Bought a 24" LCD...Having buyers remorse.

Genison · Post by **Genison** » 21 Jul 2007, 18:11

Well, this is my maiden voyage into widescreen gaming by not only buying a 24" monitor, but by this being my very first post. I studied all the LCD technologies and found that I probably would have been fine with a 22" TN display like Samsungs 226BW. But, I'm splurging all the way and decided on the Dell 2407WFP screen.

My dilemma is did I go too big? I usually only ever game at 1280x1024, and I think 1680X1050 matches that except at a widescreen angle. Now, I'm going to be gaming at 1920X1200.

My main concern is will I be disappointed with an 8800GTX and whether I can actually obtain that screen real estate in gaming without sufferring performance? Can it handle those resolutions for the foreseeable future? My second concern to that is when and if I need to reduce to what would have been a 22" inch dispaly anway (and the reason I went for 24") at 1680x1050, will it distract from the gaming experience? My thoughts are I would probably configure it to a centered display so I lose no quality, but the image will be smaller so I'm just not sure whether that will really bug me.

Please, any encouragement on my decision is welcomed. I could still cancel or send it back if I want to change.

Thanks!!

Adabiviak · Post by **Adabiviak** » 21 Jul 2007, 19:16

I have a 7800GTX and I game at 1920x1200, maintaining good framerates with only a couple exceptions (F.E.A.R., namely). Your 8800 should do fine, and you'll be delighted - gaming at this resolution is noticeably different.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 21 Jul 2007, 19:19

My second concern to that is when and if I need to reduce to what would have been a 22" inch dispaly anway (and the reason I went for 24") at 1680x1050, will it distract from the gaming experience?

You shouldn't have to worry about it. You'll be able to have your video upscale any 16:10 resolution to 1920x1200, be it 1680x1050, 1280x800, or even 320x200. Using resolution obviously means decreased sharpness, but the picture will be just as big. And don't get too hung up on the "decreased sharpness" part. 1680x1050 upscaled should have just as much detail as 1680x1050 on a 22", so it's not as if you'll ever be worse off than you would if you bought a 22"er.

And if the time comes where your video card absolutely can't handle 1920x1200 on the latest games, upgrading to one that can will cost less than the monitor did.

Genison · Post by **Genison** » 21 Jul 2007, 19:40

Both very helpful. Thank you. I was concerned that if I did want to scale it would be very noticeable, but if not, then that does make me feel better.

As far as my choice, how's the Dell 2407WFP? I mean, it's highly regarded as a good monitor, but are there things I need to expect that might disappoint?

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 22 Jul 2007, 08:34

Genison, please read your pm's. :wink:

About your rig. Don't worry about it, it got more then enough power to run games at 1920 x 1200 pixels. I do with a 1900XT and haven't got any problems.

About the choice of screen. I would just start using it if I where you. It's a really good screen and I know more then enough people that are really happy with it. Don't ask for things that "might dissapoint". You'll only start looking for things that aren't there. I heard bad stuff about my Cinema Display aswell but never managed to find any.

packerfan · Post by **packerfan** » 22 Jul 2007, 19:15

Things that other people dislike about your screen aren't problems

Things that you dislike about your screen personally are problems

If that made any sense :P

Basically don't pay attention after you have purchased the screen.... everyone has a differently performing screen one person but be bothered by something that you aren't

My screen probably ghosts, and lags, and backlight bleeds and looks like utter crap to some people but you know what... It doesnt bother me so I really don't care :P

Genison · Post by **Genison** » 22 Jul 2007, 20:26

I suppose I am looking for problems before I've even seen the display. Understand this is totally new territory. I've had my 21" CRT for seven years!! Now I'm going to LCD where there use to be issues of all kinds in gaming...plus it's going to be widescreen.

I'm excited but I just don't want my expectations to be too high.

Thanks for the support.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 22 Jul 2007, 20:31

I've gamed at 1920x1200 on a 6800GS, 7900GTO, X1900XT and X1950XTX without any problems whatsoever. An 8800 will do fine. The only problem would come if you wanted to go 30"... 2560x1600 requires a lot of graphical grunt. ;)

Post by **g00seberry** » 22 Jul 2007, 21:31

Just wait until you actually get it.

I'm positive that as soon as you open the box and see it for the first time you'll just melt and look at your life previously without it in shame. :D

You've made a good choice :P

Post by **ctrlsteef** » 22 Jul 2007, 21:35

I guess that's about the best way to describe it indeed. :lol:

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 22 Jul 2007, 21:39

Mm.

Basically the only advice I can give is that you should be 100% happy with the screen. Because you spend all your time looking at it. The four bits of the computer that you should absolutely not skimp on are the screen, keyboard, mouse and PSU. If your interaction with your computer is uncomfortable, then the whole experience will be ruined.

Don't send the screen back if the framerate is slightly lower than you would like - just turn the detail down a little. The screen should last many more years than any hardware actually in the case. :)

YouTube · Post by **ViciousXUSMC** » 24 Jul 2007, 11:27

I have never had a problem scaling a lower resolution to fit the screen and having it look good.

Id personally rather play a lower resolution in a game and scale it up with higher visual and detial settings, than the opposite and have lower settings with a higher resolution.

I have 1920x1080 on a 37" and scaling isnt noticible.

on a 24" it should be even harder to see anything due to the smaller dot pitch.

I have a tight dot pitch too, my notebook uses 1680 X 1050 and its only 15" scaling seems to be fine on it aswell.

definitely dont regret the size or pixel count of the screen, scaling is just fine, and in the future as your hardware gets stronger you may start to use the native resolution if you want and still have great fps.

as a added benefit you get all the extra screen real estate too when web surfing or your desktop.

ToryS · Post by **ToryS** » 25 Jul 2007, 07:05

I never could tell what people were on abuut as far as "scaling artifacts". Always seems fine to me.

My 8800gtx never drops below 40 in Half-life Lost cost, and even the more demanding Dark Messiah is perfect. Even Armed Assualt runs pretty good.

and this is at 2560x1600...

I really miss the ability to put my 24" into portrait mode for viewing web pages. I used the nvidia quick menu in the taskbar to quickly change the desktop rotation.

JosephJEHancock · Post by **JosephJEHancock** » 26 Jul 2007, 16:06

My 8800GTX allows me to play STALKER, FEAR, Oblivion, and Half Life 2 (Lost coast and all mods) at 2048x1536 resolution with the control panel forcing all games to run at 16xQ Anti Aliasing, and all of the game settings on high, at frame rates that range from amazingly high (FEAR, STALKER, Half Life 2), to a good 30-40FPS for Oblivion, which is a real beast in large areas). So yeah, I think that you should be fine.

Widescreen Gaming Forum