recommendations for 26" plus monitor

DamoKen

Hi all, thinking of upgrading my monitor from my old trusty 20" viewsonic to something a bit larger.

Will be mainly for games & movies, format I normally watch movies in would be just divx though so not too worried about High Def.

Looked at a couple on offer on Komplett, Overclockers and Amazon such as

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/16_MONITOR/03_MONITOR/productdetails/20066345/Samsung_27_P2770FH_LCD_1ms_HDMI_DVI_VGA/LS27EFHKUF_EN/default.aspx for €295

and http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-001-HS&groupid=17&catid=1120&subcat= for £254.99.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-VK266H-inch-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B001KAKV5I/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1288534250&sr=1-3 for £290.80

Reviews on the Hanns that I read didn't look the best and couldn't find any for the Samsung. Also the res is 1920 x 1080 which I read somewhere is aimed more at the high def market instead of the gaming market.

So any recommendations for a good all rounder 26" plus monitor without breaking the bank?

On a side note, my graphics card is the BFG O2 8800 GTS 640MB. Would an upgrade to the larger screen mean I'd need something a bit beefier or would this be ok?

cheers

DamoKen

no thoughts??

anyone bought the Samsung P2770FH from Komplett? or thoughts on it's specs? or any recommendations on monitors really that are 26" plus regarding gaming and divx?

eF. Godlike

Hi, I've a 24" one which is 1920x1200 and depending on what games you play, that 8800 should be plenty. I upgraded from a hd3870 to a gtx 470 recently and in cod 4 and similar games I saw almost no difference, except anti-aliasing obviously, however performance in Dirt is far better and it looks a lot nicer with better image quality settings too. What games would you be playing? See if you can find figures for how many fps your card would get at different resolutions in whatever games you want to be able to play and then decide yourself as it depends on if it's worth the money to you to upgrade. Personally I think I'd get the BenQ 24" on komplett for 175 and upgrade my card with the money I saved. Don't know enough about any of those 26 inch ones to comment but I'll google some reviews in a minute.

Cuddlesworth

DamoKen wrote: »

no thoughts??

anyone bought the Samsung P2770FH from Komplett? or thoughts on it's specs? or any recommendations on monitors really that are 26" plus regarding gaming and divx?

Yeah, Plonk yourself in front of a 26 inch tv and tell me it feels comfortable. Waste of money.

DamoKen

Cheers EF, thought about getting a 24" but as prices on the 26 plus have dropped a lot was thinking of pushing the boat a bit.

@ Cuddlesworth. Why would you say a waste of money? Is that an opinion or from experience? i.e. have you bought a monitor in excess of 26"? Started the thread to get recommendations so a bit more information other than dismissing out of hand would be helpful.

I have a few mates who have large monitors, read a lot of reviews and I've also "plonked" myself in front of one and didn't find it uncomfortable. I would imagine as with any screen you adjust your distance from it accordingly?

You would be the first I've heard to say that so any more info as to why you think it would be interesting to hear. Thanks

eF. Godlike

Hi, got around to looking up those reviews. Looked at one review each and the samsung looks pretty good, although the asus has a higher resolution. I'd probably choose one of those two but I'm not too well versed on the subject so take my opinion with a grain of salt. Sorry for taking so long to get back on
Edit: the 1080p screen might be better if you were watching 1080p content, just as an aside. If you were using the max resolution on both it depends how good the image quality is on each of them and I haven't seen either one.

DamoKen

No worries EF, and cheers for the reply. As a matter of interest where did you see those reviews?

The only ones I could find for the Samsung were sketchy at best, also seemed to be from before it was on sale so were I guess based on the specs released by Samsung instead of objective testing of the actual panel.

dolihalix

I don't know what prices are you looking at but the difference between 24 and 26 inches is massive. you're basically paying 50-100% more for 2 extra inches. for example that samsung you have there compare to this or this

however, I find myself in the same position as you, I can't decide whether to go for 24 which would be the easier choice or just go for 40-42 LCD TV which will cost me twice as much but would benefit you more if you're into movies and such

eF. Godlike

Not sure where the links actually are as I just googled a few. They were from reputable review sites as far as I know though. Yeah Doli, I've a friend who's getting a new PC soon and myself and another friend who's pretty into PCs told him to get that BenQ one as it does look like great value. The TV is also a good idea for movies but unless they're a lot better than they used to be (going back about 2 years to when I bought my 24") you're better off with a monitor for gaming as it will have less ghosting and will display movement better. Will look for the review links in a sec.