LCD vs. CRT?

While I really like my new LCD widescreen monitor, I can't help but notice the tearing. I'm one of those guys that can actually see the difference between a 60hz and 85hz refresh rate on a CRT btw.

So here is my LCD question:
Does everyone with an LCD just force vertical sync on everything to eliminate the tearing?

I'm not getting rid of my 19 inch CRT just yet...

I do, I don't get any ghosting problems though. Setting a game to vsync at 60hz should be fine.

I can see the difference between 60 and 85 on a crt too, but due to the nature of LCD, you should notice it at all.

Right, I can't notice a hertz difference on an LCD. My main issue, which isn't really an issue, is the graphics tearing.

Andy, do you have your graphics set to force vertical sync on everything? (limiting max fps to 60)

EDIT
Does that yes you do have vertical sync forced?

I don't get any ghosting either, but the tearing is annoying. Forcing vsync fixes it totally? How do you force vsync?

Can't see any problem except the hell heavy of CRT....

Yeah it fixes it totally but mind you it does cap your fps to what your LCD refresh rate is. There are 2 ways to enable vertical sync. The first is to do it in Catalyst Control Center if you're using ATI products (use Advanced option)...not sure about Nvidia but I know you can force it in there settings too. The second way is in the game itself. Sometimes it's an option in the graphic settings.

I read that the max refresh on a DVI cable is 60 hertz. If you wanna go higher you have to switch to a D-sub cable but then you sacrifice visual quality from what I hear.

I still have 8 days to return my monitor. Now that the initial OMG it's huge thing is over. I may return it and go buy a 22inch crt! I'm very critical about displays, and this tearing/slight ghosting stuff just isn't cutting it. I did adequate research before I purchased but it seems my standards are a bit higher than the population. /shrug

Thanks for the info, Chroma. I swear by Samsung displays, If you haven't checked any out, but the limited refresh rates are a minor annoyance. Still reckon LCD is easier on the eyes. Think of all the radiation you're avoiding.

If you buy an LCD and are that critical, one of the main points (which speaks against anything larger than 19" actually) is the ramp times ... a 16/32ms refresh time won't do it for you in this case. 8ms is the max, 4ms perhaps even better (although I believe that they are more myth than reality when it comes to a measurable difference)

I always enable vsync, I swear I start to get a headache otherwise. I would rather have a slightly lower frame rate of visible pictures than a higher frame rate of chopped up mess...

I don't think that DVI has a max. of 60FPS, but it does have a finite througput. So the maximum refreshrate you can get over one of those depends on the resolution you are running in. Higher res = lower refresh.

I don't force vsync on, I just enable it on games that allow it.

xlsior, DVI doesn't have a max of 60fps, it's a maximum of 60 hertz. I think you're refering to regular D-sub cables. You might wanna google it and read up.

I'm running 1280x1024 @ 75Hz over DVI myself. That's what my graphics settings are set to, and the on-screen display on my LCD agrees with it.

Anyway: according to Google, single-link DVI can handle 165 megapixel/sec, for a max resolution of 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. *however*, if you run at a resolution lower than 1600x1200, you can use the extra bandwidth to crank out a higher Hz.

Case in point, my 1280x1024 @ 75Hz.

Actually I replaced my 1440x900 TFT with a 19" CRT. TFTs are simply to unflexible with resolutions, a problem that you actually see when trying to run Battlefield properly on a widescreen TFT (or any other game that doesn't support widescreen resolutions). Also I managed to sell the TFT for 160 Euro (ca. 200 US dollar?) and get the CRT for 40 Euro (60 US dollar?). I'm happy with the CRT so I guess it was a good deal :D

I prefer Flatscreens to work with simply because its got no 'pulsing' scanline refresh. Plus the fact everyone is getting them now so you need to see how stuff looks on them.

I run battlefield on my 1680x0150 widescreen no problem, just need to adjust the command line args for opening the game.

@andy_mc: I tried that too but sadly the game would crash everytime I'm joining a game. It works without problem on the CRT though so I think they left out official widescreen support because of some stability issues. Can't see why that is a problem though... It's just weird.

I've been reading the stories on www.techtales.com for a few days (off and on). With that in mind...

Oh.

My.

God.


I cannot believe the cluelessness of some of the posts here regarding refrash rates and LCD monitors.

Some of you ought to be ashamed. Really.

Most TFT can do 60/75hz but 60hz seems to be emerging as the standard...probably cos its easier to sync and tft doesn't have flicker issues like crt so no need to go higher.

1680x1050 can't go higher than 60 hertz on a DVI cable.

Chroma: If it's dual-link, it can. 1920x1080 at up to 85Hz.

You should try a monitor with a faster response time: I have a Samsung 226bw with 2ms which has almost unnoticeable ghosting even for a picky eye.

Overall, though horizontal and vertical view angles are sometimes too low for precise color picking, definition, color settings and contrast seriously outweight the drawbacks of LCD's over CRT's.


Most of the damage comes from eye fatigue rather than radiations though (that's why spending eight hours a day on books has a similar effect), so it's still good to avoid excessive contrast - LCD's can go way higher than CRT's - and to get regular breaks.

I was an obsessive 85hz freak. I loved the silky-smoothness of it. But do what I did. Bite the bullet get an LCD. There is NO tearing and they run at 85hz slickness nowadays with no "ghosting".

You just have to pay big bucks for one.

It wont be what you expect at first, give your eyes time and you will never... EVER go back.

Ask yourself, ever feel tired? ever have itchy eyes? well don't get that with LCD.

It really IS better for your health, this is proven over and over again, you dont get eyestrain, distortion nor do you have what is essentially a massive gun firing at your face.

Get an LCD.

85Hz on a CRT still gave me a headache pretty quickly. While not as obvious as 60Hz, I could still see the refresh. At 100Hz everything was fine.
Unfortunately most games switch back to 60Hz in full screen mode, which really didn't work for me. I ended up hacking together a fake monitor .inf 'driver' so windows thought that my monitor only supported 100Hz in all screenmodes, so even the full screen games would be forced to stay at 100Hz.

Now, on LCD's 60Hz works just fine. The only reason I run mine at 75 is that there is a very quiet barely audiable whine coming from it when it runs at 60Hz.

This sounds like you forgot to apply the 60hz refresh disable patch that was needed for a long time as Windows XP at first enforced 60hz refresh rates through "low level" settings.

NVIDIA offered a disable for that straight away.
ATI never really offered it at all.

I've been using ATI for years, and had a Voodoo3 before that. Never had an nvidia card.

So thats why you had to do the modded inf thing.
You never were able to "standard overwrite" the 60hz fix of WinXP until somewhen between SP1 and SP2 where it was officially disabled ...

LCDs dont turn on when its cold (well mine doesnt)