My monitor is a crt viewsonic PS790 - how do I find out the response time to see whether it is a bottleneck?

CRT monitors didn't really have a "response time" number, they had refresh rates.

Here is a review of the PS790 from back in the day:

http://hardware.earthweb.com/peripherals/article.php/638181

That's kinda what I thought, so let me ask it this way - given that we have a bunch of knowledgeable people in here, how would thsi monitor compare with a modern LCD? 5ms, 10ms worse? Would I get better use out of my 8800GTX with a 2ms monitor? or is there more to it than that? also see my other thread asking whether the FX55 could be a bottleneck

Well, a new LCD monitor would be a night and day improvement over an older CRT. You can get a very nice one for around $200-$280, depending on the size and aspect ratio.

Getting a new LCD is always nice too.

As for a bottleneck, there would be due to the cpu. Thats not all that horrible though because you have an awesome video card, and compared to what you have now, it will be a huge improvement.

Grandad - LCD monitors are just now catching up in dot pitch and quickness to CRTs. They are priced well now too. You wouldn't be getting an improvement in quickness unless you got a super-fast LCD monitor as you have a pretty nice CRT. Some LCDs would be slower and have a less-fine dot pitch. The main reason to go LCD is because you gain so much desktop space.

That plus the HUGE overall picture quality improvement.

I'd go with an LCD at this point CRT's were never really made to offer HD even though in theory they could.

things to look for:

High native resolution, All LCD's can play input signals beneath their native resolution but they down convert signals greater than their native. this means that if you input a 1080p but your monitors native is 720p all you'll get is 720p.

low response time, higher response times will result in ghosting and blurring.

High brightness, this can be adjusted to taste but better to have and not need than want for more.

inputs. generally the more the better you'll definately want DVI and if you are multi purposing then HDMI cable etc etc.

If i remember correctly 720p translates to 768x1365 resolution and 1080p is 1080x1920, for 16x9 aspect ratio. stick with 4x3 or 16x9 other ratios are not always supported and can result in distortion or the black bars of wasted space.

one thing to keep in mind is that the manufacturer numbers for response time are not rock solid facts. it really depends on the technique used for the measurement. Quite often it is measured with black-to-white-to-black technique, but some manufacturers have started using Gray to Gray.

Those two techniques give very different results as gray to gray is about 3 or 4 times slower than b-t-w-t-b. So, if it is measured that LCD can do gray to gray in for example 8ms, it has a really good response time.

Are you unhappy with your CRT display? It's not slowing down your gaming any. LCDs are nice, but they aren't going to give you any benefit in gaming. Picture quality is roughly the same, though an LCD will give you less eye strain for long-time viewing because there's no flicker. Actually, the color on CRTs is superior if they are properly calibrated.

Here is a very popular LCD monitor with a very good response time and a great picture, especially compared to that PS790.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824001096

I don't know if I am unhappy or not - that's why I asked for opinions - it is really the only monitor I have ever gamed on and Q4 is very unforgiving with any kind of lag

Your CRT won't give you any lag, but your cpu might. LCDs are great, and you'd enjoy the one vegasr recommended because of its size, brightness, and small footprint, but it's not going to speed up your gaming.

the case was the same when LCD monitors first arrived when response times were still in the 10s of ms nobody would game on LCD's. As response times went down and especially in the past 2 years LCD's are comparable to CRTs in their speed the math points to LCD's being even faster but like cool case says it's all in how you measure it. If you have a CRT you are happy with, keep it. CRT's unlike LCDs can scale their resolution. One advantage LCD's have over CRT's hands down is power use. LCD's use much less power than CRT's. One advantage CRT's have over LCD's is they are reliable and will last a really long time. LCD's are getting up there in life span and will increase with time (just like CRT's did) this is where i insert my dell monitor warranty rant (if you really want to read it do a search it's out there. basically it says buy a part that can be serviced by an electronics shop.

stick with what you got if you are happy with it. If you want something new a LCD will be a good and worthwhile change.

I got this monitor and really love it. 22" and has decent controls. Not the best but it is awesome at gaming. The price is outstanding as well, $249.95 with a $30 mail in rebate available making it $219.95. Only downside is that the stand is very basic and has no adjustments. I put a big old book under it and it is perfect. LOL. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824252008

Like the guys said, the monitor can't bottleneck you but you are not going to believe the huge increase in screen space you get and the 8800GT really does deserve an LCD monitor, running off of a DVI connection, to so it can really show its stuff. It doesn't have quite the numbers of the $350 and up models but it does a very good job and gets rave reviews.


Update This monitor is now $199.99 w/ this promo cade and the #30 rebate EMCACCBCB

I'm still using the 19" Viewsonic I bought when they first came out. I believe it's a 25ms lcd hehe.. Anyways, this one looks pretty interesting..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16824116064

Mark