I'll be shopping for a new monitor soon (hoping for a good BoxingDay deal), and I'm looking for some last minute advice.

If I had to chose between a bigger screen, say 22" but at 5ms response time, or a smaller screen like 20" but with a 2ms response time, which way do you think I should go? I do some gaming, not a hardcore gamer, but I will play some FPS, some Need for Speed games, and mostly RPG (currently still playing Oblivion).

I'm wondering if I'd really notice a difference between 2ms and 5ms, and if a bigger screen would make the difference more pronounced? And some monitors use some kind of accelerator driver (I think, maybe I'm misinformed) to obtain the 2ms time, so they might not be a true 2ms (just a 5ms in disguise)

I'm going from a crt monitor so response time is important, but then again size is important too - I want the games to be bigger and shinier and intense

I know it does depend on make/model etc., but just in general, if all other things were equal, what might you suggest?

P.S. - specs just in case: AMD Athlon64x2 4200; 2gig ddr2 pc5300 ram; bfg oc'd GeForce 256meg 8600 GT; dual boot winxp & vista (use winxp for most of my gaming).

Thanks for any advice.

Here is a link for my recommendation.

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/moni ... sfvxaa.asp

I have this monitor and can say it is easlily the best I have ever owned. You will not be dissapointed as this would be a very nice upgrade from your CRT. (MB has them listed also )

The Samsung series that Dan posted is what I would be looking at if I was getting an LCD now as well. They seem to be priced very competitively and look great.

As for the response time, I haven't heard of an accelerated driver but I do know that different companies measure the time differently. Some use a Grey-to-Grey (GTG) test, which will make their times look better in comparison to the (should be standard in my opinion) Black-to-White test.

I would also recommend the faster response rate, but smaller monitor, if you have to choose as well for a number of reasons... I'll get into them if you want but someone else will probably point them out.

Whatever you do, make sure the games you play support 1600x1050. I've noticed, but maybe its because mines 21.6inch.. but i swore my 22inch had it... That the "optimal resolution" is 1600x1050. Because some of the games like Dawn of War, Fiesta, and a few other titles (mostly older it seems but still people still play those too...) Warcraft etc. They dont have 1600x1050, they do 1600x1200. Which works fine, but you'll always get an annoying message from your samsung monitor "Not Optimal Performance!." Besides that uhm.. the Samsung 21.6inch I got on sale for $250, its awesome imo, it swivels all the way around so you dont have to move it and position it.. the 22inch samsung DOES... I also had a hell of a lot of problems when I bought a 22inch 2ms response time samsung in september for $450-500(warranty included). I returned it 2 times to futureshop, then the 3rd I got my money back, then caught the 21.6inch on sale for $250... I'll be out there boxing day looking for a 2nd monitor as well =) GL hope that helped.


EDIT: Oh and when I had the 22inch w/ a 2ms response time I didnt even notice the difference. I also used to play Oblivion , WoW, DAoC, EQ2, CS:S, and way too many other titles to notice. I don't think we'll ever see a difference until a game says "REQUIRES 2MS RESPONSE TIME!!! " Surprised Cyrsis didnt have that one * cough * >.>

That's like a game having "A comfy chair with good arm rests" as a requirement.

If you didn't notice a difference though that means that the response time was fast enough for how you game. It's one of those things that is only really noticeable if it's a problem.

For how I game? I don't think I game any different then anyone else, i covered FPS, RTS, and RPG's unless theres some response time game I don't know about Unless your talking in conjunction to what games I play/settings in comparison to my video card. Then I see your point.

Ya, I meant like the types of games you play, the settings you use, and even how quickly you would do things like pan and move the camera around (which usually depends on the type of game I suppose).

Also one person may be bothered by ghosting while another doesn't really seem to notice it or care.

Usually play everything max'd out. But nows a bad time to talk about that, as my I just reinstalled Dawn of War 40k and the screen was artifacting for me... i hate my video card... Ill be happy when I got a new one after christmass x.x

Samsung is exactly what I want to get, but a little out of my price range.

I can swing the 206bw (the 20" model of the 226bw) with 3000:1 contrast ratio and 2ms response time. I was wondering if I should get the 206bw or spend about the same on a 21.6" LG with a 5ms response time?

Anyways, I actually went out and bought the 206bw since its on for $50 off and even that was a little above my price range. I'm going to see if I can get a Samsung 22" on a boxing day special, then I'll return the 20". Here's hoping the 22" goes on sale. I wonder if mysterybyte would pricematch any box store boxing day specials?

Thanks for all the advice