Slashdot Mirror
Samsung's 17" LCD Gaming Monitor Rated
An anonymous reader writes "A year ago gaming on LCD monitors was laughed at, now days it's becoming much more practical thanks to more responsive LCDs like Samsung's SyncMaster 172X, reviewed over at OverClocker's Club. The 172X is a 17" monitor, with a very important feature for us gamers and hardcore computer geeks, a 12ms response time. A 12ms response time literally means zero ghosting in games and in fast action movies."
A 12ms response time is nice and everything, but how do I explain to my wife why I need one, in english.
And I haven't had a problem with it. Granted, I'm not a "pro" gamer, and I don't really like FPS games, but gaming on an LCD monitor is more than OK for me. I haven't really noticed any "ghosting" as such, except on games set on dark areas (Half Life and Halo were noticeable in a couple of areas, and that's it). I realise that, in effect, I am playing the game at more or less 25fps (my calculations might be off, I apologise in advance), but the motion blur - if that is the correct term - actually makes games more enjoyable. Also, for strategy / games, playing on my 191T is an absolute dream...
Mother is the best bet and don't let Satan draw you too fast.
A 12ms means that you should be able to handle a 83.3ish refresh without any ghosting (1000 / 12). Not too shabby. Oh course, this is an average, but if you run it at 60hz it should probably be fine under worst case. Of course games are then limited to 60fps, which is fine for me, but some people claim to be able to feel the difference.
A year ago gaming on LCD monitors was laughed at...
It was laughed at by some perhaps, but a year ago LCD monitors were quite capable of handling games. I got my 19in. 25ms LCD monitor about a year ago, and there were already many people using them for gaming at the time. I have yet to see any problems whatsoever with any games that I have played on that monitor.
No doubt, a 12ms will be even better, but many current monitors are probably good enough for most gamers.
The article says the dot pitch is 0.294mm, and specifically knocks the 172X for it. However, Samsung's US product page claims 0.264mm.
Either the article is wrong, or Samsung updated their specs!
In other news; it has been discovered that dangerously high levels of Fenol (a chemical related to alcohol used on circuit boards in both CRT's and LCD's) are given off in the first two weeks of use of new monitors and increases your chances of getting cancer quite a bit.
Seeing as reviewers must see a lot of these (new) monitors, this is becoming an occupational hazard...
I recently bought one of these. I was in the market for a new monitor, and let me tell you, everything you hear about this monitor is true. You get what you pay for. And for the price newegg charges you are getting the best lcd monitor I have ever seen. When the price drops to the 300 area I'll probably buy another one and do dual screen with them. Check my slashjournal for the epic tale of my monitor purchase.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
So they spend four pages talking about what's in the box (including a picture of the brown cardboard box??) and restating the published specs. Then there are two short paragraphs saying, "wow, looks great, no ghosting, 12ms!!!". I need to get myself a damn review website.
Fine, mod me down, I just felt like complaining.
It's the speed of a pixel going from off to on and back. BLACK AND WHITE. It doesn't actually measure the response for a specific color at the sub pixel level. For gaming there is ONE lcd panel that has consitantly done better than all others, and that's the HyDIS panels manufactured by Hyundai. It's very very hard to find an LCD monitor still made with one. The ONLY currently available LCD panel I know of with the HyDIS panel is the Hitachi CML174B featured here with the specs here. If you buy into the LG screen 16ms or 12ms aussie myth, hey, it's your money. Enjoy the ghosting.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts115.html
According to the CDC, phenol is a manufactured substance that is used to manufacture nylon, as an antiseptic, or in mouthwash & throat lozenges.
The effects of breathing airborne phenol (Which I assume is what would be coming out of the monitor) are unknown; additionally the CDC lists it as unclassifiable regarding carcinogenity. As such, I wouldn't recommend monitor testers run out looking for a new job, considering that you're likely to run into more heavy doses of carcinogens going to work.
You know, I've run games before at 800x600 on my laptop's display (native 1024x768) with the stretching feature turned on in the display driver. The result? Free anti-aliasing! Sure, some things look blurry, but it's only a 15" display.
Ghosting? Come on... That's motion blur!
Get with the times!
Wait for the new Nvidia 6800 ultra-based cards being released this month. (Nvidia 6800 is currently the fastest and "most features" 3D video chipset around). It supports 2 DVI connectors and has the processing power to make use of both with 3D. Nvidia also officially releases Linux drivers.
Even though the imminent new ATI chipset will probably have better performance than the new Nvidia chipset (as ATI try to regain the performance crown) it is still unannounced and I also wouldn't reccomend ATI as they don't release Linux drivers.
Woah I just checked the ATI website after writing the above and it turns out that they now DO have linux drivers for download. I think this is new.
I've seen LCDs with even higher response rates that lack ghosting.
You don't need a 12ms LCD to avoid ghosting.
They've had them the last few months, unfortunately their 3D performance sucks (as compared to the Windows drivers) & updates are sporadic. I'd recommend you stick with Nividia for 3D on Linux (assuming of course you can bare to use closed source drivers).
Regards
Alex
PS I'm not affiliated with Nvidia, ATI or Linus Torvalds. YMMV.
Looks nice indeed, but LCD technology is still too expensive in my opinion. It's hard to justify $539 for 17-inches of screen estate, when I can get excellent 19-inch CRT's for a hair under $200. Mind you, I know that the way these monitors are measured, the actual screen estate you get on the CRT isn't much more at all, but you're still paying an extra $239 to pretty much save space and look nice.
When I can get a nicely-sized, gaming-capable LCD for under $300, then I might bite. It'd certainly be nice to own an LCD for their portability compared to CRT's. For now though, I think I'll stick with the "old and clunky" CRT technology.
SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 172X LCD at TweakNews.net, seems to he a more thorough review. Sounds like a great monitor, though too much for my wallet. $400 seems to be a viable price point for me.