Monitors with native res larger than 1920x1200. Disadvantages?

[Balthasar]

Newegg has this monitor on sale, and other than issues specific to that model (i've read almost all of the reviews it currently has), I was wondering if there are disadvantages to having a monitor that has a native resolution far larger than the HDMI resolution of 1920x1200 (or 1920x1080 for 16:9 aspect).

Right now i'm on a 23" Acer that has a native res just near 1920x1080, but I was thinking of upgrading to that larger monitor that's on sale.

[Caiyuo]

I'm not entirely understanding why you're asking, the monitor linked says it's a 1920x1200 monitor. Is that not the correct one or are you just asking on the chance you found something larger? The disadvantages that come to mind are going to be stretching of HD content to fill the gap unless you play it natively in which you'd have black bars filling up any excess resolution, greater demands from your video card, though this may just be a matter of higher memory and ...I don't know, a smaller selection of wallpapers to choose from lol.

[Darus Grey]

Generally I'd recommend against buying a 2560x1600+ monitor if that's what you're referring to.

Main Issue:

2560x1600 is the only resolution you can use(even the ones with scalers to use anything else, everything else looks godawful. That means to play anything fullscreen you need to use 2560x1600, and the video card requirements are cost prohibitive. It means always buying the $500+ card every gen just to get games to a playable framerate.

It doesn't seem like it but 2560x1600 is almost double the pixels of 1920x1080, which means twice the GPU power.

It's a major hidden cost.

[shaddix]

just make sure your video card is of the requisite beefiness. ^ yeah that

[Balthasar]

Generally I'd recommend against buying a 2560x1600+ monitor if that's what you're referring to.

Main Issue:

2560x1600 is the only resolution you can use(even the ones with scalers to use anything else, everything else looks godawful. That means to play anything fullscreen you need to use 2560x1600, and the video card requirements are cost prohibitive. It means always buying the $500+ card every gen just to get games to a playable framerate.

It doesn't seem like it but 2560x1600 is almost double the pixels of 1920x1080, which means twice the GPU power.

It's a major hidden cost.

this is the kind of stuff I was wondering about. Right now though, i'm running a GTX 470, so for the current generation my GPU should be up to par i'd think

[kareface]

Not on the newer displays. I play a few games on my Dell and I have no problem with image quality at lower res. I actually prefer it to the 27" with the 1900x1200 res.

[Darus Grey]

The problem is a year from now when a new game you wanna play comes out, and your 470 can barely run it at 30fps, if you had a 1900x1200 monitor you could cruise along for 2-3 years before upgrading it, not the case for 2560x1600.


I have two 2560x1600 monitors that I use for workflow reasons, and eventually I had to go buy a 3rd monitor just for playing games.

If you're the kinda person who buys the newest best video card every year anyways, it isn't going to effect you. Otherwise I really recommend against it for gaming specifically.

Granted you can play games at a lower res in windowed mode, but you'd be better buying several 1900x1200 monitors instead for significantly less than the cost of one 30 inch monitor, for the same effect(more screen real-estate WELL playing a game).

[Darus Grey]

Not on the newer displays. I play a few games on my Dell and I have no problem with image quality at lower res. I actually prefer it to the 27" with the 1900x1200 res.

Do you have a 30inch 2560x1600? this is an issue unique to them because they use dual-panels and weak scaler chips doing double duty.(it's actually two 1280x800 LCDs spliced together), If you meant that, I have the same ones, a current model dell and a 2007 model, and if you go from 2560x1600 to 1900x1200 there's jaggies EVERYWHERE, the scaler chips they use are not powerful enough for the higher resolution. Going from 1900x1200 on to 1600x1050 on a regular 24-27inch dell looks fine(27 is my third monitor), but on the 30 inches holy hell it just looks AWFUL.

[shaddix]

That's why you go with a CATHODE RAY TUBE BAHAHAHA!!!!!

[Boyiee]

I've always wanted one of the 30inch monitors, especially running a GTX480 with more coming in soon. The problem is, I only game, so I don't get as much use out of the huge monitor. I'd rather take that 1200-1600$ and spend it on 3x 3D monitors or something retarded lol.

[Balthasar]

Do you have a 30inch 2560x1600? this is an issue unique to them because they use dual-panels and weak scaler chips doing double duty.(it's actually two 1280x800 LCDs spliced together), If you meant that, I have the same ones, a current model dell and a 2007 model, and if you go from 2560x1600 to 1900x1200 there's jaggies EVERYWHERE, the scaler chips they use are not powerful enough for the higher resolution. Going from 1900x1200 on to 1600x1050 on a regular 24-27inch dell looks fine(27 is my third monitor), but on the 30 inches holy hell it just looks AWFUL.

I read a review on newegg for that monitor in the OP where a guy listed PROS: right side of the screen works. CONS: left side of the screen doesn't work lol. Obviously it was RMA'd

[Darus Grey]

Yeah, some 27 inch ones also use spliced screens(anything that requires "Dual-Link DVI").


Reminded me of another semi-downside. 2560x1600 monitors are all incompatible with all consoles. Can't use Xbox or PS3 on them since the HDMI standard doesn't support dual-link.

And no scaler under $300~ or so is going to support 2560x1600 if you really want that comparability.

Edit: Actually the second run of the Dell 3008 appears to have HDMI, Component, and S-video scalers built in... I have a first run one...now I just feel -_-

[Balthasar]

I guess i'm going dual 23". I'd actually been weighing dual 23"s and one 27.5". I wouldn't have anything to do with the old 23" b/c running dual monitors of different sizes would just be annoying.

[kareface]

Yeah, some 27 inch ones also use spliced screens(anything that requires "Dual-Link DVI").


Reminded me of another semi-downside. 2560x1600 monitors are all incompatible with all consoles. Can't use Xbox or PS3 on them since the HDMI standard doesn't support dual-link.

And no scaler under $300~ or so is going to support 2560x1600 if you really want that comparability.

Edit: Actually the second run of the Dell 3008 appears to have HDMI, Component, and S-video scalers built in... I have a first run one...now I just feel -_-

You have some strange info. I did an xbox lan here not a month ago and used the 30" dell display as one of the monitors in the lan. Worked great, I was using HDMI. Also, I game with the screen (actually just logged out of SC2), and it works fine for that as well. I don't get the tearing people complain about. I have the newer model, but so far I can't find a flaw with the panel other than the delay is a little low for FPS gaming. That didn't stop me from playing CS well tho.

[Darus Grey]

I specifically said in that post that the newest models don't have the issue I was referring to, since they added a bunch of new scalers to them.

If you plug in a xbox or PS3 to a 3007 or 3008(first run) I guarantee it won't work, I've tried -_-.

[kareface]

Gotcha. I must of missed that. I originally read about the problems you described and decided to wait till the newer models addressed it. That's the entire reason I got the 27, to tide me over. I'm really happy with the 30, I've mentioned to others before that it's one of the best investments I've made for computer hardware.

[Darus Grey]

Yeah, I didn't know about the new models of the Dell 30s until this post, where I realized my 3008 was actually outdated, so much of what I said doesn't apply. Didn't look it up until I was reading your post and was like "WTF is he talking about? I have that SAME monitor...oh wait...no I dont...FFFUUUUUUUUUUUU DELL"

[Adajer]

I was going to ask about the input lag but kareface touched on that. I am waiting to see what improvements the Dell U3011 has over the 3008WFP. I am thinking of getting it or just a 55" HDTV. I saw mistubishi is making a 100" TV, it doesn't get 1080p though.

[Kaisha]

For future reference, can someone recommend some websites that do indepth reviews of consumer-level monitors?

I'm probably going to be in the market for a new one once the 3DTV fad is out of the way and it becomes standard in every model, but I like to be educated and not end up with a monitor like my current one from LG that has serious trouble coming out of its auto-suspend mode, requiring me to physically hit the brightness/contrast button to bring it alive.

[kareface]

Right now the only 3DTV's I like are Panasonic plasmas. I'd look at them long before most of the other products on the market.