>Thanks for all your advice guys - although at this point in>time, i'm still not totally sure which avenue to take.>>Looking at 19" CRT's certainly is an eye-opener with regard to>price and performance eg, LG T910B - resolution upto 2048 *>1536 @ 60 hz (irrelevant i) but 1024 * 768 @ 85Hz all for

Hi Gary,Further down this thread Christian stated:"LCDs are for techno geeks. Usually the type of guys that don't even play Half Life 2 or Doom - they just run the time demo, and hang out on forums bragging about their water-cooled-neon-blue-LAN-party-mini-tower."....Having fought for 2 hours solid last night to get past 'Highway 17' in HL2 I am here to testify to the fact that this game is proving to be one of the most satisfying experiences, both visually and technically, I have yet encountered. I can't recall ever playing a game that engendered such visual realism, tension and atmosphere that, at times, I would find myself wiping those sweaty palms on my trousers before risking everything on my next move. Looking down to the waters far below as I inched my way across the girders supporting that railway bridge I soon became aware that those feelings of vertigo were never far away and it was, dare I say it, quite thrilling! I had to keep reminding myself it's only a game :)All this on my TFT LCD Hyundai 17" 20ms monitor. Boy, does HL2 look good? You better believe it! Quite frankly, I can certainly say the same about FS9. Say what you like, but CRTs are a thing of the past in this household (my wife has a Samsung 17"). That's not to say that some of the better CRTs can't cut the mustard, of course they can, and do, and many undoubtedly still offer better value for money at present.What I like about TFT LCD Panels is the corner to corner pin sharpness of the image and no CRT has ever achieved that in my, admittedly limited, experience. What I don't like, on my monitor at least, is its inability to portray true blacks unless the room ambient lighting is left on which is, essentially, an optical illusion. Otherwise, colour rendition is comparable or better than on my Sony 17" Trinitron CRT (which I have always liked and, indeed, still keep as a backup ;))Recovery rates are getting quite fast now, but beware of advertising hype. Depending on how manufacturers define/measure recovery rates on their panels the stated times may be either too optimistic or, in some cases, might even be a little pessimistic. I would think 25ms is borderline acceptable for modern gaming and is likely to disappoint. Better to aim for a 20ms or better panel and you will be happy, I'm sure. I have no complaints and have been using my Hyundai for about a year and a half now. It has performed flawlessly and no dead cells...yet!Cheers!Mike

2 hours to get past Highway 17?, you call yourself a gamer!!! :-lolWait till you get to the "defend with 3 sentry guns" bit in the prison, now thats hard :-lol.I play HL2, CS:Source, and have never seen anything on my LCD that would make me want to go back to CRT's.Dan.

"2 hours to get past Highway 17?, you call yourself a gamer!!!"...ouch, that was a bit cruel :( ..... LOL!In fact, I could have done it a lot quicker had it not been for the fact that I indulged my pleasure by spending a great deal of time exploring every nook and cranny, and working out the least expensive way of clearing the field of baddies as I progressed. This game is sooo good I find it encourages such an approach. Anyway, there's no rush and the quicker you finish the sooner it's all over...true?Oh, and just so this remains on topic I can reassure the original poster that a true 20ms TFT LCD Monitor is plenty fast enough for games like HL2 and Doom3.(Surprised this thread hasn't been moved to the hardware forum)Cheers!MikeP4 2.4GHz (400FSB), 1Gig PC2100 DDR Crucial, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (Omega 2.5.97), SB Audigy (5.12.0001.0443), Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" TFT LCD 20ms Monitor (1280x1024x32), Gigabyte GA-8IRXP MoBo, Ultra-Quiet PSU 400W, WinXP Home (SP2), DirectX 9.0c, AGP Aperture = 128MB

"...ouch, that was a bit cruel ..... LOL!In fact, I could have done it a lot quicker had it not been for the fact that I indulged my pleasure by spending a great deal of time exploring every nook and cranny, and working out the least expensive way of clearing the field of baddies as I progressed. This game is sooo good I find it encourages such an approach. Anyway, there's no rush and the quicker you finish the sooner it's all over...true?"Hehehe, only joking matey, yeah, best not to rush through it, tis an awesome game ;).I can only agree that a 20ms LCD is more than good enough for gaming.Dan.