What's the difference?

[Wolfmight]

What's the difference between two LCD monitors with 12ms and 25ms response times? Do games play smoother on 12ms? Is 12ms worth an extra $100 over the 25ms? Just wondering. I heard lower is better, but 25ms is very fast in technical terms.

[tesco]

The 12ms is much much better.
I wouldn't get anything higher than a 16mm, ghosting (images still on the screen when a new image comes up, caused by slow response time) are awful for gaming, movie watching, etc.

[harrycary]

The response time is in reference to how fast a LCD pixel will turn "on" or "off".

It's obvious that the faster a pixel can do this, the less likely the human eye will see it. Thereby making a moving image more clear or crisp and not blurry.

[clocker]

The 12ms is much much better.
I wouldn't get anything higher than a 16mm, ghosting (images still on the screen when a new image comes up, caused by slow response time) are awful for gaming, movie watching, etc.

I'm not so sure about that, Ross.
I have read a few comparisons where there was no noticable difference at all in gameplay between "fast" and "slow" response units.
Just last week we built a socket939 SLI machine with twin Leadtek 6600GT cards and it ran Half Life2 beautifully on our shop's screen (25ms).
I couldn't see any ghosting or trails.
I'm sure a faster response might have been better, but for the extra money it now costs I can't say they are worth it.

But, I'm old and slow and my gaming consists of PONG.

[Wolfmight]

I'm not so sure about that, Ross.
I have read a few comparisons where there was no noticable difference at all in gameplay between "fast" and "slow" response units.
Just last week we built a socket939 SLI machine with twin Leadtek 6600GT cards and it ran Half Life2 beautifully on our shop's screen (25ms).
I couldn't see any ghosting or trails.
I'm sure a faster response might have been better, but for the extra money it now costs I can't say they are worth it.

But, I'm old and slow and my gaming consists of PONG.

Ever test Doom 3, Half-life 2 on that unit?
Any lower grade 3D games? UT 2003, Hitman 2?

[clocker]

We did run HL2 and the owner was very impressed.
Doom3 bores me to death so we didn't install it.

Naturally, my time with the PC was limited as the new owner was somewhat anxious to take it home.
We were somewhat anxious to get paid so it all worked out for the best.

As I said before, I'm sure the faster response time would be nice, but your original post questioned if the extra $100 was worth it and right now I'd say no.

It's very difficult to buy a monitor based solely on the specs.
Obviously for the shop I have to watch the price point very carefully, a very nice unit that doesn't sell quickly is a drain on my resources.

This is a model that I like , in fact, I just bought one for myself.
Keep in mind that I am not a gamer so my requirements may differ, but for the money I think it's an excellent value.
So far, I have sold five of these units and have yet to see a single dead pixel.
The height adjustment works easily and the veiw angle is exemplary.

You may want to look into it.

[Virtualbody1234]

Ever test Doom 3, Half-life 2 on that unit?...

with twin Leadtek 6600GT cards and it ran Half Life2 beautifully on our shop's screen (25ms).

[peat moss]

I was always told not to buy a lcd if you were a gamer . Buy a crt instead Is that true? Something about dead pixels and reponce time

[Virtualbody1234]

If the desktop has the room then a CRT is a good choice.

[lynx]

If measures to ISO definitions, the pixel response time is supposed to be the total of the pixel rise time and the pixel fall time. Unfortunately in many cases there is no indication that the manufacturers are using this standard, and independent testing has shown some are only quoting the rise time.

To make matters worse the methods often employed to achieve a fast rise time directly lead to an extended fall time, so a misquoted fast pixel response time may actually be worse that an accurately quoted slower time.

But total pixel response time isn't always the full story anyway. A fast rise time with a relatively slow fall time (compared to other monitors) may leave you with only a small period of workable on time, a slower rise time with a relatively fast fall time can give a a much better period of workable on time and consequently a crisper image. Viewing angles may also need to be reduced in order to achieve fast responses, you have to work out whether that's important to you.

Have a look here for a better idea of what is actually going on.