TFT Time
 

Hello all,

I know this is one of THE most asked questions but I need some advice.

Next week on this Wednesday ( week after this Wednesday ) I am getting £210 to replace my dodgy crt 17inch Siemens monitor.

I do a great deal of gaming at 1152 by 768 or something similar but would love a higher resolution, as this crt really glares at high resolution (1280 by 1024).

I do a great deal of gaming and fancy a 17inch bigger preferred but with my £210 tops cash I doubt I could get a gaming spec tft.

I have spotted a 17inch tft from Overclockers for £210 with 8ms response time which sounds good. Any other ideas, and suggestions would be well received I am posting this early to get a good review on what is out there.

Thanks in advance all :tu:

Re: TFT Time
 

personally, i'd forget tft and go for a behemoth like this

though that one you said sounds a reasonable deal...you'll want a low response, 8ms is good.

Re: TFT Time
 

www.aria.co.uk

http://www.aria.co.uk/productinfocom...pecialStatus=1
this one looks good

check their deal of the day section and the Super specials they have a lot of decent low priced TFTs some with 12ms response. I do a lot of gaming and my TFT has 24ms and it is still very good for gaming.

Re: TFT Time
 

I am another for going big on CRT rather than dropping so much more just for a thinner monitor.

Re: TFT Time
 

I have an IIyama 22" CRT, can't fault it, perfect colour representation and it will obviously never ghost.

Re: TFT Time
 

WOW so are the new crts that good because I am tired of the white glare at high res I get from this one, feels like I am getting snow blindness from it and any other settings and it looks like I am in the dark ages.

EDIT: Although space is a issue right now as my desk is cramped and to keep a nice distance from my monitor i have to have the desk away from the wall.

Re: TFT Time
 

Ive played games on both tft and crt,I have a 19" true flat crt and I am yet to have seen a tft that can compete with games

Re: TFT Time
 

Well I have a £210 Budget so whats my best buy if I am to go CRT, as the main reason to get rid of his 17inch crt is because its cheap and nasty and the glare is appauling for a 12month old monitor.

( serves me right for buying it from Comet £99 :erm: )

Re: TFT Time
 

God there are some fussy folk here

I am looking at replacing my monitor cos it keeps going yellow - usually works ok if i smack it. Could it be the cable ?

surley if its a bit bright you can turn down the brightness button ?

Anyway - can someone tell me what DVI is about and why a monitor with that would be better than one without

Re: TFT Time
 

I think you're confusing glare with a 60Hz refresh rate.
My old 17" could only do 60Hz at 1600x1200, my new 19" can do it at 75Hz which is a bit better.

OT: BTW - I've adblocked your avatar, it was putting me off reading your posts.

Re: TFT Time
 

LOL Richard I am soon to change it with a new signature and avatar set I am working on.

I currently run at 1024 by 768 at 85hz but yes I am at 1280 by 1024 its 60hz and is awful to view.
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It's down to a few things.

1) I had a 21inch Compaq Qvision 210 which I had to sell as I did not have the space to keep it with my gf moving into my house with my parents. Now I have the space for a tft, although I am going to check out some CRT's aswell.

As for DVI I have not gotten into that yet. Must be some kind of improvement.
__________________

Benq FP71E+ 17" LCD Monitor - Silver/Black (MO-006-BQ)

Is located second on list on THIS site.

Looks lovely nice 8ms response time and cash is within my budget.

Any issues with this one? is one I have had my eye on but being a newbie to the world of tft, I rather ask those in the know seeing as I am spending more and more time in Flight Simulator 2004 Half-Life2, Doom3 and Halo it will be gaming a fair bit at 1280 by 1024.

Re: TFT Time
 

your best bet might be to go to a shop where you can look at them, microdirect for instance probably arent too far away...

Re: TFT Time
 

Good luck. The queues are usually 1/2 an hour deep and there are hardly any monitors on display.

Re: TFT Time
 

I got my iiyama 17" tft about 3 years ago for £350--18msec response time and I use it at 1280/1024 for gaming with no probs. I'm so happy with it that I didn't bother replacing it when I built my new PC recently. :tu: :)
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I got it 'cos PCZone mag recommended it at the time.
atm they are recommending the viewsonic vp171s

Re: TFT Time
 

DVI is a digital connection and I think they are only on TFT screens, in order to make use of it your praphics card needs to have a DVI output.

Re: TFT Time
 

I'd champion the samsung 913n, a little out of your price range at £235 but its price is ever falling, its an 8ms panel so is great for games.
LG do a 1915s for a smidge over £200 which has had some very good buyer reviews on ebuyer and is a 12ms panel (also fine for games) they are both vga only tho no dvi.

LG - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=73980
Samsung - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=83914

Re: TFT Time
 

Note, there are two types of DVI connector: DVI-D uses only the digital pins and can only be used between a compatible graphics card and a digital monitor (ie a TFT); DVI-I can use either the digital and analogue pins so that a DVI-I monitor is compatible with both an analogue and a digital graphics card (and vice versa).

Here are some comments I have posted before in one of the many 'what TFT do I buy' threads:

Note that Aria are offering a dead pixel check service though I'm not sure whether this guarantees no dead pixels:
http://www.aria.co.uk/productsList.a...berPerPage=100

Personally, I'd recommend the Dell Ultrasharp 1703FP that Mrs A uses. This has dual DVI-I and pivots but you probably won't like the 25mS response time:
http://www1.us.dell.com/content/prod...=us&l=en&s=gen
...and is available at a wicked price from Aria.

Re: TFT Time
 

I am most impressed with the dead pixel check there is quite a few monitors on there which I am most happy with the cost, however does anyone know the what Aria's customer service staff are like.

Re: TFT Time
 

i've returned a couple of things, a faulty mobo and CPU (separately). they were pretty good, quick and courteous.

Re: TFT Time
 

I have used them many times and not had any problems with returning stuff, or any thing else for that matter.

Re: TFT Time
 

Thanks, I am still in the tft or crt thing, the 21inch or 22inch crt for same money as a 17inch tft is a big thing, I used to have a 21inch Compaq monitor and I do miss it, loved the sheer size of it.

A tft would be nice for size and style though, tough choice.

Re: TFT Time
 

remember a 17" tft is 17" across, whereas a 17" crt is usually about 15.75"

a 21" crt isn't a wole lot different in size to a 19" tft!

Re: TFT Time
 

Apart from the cost.

Re: TFT Time
 

I can compare (although not side by side) a 21" AOC CRT monitor with a 18.1" Iiyama TFT with a DVI interface.

I much prefer the picture on TFT. It is so much sharper, brighter and generally more pleasing to the eye. There's no contest as far as I'm concerned. TFT wins every time.

Re: TFT Time
 

Yep..........and a lot less reflection from a TFT :tu:

Re: TFT Time
 

Bit of an unfair comparison, a bit like comparing Del Boys van to a Ferrari, a flat screen 22" IIyama with a diamondtron tube imo was far warmer and much better for gaming than any TFT I've tried (IIyama TFT's included)

Re: TFT Time
 

People reckon that Response time is all there is to gaming performance - Can be wrong since Manufacturers can use a sneaky method to get their response time that can still make it rather unpleasant for gaming.

Saying that my 17" TFT came with the following figures:
Maximum response time: 25ms
Nominal/Average response time 18ms

No problems with gaming at all, no ghosting as some would expect from a 25ms.

So dont go for the low response time hype - 12 ms and 16ms are still upto the job and may save you some cash... also 8ms panels can have lower quality internal parts (Cant remember the exact part) that degrades the colour quality a bit in order to gain more speed. Its only 1 bit difference but still....

If you want the ultimate in gaming/dvd performance with the clearist image than go for CRT - They handle things alot better although existing TFTs are close, you can tell the difference between a good CRT and TFT..

If space is an issue than go for the 17" TFT if not go for a large CRT... also 17" TFTs are roughly the equivalent of 19" CRT whereas 15" TFTs are roughly the equivalent of 17" CRTs in terms of visible screen area.

Re: TFT Time
 

In my local shop today I spotted this tft, going to run some checks online into it but for £179 I think its a nice deal.

Definatley will have to be a flat panel on order of my girlfriend ( who is one big hater of crt's )

Re: TFT Time
 

Why not hang on for an OLED display.....only be a year or so!:dozey:

Re: TFT Time
 

I kinda want my monitor asap, this crt is driving me nuts, that one is nice but at £179 I am considering other options.

Re: TFT Time
 

barely an inch thick :p:

interesting article (well to me)

http://www.computerworld.com/mobilet...,88886,00.html

Re: TFT Time
 

Hello all,

Spotted this tft on Aria today

19" Digimate L-1916D TFT with DVI

£179.98 With Vat.

www.aria.co.uk

It looks good spec wise and everything else and would leave me the cash to have the dead pixel check. And according to the customer comments section is 16ms response time.

Any thoughts and ideas? I am buying this Wednesday because someone already is coming for this aging 17inch monitor for a cheap build they are doing. So I need to be sure I am buying the right monitor for me £210.

Thanks and I do not mind waiting while it arrives, so long as I know I am getting a top quality tft.

Re: TFT Time
 

I'm sure you probably realise this, but try to do whatever you can to take a look at the same make and model in the flesh before you buy.

Stick its make/model review in Google and see if there is any decent feedback.

Re: TFT Time
 

will your graphics card be good enough to drive such a big monitor , just a thought :)

Re: TFT Time
 

Is that true?

I have never read any proof about bigger monitors need better cards.

I'm not saying I disbelieve you, it's just that my own gut instinct tells me that it should make no difference.

Re: TFT Time
 

yes, it will.

the limitation is graphics memory, but 8 meg is plenty for a screen buffer (even @ 2048x1536, 32bpp you only need 12 meg)

Re: TFT Time
 

ummmmm , just checked and my largest output is 1280 X 1024 @ 60 hz , maybe i am getting confused now , i know the refresh rate doent come into it :confused:

Re: TFT Time
 

refresh could be limited by the gpu, if it was over about 10 years old... it'll be a monitor limitation

Re: TFT Time
 

I have a new pc to run this with a Ati X700pro Pci-Express card. :)

Re: TFT Time
 

Yes but a 21" monitor at 1024x768 doesn't need a better graphics card if the previous monitor was 15" at 1024x768 does it?

Re: TFT Time
 

:|

I guess not, but I prefer to buy a tft, I am pretty sure my new pc can handle a large tft, if I am unsure however I will buy a large crt.

I do not wish to have ghosting or dead pixels. That matter does concern me.

Re: TFT Time
 

Aria are doing 17" TFT for about £100 at the moment.

Re: TFT Time
 

unlikely, but possible... a 21" monitor will almost certainly have a much higher horizontal refresh than a 15".

many older 15" monitors can only run 1024x768@60 Hz, whereas a 21" could probably mange 120Hz, maybe more. for me, <75Hz is unbearable, gives me a headache in minutes...

Re: TFT Time
 

With under 16ms response time? and about 1280 by 1024 resoutlion at above 72hz with dvi interface ( cable supplied ) and decent brightness and contrast ratios?

Re: TFT Time
 

:LOL: You don't want much do you :)

Re: TFT Time
 

Nope :angel:

Re: TFT Time
 

I can meet all of your requirements apart from the DVI.

They do DVI monitors though but they're more pricey.

The other ones are actually a shade over £100 once you add the VAT.....
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They're 12ms response time though :)

Re: TFT Time
 

Care to send us a pm with the details so i can home in on them on aria, I have about 20msn windows open right now with some goings on from tonight :)

Re: TFT Time
 

They're mostly in here:

http://www.aria.co.uk/DealForToday.asp

Re: TFT Time
 

Everything you need to know about DVI connections to LCD displays.

http://www1.graphics.tomshardware.co...129/index.html

Re: TFT Time
 

I have the £210 right now in the bank, but I am very worried about which TFT to order, a few on Aria's site are very nicely priced compared to there specifications, however most are image not of the actual monitor, and as a part of this also is design of the monitor it is cause for concern.

I just do not wish to buy a tft get it delivered only to find it does not do which I want it to do.

Any chance of help here people?