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I'm a hardcore gamer along with graphics guy. I've always wanted to get a LCD however from what I've been hearing LCD for under $800 dollars don't nearly display the type of quality that CRT's do. So my question is what Flat Panel do I get fro under $800 dollars that has excellent capabilities to display Games and Graphics?

If you're a hardcore gamer, I assume that you're obsessed with refresh rates and such. As things stand, a $400 CRT monitor will outperform a $800 LCD monitor in every way, except for form factor, and possibly contrast ratio. I'm not a gamer, but I'm glad that I have a 70#, 21" CRT instead of a 10#, 18" LCD.

This year's $800 LCD will look like crap compared to next year's $650 model, while this year's $400 CRT will look just like next year's $375 model.

You aren't the first person to consider this question. Here are a couple of other threads:

http://www.tech-report.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=866

http://www.tech-report.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=110

I have one of each. My main PC is hooked to a Viewsonic PF-815 (22" CRT, perfect flat Trinitron), while my second PC (where I am typing this now) is connected to a Hitachi CML-170SXWB (17" LCD, extra-wide viewing angle, built-in tinny stereo speakers).

My suggestion for gaming is to get a good CRT. Look for a perfect-flat aperture grill (Trinitron/Diamondtron) CRT that will display the optimum resolution at a refresh of at least 80Hz, preferably even higher. For 19" CRTs, that's usually 1280x1024, while 21-22" CRTs may be very good at 1600x1200. High-end monitors with good electronics may have enough bandwidth to display higher resolutions, but the number of physical pixels will usually match those. Of course, if you run a CRT at a resolution other than its recommended one, it will look a lot better than an LCD will look at something other than its native resolution.

For stuff that runs on the Windows desktop and for 2D strategy games (e.g.: Warlords Battlecry II), the LCD is very nice, provided that you run at the native resolution. For most 17-18" monitors, that is 1280x1024. Unfortunately, the Voodoo5-5500 in my second PC won't drive most 3D games at acceptable framerates at that resolution. Even if it would, the LCD leaves trails. You can even see this on fast-moving action scenes when playing DVDs. The LCD pixels cannot change state as fast as 60 or 75Hz. Your mileage may vary. Some LCDs are faster than the NEC/Hitachi technology in my screen, but many of those have a much narrower viewing angle than than the NEC/Hitachi technology.

If you really want to use an LCD for gaming, consider how the native resolution of the screen matches the games that you want to play. The scaling artifacts can vary anywhere from ugly to almost unreadable. Again, your mileage may vary. Some LCDs may have slightly more sophisticated scaling algorithms than mine.

19" CRTs are probably the best value. You can get a decent enough one for under $250, or you can get a top-of-the line model for a little under $400. A 17-18" LCD is going to cost about twice as much as a 19" CRT, with about the same viewable area.

A good 0.24 or 0.25mm resolution 22" monitor like the NEC-Mitsubishi FP1375X or Viewsonic P225f goes for $700-$1000, which is about the same price as a 17-18" LCD. The 0.22mm resolution 22" Sony GDM-F520f has a rather exciting $1450 price tag, but it's still cheaper than a good 20" LCD.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

The 0.22mm resolution 22" Sony GDM-F520f has a rather exciting $1450 price tag, but it's still cheaper than a good 20" LCD.

My GDM-G520 cost me only $650, and still has a better dot pitch than any LCD. The G520 has a .25 dot pitch, but is otherwise identical to the F520. The difference between .22 and .25 is hard to see when you're dealing with moving images, as a gamer would. And with $800 in your pocket, it looks even better!

Don't forget the fact that an LCD monitor is a lot easier to get stolen than a CRT monitor. Just this week, an LCD monitor at the front desk at my work got stolen. If she had a 19" CRT, the incident wouldn't have happened.

Dell has their 2000FP on sale for $1359 again... Go through their small business portion of their web page for 15% off, then search for it.

I'm a hardcore gamer, and I can live with mine. The refresh will never touch a CRT, but I've gotten used to it. I even leaded a few rounds of instagib DM and CTF at a LAN two weekends ago among good players.

I would suggest trying out playing on a friend's machine with an LCD if possible. Give it an honest shot. Your knee-jerk reaction will be "this sucks," but if you get used to it it isn't so bad.

And IMHO, native resolution on an LCD looks better than a CRT. With a native of 1600x1200 the scaling at lower resolutions has enough pixels to play with that it maintains sharpness. I wouldn't run my desktop at non-native, but it's completely acceptable for games. I also think LCDs have excellent color. Contrast is definitely not as good, but it isn't really a problem unless I turn out the lights.

The KDS RAD-5 and RAD-7 line have gotten kudos from many of my LAN gaming buddies for above average refresh rate for an LCD, too. There should be another thread in this forum a week or two back if you want more info.

I'm thinking about buying the ViewSonic P220f (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/crt_p220f.htm). However my friend is telling me to get ViewSonic GS790 (http://www.viewsonic.com/products/crt_gs790.htm). I think that the P220f is the best choice however I want to hear some feedback to help me mack up my mind.