It’s true. Running modern games on a vintage CRT monitor produces absolutely outstanding results – subjectively superior to from the LCD era, up to and including the latest OLED displays. Best suited for PC players, getting an optimal CRT set-up isn’t easy, and prices vary dramatically, but the results can be simply phenomenal.
The advantages of CRT technology over modern flat panels are well-documented. CRTs do not operate from a fixed pixel grid in the way an LCD does – instead three ‘guns’ beam light directly onto the tube. So there’s no upscaling blur and no need to run at any specific native resolution as such. On lower resolutions, you may notice ‘scan lines’ more readily, but the fact is that even lower resolution game outputs like 1024×768 or 1280×960 can look wonderful. Of course, higher-end CRTs can input and process higher resolutions, but the main takeaway here is that liberation from a set native resolution is a gamechanger – why spend so many GPU resources on the amount of pixels drawn when you can concentrate on quality instead without having to worry about upscale blurring?
The second advantage is motion resolution. LCD technologies all use a technique known as ‘sample and hold’ which results in motion rendering at a significantly lower resolution than static imagery. Ever noticed how left/right panning in a football match looks blurrier than static shots on an LCD? This is a classic example of poor motion resolution – something that simply isn’t an issue on a CRT. Motion handling on CRT is on another level compared to modern technologies in that every aspect of every frame is rendered identically, to the point where even a 768p presentation may well be delivering more detail in motion than a 4K LCD.
Then there’s display lag, or rather, the complete lack of it. Imagery is beamed directly onto the screen at the speed of light, meaning zero delay. Even compared to 240Hz LCDs I’ve tested, the classic mouse pointer response test feels different, . The advantages in terms of game response – particularly with an input mechanism as precise as the mouse – need no further explanation.
On a more general level, there’s a sense that games and hardware have ‘grown’ into CRT technology over the years. Visuals are more realistic than they’ve ever been, and there’s something about the look of a CRT presentation that further emphasises that realism – aliasing in particular is much less of an issue compared to a fixed pixel grid LCD. Secondly, PC hardware has evolved now to the point where running at higher refresh rates than 60Hz is relatively simple – and a great many CRT monitors can easily run at much faster frequencies, up to 160Hz and even beyond, depending on the display and the input resolution. This is all pretty good for a technology that essentially became obsolete soon after the turn of the millenium.