Ostriig on 15/2/2009 at 01:31

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I've toyed around with it some more, and I think I'm just going to leave it off, as the experience seems to vary a bit too much for my taste. I gave it a try in Oblivion, and felt it complemented the game well, but then I jumped for a bit in Mirror's Edge and the minute I went into a well lit room it went KILL IT WITH FIRE on my eyes. Add to that the fact that I don't like the way it affects luminosity when screwing around on the desktop, and you get the picture.

Regarding the bezel - I can honestly say it doesn't bother me in the least. It's only when I randomly remember it being there that I take notice of it. Far more noticeable, however, is the power button on the bottom-right corner, lit an intense blue. I like the way it looks, and it's nothing major or anything, but it can tug on your focus at times.


I wouldn't venture a guess. I was pretty much asking the same question a couple of days ago, regarding performance impact. Turns out that switching to 1680 from 1280 only shaved roughly 3-10 fps, depending on game and context, on my GF 9800GT, but I really have no idea how the Ati X1900 would take it, since it's rather dated generation, and the 256MB seem to be pretty much the starting point for cards nowadays. My honest recommendation would be to see if you can't borrow a 1680x1050 display off someone around you, and give it a try. You wouldn't need it for more than an hour anyhow, and that definitely helped me make up my mind about what to do.

I have, however, found an (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quality_vs_quantity.html) article that might be of some help to you, as it features benchmarks on a lengthy batch of games, including at resolutions of 1600x1200. Bear in mind that this is from back in 2006, though.



A couple of more observations on the screen, regarding movies this time. I've taken a spin with the Movie colour mode preset, but I found the Graphics->Game configuration still more to my liking, so I returned to it. I've also tried out this whole HD thing. 720p scaled up just fine, same as 1080p scales down to fit inside the smaller resolution screen, and it all looks spiffy. Sure, I imagine running 1080p on an actual 1920x1080 capable screen is a step up, but it's all just peachy as it is, too.

As a sidenote, regarding the 1080p, I should mention that while 1440x1080 is flawless, with 1920x1080 I've occasionally had some stuttering, though due to the PC itself and the players. Strange thing, in fact - the stuttering is inconsistent over players. I've got one clip that drags its feet in Windows Media Player 11 and Classic, and then expectedly works smooth in KM Player (set to Performance). Another clip, however, will stutter in MP Classic, be straight out borking keyframes and playback in KMP, and then work absolutely smooth in MP 11. Odd.

Ravenger on 20/2/2009 at 23:14

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I just got this monitor, mainly because I finally got Thief 2 running really well on my quad core PC only to find my TN Panel samsung widescreen monitor was far, far too murky to see anything when playing the game.

I didn't have much hope of getting a decent LCD that could do justice to the Thief series, but then I read reports of this new Dell with an IPS screen that was also affordable so I thought I'd give it a try.

It arrived today, and it's excellent. You can actually see the colours properly in Thief 2. The only issues I have is that a) The screen seems to be very slightly glossy, so when it's dark you can get some glare on the screen from other light sources, b) The frame is slightly reflective, but you get used to it, c) The bottom of the screen seems slightly shadowed by the depth of the frame, and d) Like most LCDs the black isn't truly black, even with dynamic contrast turned on and turning the brightness right down.

Viewing angles are amazing (my TN panel would change colour just when you moved your head slightly), and the colour reproduction is so much better it's untrue. Response times seem very quick - I've not noticed any blurring or lagging in games.

Papy on 12/3/2009 at 09:38

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I'll add my own experience. I just received my 2209WA (I bought it when there was a 150$CDN rebate, meaning I got it for 250$CDN with taxes) and did a quick comparison with my old Samsung 226BW-C (which is the worst of all 226BW) in clone mode.

First, viewing angle and color uniformity are great. With the 226BW, I really didn't like the color shift between the bottom and the top of the screen of the screen or when moving my position, even slightly. For bright games it was not that noticeable, but for a game like Thief it was really annoying. With the 2209WA, there is no noticeable color and brightness shift (which is fortunate since that's the reason I bought that monitor in the first place).

Colors are a mixed result. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to calibrate monitors, so I go with defaults. On one hand, the 2209WA seems to have better colors tone. The 226BW-C's grays were kind of bluish and its white were kind of yellowish (and correcting one color would make other colors worse). The 2209WA does not not have this problem. On the other hand, the 2209WA's colors are significantly washed out compared to the 226BW. Its colors are less vivid. I'd certainly would like a bit more punch

Black level and perceived contrast is worse than the 226BW. The difference is not that big and playing with the gamma from the games can somewhat compensate, but I'm still kind of disappointed.

One thing that surprised me is that text is significantly more difficult to read compared than with the 226BW. I'm not sure if it's because of the reduce contrast or because of something else, but the difference is obvious.

Motion blur is equivalent to the 226BW, which means it still sucks compared to a CRT. I still tend to squint when there is fast movement. It's certainly sad the 2209WA is not a 120Hz monitor. One thing is for sure, this monitor won't change my opinion that LCD are bad for gaming.

I didn't noticed any input lag, but I didn't play with fast games for now.

Overall, viewing angles are absolutely great, but I think the reviewers I read got somewhat carried away. I don't regret buying it, but it's not the eight wonder and not the best monitor for everything.

(BTW, I bought 11 of those - obviously only one was for me - and they are all the same... so I don't think I received a lemon.)

Ostriig on 12/3/2009 at 17:15

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It might just be that it's been years since I last used a CRT, so maybe I just adapted or forgot, but I can't say I've noticed anything to bother me in that respect. And I've tested it on UT3, among other things. Is it something that really stands out, or more of a thing of finesse?

Totally agreed on the 120Hz bit. Though for other reasons - I would've really loved to give all this stereoscopic visuals thing a shot.

bikerdude on 12/3/2009 at 21:04

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Ah like so many "analog" things giving way to digital these days...