Think these 22" LCDs are good deal?

[TX-ScubaSteve]

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=AL2216WBD-R&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-daily_html-_-28DEC06-_-YEARENDBB-_-YEARENDBBmain

The main concern I have is that they're refurbished and have up to 8 bad pixels.  Not sure if that would be very distracting.  Guess when using flight sims, I could just pretend like they're particle impacts on an old plexi-glass windshield...  But you could buy 3 of them for around the price of a single Dell 24".

Would appreciate any input...

S!

TX-ScubaSteve
White 4

[TX-EcoDragon]

I've heard bad things about this retailer. They come to 276.00 with ground shipping, Newegg has a 22inch new Acer for 319 with three day shipping. I'm a stickler for things, and if I had a bunch of dead pixels I'd be unhappy about it. . .but that's how I am. I have windex wipes by my monitor though since I hate dogfighting with specs on the screen, I have a hard enough time tracking dots.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009102S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-ScubaSteve]

Thanks Eco for your feedback... For the price, getting brand new ones would definitely be far better!Plus, I have a hard enough time trying to find people in locked cockpit... much less chasing faulty pixels across the map.I got a promotion and a nice raise at work last week (so I'm now just slightly above the poverty line) ... but... wow... computer hardware sure adds up in a hurry!  At least monitors tend to last longer than the obsolete video cards that first drove them...I might just wait to upgrade till prices have settled down after Vista is released... I dunno... (not that that effects monitors)... but thinking of getting a 1GB Geforce 7950 GX2... but that won't take advantage of DirectX 10...  Meanwhile the 8800 is over twice as expensive...TX-ScubaSteveWhite 4

[TX-EcoDragon]

Hmm, the GTS is 399 and would get you DX10 capable. Isn't the 7950 with a gig more than that? Dunno, I've seen the 7950 512meg cards are in the 250-299 range.check this out: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=539&model2=606&chart=199Waiting always makes things cheaper and better. . .as long as you don't do what I do and wait and wait and wait and have nothing to show for it. . .it's an unwinnable race.:-DS!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-ScubaSteve]

Thanks Eco... the 7950GX2, is basically two 7950's put together interfacing with one PCIe slot, and I've found some on ebay "new" for just over $400.  Thanks for the chart though--looks like the frame rates on the GX2 isn't all that great (even slower than the 7950GT!)--which kind of surpises me with the CNET review and the fact it comes with 1GB and is supposedly two GTs combined... though of course memory isn't a direct indicator of frame rates.  Wish there were benchmarks using FSX... where having an extra memory is a good thing, but I suppose there's too many variables with that.TX-ScubaSteveWhite 4

[TX-EcoDragon]

Here ya go Steve, Acer AL2216WBD 22" Widescreen for 279 at CircuitCity: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=162989&AID=10375042&PID=404255&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.circuitcity.com%2Fccd%2FproductDetail.do%3Foid%3D162989Regarding the cards, I've been looking into the same sort of upgrade (though I'd need to build an entirely new machine to put any of it in) and without exception the 8800 series looks like the better deal to me. The 7950s aren't super cheap at this point, so I'd rather spend the extra 130 bucks for an 8800. The clincher for me in leaning towards the 8800 is the fact that FSX is designed for and said to be better performing in DX10 and vista. . .as far as I can tell that is our only hope for now, as people running the highest end machines out there are still have to cut back settings, do the tweaks and suffer sub 20 frame rates using DX9/WinXP. What this last point means to me is that if the other sims and games I run on my machine run ok enough, then the best bet for FSX is to wait, wait as long as is possible, since hopefully by then whatever it takes to run it well will be out, and hopefully not 10 grand. Maybe when ATI's response and after the lower end series 8 cards comes out, the 8800s will drop a bit in price.S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO

[TX-EcoDragon]

If you're still in the market. . .http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=52555685&pfp=hpf3S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX-Squadron XO