Verdict: Not bad, but not great either

We don't expect PC hardware manufacturers' statements to make sense, but the CTX F773's box makes some of the oddest claims in ages. 'Stylish, Elegant, Fashion' is vaguely comprehensible, but 'Noble strain of physical outlook' or 'Stylish design with two tunes'? I guess it comes down to the fact that the F773 is a lot more stylish than previous CTX monitors, though the design isn't any more functional. There's still a fixed-height stand with a limited degree of tilt and all of the sockets are tucked away behind the screen.

On-board speakers are included, but they're the worst in the 17in category: loud, but brash and prone to distortion. There's no headphone socket either.

Image adjustment is achieved via a four-button OSD, with the up and down buttons doubling up as brightness and contrast controls. In Digital mode, you can access volume, brightness and contrast settings, plus an ineffectual 'image smoothing' control and a selection of preset colour modes. The Cinema setting creates a more vivid image with particularly strong blues, while Sport offers a lighter, less punchy variation.

This is all part of CTX's new Neon-Life Visual Technology, which offers (in CTX's own terms) 'Vivid Colour Enhancement, Sharp-Cut Enhancement and Multi-Gamma mode'. In use, with a 500:1 contrast ratio, 300cd/m2 luminance rating, and 16ms response time, this means better performance than that of the similar BenQ FP17V+; there's no green cast, but the CTX has the same rich blacks, overall good contrast and strong definition. Unfortunately, the CTX also shares several other characteristics with the BenQ, such as banding in colour and greyscale intensity ramps; it also suffers from a reflective screen.

Doom 3's zombies are easy to pick out if you're gaming in a dark room, thanks to the excellent contrast, but reflections will create plenty of distractions in brighter conditions. Otherwise, there's little to complain about. The CTX handled the fast on-screen action of 'Bad Boys 2' with ease, and it's fine for image editing and general desktop use. However, there are superior TFTs available for a similar price.

• 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