Verdict: The price is right, but the performance is wrong

The Relisys TL795-RU may be the cheapest display on test, but it makes a credible attempt at looking more expensive, thanks to its neat silver finish, touch-sensitive controls and the speakers camouflaged in the bottom bezel. It's also very easy to set up, as everything just plugs in at the rear of the base.

Ergonomically, it's less successful; the stand isn't height-adjustable, the tilt mechanism is very stiff, and the controls, while easily accessible from a simple OSD, are quite sparse.

The TL795-RU has what the marketing people like to call 'multimedia functionality', but the tinny, underpowered speakers aren't up to much. Luckily, the TL795-RU's specifications are fairly impressive for a bargain-basement monitor. A year ago, its 450:1 contrast ratio, 260cd/m2 luminance and 12ms response time would have been very impressive.

The price difference is visible though. While there are no serious colour errors, it struggles to differentiate between different intensities of colour, and white or grey at both ends of the tonal range. It also has problems with cyan and green combinations, and showed ugly signs of banding in the colour and greyscale intensity ramp tests.

In real-world use, this translates into poor Doom 3 performance; the ropey contrast and sluggish response made us easy meat for the fireball-throwing, razor-clawed locals. The effects weren't so disastrous in 'Bad Boys 2', but the TL795-RU simply doesn't show the depth of colour, or the precision of detail that the Sharp or ViewSonic monitors can muster. Smearing wasn't obvious, but the image seemed to blur during the ludicrous car chases and pumped-up gunfights that make Michael Bay's testosterone-heavy epic what it is. It also struggles with still images, and the photos lacked the richness and clarity we expected.

Considering the bargain price, the TL795-RU isn't a bad buy. However, you can get a lot more for your money.

• Cases - 21st November 2008
• Motherboards - 24th October 2008
• Gaming Headsets - 26th September 2008
• Dream PCs - 24th September 2008
• Headphones - 12th September 2008
• Media PC components - 22nd August 2008
• PSUs - 14th July 2008

• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB - Hard disks / storage
• Asus EAH4870 TOP - Graphics cards
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Sound cards
• Multiwinia - Games
• Zotac GeForce GTX 260² - Graphics cards
• Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 X2 - Graphics cards
• Scan 3XS X58 Core i7 - Desktop PCs