Monitor Recommendation

[Warsage]

In my new found love of multi-boxing I've decided to go pick up a new monitor to allow me to enter the realm of, "Duel Monitor Gaming." Though, I've little to know knowledge of what actually makes a good monitor. I've found some decent prices of a few at Staples and Best Buy. What do you guys look for in a monitor? Thanks for any input.

- WS.

[marvein]

Well Ive encountered a good number of brands in my travels of replacing computer monitors and one thing Ive found is you really get what you pay for (cheap monitors are cheap).

For example I had 2 Acer 22" screens, they were $229 each and looked great... until one of them died last week like 1 month out of warranty... :(
I have 2 19" Dells at work that have been running for 2.5 years without a hitch and my boss has 2 24" Dell's on his gaming rig at home and they work great and are wonderfuly crisp.

I am currently replacing my dead 22" with a new 24" ultrasharp from Dell. which cost a good deal more (like $440) but its worth it. the 22" ultrsharps are only like $299 though.

[pinotnoir]

Dont by any TN panels. The dell 22inch are TN crap panels. Most of the cheap panels are TN. I made a post about monitors in the past. I use a 24inch dell ultrashap and 2 20 inch ultrasharps which are all high quality panels. You can tell a panel is TN (shit in my opinion due to viewing angles) by the MS rating. Anything under 6ms is a TN. These panels are not full color panels and the viewing angles blow ass. If you get a 24inch make sure its a good one because manufactures are starting to put the cheap Tn panels in 24inch now. I purchased two 2208 ultrasharp dells before I got educated on panels. They were so horrible the colors would change if you moved your head left or right. Once I got the 20 inch ultrasharp made with the same panel as my 24 inch all was ok.

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lcd-panel-types.php

[Memn]

I would recomend you get a good size (@22" or so) and make sure that the resolution is high enough to view the game windows you want without dithering.

For example, I recently bought 2 19" 1440x900 monitors, and was unhappy with them because I was viewing four windows on the 2nd. The smallest Wow will render to is 800x600... if the window is any smaller than that, it will be dithered. It was impossible to read combat logs, or even quest text in the quad windows without moving them to the primary window.

So... if your want to display 4 windows, make sure you have a 1600x1200 or better.

I ended up ordering two 22" 1920x1200 to replace the 19" pair. I would have preferred two 1600x1200's, but I couldn't find a model I liked for a price I could afford.

Good luck!

[Fear The Wrath]

what Memn said "Know what Size you want, and what resolution"

but also look at the contrast, one thing that bugs me a ton is when you have one monitor and the other doesnt match it colorwise it bugs me to vibrant colors on one and no the other.. but thats only a concern if you have and old monitor and you are adding a new one, which i believe you are.

also if you have one monitor and lets say the outline and stand of it are silver, i suggest buying another that is silver also, because i have known people who have bought a black one and the color difference has driven them insane. so just a heads up because you wont realize how much it really will bug you until it happens

[Ozbert]

An non-recommendation for you:

Don't get a Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC for gaming.

I purchased one a couple of weeks ago to complement my older 2407WFP (non-HC) and it's pretty rubbish for games. Get a lot of ghosting. While running around Ghostlands, the relatively bright blue name text above my alts heads left a horrible black trail behind it as moved over the murky ghostlands environment.

[Nitro]

The checklist I would follow is:

Supports a Resolution of 1600x1200 or greater
HDCP compliant - i missed this bit on my monitors
VESA compliant
Not widescreen (not a fan of widescreen monitors for gaming, just a personal choice as some games have issues with it)
Should pass a research review with minimal unsatisfied customers (i like to use newegg to see peoples comments on hardware)


I purchased 6 new monitors several months ago and I went with the NEC MultiSync LCD2070VX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002376