Monitor advice needed!

[Grandma Ruth]

Hi all
Been a bit busy lately so haven't been back here for a while. I'm seeking advice from you guys because I trust you more than the so-called experts you get on the inetrnet. They're usually trying to sell something.
I need to replace my monitor which is quite old (over ten years) and don't know what to get. The only game I play is RT3 so I wouldn't say I need a "gaming" screen really but I do do a lot of photo editing and videos, etc. Specs of my computer:

Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU J4205 @ 1.50GHz 1.50 GHz
Installed RAM 4.00 GB (3.82 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Anybody any ideas?

[RulerofRails]

Disclaimer, I'm not an expert.....

Most screens nowadays are 16:9 aspect ratio. RT3 uses 4:3. The game can run fullscreen in 16:9, but it stretches the view horizontally. This isn't important to some. Others play the game in windowed mode (at present me included). A 4:3 screen is going to be harder to find, and potentially more expensive. Your photo editing may be a more important consideration, what aspect ratio are those photos? With a larger screen, playing the game in windowed mode is more acceptable IMO.

Make sure that your graphics card can support the resolution you want to use. Also make sure that you have the right output, HDMI is pretty common nowadays.

IMO, there is too much hype over resolution, ("have you seen my new 4k screen?") especially in more common screen sizes. To pack that many pixels onto the smaller screens will make things smaller than you may want. 27+ inches is IMO where 4k is useful compared to the size of the screen. I'm talking more general computing. For photos it may still be worth considering if you are looking for high detail and your graphics card will support it.

[Gumboots]

You don't have to worry about the game's native aspect ratio if you use a custom entry in Configuration/engine.cfg. I regularly run the game at my monitor's 2560x1440 resolution and it's fine. The interface section takes a fair amount of screen space (because it obviously works on a percentage rather than an absolute size) but the picture is excellent and models aren't distorted. The only catch is that if you go into windowed mode it overwrites the custom engine.cfg, so you have to paste a copy of it into place again and restart the game.

Anyway, I wanted a monitor that had the best possible colour accuracy in the price range I could consider, and that was available at the time. I got an AOC Q3279WG5B 32". It's very basic, being only the bare monitor itself, but I have external speakers anyway. Generally I find it very good indeed. Colour accuracy is not quite up to an ASUS ProArt or similar, but price is far more affordable.

[sbaros]

I think Railroad Tycoon needn't be considered at all for monitor choice, since it's one of the least demanding applications in terms of graphics. So, for a decent picture and technical drawings manipulation, the best price/specifications choice by far last autumn -which I actually took advantage of- was the ASUS VP28UQG with generous 8.29 Mpixels at 270 €.
I usually connect it in parallel with other monitors, since I have both HDMI & VGA outlets. I find it extremely handy to keep the image or CAD drawing under processing in unobstructed full-screen mode on the aforementioned monitor, with the various menus, command lines, other open programs etc tools moved out of the way to the smaller one.
Strangely enough, this dual-monitor practice has been proven highly useful for Railroad Tycoon as well. I run its map editor full-screen on the big one to place the cities, while consulting the city coordinates in Excel on the adjacent screen.
Apart from this one, my other monitors are random finds recovered from garbage bins out in the streets.

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Of course, all this is valid only if you are prepared to spend such a sum, otherwise we may have other, cheaper proposals.

[Gumboots]

I agree that RT3 itself isn't much of an issue for monitor choice, but for design work I wanted colour accuracy above everything else. Ruth might want the same for photo editing. The faster response speed of a TN screen is probably not relevant.

@Ruth: As Sbaros says, it may come down to cost. How much do you want to spend?

PS: Incidentally, my previous monitor was an ASUS PA248. I would have happily replaced it with another one, but they're susperseded now and getting one shipped to Australia from Europe would have been prohibitively expensive, as well as risking damage in transit. Still, if you can find a good one at the right price they are an excellent monitor.