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Help me decide on buying 120hz Monitor

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Hey lads!

At the moment I have just about have 400 euros for something new.
My reason for gathering this cash was to buy a cheap laptop for on the go.

But I am really not certain what to choose.
On ebay.. I have found a decent one selling for 120 euros which has a core 2 duo T2250 1.7Ghz CPU. 2GB RAM, 120HDD, Intel 950 graphics and it's 15.4" at 1280x800.

It's very cheap but second hand!!


OR.

I could just go and get a new monitor which I have been wanting for the past year.
I was going to get one last year but then the 120Hz Samsung and Viewsonic appeared and it interested me. So I decided it would be best to wait!

Now I have more full HD options such as the ACER GD245HQ and the ASUS monitor also!


I am currently living in Ireland.
I would probably use ebay to buy a monitor IF I can't buy on another website?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome!
What do you think I should do? and why?
 

the54thvoid

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120hz is good for...... NV 3D? You've got a GTX 280 so that might make sense but i dont see the fuss unless someone else has a better use for 120hz monitors?

But i wouldn't buy off of e-bay. It's probably home to some of the most expensive tech i've seen online. Stick to e-buyer or scan or aria or one of the well knowns.
 

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Unless you had more GPU power to put use to 120hz, I would pass on it. Now if the games you play you can average well over 60fps, then it might be worth it. But I'll admit, I don't know a ton about this, I hear that a lot of the 120hz monitors just frame copy and such, but I wouldn't know which ones.
 
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Well I will be using this monitor for the PS3 3D content and also for some PC 3D games and movies. That would be a bit later for when I decide to get the 3D glasses.

As for now. I want a 1080p HD monitor and why not go for 120hz over 60hz!

In order for this 120Hz to be used properly. Would that mean I need every game to run at 120FPS?? How is that possible for crysis??
 

the54thvoid

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No, not 120fps. What 3D does is to send frames at 60fps, one goes off to each eye to give the 3D image. So you'd be looking at 60fps. But not all games run well at 3D, a lot do but not all.

I could be wrong though.

But if you're looking at 3D gaming, save some more and get a faster gfx card (or two GTX 460's).
 
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Well I will be using this monitor for the PS3 3D content and also for some PC 3D games and movies. That would be a bit later for when I decide to get the 3D glasses.

As for now. I want a 1080p HD monitor and why not go for 120hz over 60hz!

In order for this 120Hz to be used properly. Would that mean I need every game to run at 120FPS?? How is that possible for crysis??

Can't use a 120hz PC monitor with a PS3 (for 3D)as there would be no glasses you could use with it. Current 3D TVs either have an IR emmitter built-in or have a port for an IR module to sync the active shutter glasses, but there are no 3D monitors which come with those or can have those fitted.

Don't forget nvidia 3D vision ONLY works from a PC source - there would be no way to play PS3 3D content with a PC monitor. Sorry.

No, not 120fps. What 3D does is to send frames at 60fps, one goes off to each eye to give the 3D image. So you'd be looking at 60fps. But not all games run well at 3D, a lot do but not all.

If a 120hz monitor supports 3D content with nvidia 3d vision it WILL be able to show upto 120fps in 2D mode (if your card only manages 30-40fps it will look the same as a 60hz monitor with 30-40fps on it - you'd only notice a difference over 60fps). It's the non-3D TV screens which boast 120/240/600hz refresh rates without having more than a 60hz input which couldn't (but those can't support 3D content because of it).
 
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Cheers!
60FPS is do able so :p
But My motherboard only has one slot for a GPU so I can't get another GTX 260 or even to consider 2 GTX 460's!

Well that's a shame for the PS3 3D idea! Jayziz :p

Would 3D gaming on the PC be worth it? Even movies? videos?
 
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Cheers!
60FPS is do able so :p
But My motherboard only has one slot for a GPU so I can't get another GTX 260 or even to consider 2 GTX 460's!

Well that's a shame for the PS3 3D idea! Jayziz :p

Would 3D gaming on the PC be worth it? Even movies? videos?

I enjoy the occasional 3D game on my passive polarised screen, it needs better support though (games like Avatar: the game and crysis 2 have 3D built into the engine and look amazing in 3D on a PC). As for movies get yourself a cheap (£50 these days?) bluray drive and buy some 3D bluray playback software (if there are no free ones available) and you then have a 3D bluray setup :cool: We just need actual 3D blurays for that to be a good thing.

As for converting 2D to 3D videos I use tridef software and it does a decent job, but it isn't as good as true 3D.
 
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Yea I would certainly buy the Avatar game when I get the 3D glasses and check out crysis!

Would PowerDVD 10 do the trick for 3D movies?
I do have a blu-ray drive hooked up on this PC??? Would that do the trick then?
 
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Yea I would certainly buy the Avatar game when I get the 3D glasses and check out crysis!

Would PowerDVD 10 do the trick for 3D movies?
I do have a blu-ray drive hooked up on this PC??? Would that do the trick then?

Should be fine (unless it's USB - if it is USB double-check the bandwidth requirements of 3D bluray?) - you just need the 3D bluray software and some 3D blurays (and yes powerdvd10 does support 3D bluray playback).

Sadly I only know of cloudy with a chance of meatballs as being released in the 3D bluray format. Avatar won't see 3D bluray release until March next year (ish).

As for crysis be aware that what the54thvoid said above about the FPS in 3D mode is correct - if you get 40fps in 2D mode you will get less FPS in 3D mode as the card needs to re-calculate the 3D environment for your other eye - so you need to factor in it will roughly halve the FPS (as you need to send 2 frames instead of 1 in 2D mode as each eye sees a different view) and then take a little more computation to re-calculate the 3D scene for each eye. Ideally for a game to play well in 3D you'd be wanting at least 60fps in 2D mode. My comments on it looking the same at 30-40fps were for 2D mode (re-reading my post i made earlier i wasn't 100% sure that was clear).
 
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The blu-ray drive is hooked up in my pc! So not a USB external one :p

Well not much 3D stuff out as it seems! Which is pretty sad :p
A monitor for 3D would cost around 350 Euros and that's pretty expensive!

Maybe this 3D is not such a good idea yet?!?!
 
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The blu-ray drive is hooked up in my pc! So not a USB external one :p

Well not much 3D stuff out as it seems! Which is pretty sad :p
A monitor for 3D would cost around 350 Euros and that's pretty expensive!

Maybe this 3D is not such a good idea yet?!?!

It all depends on how much you value 3D - you have the cost of the screen and if you went for a 120hz 3D screen then the cost of the nvidia 3d vision and the fact you're then locked into nvidia graphics cards to use it. Oh and the cost of 3D playback software and the extra cost on 3D blurays (if there is one). If you can afford all that and are happy to pay it for 3D, if not I'd wait for the next series of 3D TVs to come out and see if there is any good 3D content to get then. As with any screen purchase I'd strongly reccomend trying it out in a shop before laying down a large amount of money on something (just have a look at some active shutter glasses based 3D TVs to see how you like active shutter 3D if you can't find the monitor/nvidia 3d vision in any stores).

I went for a zalman passive polarised screen - ~£200 for a 20" 1080p screen and the glasses are the same as the cinema glasses so cost ~50p each. £35 for total media theatre for my 3d playback and done i'm all setup. Of course the screen has very, VERY bad viewing angles for 3D - you have to be dead centred with it to work fully, which is annoying.
 
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Jayziz I really have some extra thinking to do then!
There is a store in town for 3D TV's and I will have to check it out in there!
They also have a setup in there for testing it out so I will be in there to check it out.
I guess then I will see if it's worth it or not!

But I would love to see crysis 3D test for real :p

perhaps I will wait and see 2moro!
 
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