Question : Problem: Enough texture memory to match 1680x1050 TFT display?

Hi all,

Please could some kind person advise me on a new purchase..

WHICH TFT MONITOR SHOULD I GET FOR AROUND 200 POUNDS TO MATCH MY DUAL 7600GT CARDS (256MB)??

Currently I have a 17" high quality Dell TFT monitor, but it only has a 9pin input and my
new graphics cards have only DVI so I want to upgrade.

My main priorities are:

1. Low cost (about 200 pounds or maybe a max of 235 pounds).

2. DVI output.

3. Larger than 17" size because I want to watch DVD's on it too.

4. Higher than usual update speed because I often play games like Stalker & Oblivion.

5. A reliable manufacturer because this monitor needs to last several years.

I'm not really concerned about viewing angle as I usually sit exactly in front of the
monitor. However I'm thinking a widescreen monitor would be good, but I'm concerned that
some of my older games wouldn't support such a strange aspect ratio. Could someone confirm
that HalfLife 1, Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 would work on a widescreen monitor?

My other main concern is that my graphics cards wouldn't have sufficient RAM to cope with
large texture size games at such a high resolution (1680x1050).. Both my MSI 7600GT graphics
cards have only 256MB each and they run in SLi configuration with 2GB high speed main RAM on
an Asus P5NE-Sli mboard.

I had a look at a few monitors and something like one of these seemed good:

Samsung SM226BW 22" TFT Monitor 1680x1050, 2ms, 1000:1 contrast, 300cdm2 (widescreen) 235

pounds.

Iiyama E2200WS 22"- 5ms - 1000:1, 300cdm2 (widescreen). 197 pounds.
Samsung SM223BW 21.6" 5ms TFT 1000:1, 300cdm2 (widescreen). 211 pounds.

I'm also a bit confused by two of the attributes describing these monitors - some of them
seem to use TN technology and some use A-si technology. Which one should I be going for?
Also is it better to have a higher cd/m2 number or a lower one?
Thanks for any comments received!  All much appreciated!

-Seth

Answer : Problem: Enough texture memory to match 1680x1050 TFT display?

To be honest, I think your price range (200 pounds/$400) allows for really quite top of the line monitors. I haven't seen many monitors higher than that.

About refresh rates, 10/ms vs 2/ms is almost completely undetectable by your eye, you might want to consider not going for the absolute fastest unless your sure it will be significant.