Dell 2405fpw LCD

[Devhux]

I'm seriously considering ordering this LCD, but was curious if any of you guys have it, and if so, how do you like it?

A friend has the 2005fpw and it seemed OK (though I didn't try a game on it). I want the 24" version since it offers component output and has 1920x1200 resolution (which I'm used to on my laptop).

[ArkiStan]

Easily one of the top 3 purchases I've made in my whole life. If you spend any significant time in front of your computer, this will change your life. I can't even begin to explain how much I love this thing.

[Agent Plissken]

Forget the tiny 24" dell LCD. Go for the 30" monster!

[IrishSS]

I've had one for about 9 months now... and I can easily it is the best purchase I have ever made for my computer.

I game like crazy on it... BF2, Guild Wars, HL2, SWAT 4, etc. etc. etc. Absolutely amazing displays at 1900x1200. Some games natively support it (Guild Wars), some you have to manually change the res settings in the shortcut (BF2) and some are restricted to 1600x1200 (SWAT 4). Even 16x12 games look pretty good. I have noticed no ghosting what so ever playing anything... HL, Doom, Quake, BF2... none.

The extra real estate really helps for desktop apps as well. For example:

Photoshop - Obvious benefits here. Toolbars are out of the way, no longer blocking parts of your image, etc. etc.

Word - I'm not sure why exactly, by having two pages open at full and readable size side by side of the same document seems much more natural to me. It is much easier to work on. Same goes for Excel... much more visable information.

If you constantly use many applications and like to have multiple windows open it's hard to argue against the monitor. Having everything visable at once... a full size 1024x768 or better IE/Firefox window, multiple AOL/MSN conversation windows, iTunes/WinAmp etc. etc. is very handy.


Again... this has been the best purchase I have ever made for my PC. I cannot recommend it enough. I haven't heard of any problems with the 2405 nor have I had one.

[LPMiller]

the 20 inch is great for gaming, I can only imagine the 24 inch.

[Devhux]

Forget the tiny 24" dell LCD. Go for the 30" monster!

I would if I had a dual-link capable graphics card (sadly the Geforce Go 6800 Ultra card in my laptop doesn't do dual-link). Even if it did though, it doesn't have the horsepower needed to game at the ultra-high resolution of the panel.

[Showtime]

What are you planning to power that 24" dell with? If you run less than a 6800GT or X800XL/Athlon 3200+ and want to run FPS games, you might want to save money and grab a smaller monitor. It will cost a lot to properly power that 24" for fps games and some of the newer titles like Oblivion.
You can always scale them down to a smaller rez, but you won't get the full effect. Other games like Wow and gw, watching videos, surfing, etc., might not need a lot of power and will look great on that monitor.

[Devhux]

I have the 6800 Go Ultra in my laptop, but I'm upgrading it to the 7800GTX. Sure, titles like Oblivion may not play at 1920x1200 even with that setup, but since the monitor will serve double duty as a TV (both watching TV and using my PS2 and possibly XBox360 if I pick one up), I think it will be worth it.

[ArkiStan]

... but since the monitor will serve double duty as a TV (both watching TV and using my PS2 and possibly XBox360 if I pick one up), I think it will be worth it.

Here are some pics of the monitor used with an XBox 360 at 720p and 1080i
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=979436

Pretty gorgeous if you ask me, but then again, most PC games will look that good, if not better.

[Agent Plissken]

That looks sweet dude

[Devhux]

One question I do have -- if I were to hook up a game console using component, how the heck would I get sound out of it? (is there a way to get sound through my soundcard?)

[ArkiStan]

XBox audio out -> Audio Receiver -> speakers

XBox audio out -> Sound card audio in -> Sound card audio out -> speakers