New monitor - Budget Edition

[frenz0rz]

I noticed there was another (very informative) 'new monitor' thread, but I figured I'd make a new one since my situation is a little different.

So the dear old Sharp LL-172A-B that I've been using for the last 7-8 years, over multiple PCs, has finally upped and died. He had a good, long, varied life, and shall be missed.

However, I am an unemployed graduate on jobseekers, and every recent monitor article I've read seems to cover these £200-£300 monsters that I absolutely cannot justify buying, and every friendly piece of advice I've recieved has also pointed me toward spending that much money. I just cant. Besides, while my rig is fairly reasonable (Q6600 cpu, GTS450 card, 4 gig ram, etc.), I'm sure it would grind to a halt on one of these ubermonitors. On my old 1280x1024 5:4 monitor I could happily run any modern game at top end graphics at a resolution I was comfortable with.

So, for those who are still with me, I need a reasonable monitor for under £100 that will suit my gaming needs. I'm not too fussed about widescreen, having neither owned one or felt the need to purchase one, but they seem to be fairly ubiquitous nowadays so I'm open to suggestions.

I was thinking perhaps something along the lines of this 19 inch LG W1946S-BF.AEU. Any thoughts?

Cheers in advance.

- Frenz

[Kadayi]

Well if money is tight I'd say that's a reasonable monitor in terms of what you get. It's not great in terms of flexibility, but there's no point spending a lot on a low end monitor, when you can put that extra towards a better quality model once personal circumstances improve.

[frenz0rz]

I had also noticed this Edge 10 W223 22" and this AOC F22+ 21.5", both for around £90. However, as I said, I want something that my PC wont struggle on. I dont want to be crawling around Skyrim at 25fps due to some new monitor hogging all my resources. Despite them being the same price, I'm tempted by the 1680 x 1050 one instead of the 1920 x 1080, due to it having less of a performance hit. Does that sound reasonable?

[Kadayi]

As a rule of thumb, multiplying the pixels of each of the monitors: -

Old monitor 1310720

LG 1049088 (20% less pixels)

EDGE 1764000 (34% more pixels)

AOC 2079000 (58% more pixels)

Fundamentally the LG is going to be easier than your old monitor, where as the EDGE & AOC are going to be more demanding. It's not an ideal method, but it gives you an idea of how much extra oomph each will require.

The Edge might be a good fit (or something of similar ilk), but I'd look around for some actual model reviews on it before committing.

Again though bear in mind, if you're just looking for something that's adequate there's no need to push out the boat.

Based on the reviews here: -

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-revi...owViewpoints=1

I'd be inclined to avoid the Edge 10, not so much that the monitor might be bad, but it sounds like if there is a problem it might not be easy to get it addressed. a lot depends on who you buy it from though.

[frenz0rz]

Thanks a lot pal, sounds like a 1680x1050 monitor might be the best bet - I'd rather gain 34% more pixels than lose 20%, even if theres a small performance hit. I've found a number of models from reputable sites like Amazon and Ebuyer, but most seem to be devoid of customer reviews (which I assume is because most people prefer to go straight for 1920 x 1080 models). If anyone could point me toward a popular 1680x1050 monitor under or around £100, that'd be awesome.

One question though - which, if any, component does screen size tax the most? If I do take a noticeable performance hit then it might give me an idea of what I want to upgrade in the future if and when the opportunity arises. I've got a TX650W PSU that I got on the cheap when replacing my broken GPU a few months ago, and my motherboard is new-ish is well, so eventually upgrading something like my CPU shouldnt be too much of an issue.

[frenz0rz]

After a bit of research, right now I'm considering getting the Acer V223WEObd, which is a few pennies over £100 and appears to come very recommended. Any thoughts? I assume this would be just as more demanding as the aforementioned Edge monitor, yes?

[Kadayi]

With resolution it's pretty much always the GPU that's doing the heavily lifting, though saying that a decent CPU will boost your frames by some degree.

Well there's a reasonable Dell here: -

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/20-de...ms-lcd-monitor

Also a Hanns G: -

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/22-ha...2-5ms-speakers

a little bit more money, but both have warranty and are more recognized brands.

Edit: Acer sounds pretty good. Hunt around for the best price on it.

[frenz0rz]

Cheers, some nice suggestions there.

I'm a little torn between the Hanns G and the Acer. Both look pretty good, but I'm leaning toward the Hanns G simply because I can find no word of any warranty on the ebuyer page (since its more or less the best price), and Scan is an excellent site that I've used before. However, I did notice that the Acer has a contrast ratio of 50,000:1, and the Hanns G only 10,000:1. Is that important at all?

[Kadayi]

However, I did notice that the Acer has a contrast ratio of 50,000:1, and the Hanns G only 10,000:1. Is that important at all?

No all of that talk of DCR is kind of marketing BS. The principal contrast ratio is about 1:1000 with most monitors, though it rare if ever that you get a monitor that really even hits that tbh.

http://www.cnet.com/8301-17914_1-9985085-89.html

Either way though you're not really doing yourself a disservice to get the Hanns G vs the Acer if that's how you're feeling.

Principally you're buying a monitor for games from what you've said. What you're looking at will happily fit the bill in that regard. If you were looking for something to use for say graphics work/illustration and or photography/retouching I'd say add on a few hundred more pounds and go for a much larger monitor IPS monitor (like the Dell UltraSharp U2410) with a bit more colour fidelity.

[CMaster]

Yeah, dynamic contrast is a stupid gimmick that's almsot never useful in real use, especially for gaming and the like.

You should be fine with a 1680x1050 monitor - I'm running C2D E6400, Radeon HD4850, 4gb Ram and can play everything native - albeit with lowered settings sometimes.

And anything less than a 22" these days is selling yourself pretty short.

[Nova]

I wouldn't get anything other than a IPS or PVA panel though I'm not up to date if that would work with your desired price point.

[Estel]

I wouldn't get anything other than a IPS or PVA panel though I'm not up to date if that would work with your desired price point.

It wouldn't. But modern TN panels are perfectly sufficient for most users.

[Nova]

If you can overlook the colors and more importantly the bad viewing angle. The latter comes into play especially with widescreens.
I don't want to have bad colors just because I leaned a tad to one side.

[Kelron]

Cheers, some nice suggestions there.

I'm a little torn between the Hanns G and the Acer. Both look pretty good, but I'm leaning toward the Hanns G simply because I can find no word of any warranty on the ebuyer page (since its more or less the best price), and Scan is an excellent site that I've used before. However, I did notice that the Acer has a contrast ratio of 50,000:1, and the Hanns G only 10,000:1. Is that important at all?

The nice thing about living in the UK is the bit at the end of warranties where it says "this does not affect your statutory rights". You can expect goods that you buy to last for a reasonable amount of time (not defined specifically, but anything from 1-6 years depending one what it is), and if they fail within that time you're entitled to a replacement or refund from the seller. Ebuyer are, in my experience, very good about this, and you shouldn't have any problems getting a replacement if it lasts less than 3 years or so.

I wouldn't get anything other than a IPS or PVA panel though I'm not up to date if that would work with your desired price point.

While I'm very pleased with the IPS panel monitor I bought recently, £150 is probably the bare minimum you'd have to spend. TN panels are really the only viable option in his price range, and the viewing angles on modern screens are not as bad as you're making out.

[Nova]

TN panels are really the only viable option in his price range, and the viewing angles on modern screens are not as bad as you're making out.

Sure there are differences, but I have seen a couple of monitors with TN panels and it's definitely not for me.

[frenz0rz]

Thanks a lot for all the advice chaps, went with the Hanns G and its a great buy.

Playing Morrowind in 1680x1050 with high res texture mods and a huge draw distance is just awesome :)

[Kadayi]

Thanks a lot for all the advice chaps, went with the Hanns G and its a great buy.

Playing Morrowind in 1680x1050 with high res texture mods and a huge draw distance is just awesome :)

Cool, glad to hear you got yourself sorted.