Introduction:

Ok, so the 2233RZ is your typical 22" A-Si TN TFT monitor with a catch. It can support up to 120Hz refreshrates at its native resolution, 1680 x 1050. All you need to have is a "modern" graphics card (Geforce 7800-series or better) that supports dual-link DVI mode. Also you might want to install the monitor's .inf for your operating system to get the refreshrates available, but it might work even without it (I didn't test or check it).

Let's check the specs and a few features:


The monitor looks like this: (stolen boldly from Samsung, Zalon beware!)


As you can see, the monitor has glossy exterior to make it look "cool and futuristic". Yet I pay little attention to such details, but someone might find it attracting. Also the blue led below the "SAMSUNG" text looks rather ok on that transparent plastic thingy. The weak side of this is the fact that you are going to see every damn speck of dust or finger print on it. The screen itself is non-glossy and anti-reflective.

The stand is your standard el-cheapo stand for TN panels. Two words can describe it perfectly: shitty & horrible. You can tilt the screen but that's it, there is no rotation or height adjustments. However, you can replace the stand with VESA100 mount if you wish.

OSD is also pretty simple, however it takes some time to get used to it, since the damn buttons are placed on the right side. The good thing is the opened OSD shows you where the buttons are located, but that doesn't help all that much.

(Another stolen image, we are doomed!)



Image quality:

Out-of-box colors, brightness and contrast are absolutely terrible. Colors are totally off, brightness is set to 100 and contrast is set to 75. With these settings you are bound to have headaches and images burned to your retinae. My suggestion is that you use the following settings:

1) Color settings:

New calibration values 25.4.2010

2) Normal brightness/contrast settings (neutral/balanced)


3) Alternative brightness/contrast (darker black, more vivid)


With these settings the image looks rather ok, pretty close to my BenQ G2400WD's calibrated image, but a bit more vivid.

The native resolution of this monitor is 1680 x 1050 which is seen on most of the 20-22" models. It is acceptable for gaming yet I'd like to have more on desktop when doing the normal stuff, like reading text on internet or writing a blog like this. The viewing angles are typical TN crap so don't expect to see much on the screen from around the monitor. It's still a little bit better than the viewing angles of G2400WD.


Performance:

So, what's the performance? According to my tests, this monitor comes very close to CRT when being used at 120Hz. Yes, you can use 60Hz too if you want to, but I wouldn't recommend that. The 120Hz refreshrate removes ghosting and blurring really efficiently. While this does not quite make it CRT level, it is considerably better than any other TFT out there (excluding the 120Hz models, like Viewsonic Fuhzion VX2265WM). There's some inputlag, places like Xbitlabs, Prad.de and Digital-versus have measured it being around 10ms average, but at least my performance wasn't affected by it. My BenQ G2400WD has around 8ms inputlag and it feels pretty much the same, yet my Samsung 2233RZ looks much, much better in games. Even if I'm pretty sensitive to such things, I'm sure there are people who might get affected by the inputlag even if I didn't.

There is one pixel that doesn't lit red color. Also there is some backlight bleeding on the lower part of the screen. Something you can reduce with some adjustments and proper lighting in room, but in dark rooms it will be visible with dark images, but in the end it will not go away totally. Scaling options are limited to wide and auto, yet they seem to be doing the same thing. So no 1:1 scaling options or even proper aspect ratio scaling options, which sucks donkey balls.


QW settings?

With cl_earlypackets 0: cl_physfps 77, cl_maxfps 308 or more
With cl_earlypackets 1: cl_physfps 77, cl_maxfps 300, 360, or whatever

cl_maxfps 120 looks rather ok, but doesn't really feel ok. cl_maxfps 154 makes the screen jerky so skip that one too. There are no particular rules about using refreshrate multiplications with cl_earlypackets, otherwise one should consider what's written here.


Final thoughts:

How about the price then? It's around 300 euros at this moment in Finland, you might be able to get it cheaper from someplace else. However, the price IS NOT JUSTIFIED because you are getting:

1) a TN panel
2) ...that has backlight bleeding problem
3) ...and weak dark level
4) ...with 22" size
5) ...and only 1680*1050 resolution

But if you really want to play with almost blur- and ghostless TFT at 120Hz, then you should consider buying one. You can get "gaming grade" 60Hz 24" monitors with better image quality under 200 euros, so there's your comparison.


I'll be updating this blog if I remember something I should have mentioned or if I bump into something new.