
Last edited:
Unfortunately 2500 does not get you what i used to. A large amount of tax is now added.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
Also viewing angles of 180degrees is usually rubbish. If it is tn it is not true and most monitors are tn.

Ito refresh rates... Old crt monitors and plasmas have much better refresh rates than lcds. But the points i raised before are the important ones and you can easily use a normal 60Hz lcd for gaming and be content.

Led versus lcd... It is definitely not only about size and brightness. As i mentioned before it is about consistency of brightness and colour from edge to edge.

In terms of brands... Atm i would stick with Samsung. Or if you want something slightly better go with an NEC monitor. Phillips and LG are lagging a bit with their monitors.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using MyGaming Android App
 
You could take a look at the Samsung BX2230, it's LED, 1920x1080 resolution, 2ms response time, full HD, the rest I can't remember. It sells for a nice R1700 at incredible corruption, but you could probably find it somewhere else for cheaper than that. The only down-side is that the screen size is 21.5 inches. My friend has one, and he is very happy with it. The BX2330 is the 23-inch version, and sells for R2000, which is fairly cheap for a monitor with that specs, in my opinion.
 
I dunno about you guys, but I got a Samsung 16:10 aspect ratio 2ms response time. OK, its only 1680x1050 but it its like 3-4 years old. But I hate my 16:9 monitor at work, I prefer that extra height, makes a hell of a diff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top