Nov 2012 Follow-Up Survey Results

Master Monitor List

The first question we asked was about the viability of our Master Monitor List. This is our list of monitors and specs, that could be helping in finding all available monitors with the specs you need. The major issue with this aspect of the site is that without constant maintenance, the data quickly falls out of date as new monitors are released.

Looking at the survey results, only a slight major of users find more than "a little" value in the list. This puts us in a quandry. We want to serve your needs, but the reality is that we have limited resources. We need to place our resources where they are best used, and the MML doesn't seem to be a good use of our volunteer staff resources.

The WSGF is designed to be a community-driven site, and the MML is open for community contributions. The monitor form is short and easy to fill out. If the community can rally, bring this data current, and keep it maintained, I think the Master Monitor List could be a valuable resource.

So, it's up to us. Let's see if we can hit critical mass on the Master Monitor List...

Steam Game Night

The second set of questions we asked were about when we should schedule a Steam Game Night, and what games we should schedule. The most popular times are late afternoon through evening, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In looking at the most popular games, we received 144 total votes (across 1st, 2nd and 3rd options). The top dozen or so responses garnered 2/3 of those total votes.

Choice 1st 2nd 3rd Total Team Fortress 2 9 4 4 17 Left 4 Dead 2 5 4 6 15 Borderlands 2 5 2 5 12 Battlefield 3 5 2 4 11 Counter Strike: GO 3 3 2 8 Black Ops II 4 2 1 7 DotA 2 4 1 2 7 Planetside 2 3 3 1 7 Counter Strike: Source 3 1 4 Civilization 5 1 2 3 Killing Floor 3 3 Skyrim 1 2 3

Reviews & Benchmarking

It was great to get feedback from folks on what resolutions we should be benchmarking. There is little to no interest in 1600x900, or even 3x1600x900. There is some interest in other resolutions like 2560x1080 and 2560x1440, and even Eyefinity/Surround versions of these resolutions. There is a little interest in 4k benchmarking as well, but this resolution (in addition to the other ultra-large resolutions) lean towards future needs. We are working to try and get panels for this kind of future testing, so hopefully we can meet that need before too long.

It is obvious that 16:9 resolutions are far more popular than their 16:10 counterparts. There is some interest in these resolutions, along with benchmarking of bezel corrected resolutions. While I don't see these as something we would do long term, I am working on articles too look at performance with Bezel Correction and 16:9 vs 16:10.

Our future focus will be on 1080p and 3x1080p, with more ongoing benchmarking with more games. Our goal is to do both "stress testing" and "optimal playable settings" benchmarks for NVIDIA and AMD hardware with current popular games. We will also be doing frame-by-frame and frame time charts, rather than just show the overall average.

With this question, there are clear winners and clear losers. The most popular requests are reviews of single and dual GPU configurations. This is followed by monitors, CPUs and "game enhancers". We are already committed to doing more benchmarking, focusing on Eyefinity and Surround resolutions. We currently have the hardware to do single GPU testing across the AMD hardware line, as well as an NVIDIA GTX670. We are always working to get more AMD cards for CrossFire testing, and any additional NVIDIA cards to build out that stable of data.

The next most requested item is monitors. This poses a big problem for us. The WSGF is a volunteer-run organization, with limited resources - time, money and "physical" resources. The vast majority of our hardware is donated for testing, as our monetary resources are limited. Much of the income from the site goes into buying the rest of the kit needed to build and update test rigs, and then buy games for analysis. We'll be doing more of this based on the results of these surveys.

We simply don't have the resources to purchase monitors for testing, nor do we have the professional testing equipment to measure a monitor's brightness, contrast and color accuracy. Unfortunately these are simply things beyond our reach. The monitor industry has condensed down to a commodity market, and the reality is that LCD panels for all monitor manufacturers are sourced form just a couple of OEMs. The real differences in a monitor come down to its features (ports, LED backlight, 120Hz), design (thin bezel), as well as the support and reputation of its manufacturer.

These are not really things that are easy to quantify, especially the support and reputation of a monitors manufacturer. What one thing we can do is showcase the User Reviews produced by our community. With regards to other reviews, we do get APU/CPUs from AMD, and will continue to review those on the site. We will now begin searching out new hardware such as AmBX, butt-kicker, and other items that help with your gaming immersion.

Thanks to everyone who took one or both surveys. You've done us a great service to help the WSGF grow and expand in the coming years.