A display output question

[axelrankpoke]

Okay, so I've upgraded my desktop recently with a R9 270 and a 120GB SSD. Not a huge improvement over an Nvidia GTX560Ti but some of the games do run smoother and my Win 8x64 now boots up in an instant from the SSD.

...and then I looked at my monitor. Turns out I've been using a 1400x900 Samsung E1920 19" that only has a VGA port on the back!

So the question is: Will display quality improve so vastly if I buy a new LCD with native DVI that it can possibly justify throwing a perfectly fine working 19" monitor away?

 

[Egriz]

Just a reminder that we recently added a tech-support section to the forums :) In the future, these types of threads would be appropriate in there. A mod may move it.

As to your question:

Yes. While it may not seem like a big difference when you look at the numbers "1400x900 vs 1920x1080", it is pretty significant. You are doubling your total pixels. Depending on the size of the potential new monitor, you are basically doubling the amount of pixels in an area that won't be double the size. Giving you a much crisper image.


Compare green to red.

So it all comes down to: Yes, your display quality will improve. In my opinion, it will improve a drunken-vastly-amount. I can not stand low resolutions. Is it 100% necessary to use your computer? No. So if money is tight, don't feel like you HAVE to get a new monitor. I would suggest it though. You will gain clarity and more screen real estate.

Common monitor sizes are in the 20-24" area. Price per inch goes up pretty rapidly above 24". Depending on your location, you should be able to get a decent quality new monitor below the $150 mark without any trouble. Just keep an eye out for sales. Head on over to reddit.com/r/buildapcsales and monitor that :) heh..monitor. See what I did?!

I got my three 23.6" monitors for $120 each. I <3 5760 x 1080

 

[axelrankpoke]

Thanks for a detailed answer! Not sure what to do with my ancient 16:10 VGA monitor though...

 

[Egriz]

Thanks for a detailed answer! Not sure what to do with my ancient 16:10 VGA monitor though...

Use it! Set it up as a second monitor for your computer. Put team speak and chat on that one while you play something on your new monitor!

Edit: I suppose I should add some detail, I wrote that from mobile.

You can use multiple monitors on a single video card. You'll be able to set it up to work as a "secondary" monitor. One monitor will be your "main monitor" which will have your task bar and start menu on it, and the other can just act as extra space to move misc. programs to. There are programs you can use to run the taskbar across both monitors, such as DisplayFusion or UltraMon.

An older monitor like that would be perfect for running teamspeak or other misc programs on. So now you would be able to play your game full screen on your main monitor and still monitor teamspeak or other programs on the other without having to minimize the game.

 

[SeungRyul]

Moved to Tech Support Forums

 

[axelrankpoke]

This is a great idea. I'm a fan of very clean organized setups (and wish mine would look clean and organized one day), which is why I'll have to find a way of setting up my second monitor so that it doesn't clutter my desk. I'm thinking of a swivel mount or perhaps something exotic like setting it up very low and angled close to the throttle quadrant so that it looks like one of the MFD panels on real planes.

 

[Riconas]

I'm currently using a SAMSUNG SyncMaster T260 as my main monitor via DVI @ 1920x1200, and I have an older ProView LCD TV hooked up as a second monitor via HDMI (not sure what the resolution comes out at at the moment; have to check that later). Besides the increased resolution, you'll get MUCH better video quality over DVI as opposed to VGA, because DVI is a purely-digital signal, while VGA is analog. So yeah, I'd definitely say replace it as your main, but, as Egriz said, it sounds like a nice monitor despite the VGA, so definitely consider keeping it as a second monitor. If it only has VGA, I'm assuming it's probably a CRT monitor (though I could be wrong), so finding space for it might be difficult; if it is in fact an LCD, then it shouldn't be as hard. You can also use a VGA-DVI adapter, just in case your video card doesn't have a VGA output.

 

[axelrankpoke]

It's a 19" LCD. Samsung made 2 different versions of this particular model - one with speakers and DVI+VGA and another one without speakers and a single VGA port. I was unfortunate enough to get the VGA only version. Honestly I didn't care at the time - I was already over budget for my desktop PC and just needed a monitor. So yeah, I am definitely keeping it.