The Monitors

We wanted to get a good mix of “gaming” monitors for our first monitor roundup, so we asked Newegg to help us out. They’re definitely one of our favorite e-tailers, and we’re not just saying that because they’re advertisers here – both of us make personal purchases at Newegg too. We explained our goal of doing the most comprehensive LCD article to date, and sent Newegg a list of monitors we wanted. They were happy to oblige. Of course, they were a bit overzealous and sent us a bunch of non-DVI monitors (monitors that suck) but you have to give them credit for trying to be helpful. :) Still, without Newegg, this article wouldn’t exist and so we hope you’ll keep them in mind when you shop for PC components. Alright, that’s enough advertising for Newegg. ;)

In our round-up, we therefore have, in alphabetical order, the:

LCD Monitor Comparison
Monitor	DVI	Panel Type	Speed	Street Price
Dell 1703FP	Yes	PVA	25ms	$350 (1704FPV)
NEC LCD1770NX	Yes	TN-film	12ms	$360
Planar PL1700	No	TN-film	16ms	$230
Samsung 172x	Yes	PVA	12ms	$360
Samsung 710N	No	TN-film	16ms	$280
Samsung 915N	No	TN-film	8ms	$399 (only 19" in roundup)
ViewSonic VE175	No	TN-film	16ms	$250
ViewSonic VG710	Yes	TN-film	16ms	$320

We only tested these monitors at their native resolution, and only using DVI (when it was available). Even the highest end scalers won’t look as perfect as a 1:1 native resolution. The rationale is pretty simple though: instead of spending extra cash on a 1280x1024 panel that can also run 1024x768 nicely, put that cash toward a video card that can handle 1280x1024 at the framerates you want.

On with the monitors…