Flickering monitor

[MasterBlaster76]

Upon starting up, my monitor has suddenly started flickering; this happens even before Windows has booted, so I am confident it's not being caused by a problem with the GPU. I am pretty sure it's on its way out. Although the flickering does stop a short while after start up, I'm positive it's not a good sign for the monitor's future and I have had it for a few years now.

With that in mind, I'm going to start looking for a new monitor. I currently have a Samsung 931cw, which is a 19in widescreen. If I'm getting a new monitor, I want to get a bigger size, maybe 22 or 23in. What I need to know is would I need a more powerful GPU to have my games running as they are now on such a monitor given that bigger monitor means bigger resolution?

Any monitor suggestions are welcome, but I don't want to go above ?200 ideally. Note, the monitor will be used mainly for gaming/surfing with occasional movie viewing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[AngryPixel]

Sadly answer to your question is yes. You would need a GPU upgrade to play the games on same quality as you are used to on your current monitor. On the other hand, If you are as excited about Skyrim as i am. Then you must be planning a upgrade to play it in full glory. So bigger monitor would be nice even if you are going to upgrade only a few months later.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Sadly answer to your question is yes. You would need a GPU upgrade to play the games on same quality as you are used to on your current monitor. On the other hand, If you are as excited about Skyrim as i am. Then you must be planning a upgrade to play it in full glory. So bigger monitor would be nice even if you are going to upgrade only a few months later.

A monitor that could cost the best part of ?200 and a ?150 or so GPU upgrade is going to be problematic right now - I know it'll affect the picture quality, but would I be able to drop to 1440x900 until I could sort out the GPU upgrade as well? Then again, Christmas is coming, maybe 'Santa' could take care of the monitor for me.

 

[AngryPixel]

Thats what I'm saying. Here are two scenarios.

If you choose a small monitor and then after maybe 3 months you do a GPU upgrade, you are stuck at that low resolution even though your GPU could easily handle higher resolutions. Then you can't do nothing about it and are stuck with that monitor for quite sometime. (Unless oyu are willing to do two Monitor Upgrades within 3 or 4 months ) .

Second case is where you choose a bigger monitor now. You can still play your games but at slightly lower quality. You'll probably do a GPU upgrade in next 6 months as i think you've had this 4850 for quite some time now. Then you can play at better resolution/quality.

So its upto you. Do you wanna play games at better quality for some time and then whine coz your monitor is bottlenecking or play at lower settings and then enjoy the better eye candy after a few months.
Moreover, IF you are concerned with playing FIFA 12 most of the time then you should not worry. I have my pc hooked to a 24inch monitor and it runs smoothly at maximum settings @ 1920 X 1080. Although i have a 4870. But you have a Quad core compared to my Dual Core. So that pretty much evens out. Thus, I think you should not have any problem running it.
While running BF3 my GPU starts to show its age. I have to run on medium settings but still it looks fried chickening awesome.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Thats what I'm saying. Here are two scenarios.

If you choose a small monitor and then after maybe 3 months you do a GPU upgrade, you are stuck at that low resolution even though your GPU could easily handle higher resolutions. Then you can't do nothing about it and are stuck with that monitor for quite sometime. (Unless oyu are willing to do two Monitor Upgrades within 3 or 4 months ) .

Second case is where you choose a bigger monitor now. You can still play your games but at slightly lower quality. You'll probably do a GPU upgrade in next 6 months as i think you've had this 4850 for quite some time now. Then you can play at better resolution/quality.

So its upto you. Do you wanna play games at better quality for some time and then whine coz your monitor is bottlenecking or play at lower settings and then enjoy the better eye candy after a few months.
Moreover, IF you are concerned with playing FIFA 12 most of the time then you should not worry. I have my pc hooked to a 24inch monitor and it runs smoothly at maximum settings @ 1920 X 1080. Although i have a 4870. But you have a Quad core compared to my Dual Core. So that pretty much evens out. Thus, I think you should not have any problem running it.
While running BF3 my GPU starts to show its age. I have to run on medium settings but still it looks fried chickening awesome.

Definitely the latter option. And yes, I am playing Fifa 12 a lot at the moment, either Fifa 12 or F1 2011 - do you have that on your 24in monitor? As you said, BF3 looks good even at medium settings - indeed that's the case with most PC games these days.

 

[MattW]

There's no reason to go all out with a graphics card upgrade, I use a HD5570 and it is quite adequate for 1920x1080 use. I don't play many really modern games, but 2-3 year old ones can max out at that res just fine, so newer things should be still playable.

In short - spend more on the monitor and just get an okay-ish graphics card. You'll be replacing the graphics in a few years with your next system, but the monitor will last you a lot longer. My current monitor, a 21.5" Dell - very similar to this one has been through two systems now and still just as great as when I got it.

 

[AngryPixel]

Definitely the latter option. And yes, I am playing Fifa 12 a lot at the moment, either Fifa 12 or F1 2011 - do you have that on your 24in monitor? As you said, BF3 looks good even at medium settings - indeed that's the case with most PC games these days.

Yup i do have that on 24 inch monitor and a bigger screen helps a lot in FIFA

 

[MasterBlaster76]

Yup i do have that on 24 inch monitor and a bigger screen helps a lot in FIFA

F1 2011 and Fifa 12 are dominating my playing time - how does F1 2011 run on your setup? How heavy is your monitor, by the way? I've got a monitor riser stand which of course has a limited weight tolerance.

Really looking forwards to playing games on a 22in!!

 

[puddleduck]

You should be able to find some pretty decent monitors for the price you want to pay

Novatech nVision Life 24" Widescreen LED Monitor | NOV-NLED24

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Or, go crazy and future proof

LG Electronics 23" 3D Ready LED Wide Monitor (D2342P-PN) - dabs.com

 

[pcfan123]

Steve you get BF3?

 

[AngryPixel]

F1 2011 and Fifa 12 are dominating my playing time - how does F1 2011 run on your setup? How heavy is your monitor, by the way? I've got a monitor riser stand which of course has a limited weight tolerance.

Really looking forwards to playing games on a 22in!!

I have this one

It weighs around 9.4 lbs. I think that should be inside your weight limit
Can't help with F1 mate. Didn't bought it this year Gotta save money for that Christmas Upgrade

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There's no reason to go all out with a graphics card upgrade, I use a HD5570 and it is quite adequate for 1920x1080 use. I don't play many really modern games, but 2-3 year old ones can max out at that res just fine, so newer things should be still playable.

In short - spend more on the monitor and just get an okay-ish graphics card. You'll be replacing the graphics in a few years with your next system, but the monitor will last you a lot longer. My current monitor, a 21.5" Dell - very similar to this one has been through two systems now and still just as great as when I got it.

I got the same model but just a few inches bigger. And yeah, its a great monitor but i hate the touch sensitive controls they have provided. They can be unresponsive sometimes. I would have liked the good old physical buttons for that.

 

[MattW]

I would have liked the good old physical buttons for that.

The one I have has physical buttons.

 

[puddleduck]

Remember, refresh time and contrast ratio and don't buy anything that only does 720 HD.

My sexy gaming laptop is usually hooked up to my lovely 32" Full HD LG Tv along with my Ps3. I have a 19" monitor somewhere, but I never use it anymore. I'll be honest, sitting at my desk, it's sometimes a bit big, yet sat on my bed and with it angled towards that, it's too small

 

[AngryPixel]

Damn... The touch sensitive buttons soiund nice in marketing but try using them in a room with lights off. You would just fiddle around the bottom right corner hoping that you would touch at right place

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Remember, refresh time and contrast ratio and don't buy anything that only does 720 HD.

My sexy gaming laptop is usually hooked up to my lovely 32" Full HD LG Tv along with my Ps3. I have a 19" monitor somewhere, but I never use it anymore. I'll be honest, sitting at my desk, it's sometimes a bit big, yet sat on my bed and with it angled towards that, it's too small

Gaming Laptop Do they even exist

 

[puddleduck]

Damn... The touch sensitive buttons soiund nice in marketing but try using them in a room with lights off. You would just fiddle around the bottom right corner hoping that you would touch at right place

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Gaming Laptop Do they even exist

Ha AP, sounds like the first time I had some alone time with my first girlfriend

Heh, they do when they're running a quad core sandy bridge intel processor and a 1.5gig Nvidia Geforce gfx card coupled with 8gigs of ram and a full Hd screen

FIFA full settings? Yeah, and the rest