monitor options for gaming?

[jakerc]

hi, this is my first post in this board so if this is answered somewhere else please redirect me.

anyway my question is basically, right now i have a 19" samsung syncmaster 955df. it's a pretty good monitor but i think it's a little too small for 1600x1200, which is the only resolution i can really play more than 4 tables at once with. also, i like playing computer games (world of warcraft, HL2 once my new computer gets here and probably some other newer games coming out). i know a lot of you guys probably use flat-panel monitors, but ive heard those aren't good for gaming (is this even true btw?).

so i guess my question is, is there any way that i'm able to get a monitor that can still play games but also have a good sized resolution/viewing space? maybe a bigger sized CRT monitor? more than one monitor? also i'm talking about probably 6-8 tables, i don't think i'll be playing any more than that.

any advice is appreciated, thanks for your time.

[Photoc]

Dell 2007FP or something like that. 20" monitor with 1200x1600 resolution or go up to the new 30" monitors with insane resolution.

[CrashPat]

I would upgrade to something like the Samsung 204b or the Dell 2407.

Don't go with a big CRT, they are bad for you, they are not efficient, and they have a ton of other problems. No reason to put a 100 lb monitor on your desk, etc.

LCDs used to have issues with gaming due to ghosting. This was caused because unlike CRTs that refresh every pixel very quickly (I know I needed 85hz+ on my Samsung 900NF at 1600x1200), each pixel changes more slowly. On older LCDs the refresh rate was around 25ms which is easy to see. This problem starts to go away at 16ms, and the newest LCDs are free of it. The newer ones are 8ms response time or better, I believe the Samsung is 5ms and the Dell is 8ms. I have the 2405 dell, and have never noticed any problems with it. I don't play any video games, but I do watch a lot of movies, which is another area where fast response time is crucial.

Basically you are limited by budget:
Go with the Samsung 204b if you can only spend about 400 bucks. It was 300 last week, not sure what is is now.
Go with the Dell 2407WFP if you can afford 700 bucks, and your computer can run 1920x1200. Most can. Some games require patches to run in that mode though.
Go with the Dell 3007WFP if you have gobs of money. The monitor runs about $1500 on sale, but it runs at 2560x1600 resolution which basically requires either a high end SLi setup to get excellent gameplay performance. There is a recent article on this at hardocp.com. Look to spend at least $2000 on just video cards and monitor if you go this route, maybe $2500.