Shuki

In the market for a new 19" monitor and wanting some of your input... I'm looking at CRT vs. LCD. As you probably know the cost is about 2-3x more with the LCD. Do games and such really look that much better to justify the cost? As me pc is primarily a gaming rig I wanted to ask in here to see if any of you pc gamers are using an LCD monitor and how it compared(s) to your CRT monitors? and is it really worth the $800 price tag?

The Franchise

Keep in mind there is a size discrepancy between CRT and LCD. The rule of thumb is that LCD's 1" smaller are equivalent to a 1" larger CRT (19" CRT=18"LCD). Viewable area is the difference. This should impact your cost a little bit since there is a BIG price hike for LCD's as you get larger.

goLUCKY

I remeber reading that there are more ghosting on an lcd as opposed to a crt. Just something to think about.

MrPeanut

no, the image difference isn't nearly as big as the price difference. The space saving and coolness might be depending on who you are.

Thrillhouse

On the main computer I use for games we have a 17" lcd. For documents and Internet sites, I like how it looks. During certain games I need to auto focus the screen or it stretches it too much, also so times the monitor has to refresh during games. It does look damn good, but I think the CRT monitor is better for games.

TheMadMonk

CRTs are generally considered better for games.

Joshic

CRTs are generally considered better for moving images (gaming) and LCDs are generally considered better for static images (work, surfing the web, reading documents, etc).

T-Wolves

I've got an 18" Viewsonic LCD monitor (VP181, using DVI input), and games look and play great on it.

Zues557

My roomate has a 18" LCD made by Gem that he plays all his games on and it looks great. No problems at all, He just got it at Frys for 399.99 with no rebates. Not a bad deal!

Games played on it.
Unreal 2
Wolf
C&C Generals
Sim City 4
Asherons Call 2


They all seem to look and work great. He also has a 4600TI Video card.

Hope this helps

Cuman

being curious i "borrowed" (bought with the option to return) a sony x-82 18 inch lcd from frys....and i would have to say the thing is great if you stick mainly to your desktop, text is sharp, colors are rich and vibrant, and movies look amazing on this thing.

Unfortunately (or fortunately...saved me 800 bux) I mainly game on my pc and, at least for this lcd, it just didn't cut it...the ghosting is subtle and at first i thought i could deal with it, but after a while it just really started to bother me...my eyes really had trouble focusing and following what came up on the screen (especially on FPS or any game that requires a lot of quick movement). I dunno maybe its just my aging eyes but, i returned the thing and went back to my old crt...definately try before you decide to keep it.

Phuzbox

If you get an lcd, make sure you get one with a good response time. The slower the response time and you'll get the ghosting of images. Get something with about a 25 ms response time and you'll be fine.

Thrillhouse

All the games he's playing are relatively new if not brand new. I don't have any problem with new games (MOH:AA, Spearhead, High Heat) it's the older games (Sims, zoo tycoon, SWAT3) that have been giving me problems. I know it's not my graphics card (Geforce4 ti), I just find the CTRs as being much better at handling games.

Shuki

I've heard that enabling v-sync helps a lot with ghosting... any input?

and thank you guys so much for all the input. I do wish I had time to try it out but my rig is in Israel and I am here. To ship it back and have mom return it would be too expensive Suppose I'll just have to drop the $500 on a 19" CRT there... yeah, Israels expensive....

dgmayor

I've been using LCD's for gaming for a year, and they run just fine. after the first week, I stopped noticing any ghosting.

Centurion

Did you adapt to it?

If you don't mind, I'm also interested in the make/model of your unit. I'm currently in the market for a widescreen plasma or lcd HDTV (dlp's are good too if I can find one without the "rainbow" effect).