I know the general opinion on the boards a few months ago was that the Dell 2209wa was one of the better 22" displays on the market despite not being high-res. Now that I actually have the money to purchase a monitor (<£250), is this still true? Or has something newer replaced it as "the next best thing"? I'm leaning towards a lower res monitor because of my gtx 260; I don't want to risk the framerate loss that playing at 1920x1200 might bring, especially as newer games are released, since I don't know when I'll be able to upgrade the GPU in the future.
for that money, I'd suggest the SP2309W. I know it is larger and with a higher resolution, but it is brilliant, only £210 atm, and still looks good at lower resolutions.
GTX 260 will handle, and does for me, all games at max max max settings at 1920x1200. The GPU runs my games super duper smoothly, and this include Batman AA, Modern Warfare 2, TF2, Orange Box, StarCraft, Super street fighter. Heck even my Gefoce 9800GTX is showing no trace of struggling at 1900x1200. The SP2309W is a TN panel... is much lower end than our friend 2209wa. I recommend the Dell U2410 or on a smaller budget Dell U2311H. Both are superb selection for the price, both are good IPS panels, excellent for gaming, well it's the same panel as the 2209wa (LG), just in 24 and 23inch. The only big difference is that the 24inch (U2410) has like about all the connections you can possibly need,including Display Port which is now replacing DVI, and comes color pre-calibrated Adobe RGB and sRG color profile for stunning colors out of the box (well turn it on > Change color profile from Standard to sRGB or Adobe RGB which one you prefer the best),
Have a 260 myself so don't worry about 1920x1200 at all. Our little card has a lot of grunt. For your budget I'd grab one of the 22" Dells (U2211H) if you can't stretch to the 23". I think they're actually on special at the moment (until 26th Sept) so if you have the cash to hand no may be the time to take the plunge.
http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&cs=ukdhs1&sku=421257 For a bit more, you can get 1080p ready 23inch: http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&cs=ukdhs1&sku=421265 I am not sure if this is the best deal around, I don't know any U.K online stores. But, Be sure to call to order your monitor, as you can negotiate a very nice price reduction on the monitor. If it doesn't work, it's ok, you probably feel with a new guy, try a again and hopefully you can find someone that knows the system better, and allow you to have an interesting offer for you. but if I was you, I would wait for next Dell special.. look for Dell Hot Deals event.. usually they have a real nice price reduction on the monitors.
You can get the Dell U2311H for £260 (sadly you can't seem to get the same deals when price converted and take away VAT sadly :/)
Thanks very much guys, after comparing loads of prices online I found that Amazon with First Class delivery came to £268 for the U2311H. Next step: GPU upgrade. I'm not happy with the way Dead Rising 2 is running on my GTX 260 and I think a 460 may be in order.
You know it can be your CPU that limits the GPU, or causes the slow performance of the game? What is your system specs?
It's a very good possibility considering I'm only running a Core 2 duo E7400 @ 2.80GhZ with 4GB DDR2 RAM; but at the moment £160 for a new GPU is better than triple that for a new mobo, CPU and RAM. I guess I could just find a Core 2-based Quad Core and put that in but if I spend the cash I'd rather do it properly with an i5-750 and 6GB DDR3 RAM.
Dead Rising 2 is not out yet.... Before you go a shopping spree, I am trying to see if the game has a demo, so that I can try it on my side. I have the same GPU as you.
And I just got my second 2209wa for $209 Canadian from their recent sale. The 2209wa is an amazing monitor, and I say that as a very picky person when it comes to image quality. It is also has slightly lower lag than the newer "U" series monitors, as well as a superior 6 bulb back light. No matter what your reason is for buying a monitor, this is THE one to get. The only downside is as mentioned no 1080p/i, but that is of no consequence when compared to everything else you get with it. The 2209wa will probably be discontinued before too long, and newer products aren't necessarily going to be better in the near future. I can't recommend the 2209wa enough!
Glad you found a good deal on it! (I saw the sale on the dell uk website btw, not that it matters now as you got a cracking deal on Amazon).
Thanks guys, just to clarify with Dead Rising, they broke the street date in Poland (I think it was 24th) and I have a friend who bought a copy back with him that I could test on my system, before I decided on purchasing the cheaper PC version or just get the 360 version instead. Despite it running a bit slowly, I still decided to go with the PC version; the best bit being that I can play co-op over GFWL once the game is released in the UK. The U2311 should arrive tomorrow, I'll post my thoughts as soon as it's set up! I know most people already think it's a pretty swell 23" with one or two slight flaws but hopefully it'll be an improvement over my failing 19".
