Verdict: A consummate gaming and multimedia screen for a very reasonable price.

In a category that contains units ranging from 20in to 22in, you might expect us to recommend a screen at the top end of the size spectrum. However, while bigger is often better, it doesn't always acquire you much more performance where TFTs are concerned. This is because all the screens in this category have the same native widescreen resolution of 1,680 x 1,050, so all you obtain with a 22in unit is bigger pixels - and you pay for the privilege.

Hence our feelings towards Samsung's SyncMaster 206BW. This isn't a screen that's replete with features, such as pointless built-in speakers or a slightly more useful USB hub. You'll have to find your own webcam too. However, it has the requisite DVI and D-SUB inputs, and a top-end specification. A response time of 2ms is quoted, with a decent 300cd/m2 brightness and 3000:1 contrast ratio. The latter is assisted by the 206BW's glossy anti-reflective surface treatment. This isn't to everyone's taste, but it provides greater vibrancy for gaming and multimedia - the primary focus of most Custom PC readers.

This quality wasn't entirely obvious as we set up the monitor using DisplayMate though. The black contrast was marginally better than it was in the 20in Dell, and shades of grey remained discernable. Overall, however, our synthetic tests only placed the 206BW in the middle of the pack. Theoretically, the 206BW has a good but not outstanding dynamic range.

Fortunately, the proof of the first-person shooter is in the shooting, and here the 206BW distinguished itself. The game mode preset provided the most comfortable Prey experience we had on a sub-24in TFT this month, with decent visibility in shadows. Best of all, though, there was vibrant colouring and no sign of screen lag during gameplay. If you're still hanging onto a CRT, the 206BW won't feel as though it's restricting your abilities.

Need for Speed: Carbon was similarly impressive. With all the quality settings on maximum, cars glistened in the neon lighting and the scenery rushing by at 180mph was subtly reproduced - when we had the chance to give it a glance, that is! Interestingly, if you're playing games at 1,280 x 1,024, you can bump up the refresh to 75Hz, which could come in handy during online deathmatching, when every frame per second counts more than overarching visual quality.

The 206BW's excellent gaming capabilities were equalled in our video playback tests. Again, we invoked the appropriately name movie preset, after which the 206BW reproduced our Blu-ray movie with aplomb. The movie mode increased the depth of black and provided a slightly colder hue without reducing brightness, which is perfect for watching films. The 206BW rendered colours as faithfully as any other screen in the 20-22in category this month. Grey letterboxing was still a little obvious in our DVD test, but the subtle shades of brown in the muddy, dust-filled battle scenes of 'The Return of the King' looked gorgeous. The excellent dynamic range was carried forward to our photo editing tests, with images looking vibrant and pin-sharp.

However, this test entailed yet another change in the settings. At least the supplied basic presets covered our main areas of usage. Samsung provides presets for text, Internet, game, sport, movie and dynamic contrast. The latter turned out to be a good compromise if you don't like having to switch modes every time you change tasks.

For those who like to customise their monitor settings precisely the way they want them, Samsung provides all the usual options, but only if you use the custom preset mode.

Aside from brightness and contrast, a colour enhancement system called MagicColor is available with two modes, Intelligent and Full, plus there's a split-screen demo mode, so you can preview the results. However, we didn't find the results particularly obvious.

Cool, normal, warm and custom colour tones are available, with the latter invoking your own red, green and blue level settings. There are separate gamma and sharpness controls as well. You can even turn off the Response Time Acceleration. This is the overdrive system used by the MPA screen to improve the TFT's pixel response from 8ms to 2ms.

However, the only reason you might want to do this would be if lag was proving to be a problem; in our tests, we encountered no signs of lag whatsoever.

The 206BW's only real weakness is the non-height adjustable stand, although none of the 20in TFTs in this months Labs test had adjustable stands.

Conclusion

Although you could buy the Hanns.G 21.6in HG216DP for even less cash than the 206BW, it isn't the best gaming monitor around, and its HDMI connectivity means that you'll almost certainly have to buy an adaptor or cable.

If you absolutely must have a bigger monitor, then the 22in Iiyama ProLite E2201W-B would be the better choice, although it costs £50 more than the 206BW, and has the same 1,680 x 1,050 resolution.

Compared with both of these monitors, however, the 206BW offers better gaming performance and the same pixel resolution, making it much better value. Samsung now has an excellent zero dead-pixel policy, too, so you can be assured that you'll receive a fully functional screen. If you can't afford the step up to a 1,920 x 1,200 screen, the SM206BW provides stunning gaming and movies at 1,680 x 1,050 for a very reasonable price.

• Multi-GPU graphics - 20th June 2008
• CPU water cooling - 17th June 2008
• Hard disks - 20th March 2008
• Audio hardware - 29th February 2008
• Graphics cards - 24th January 2008
• CPUs - 21st December 2007
• Motherboards - 13th November 2007

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