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Best modern 5:4 LCD for playing older RPGs & strategy games?

Ebonsword

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Mar 7, 2008
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I normally like playing old RPGs & strategy games (Baldur's Gate I & II, Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, Chaos Gate, etc.) on my old 17" CRT. Unfortunately, I think it's on its last legs. :(

So, it's probably time to get something new. Obviously, CRT monitors are no longer in production, and used ones are so old they probably don't have too much useful life left in them, so I'm thinking of replacing it with a modern 5:4 aspect ratio LCD (5:4 since a lot of older games don't natively support widescreen resolutions).

Since this is for RPGs and such, I'm more concerned about inky black levels and accurate colors than lightning-fast response times. So, I'm thinking I should be looking for something with an IPS panel?

My thought was to get something like this:

ea193mi-bk_lt.jpg


https://www.necdisplay.com/products/displays/ea193mi-bk

Any thoughts/suggestions?
 

OSK

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Do they still make those? I was looking at upgrading my monitors, but I was disappointed to learn that nobody makes 16:10 monitors anymore.
 

DalekFlay

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GPU drivers have interger scaling now, so if you get the right resolutions setup there's really no downside to using a normal monitor anymore. Also you can use windowed mode like Butter suggested, which works best with a dark desktop wallpaper.
 

Ebonsword

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GPU drivers have interger scaling now, so if you get the right resolutions setup there's really no downside to using a normal monitor anymore. Also you can use windowed mode like Butter suggested, which works best with a dark desktop wallpaper.

Interesting, but I use a dedicated Windows ME PC for playing older games so I don't have to faff about with compatibility issues. That's what this monitor will be attached to.
 

DalekFlay

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Interesting, but I use a dedicated Windows ME PC for playing older games so I don't have to faff about with compatibility issues. That's what this monitor will be attached to.

Well I'd argue there's no real need for that at the moment either, but I know people love retro tech. Only other thing I'd say that's relevant is that you can get new CRT monitors that should theoretically last a long time, they're just somewhat expensive.
 

Nifft Batuff

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Nov 14, 2018
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I play old games in windowed mode.
Yes, ... One of the advantages of widescreen is that you can play retro games in multi-tasking mode

s7Bp9rV.png


Although maybe the best thing is to have a dual monitor setup with different aspect ratio monitors (and ideally one of them CRT).
 

Naraya

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Oct 19, 2014
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Half-joking: why not go with a CRT? I remember my Samsung SyncMaster 955DF (my last CRT monitor) having beautiful, vivid colours and razor-sharp picture - something that LCD monitors still can't compare to.

The only problem (but not really) was that it was a brick and weighed over 20kg LOL.

I dunno, I just love (good) CRTs.

edit: Ebonsword I just saw what you said about CRTs in your OP. That's fair enough I guess.
 

DalekFlay

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Link? As far as I know, all CRT production ended years ago.

They did, and most are used on the market, but new in box ones can still be had for (relatively) reasonable prices on Amazon, Ebay and such if you really look. At least in the US, I don't know where you are. Generally you have to search by model number though, because Amazon doesn't know what the fuck to do with "crt monitor" and just shows LCDs.

LCDs with high refresh and good response times are finally getting close to that CRT experience, and without the flicker, but I doubt any 5:4 monitors have those features. If you're used to CRT though, I'm not sure you'll like a budget LCD's feel.
 

deama

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May 13, 2013
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UK
Could try to get an OLED with BFI mode and run it at 120hz with bfi, you'd then get almost perfect colours, perfect blacks, similiar motion clarity to a crt, and a smooth 120hz experience.

For the integer scaling, you can use an autohotkey script for that, I have one myself and it works fine. Though I'm not sure if it will work on Windows ME, maybe.
 

Turuko

Learned
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Jun 12, 2019
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352
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Verbobonc
where are you from?
go to a nearby school, library, public office etc and ask around
make sure to wink a lot

edit: i'm not joking btw
 
Last edited:

Burning Bridges

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Some years ago I put my nice 19" LG flatron CRT on the lawn in front of the house. Even the Poles refused to take it. Had it been LCD it would have been gone in 15 minutes. But as it is it still stood there for a week until the garbage collectors took it.

It had really good image quality.

That was maybe a waste but the thing weighed like 25 kilo and had been standing in a corner for years. You only carry unecessary weights on your shoulder if you keep useless things, because a decade later someone in an internet forum might say he wants it.
 

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