Dell has a sale on LCD Monitors so I'm going to buy a Samsung 710T. It's native resolution is at 1280x1024, and thats cool, but I'm a gamer, and as you guys kno Video Cards can't play the latest at a high resolution forever. So my question is does Image Quality degrade substantially if I change the resolution in a game?

 

it may look blurry and increase ghosting from what I've seen...
I think there's software that lets you have a black border around the image so that if you play at a lower res you just loose real estate rather than put up with the fuzzyness.

Some people don't mind though... And some monitors are good enough that it's really not bad at all. The Eizo L685 I used to have at work was horrible at anything other than the native res, and the Samsung 213T I've got now at work isn't that much better, but it's not as bad.

 

Image quality not noreallt, but being able to see guys/objects at a distance, yes. Especially if your trying to be a sniper.

*always* run at the native res on the LCD panel. And if it's not digital make sure your scan rates match.

 

yeah,if you don't run at full res, it's blurry.
Text sucks, tiny details suck. Not fun.

Games are not such a big deal since you usually aren't concerned with tiny details,
and definitely not a big deal if you're playing some first person shooter and running
around like a crack smoking monkey.

 

games running at other-than-native-LCD resolutions aren't too bad... it's definitely not as big a difference as with regular Windows applications and text.

of course games look all the better running at the native resolution, but yeah it's not exactly easy running today's games at the native LCD resolutions.

 

Yeah, its hard running todays games at 1280x1024. I'll be playing Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Rome Total War etc... Hopefully the 6800GT I'll be ordering can last me 1.5-2 years

 

i dont understand your reason for NOT running at native res... run that one by me again plz?!

 

Higher res = lower framerate.

Running at non-native res isn't painful, but it doesn't look as good as it could. I try and run everything at native, but it's not the end of the world if you don't.

 

yeah i understand that...

but i didnt understand "Video Cards can't play the latest at a high resolution forever."

 

I guess that as newer games want to start using higher resolution textures and more detailed geometries, if you stick to a high native res, you'll need a videocard that can pump out that many pixels with the complex geom and textures.

I say get the 710T, it's supposed to be a great monitor albeit not as stylish as the 172x... Just be sure to buy a kickass card with it and be ready to play HL2 with settings at other than "ultra high + 16xFSAA + 12x AF"

 

just get a vid card to go with that lcd :P

 

go buy a 6800 servies Nvidia or a X800 series ATI card.


I have a 6800 GT overclocked past Ultra speeds. I play at 1600x1200 on all of my games, totally smooth. Even doom3 goes 100+ FPS in ultra mode. (average is 60-70)

Or realize that LCDs suck for gaming. Only ones worth anything are the 12ms models, and there is few and far between of them. Samsung makes a 12ms 17" model.

CRT > LCD for gaming (currently).

 

The OP mentioned the 710T which is a 12ms panel, just as the 172x, both from Samsung. BenQ has 12ms 17" and 19" TFTs and they also make the panel on the Dell 2001FP which is a 20.1" monitor with 12ms response times.

I've been playing FPSs for a while now on an LCD... it's not bad after a few seconds. I've also got a Sony CPD-E400 19" flat-screen Trinitron CRT. I think the monitor hasn't been turned on for over 2 months. The cheap ass analog Dell LCD I got for free with my last PC is just nicer to look at. And I don't mean aesthetically.

 

playing cs on my lcd i still get the games max, of 100 fps...

this is at 800x600 which is the best res for cs, but not the monitor, i havent noticed any problems with clarity or definition

 

I'm a gamer, and being a gamer I kno that games are constantly demanding higher and higher specs from your PC, especially the video card. Since the LCD that I plan to buy has a native resolution of 1280x1024, I'll need a video card that can play games at that resolution. The higher the resolution, the more taxing it is on the video card.

 

Siggy, can you tell me the brand of your Geforce 6800GT? Did you pay full msrp or more for it?

 

A LCD cannot natively display lower resolutions than it was designed for, so depending on the quality of the display you may see some shading between pixels, which will cause the image to look a little fuzzy. If you can, try to go to Best Buy or Circuit City and find and LCD. Lower the resolution and see if you can live with the results.

 

ya like my Laptop LCD is UXGA if i go anything below 1600x1200, its SHIT, literally

 

Weird. I have an Alienware laptop that can do any resolution from 800 x 600 to 1600 x 1200 just fine.

 

I think nearly all LCDs will resize different resolutions to the native resolution by interpolating the pixels. However, some LCDs do this much better than others. Samsung does this very well, while some low-end/generic brands are absolutely terrible. If possible, best thing to do is to set up the monitors you are comparing side by side and run them at different resolutions to see if you can tell a difference. Good luck!

 

lokman is right. You will want to run it in the Native resolution becuase any other resolution will look pixelized. Even for gameing.

Now I am a gamer also, and most gamers will tell you NOT to get an LCD. This is because LCD's streak in quick movement on the screen. The LCD pixels can't respond fast enough or change lighting quickly enough which will give a blur effect also can give you a headache when gaming. You will notice this in first person shooters more then any other game.

I hated LCD's until... I found this one. I just got it two days ago and I LOVE IT! It's a Sony HS-Series 19” Flat Panel LCD, model SDM-HS94P/B. This has the newest technology and what makes it a great gaming LCD is that it has a Response Time of 12ms!! Yes that 12ms for a 19" screen. There is no other 19" screen on the market that can do this. With the 12ms Response Time there is NO Streaking or blury screen! And it's very sexy looking!

I don't know if this is in your budget, but the screen is $799 with $100 rebate if you buy if from a major store before Friday the 25th (read the rebate). How can you beat that?? $699 for the best LCD 19" screen on the market? I did not hesitate.

In addition it has the newest X-BRITE™ LCD Technology. Sweet.... so bright and colorful! Never thought I would love an LCD... I was always a CRT person.

Here is the link to the screen...
HS-Series 19” Flat Panel LCD

One more note... the native resolution of this screen is 1280 x 1024. So if your gaming, you better have a good video card so you can play the games at 1280 x 1024 without video lag. And, use the DVI port if you can. The screen will even be sharper! Pure Digital with DVI!

Oh noticed that your looking at 17"... well Sony has a 17" version of the same monitor, BUT its only a 16ms Responce Time... however that still is really good! Most LCD's are 20-25ms. Here is the link to the 17"... cost $599 and you can get a $50 rebate with this one.
HS-Series 17" Flat Panel LCD Display

Actually that 17" Samsung SyncMaster 710T has a 12 ms Responce Time which is really good, but it does not have the X-BRITE™ LCD Technology. Seems like a decent monitor. If you do go 19"... I'd get the Sony... still have not seen a 19" that can do 12ms Responce Time. The Samsung SyncMaster 910T 19" can only do 25ms Responce.

Good luck!

 

Oh, I should answer your question... YES it will be, but I don't know what games your talking about. Just about every game I know can do 1280x1024 easy. Some go all the way to 1600x1200. Anyhow, the LCD will look more pixeled outside of the native resolution. Some monitors do better at interpolating then others, but it will be degraded looking. I think very few would not notice it looks pixelated. As you may already know CRT's don't have this issue.

I recomend you get a good video card with a DVI port if you don't have one already before you get an LCD. That way you can run any game at the LCD's native resolution without video lag. If your gaming you will need it anyway.