I currently use IBM P76 17" monitor for retro gaming. It's a trinitron, Sony E220 tube. I haven't seen anything better.

The F520 is a good choice if you like Aperture Grill style CRTs. I prefer a shadow mask CRT myself. More prevalent technology during DOS gaming years.

IMO, the best CRT monitor is the NEC FP2141SB/Mitsubishi 2070SB. It's the same monitor in a different housing. Incredibly high resolution, incredibly sharp and vibrant. Also incredibly big and heavy. But that comes with the territory.

I liked the the Sony FS II that I used to have. It was beige with digital controls. Looked good on on my retro systems with a nice sharp picture.

http://www.computerdisplays.co.uk/15%20inch%2 … ny%2015FSII.htm

I had dual SGI somethings for ten years or so that were 16:10 and 24" or so, mammoths, and they were beautiful. I could have them as dual, and single or duals on secondary computers since they were multiple inputs. I think maybe 3 with vga, bnc, and 13w3. That now runs dual 40" samsungs and is simply hard to argue with, so those beast went away. I don't think the aspect is an issue. It is only a benefit, you can always square up any aspect and ignore the blank space and pretend it is a 22". Those old ones had easier analog adjustments, squared up or stretched, your choice.

Those boxes were the size of a washing machine.

I love Sony Trinitrons. Still using a 17" SF II a 15" SF and have a 19" 420GS in the garage that needs repairs. There were also quite a few other models that used SONY tubes made by different manufacturers and Diamondtron tubes made by Mitsubishi after the patents expired.

You can run all kinds of resolutions and still have a nice display (even old cutom mac ones if you like Mac gaming).

17" or the late 19" are the best for desk space, weight, and resolution. Very early Trinitorns can weight 100lbs or more and give off a ton of heat (the old fixed frequency ones).

Tritrons seem to deteriorate more than other CRTs. Have two with the exact same problem: white colors smearing on black...

I have a handful of Trinitrons...

A PVM-2950QM and PVM-1442QM, 29" and 14" respectively. Both are 15kHz RGBs monitors, the 14" also supports TTL CGA.

A 29" KV-SW29M31, a plain Trinitron TV currently being used as an arcade monitor.

Two 21" Dell P1130 monitors. Currently using one on my retro PC setup, and the other is in storage.

Where did you get an PVM 2950QM?

Government disposals auctions, cost me a whopping $3. 😀

Holy s*** , now thats a deal. I'm jelly 😀

CwF wrote:

Those old ones had easier analog adjustments, squared up or stretched, your choice.

Analog controls are easy, but most monitors with digital controls will store the dimension settings for each resolution, which is even easier.