Hey guys,

I want to get out of the dual monitor realm, for obvious performance advantages. Another reason is for sli. Currently I have a 22 widescreen and a 19 regular for My 2nd monitor.

I do want to keep the functionality of dual monitors though, and I feel a 30 inch won't be enough... Not to mention dells 30 inch touches the price of some 40 inch lcd TVs.

I'm looking to get around a 42 inch 1080p lcd TV and use it as a monitor.

Does anyone object, in any reason for doing so?

It will mainly be used for gaming, so it needs to be fast.

Any reccomendations?


Thanks,
Michael
=============
Keep your monitors and run sli anyway. I'm running 2x9800gtx cards in SLI pushing a 30" with a third terrible 8300gs card running two other monitors.

1. Install all cards, make sure they all are working individually.
2. In hardware manager, disable the card not intended for SLI
3. Enable SLI
4. Enable the third card again
5. Victory!

I don't see what real performance advantages you would receive from ditching monitors though.

As to the price of 30s, you can get a 3007wfp-hc for around $1150 shipped/taxed (or less, mine was in feb) if you wait for a sale. At that price, the resolution vs inches trade is favorable to the 30, but that's just my opinion. Lots of people have 1080p sets as monitors and love them too.
=============
the only reason to get a 30" is for the 2560x1600 resolution. if 1920x1080 is all you need, then i would definitely get a larger display. i am plenty happy with my 46" sony V2500.

you have to make sure there are no over/underscanning issues. i checked the avsforums to be sure.
=============
monitor size is irrelevant when it comes to desktop space. What matters is resolution.
The 30" running at 2560x1600 will have a lot more desktop space then the 42" TV at 1080p so even though the tv is bigger you won't be able to fit as much 'stuff' on the screen as on the 30".

It all depends on what your needs are though. If you use it for work then i would get the 30", but if all you want to do is game on a big screen then go for the TV. The lower resolution will probably help with the fps a little too.
=============
monitor size is irrelevant when it comes to desktop space. What matters is resolution. Not entirely. Super high res isn't that useful if everything is too small to see (like, 1920x1440 on a 18" viewable CRT). If you have to scale everything up to be readable you might not end up with any more effective desktop space.

Not that I think that would be the case on a 30", just nitpicking.

I went with a 42" 1080p over a 30" monitor because the latter would require far too much of an ongoing investment in video cards for acceptable gaming performance.
=============
What would you reccomend for sitting 3 feet away from it? I'm open to all suggestions. Looking at the dell 30 vs like the new 100000:1 dynamic contrast samsung lcd. That's a 1080p 40 inch.
=============
Sorry I'm at work on My phone so I have ghetto posting abilities. With regards to fps, I was under the impression that as you go up in resolution, you require less aa and af to have a clean image. I don't mind having the 30 inch, I'm just worried about multi tasking with 3 to 4 windows open vs a larger screen.
=============
that's true about less need for the aa/af with high res.

2560x1600 is going to strain the eyes more than 1920x1080. it's hard to say if it will be significant in your case. if you can, go to a store and view the differences in res for yourself to judge

you can increase dpi in windows and increase fonts in browsers, but not everything gets scaled to read (images with txt etc...). and even if it does scale, it might look bad since you're not "native" any more, so why go with the res in the first place??? rhetorically speaking
=============
What would you guys get?
=============
depends on what you're doing mostly. i have both lol

one build i use the 2560 for editing photos & general computing. the other rig is an htpc so i use the 1080p for watching movies/tv, view photos etc... media center stuff... occasional web browsing
=============
Video gaming. I'm worried now. The 3007 and 3008s are 8 ms refresh rate. I don't want to drop 1300 and have a bad gaming monitor.

The 3007 is in My budget.

Anyone here have one and game on it? First person shooters? Any problems?

2 years ago I had a problem with an 8 ms viewsonic.
=============
I have the 3007wfp-hc as I said before. The 3007 has virtually no input lag due to the lack of a scaler, so it's pretty quick. I have zero problems gaming on it or reading/eye strain from about three feet away. The monitor has about the same ppi as a 20" 4:3 or a 17" 5:4 monitor, so you can see if those cause you any trouble before purchasing a 30.

I don't feel like I need to have AA in the games I play since the resolution is so high anyway, but if I have the horsepower to spare I definitely do. I played games fine mostly maxed out without AA on a single 9800gtx as well so despite all the calls for hugely expensive graphics cards, I just don't see the need.
=============
I thiNK im gonna go for the 3007wfp. Something about the resolution verse going to a larger panel lower resolution.

So Gaming seems to be fine.

Would you save up extra for the 3008wfp or just be happy with the 3007wfp?
=============
I thiNK im gonna go for the 3007wfp. Something about the resolution verse going to a larger panel lower resolution.

So Gaming seems to be fine.

Would you save up extra for the 3008wfp or just be happy with the 3007wfp?

There are many 30" options, take a look around the forums. I don't really like the 3008wfp since it's at such a huge price premium over the 3007wfp-hc and it has a fair amount of input lag I hear.
=============
As many people have said, I would personally prefer the 3007 due to the low input lag and lack of a scaler. plus, when not gaming, the screen real estate at the 2560 resolution is just hard to pass. (provided that's what you are looking for)

You may also want to wait for the Double Sight 30" that is "coming soon"
=============
You may also want to wait for the Double Sight 30" that is "coming soon"

+1 if you don't mind waiting.

i play cod4 on a dell 3008 @ 2560 and don't notice any input lag. but the key word is "notice"... i'd have to play on someone's display that has the best response time to see if i could actually notice my screen being slower...maybe i have input lag, but i couldn't tell you.
=============
The TV is definitely more versatile with more inputs and ability to watch TV. However, gaming at 2560x1600 is just something else...man that special feeling when your cross hair lines up with your enemy's head :P
=============
Well a TV is not so much my concern since I have a HTPC and a 61inch 1080P DLP.

Thats my reason for sort of not wanting another TV is that the 61inch just doesn't look clear. In a movie it's fine, but I think its just too large for the monitor resolution for general usage.

Currently I'm 22inch away from my from my 22inch widescreen(ironic?), with a maximum of 28 inch on desk and probably maximum 30 inches away from a wall mounted LCD.

Looking around, the lowest priced 2560x1600 monitors seem to be the 3007wfp or the samsung. Honestly I think the 3007wfp aesthetically looks better, not to mention having a more flexible base.

I saw the apple 30 inch yesterday at work and honestly at arms length away I could split safari and word on the same monitor while still having a clear picture. The moment he turned the monitor to run @ 1920x1080, it became quite blurry.... well in comparison.

I guess its true 2560x1600 really packs a punch for inches x pixels.

Next question, you do you feel the 3007wfp scales down when you run a game in a lower resolution than native? A game I play such as Warcraft 3 (DOTA every once and a while) will not support more than 1280x1024 if I recall correctly.

I'm pretty excited... Ill have to change a lot around to the respect of video settings such as aa/af, but I think the resolution will be a quick exchange for it. When I get some xfire 4870's or x2's depending on multi GPU scaling, I think I will be rocking.

Any more suggestions?
=============
I was in a similar situation a while back and ended up getting the dell 3007 30"

It depends what you want, if its desktop real estate you'll find that there is no better than the 30" 2560x1600 monitors, real estate (space for windows, apps etc) is directly related to resolution, and 2560x1600 is almost 2x more space than a 1920x1080 TV.

If you just want sheer size of screen in diagonal inches then your only option is a HDTV, do bear in mind that 1920x1080 over 40" makes the screen incredibly low resolution for the screen size, that sort of resolution for a PC monitor would be used on a 24" monitor, so using it on a 40" TV is going to mean you lack a lot of definition.

If you're gaming you need to consider hardware for your graphics cards, to power games at 2560x1600 you more or less need SLI or Xfire unless you want to drop all the visuals down.

*edit*

I guess its true 2560x1600 really packs a punch for inches x pixels.

Next question, you do you feel the 3007wfp scales down when you run a game in a lower resolution than native? A game I play such as Warcraft 3 (DOTA every once and a while) will not support more than 1280x1024 if I recall correctly.

You're right, 2560x1600 is an immense resolution, 2x more pixels than 1920x1080, what people dont usualy get about this monitor is that not only is 30" great but the sheer number of pixels means that its actually got one of the best pixel dot pitch (pixel size) being very small makes the panel higher definition (per inch ^2) than any other monitor.

The 3007 wfp doesn't have a scaler (a good thing actually) but Nvidia and ATI both allow scaling in the drivers, scaled images don't always look fantastic and come out slightly blurry but thats inherent with any scaling. You'll have no issue running games at any resolution on the monitor, I've gamed in everything from 2560x1600 way down to 800x500
=============
No I understand, and I realize that not only is this monitor expensive per inch, but its also an enthusiast monitor. It's going to require more frequent upgrades.

From what I've seen so far, it's all about the resolution. I couldn't stand last night when I took a look at a 40 inch @ 1080p in comparison.

It's the right monitor, now I just need to wait for some deals. Where should I look for the sales like Belgin waffles got? 1150 shipped/tax? Newegg doesn't carry it. Straight from Dell?
=============
Next question, you do you feel the 3007wfp scales down when you run a game in a lower resolution than native? A game I play such as Warcraft 3 (DOTA every once and a while) will not support more than 1280x1024 if I recall correctly.

There is a registry modification that allows you to render W3 at 2560x1600. It's still stretched, but it works and looks pretty good.

I got mine directly from Dell when there was a 25% off monitors deal. Sales are pretty cyclical so if you do some googling you should be able to have a rough idea on when it will come down in price. That or you could probably purchase a % off coupon from ebay.
=============
i bought a Dell 3008WFP for $1550 ($1800-250 cashback in 60 days). Free shipping. i can give more details if you think you want it
=============
vBulletin® v3.6.8, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.