Looking at getting a 20 inch gaming LCD

[ghost_recon88]

So I've been browsing newegg looking for deals, and have found this one here, only $179.99 after rebates. Its a ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116075

Anyone have anything good to say about this one, or have a better one for my price range? I'd like to at the max spend $220 after rebates.

[redrumy3]

i heard viewsonic rma is terrible

not bad for the price

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112007

[ghost_recon88]

Well that one does look ok for the price, my friend said the Samsung 204BW was a good one, and it's only $199.99 after rebates. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001087

[meionm]

I placed order on newegg for 20" monitor and was considering viewsonic lcd but few things turn me off:

One year warranty

No DVI Cable

No height adustment

My past experience with viewsonic was not good. I had viewsonic once but it wasn't as good as my older lcd. I got rid off it very quickly.

[ghost_recon88]

Yea it seems weird that Viewsonic would not include a DVI, although for me thats no problem because of where I work, we have a ton lying around from all the Dell Ultrasharps we order.

[meionm]

Well that one does look ok for the price, my friend said the Samsung 204BW was a good one, and it's only $199.99 after rebates. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001087
I will get this monitor next week so by then I should know how good or bad it is.

[MadMan007]

For a low cost good 20" I'd check out the Acer 2051W.

[Mtotho]

there is much mroe selection for 19" not to mention the price is less, look at one of the hanns g for like 130

[jonnyboy88]

How bout the 206BW?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001095

[ghost_recon88]

How bout the 206BW?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001095

Hmm, the main difference I see between the 206BW and the 204BW is the 16.7 million colors to 16.2 million, $50, and the contrast ratio is 800:1 compared to 700:1. Is it really worth the extra $50 to get 500k more colors (when you're already talking 16 million!), and to get the contrast ratio up from 700:1 to 800:1?

[MadMan007]

Definitely do NOT get a 16.2mil color screen. 16.7mil colors equates to 32-bit color depth which I'm sure you're used to using. You seem to be looking at TNs only which is fine, but the 16.2mil color TNs do physcial dithering which means to make a given color the pixels next to each other display colors which are supposed to blend into the correct color. It looks bad :p think old-style 16-color graphics. The 16.7mil color TNs use a technique where a given pixel alternates quickly between two colors to display the correct one. While neither type is actually capable of displaying 16.7mil colors on a given pixel, the 16.7mil color ones look miles better.

[ghost_recon88]

Ok, then I'll go with a 16.7 million color one. And what do you mean TN?

Edit1: Also after looking through Dell, I found this one here:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4688

Is that the really good Dell LCD everyone keeps talking about?

[DavidJa]

^^ yep thats the "good" dell
TN is a type of panel manufacturers use.

# TN (Twisted Nematic): Without Overdrive, this type of panel offers the fastest pixel response time. This does however come at the expensive of viewing angles and color fidelity. Out of all TFT-LCD panels, the TN type has the lowest contrast. It is also a 6-bit color depth panel, meaning dithering or frame rate control (FRC) must be employed to reach close to a full 8-bit depth. Pixels in their active state on a TN are black, while in their inactive, white.

# (P-)MVA ({Premium} Multidomain Vertical Alignment): The liquid crystal (LC) cells on MVA panels are in their active state white, and in inactive black and are separated into four domains. This slightly improves viewing angle over TN-type displays (MVAs provide ~45 degrees). MVA panels also provide a high contrast ratio. Grayscale inversion is minimal on these displays. Response time is the second slowest in the industry without ODCs. MVAs and all derivatives hide details at a perpendicular viewing angle due to their multidomain nature. Cells are never perfectly vertical or horizontal in an MVA, but they can be very close.

# PVA (Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment): Developed by Samsung, PVA is very similar to MVA. Viewing angles are very similar and inversion is minimal at wide viewing angles. Samsung is not clear on the true color depth of these panels. These panels deliver the slowest response time. Cells are vertical when light is blocked, and horizontal when light is let through.

# S-PVA (Super Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment): These types of panels deliver a full 8-bit color depth and have a structure split into eight domains. At wide viewing angles, they have less color shift and a lower black level than MVAs. According to Samsung, they have a higher contrast ratio and better response time than MVAs as well.

# S-MVA (Super Multidomain Vertical Alignment): Likely similar to P-MVA from AU Optronics, Chi Mei Optoelectronics has developed the S-MVA type of panel. These also include multidomain, vertically-aligned liquid crystals so that the cells stay in the same shape at different positions, increasing brightness at wide viewing angles. According to CMO, S-MVA improves viewing angles from conventional MVA types to 80 degrees in all angles. Like other types of panels, response time has gradually improved on these as well.

# IPS (In-Plane Switching): The IPS panel was pioneered by Hitachi to fix the problems that plague the VA and TN types. Like TN, most IPSes contain only a single domain, although DD-IPS (dual domain IPS) does exist. This technology sports the least distortion at wide viewing angles. Two transistors per each pixel are needed, so brighter backlighting is crucial and power consumption is higher than competing technologies, but response time benefits greatly from this. Color depth varies. One disadvantage is that a purple-black is now introduced in black colors at different viewing angles.

# S-IPS (Super In-Plane Switching): LG Philips LCD improved on IPS with their S-IPS technology. These offer a lower black level, higher contrast ratio, lower response time, and a wider viewing angle than traditional IPS technology. Color depth on S-IPS panels is 8-bit. The purple-black tinting still applies to wide viewing angles, but orange and red hues are greatly reduced versus other technologies at wider viewing angles.

# AS-IPS (Advanced/Enhanced Super In-Plane Switching): These type of panels are LG Philips LCD's third generation of IPS technology. This is mainly just a wieldy moniker for improvements in the front-end driving electronics, including ODC to reduce response time, and a dynamic contrast ratio technology, raising contrast up to 1600:1. The diagonal viewing angle is also increased to 178 degrees, from 170 on S-IPS panels. AS-IPS panels very often include much brighter backlights than S-IPS types.

# A-MVA (Advanced Multidomain Vertical Alignment): This is a new panel from AU Optronics promising contrast ratio and viewing angle performance comparable to Samsung's 8-domain S-PVA panels. These should be capable of true 8-bit color. Still, it is unknown if ODC will force them to dither.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

[Avairen]

thank you for posting that. I had no idea what people meant by saying , "tn panel." That's all I wanted to know.

[RollingThunder]

Ok, then I'll go with a 16.7 million color one. And what do you mean TN?

Edit1: Also after looking through Dell, I found this one here:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4688

Is that the really good Dell LCD everyone keeps talking about?

Ghost,

You might want to look at that Dell in their refurbished section for $269. I bought the FP version that way ($289), you'll never know the difference. It was perfect. I also have the NEC 90GX2 on another computer (TN panel). It's a decent LCD but there is no question the Dell is much better.

Many here recommended the Dell 2007 series when I was asking, they were right!