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Advice about buying monitors

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nstgc:
BY $100 more, I was reffering to my uper limit of $300.

As for Dragon Age, that depends largely on your CPU. I have a 9600 GT with 512MB of RAM. At 1680x1050 I can play with everything maxed out without any problems. I'm using a Phenom II 945.

What about ghosting? Do you notice any significant ghosting when playing DA:O?

[edit] Not getting a ZR24W. Terrible contrast (less than 500:1). The 800:1 I have with mine is noticeable and almost annoying.

xShadow:
Like I said, what little time I did play, I didn't notice anything wrong at all. If ghosting takes more play time to come out, then I'm not sure. If it's supposed to have immediate effect, then I obviously am not experiencing it. I, however, CAN tell you that I have played Wolfenstein ET and League of Legends for hours on end and come out with absolutely nothing strange on my screen.

As for what you're playing Dragon Age on: to be honest, I'm not quite sure how the game settings work. I can tell you that my graphics card is multitudes better than a 9600GT though. So, I'm not sure how it adjusts the game to look based on what settings you choose. I'm thinking it might detect whether your graphics card can render certain options completely, and then adjust the image accordingly.

I'm not bragging or anything, I'm just saying: I know I have 5850, and I also know that it's still considered a fairly high-end card, and I still lag a bit at some parts on 1920x1200. I'm not sure why that is, I'm just sure that it happens. So don't expect everything to be peachy with a 5670. If it's a problem with the drivers, you're likely to have those problems, too. Maybe it's just that the increase in resolution from 1680x1050 to 1920x1200 is a big one, maybe it's that the drivers suck. Who knows?

Edit: And I'm using an i5 processor. I could try overclocking it, but I highly doubt that my processor is what's causing the problem...

nstgc:
I'm fully aware that the 5850 is faster than a 9600 GT (GPU is 7 times faster, the ram is 3 times faster and there is twice as much I think). Also the i5 is about the same performance wise as the Phenom II. Strange.

As for the ghosting, you did already mention that...and I was the one who asked. Sorry.

[edit] What about Banding? In particular there is terrible banding during the load screen/transition screen in DA. Is there Banding there, or does the texture just suck that bad?

sdedalus83:
You don't really notice ghosting (unless it's really awful) unless you switch to a significantly faster screen.

On the subject of the ZR24W's contrast ratio -if your current monitor has a TN panel, don't believe that 800:1 for a second.  It's vastly overrated based on the maximum brightness, even though the screen should probably never go beyond 30% due to the complete breakdown of image quality. At least try to find one on display somewhere.

nstgc:
The reviews I've read on the ZR24W listed contrast ratio as an issue. As for my own monitor, it actually states the contrast ratio is 1000:1, but I've read that its actually closer to 800:1 (unless you wish to use its DC ratio of 3000:1). Also, I've been thinking that my problems with contrast on my current monitor aren't due to the actual contrast ratio so much as an inability to produce colors that are dark.

Thats why I was asking about the load screen from Dragon Age. When loading an area you get this terribly hideous rainbow effect which to me looks like it may be banding (now that I know about it). I'm currently in leaning strongly towards a IPS monitor due to the issue of banding. A few days ago I ran a banding test on my monitor (a gradient strip) and it was clear that I was not looking at an 8b per channel image. I ran the same test on campus yesterday and there was neither banding nor dithering. I'd actually be happy with dithering I think so long as the monitor was sufficiently large.

As for finding a monitor locally (on display) that is IPS or VA, that isn't possible unless I'm looking at a Mac. Unless they are making 1920x1080 IPS monitors with <4ms delays and price tags under $300, all we have are TN panels.

@xShadow: Is your i5 a dual core? DA runs is suppose to run much smoother on a quad core.

On a final note, I said "fuck it" and ordered the LP whatever (the thing xShadow just bought). If it doesn't work, oh well, it can't be worse than near death 1650x1050 TN (which Samsung would have charged me $150 to replace). I'm also getting the service package.

[edit] Done, ordered, over with. No more debating the issue for me! Now...which video card should I get (here we go again).

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