OT: computer monitors

[just-some-guy]

when i have a question. and i can't google or exact forum it. i go to a place that has people i can trust for knowledgable info in that area. so here i am.

i am picking out a widescreen computer monitor. i am looking at a borrowed 19" WS now, HP w1907, it is great*, i want my own.... *i just plugged it in to the standard monitor port. and no calibration(all defaults). can someone point me to a place that will help me calibrate it !?!? thanx

my question. what are good and bad brands to look for, avoid.
i'm looking at these
http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=19&name=Monitors

price is a factor. and high performance is not. though i probably would get a dvi card. and i'm not a gamer. just a basic surfer.

can ya help a guy out ? thanx a ton. i want to order by sunday night.

 

[alexwakelin]

Does your computer have a video card or on-board video? I have an nvidia 9800 and there is a calibration utility included in the driver software.

 

[mudrummer99]

I've had Samungs, Lg's and Dells and have been very happy with all of them, never a dead pixel or any problems with them at all. Most Nvidia graphics cards come with Nvidia control panel which has a pretty decent calibration tool as well. Hope this helps a bit.

Mike

 

[just-some-guy]

onboard video. the monitor i am on now, i am not keeping, so i didn't install the software.

but mostly i am wanting to know about reliability. and features to look for/avoid.

 

[businessjeff]

Since price is your concern You can get "cheap" label monitors and do good with them.

I got my ACER 24" long ago and have had no issues. As well what makes the LCD nice is the screen is actually made by samsong. Acer doesnt make their own lcd's. So that allows you to get a cheaper LCD with a nice high quality screen.

You will want DVI man, its like going from dial up to cable, big difference and well worth it, and besides most LCD you buy will have DVI.


I would say the best way to pick one out would be price/specs. Then when you get that narrowed down, check them out in person. Which screen looks better, but whats most important to me at this point isthe menu layout. I got a fancy LG with touch-less buttons that you just hover your finger over... great cool neat, but you have no idea which button is which... Little things like this.

As far as calibration, this is a MUST!!! for me. THe screen has to have a "Auto" calibrate feature. Press it and it sizes it up in every which way.

As far as calibrating it with software tools, Nvidia manger is free to DL, and it doesnt mater if u have on-board or not.

 

[just-some-guy]

i am finding that most all of them are very reliable. or the defects are not being posted online.

acer is a possibility.

wow, i didn't know it made that much difference.
yeah, i'm looking at/for dvi cards. will a cheaper, $40ish, one work for a non gamer ?

i'm going to the local tiger direct store to check em out. their prices are right inline with newegg. so maybe i will bring one home.

 

[alexwakelin]

For around $40 you can get a radeon HD 2000/3000 series card. The radeon HD series offer full hardware acceleration for video, which I don't think you will find on a comparably priced nvidia card.

Just checked out newegg...with the mail in rebate I don't think you are going to beat this deal. Your computer does have a pci-e slot right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121287

 

[just-some-guy]

pci-e ?, heck, i don't know. will belarc tell me ? = no, at least i don't see it.

my mother board.
Board: http://www.abit.com.tw/ KV-85 (VIA K8M800-8237R) 1.x
how about a pic ?

i want to tiger direct today, orland park il. the place is kind of a dump. they pretty much could care less if you want to check out a powered up monitor. they did have a 22" acer working. didn't look bad at all. but the monitor i have now, has a shinny screen. things just look better on it. i'm going to look at office depot, they CARE about their product displays. so i should get a lot better idea from there.

 

[businessjeff]

alright, im back, sorry for not responding sooner!

I hope I can still help.

Most cards plug into your motherboard (mobo) by a PCI-express slot. PCI express now is mostly in a 16x slot (I think that means 16x faster than original PCI slot ill explain more later). Although If I remember right, a few months after PCI mobos came out they had a PCI 4x as well. You also have a pci 1x or x1 slot, but thats a different story and not a concern to a gfx card in your case.


Now graphics cards can plug into, PCI slots, AGP slots and PCI-express slots. This is important, PCI is slower than AGP, AGP is slower than the new PCI express. But now, they dont even do PCI graphic cards, so PCI express is just commonly referred to as PCI.. So try and not be confused, I know it is, in fact I was at first when I started typing this.

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?DEFTITLE=Y&fMTYPE=Socket%20754&pMODEL_NAME=KV-85

From the looks of it im going to guess this is an older computer. Its says you have 3 PCI and 1 AGP slot. Thats the old PCI that you have. So your best bet is to get an AGP graphics card. I dont remember the cut off when they stopped making AGP cards, they actually probably still do, but a hot card that was offered in AGP was the bfg tech 6800 GTOC. You should be able to still find these on ebay and for cheap.

This is a start, theres tons of shopping you can do, but you need a AGP card. And make sure it has DVI out on it, the 6800 I mentioned should have it. If you arent really doing gaming anything like that card or even less will be more than enough performance to do household PC tasks.

Oh man beware,
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=bfg+tech+6800+gt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=1&ct=title
look at those old gaming comps that never sold that people still think are worth over $1000!!! haha you should pay like $40-50 for this card used, if its even still out there. Still, that should be your price range man, any card for more and you arent going to need it if your not gaming. Let me know what you find, or if you need anymore help.

 

[just-some-guy]

i have a HP w2207h monitor now, and a new dvi video card. its working mostly good.