CRT for sure. I prefer to use CRT monitors for all games before 2006, and some even later than that. After that I go for widescreen, if I had an widescreen CRT I would go for that.

Early XP era games don't scale too well on 16:9, so go for either 4:3 LCD or a plain CRT.

Personally, I'd go with a CRT.

Thats what i figured, just needed that confirmation.

Are VGA selectors a viable option if I wanted to share my XP monitor? If so good brands?

Under XP, and with the right drivers, you are able to configure display scaling as well as custom resolutions. So there are lots of things you can try.

But easiest would be a modern 17" or 19" 5:4 1280 x 1024 monitor. You can buy these brand new with fast speeds.

LCD's seem more appropriate for XP era games since most publications were advertising them heavily, and they're a lot easier on the eye then CRT monitors. On the other hand CRTs are just as fitting since most people still had CRTs back then. Personally I prefer using 21" 2006-2009 4:3 low-latency professional LCD's like this thing:

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Under XP, and with the right drivers, you are able to configure display scaling as well as custom resolutions. So there are lots of things you can try.

But easiest would be a modern 17" or 19" 5:4 1280 x 1024 monitor. You can buy these brand new with fast speeds.

You can indeed, and they're kickass. You can even get led-backlit IPS 5:4 1280x1024 or 4:3 1600x1200 monitors, but they're pretty pricey and you really have to look for them.

Yeah, its just hard to draw that line like I can with consoles , where I know for a fact which consoles games were developed with CRT in mind.

4:3 LCD's are a dime a dozen right now so I may just pick a few up and try both.

While CRTs have better refresh rates, keep in mind getting rid of them is not easy whatsoever. LCDs can be given away, and they are, I had a guy on my local craigslist site selling 17/19" monitors for 10 bucks a pop, all LCD.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Under XP, and with the right drivers, you are able to configure display scaling as well as custom resolutions. So there are lots of things you can try.

But easiest would be a modern 17" or 19" 5:4 1280 x 1024 monitor. You can buy these brand new with fast speeds.

Ok just saw this. I like this idea as i prefer not to get an old monitor that may poop out and need recapped soon, if the experience is good. All I see are ones over $100.00 though. Am I looking in the wrong spot?

jforrest1980 wrote:

Ok just saw this. I like this idea as i prefer not to get an old monitor that may poop out and need recapped soon, if the experience is good. All I see are ones over $100.00 though. Am I looking in the wrong spot?

No, they are usually considered "business class" monitors, as pretty much no consumer buys a 5:4 monitor these days 😀

For a bargain just look second hand, 17" and 19" 5:4 monitors should be very easy to find, many businesses likely give them away for free. Do consider the back-light, newer ones have LED and consume less power. Check the inputs, better ones have VGA and DVI, and lookup the specifications for the panel type, speed and so on.

If you're going down the route of using a modern widescreen + scaling options in the driver, do test this out first. Not every driver / card combination works. Especially Nvidia cards under XP can be weird with later drivers. Some decent monitors, like the gaming range from Benq, can do the scaling themselves, even through VGA.

kanecvr wrote:

You can indeed, and they're kickass. You can even get led-backlit IPS 5:4 1280x1024 or 4:3 1600x1200 monitors, but they're pretty pricey and you really have to look for them.

Yes, good point about IPS and other panel types. 1600 x 1200 are indeed a bit harder to find. I have a 1920 x 1200 screen which I use for 1600 x 1200, I got it new a few years ago, it only does 5 ms, but was the best deal I could find at the time.

OK, so they're kinda like the Sony PVM of the LCD world. I'm gonna get a cheapie till I can locate one. I have 17in CRT from my 98SE rig as well. So I have options for now.

I've got a NEC Multisync LCD 2180UX which there is someone locally who sells them for about 40 each and it goes up to 1600x1200. Also have a couple of nice Samssung 19 4:3 monitors I can recommend. You should be able to find a 19 or under for less then 20 USD without even thinking. The larger ones sometimes get expensive unless you have a good source who has lots of them off coroporate lease like there is in my area.

I was meaning to ask a similar question on 4:3 or 5:4 ("square") LCD's versus a CRT monitor, but based on what I've read here, it should be OK to get a "square" LCD monitor instead of using a CRT?
I have plenty of old CRT monitors, but space is becoming a problem. Just wanted to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot when I want to play my older DOS games, should I use one of these LCD monitors.

I prefer LCDs also. Later I started using LCD more often for my 9x rigs also.
My main issue with CRT is that I don't really have the space for them, nor any suitable desks which leave enough room.

And actually...I still have a 18in or 19in screen I bought recently but had completely forgotten to test 🤣

Try to find a Dell 2007fp, they're 20" LCD panels with 1600x1200 resolution and great image quality for its time.

8" LCD monitor with VGA input, FTW!

jforrest1980 wrote:

OK, so they're kinda like the Sony PVM of the LCD world. I'm gonna get a cheapie till I can locate one. I have 17in CRT from my 98SE rig as well. So I have options for now.

Yes, pretty much 😁

To me 1600 x 1200 is the "4K" of the late 90s and early 2000s 😊

It's an extremely demanding resolution for period correct hardware and many games have HUD scaling issues, just like some games have with 4K these days.

oeuvre wrote:

Try to find a Dell 2007fp, they're 20" LCD panels with 1600x1200 resolution and great image quality for its time.

The HP LP2065 is also a great option.

jesolo wrote:

I was meaning to ask a similar question on 4:3 or 5:4 ("square") LCD's versus a CRT monitor, but based on what I've read here, it should be OK to get a "square" LCD monitor instead of using a CRT?
I have plenty of old CRT monitors, but space is becoming a problem. Just wanted to make sure I'm not shooting myself in the foot when I want to play my older DOS games, should I use one of these LCD monitors.

Try to find professional grade LCD monitors - those support even odd resolutions and some (like my 21" samsung) will even display high refresh rates like 1280x1024 @ 85Hz, even tough the panel itself outputs only 60Hz, and it scales low resolutions beautifully - so it's pretty good for dos games. Stay away from early or budget LCD monitors. Those either look bad, scale poorly or support a very limited range of resolutions / refresh rates.

For DOS I use 8" 4:3 LCD for testing other hardware, mainly sound cards, but for actual play time I use LG Flatron 17" CRT.
For Windows XP a 1600x1200 4:3 LCD or a CRT is the way to go.