Hey guys, can you recommend a great widescreen gaming monitor because now I have a competent gaming machine but a crappy 7 year old monitor?

I realize there are "reviews" online but I'm wary of them because they could be sales pitches rather than impartial analysis.

I'm a little behind the latest developments with monitor design.

One's price range is important to know.

One can get a large TN gamer-monitor cheap -- but, its cheap (low color fidelity, low contrast, poor off axis contrast/color/viewing). Thing is, most games are made for TN monitors (as that's what most folks have). And, if one doesn't have a better monitor next to it, one might not notice.

H-IPS, S-IPS, c-PVA monitor screens have much higher color fidelity, better off axis contrast, and cost twice as much (or a bit more) -- think $450 to $600 for 23 or 24 inch.

Then, there are the IPS higher resolution 27 inch monitors that can exceed $600. Not dumb considering the monitor might outlast a couple computers and a few graphics cards.

I'm spending about $300 max on the monitor.

Allen makes some excellent points. For 300$ you'll be looking at aTN monitor... Which fine unless you're a colour fidelity purist.
The main criteria for gaming is to avoid ghosting, and trading size for features like adjustable bases, USB, etc...

I also agree with Allen's observation that a monitor carries over several upgrades and is worth spending a bit more on for that reason.
I have a ViewSonic 25.5" (3 yrs now), for me the TN and other tradeoffs were definitely worth the larger size.

There was a site that posted apples to apples screenshot comparisons between different monitors, unfortunately as its been 3 yrs since I've researched monitors I don't remember the name of the site.

Stay away from TN panels, the only reason for getting one would be 120 Hz for 3D gaming IMO.

Ghosting is a rare problem nowadays. Lag input is THE problem for "gamers" with IPS panels. Fortunately, there is a feature called "Video Overdrive" which even on the slower IPS panes brings responsiveness to the TN level.





With the above in mind, here are some of the latest IPS monitors with fastest response times:

If you could stretch a bit more Dell U2410M might fit your budget. IPS with LED, and 16:10 ratio.

If not, then Dell U2312HM definitely will. IPS and LED, but with "movie" 16:9 ratio.

Listen to Thor... I hadn't realized how fast prices had come down on non-TN panels!

Thor, how come the Dell U2412M $330 Dell monitor doesn't accept the HDMI cable? Isn't that the new standard?

For TV type displays, HDMI. Monitor displays have DisplayPort as their future.

HDMI is compatible with DVI, that's why you only need a cable to go from HDMI-out to DVI-in.

That and it lowers the price. Display Port is what I have on my ZR24w as well, no HDMI.

Do you really need HDMI (connecting some kind of a player to the monitor)? It is more important to have one on your GPU, since most TV's nowadays have it.

Those 2 Dells listed have a 8ms response time, isn't that a little high? I have a Samsung that has a 2ms response time and I'm thinking of getting a 27" monitor and response time is one of the things I look at.

Pixel responsiveness is very close or as fast on latest IPS panels (with perhaps few exceptions naturally). And every manufacturer has its own definition of what response time in ms is. That is probably the most useless spec to look at.

Input Lag is far more important than response times. Here you can read more about it:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/input_lag.htm

As I previously mentioned, there is a thing called "Video Overdrive" and every decent IPS panel has it. Some faster IPS panes don't have it since they don't need it. Even without Video Overdrive, input lag is in the worst case (full black to full white screen) a 1 frame lag (I am referring to the latest, and in this case the above two Dell monitors). IIRC this 23" model is equally fast as any TN panel out there.


The above two models, and the two HP's counterparts like ZR2440w & ZR24w (the one I have) will walk over any TN panel out there unless you need a 120Hz model for 3D gaming.



EDIT: Most people don't even notice the inherent horizontal color and brightness "shift" from normal viewing position on TN panels. But when they do, there is no going back.