Conclusion
For our discussion on games, we looked at several titles played professionally from different ages, including Day of Defeat, Counter-Strike, and FEAR. In our analysis we took into consideration how the game looked overall, if we could find any ghosting, and if there were any noticeable problems with frame rates. The first game we looked at was DoD. Granted, it’s not a particularly popular competitive game and it’s on its way out of the scene, but ZeGermans is pretty good at it. Many Day of Defeat players crank up their gamma in order to see the maps better, since there are a ridiculous amount of dark corners in nearly every map. Additionally, it helps compensate for the fade-in effect of sniper scoping. To put it simple, Day of Defeat looks TERRIBLE at high gamma. The game looks perfect at normal gamma levels, but as soon as you push 2-2.5, it goes completely to hell. Additionally, the gamma doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, and you still have the same problems seeing things. I can’t recommend this monitor for you DoD players simply because you won’t be happy with it. Looking at CS and FEAR, however, these problems don’t arise. These games look perfect on nearly any setting on the 931BF. They are almost indistinguishable from games on a CRT. It is a very impressive showing. With regards to ghosting, no matter how low the response time is specified to be, you will still see some. With the 931BF, it was the lowest we’ve ever seen and only at specific times. The only times we ever experienced ghosting was when a dark object was moving against a light background. It left a barely noticeable pure-white contrail. This is odd, considering traditionally ghosting would imply that laggy pixels would leave a dark contrail from the moving object. Our guess is that the pixels somehow “overcompensate” in this kind of situation. Honestly though, we had to really concentrate to notice it at all. The 940BF let us see it almost right away. This is just another example of the improvement the 931BF made over its predecessor. Frame rate issues where of absolutely no concern, everything played just as smoothly and registered as well as we were used to on a CRT. It was a complete non-issue.

Generally we try to consider the bang-for-buck aspect in our reviews, and this is no exception. Is the 931BF a good buy? Our answer is a simple yes. The 940 was a good buy and this one costs the same and is a better product. So it is a no-brainer. Its cost is even comparable to the few high-end CRTs still being produced, so the high-priced-LCD concept is pretty much out the window. If you need an easily portable, high quality LCD for your dorm room or to carry to LANs, look no further than the 931BF.

Pros
+ Great picture in most games and videos
+ No price premium over older models
+ Great options
Cons
- DoD looks mediocre
- Still suffers minor ghosting
- Screen door effect
Rating
9.0 out of 10