What could I expect going from a 17" to 19" monitor?

[Guest southie4]

All other things being equal (see modest specs below), what effect would a larger monitor have on quality and performance of FS 2004. I seem to recall reading, for example, that a higher resolution such as 1600 x 1200 allows for disabling anti-aliasing without much increase in the zaggies and a boost in frame rates?Your input would be appreciated since I am considering making such an upgrade prior to eventually upgrading other components.My big problem with FS 2004 is the lack of water surface reflections. Do you think a new vid card would take care of that or would it be more likely for reflections to return with a faster CPU? I never had that problem in FS 2002.Thanks,Robert

[Guest southie4]

bump

[Guest fotieno]

You get a lot of improved clarity. First you open the option of having higher resolutions. In my case now with FSCOF I can run easily at resolutions of up to 1600x1200x32bpp with no AA set in the drivers, gaining a couple of FPS. The gauges are much clearer. Alot of the small text you see on the panels will now be easier to read. Your deskop real estate increases so you can see and fit more without loosing image clarity or getting cluttered.However, it is not all roses, take the time and make the investment in a good monitor. Of all the parts of your system the monitor has the longest shelf life. So try and amortize the price over a 5 or even 7 year life span. Don't jump into a cheap value monitor that doesn't give you the quality picture your looking for now or 5 years from now - Yes monitors age and it's not gracious.One thing I recommend is go shopping at the local electronics store first and "test drive" your choice then go shopping for the same model on the net to get a better deal - Remember low prices can be offset by shipping charges and high return fees if things go wrong, so don't get sucked in by price alone look at shipping and handling and after purchase service options.Some of the things I think are important include: Flat picture tube, low horizontal and vertical dot pitches, V.I.S minimum of 18" for a 19 inch. Look at the different recommended screen resolutions and refresh rates on the monitor and compare them to the specs that are normally printed on the side of the AGP card box. A monitor is only one part of a three or four part combo. Your video card or MOBO could have limitations that will affect the visual picture quality of the monitor. I chose to stay away all monitors that could not support a native minimum of 75Hz (1600 x 1200). Look for natural visual briteness. My last monitor had an unusally low briteness that forced me to run high briteness and contrast settings distroying image quality. Most important of all is make sure you get a good CRT tube. Ask store personnell and look around the net for reviews of similar tubes. A good tube will generally allow the user to change as many of the visual options as is possible. while a generic tube will have fewer options or rely on outside software pakages like colorific to enhance image quality.Finally remember, if the deal looks too good to be true it normally is...

[Guest southie4]

Thanks, Fotieno. I appreciate your input. Thanks for taking the time to respond.Robert