Choosing a Monitor

I have a few questions about monitors because I will buy one soon.

1. What size monitor is the best for gaming.

2. What are hz?

3. Best hz optimized for gaming?

4. What are some good bands.

5. If you can please link some monitors that you would recommend.

Those are my questions about monitors. If theres more that i need to know before making a purchase please tell me. Thanks.

1. Whatever you like, and what runs your system better on (you should check 16:10 vs 16:9 resolutions)

2. hz are Hertz, measurement unit for the vertical refresh rate of a monitor (and not only that, but that's marketed now). A 75Hz at 1440x900 would feel smoother and snappier than a 60Hz at 1440x900. For me 120Hz feels too much and sometimes gives motion sickness (lack of interp/motion blur) and I wouldn't invest in a 120Hz unless my PC would surely have over 120 fps constantly in whatever games I might play (qlive is not a problem for most :D)

3. In today's market you're limited to a cheap 60Hz TN pannel or a semi-cheap 120Hz pannel. For srs gaming you're gonna want to sacrifice picture quality and colour gamut for better response times, pixel density and refresh rate. Pros use CRTs (the big old heavy tube monitors), they don't have any input lag, don't have aliasing problems like LCDs do and have great refresh rates for FPS games. There's also 120Hz widescreen LCDs now that are starting to get cheaper (for gaming purposes).

4. Dell makes good affordable and quality HD pannels and a better option for other uses (office/editing). Asus makes really cheap gaming monitors. LGs are as good if not better. Samsung (made some of Dell's pannels) AOCBenQ, Hyundai, Viewsonic, Phillips.

 Don't buy from reccomandations, not even from reviews. Research by reading reviews, narrow down to a handfew by your criteria (refresh rate, resolution, whatever you want) and then CHECK THEM OUT FOR REAL (prefferably test them yourself with your tests/images, if you're gonna drop a large sum on something, you should be allowed to see for yourself first, or you might be dissapointed)

Hope it helps. 

Edit for 1. Most people buy HD since it's the standard right now, but you might like 16:10 (1920x1200) it's better for text and it's more space for whatever other programs you use. Most gamers preffer 16:9 for some odd reason. I find it too wide for my taste.

If you were a "pro gamer" you would already know what you need.

Since you are not, choosing a monitor just with gaming in mind is unreasonable because you will probably not notice difference in input lag and response time. Just get one with IPS panel because you will actully notice better viewing angles and colors.

I would recomment a Dell U2312HM because of low price and great image quality and it has decent response time that will not affect gaming.

There's an option of getting 120hz but it's subjective and you will need to have a powerful GPU that will be able to run games at 120 FPS or otherwise it's pointless.

 

That would've saved me a couple sentences ... Yeah, going with an IPS pannel would be a wise decision right now since IPSs have been updated with less and less latency. However, you should still check reviews and the monitor itself for backlight bleeding, pixel density and your colour prefference - not calibration (you might hate the artificially vivid colours some IPS pannels flaunt with)

"Pro gaming" is overrated -.- who has that much time on their hands. I would consider myself a casual gamer. I've only participated in local Call of Duty tournaments for Xbox other than that im not a "pro" so I guess won't need a 120hz moniter. Thanks I think i'll just keep my samsung maybe upgrade when i become a pro Leauge of Legends player...