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[Toki767]

Power consumption on the 5870 is about 354 on Load and like 141 on idle so I think you should be fine. I'd like to think Dell knows what they're doing when they're putting a nice video card into a machine. :lol

 

[brain_stew]

You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is.

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol

 

[Corky]

I guess people like the advice in this thread.

now that's an understatement child

<3

 

[Toki767]

You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is.

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol

I'm not surprised, there are a lot of knowledgeable people here and responses are typically very fast if not almost instant. :lol

 

[Corky]

For comparisons sake with a 5850 RE5 8xAA with blur gave me an average of 97.9fps.

that sounds like usual then, the 5850 simply seems to perform better than the 460 in RE5 :3

 

[Stormtrooper30]

Anyone have a good OCing guide for the i5 750 and GTX 460? Looking to get the most out of my PC and use the rediculous cooling I have.

 

[Dennis]

You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is.

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol

How do we know you are not on their payroll already, eh brain_stew?

You suuuure are fond of those nVidia GPUs......moneyhats!

 

[brain_stew]

Anyone have a good OCing guide for the i5 750 and GTX 460? Looking to get the most out of my PC and use the rediculous cooling I have.

For the 460 just download EVGA precision. Unlink the core and shaders and focus on one clock at a time. Move it up a small amount (say 20mhz to start but 10-5mhz increments after that) and then test in OCCT GPU test or Furmark for a couple of minutes. Do that until OCCT starts throwing up artefacts. When it does, dial back your clock by 10-20mhz and then do a good 10-20 minute test. If it passes, then settle on that clock and move onto the next clock.


Rinse and repeat until you've got the maximum for all three clocks and then run a good few tests/benchmarks (Vantage/3DMark06/Furmark/LP2 benchmark/Crysis etc.) and it passes them without error then you're all done.

Should take much more than an hour to do properly I'd imagine.

 

[brain_stew]

How do we know you are not on their payroll already, eh brain_stew?

You suuuure are fond of those nVidia GPUs......moneyhats!

:lol I wish I bloody was!! I could sure do with the cash right about now! :lol

 

[apocalidiot]

Power consumption on the 5870 is about 354 on Load and like 141 on idle so I think you should be fine. I'd like to think Dell knows what they're doing when they're putting a nice video card into a machine. :lol

Thank you x a million! I think I'm going to order the PC now!

 

[Smokey]

Thank you x a million! I think I'm going to order the PC now!

Good choice, if I was going pre built that would definitely be the machine id go with.

 

[apocalidiot]

Good choice, if I was going pre built that would definitely be the machine id go with.

Thanks! I was planning on building a PC myself, but I put it off for a bit and that kind of forced me to go with a pre built. But I'm happy with what I'm getting, so thanks a ton to everyone again.

Last but not least, does anyone have any recommendations for monitors? I've been searching around and looking at different "top 10" lists, but a lot of these are the top of the line monitors that come with a hefty price tag. Does anyone have any past experience with something moderately priced? Is $200 reasonable for a good monitor?

edit: I've been looking at LCD vs LED and I'm pretty sure I won't care about the differences. So I'm guessing LCD would be the cheaper route

edit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236048&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID=ef9966wom0

? No adjustable stand.. hmm.. haha

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks! I was planning on building a PC myself, but I put it off for a bit and that kind of forced me to go with a pre built. But I'm happy with what I'm getting, so thanks a ton to everyone again.

Last but not least, does anyone have any recommendations for monitors? I've been searching around and looking at different "top 10" lists, but a lot of these are the top of the line monitors that come with a hefty price tag. Does anyone have any past experience with something moderately priced? Is $200 reasonable for a good monitor?

edit: I've been looking at LCD vs LED and I'm pretty sure I won't care about the differences. So I'm guessing LCD would be the cheaper route

"LED" monitors are LCDs. Anything under $200 is going to be a TN panel, so that means dithering, shitty colours and viewing angles.

 

[Midas]

I use a Logitech UltraX black version. 15 euros over here.

I used to use those. Problem is that I had to replace them every six month. The keys stopped working. :lol

 

[apocalidiot]

"LED" monitors are LCDs. Anything under $200 is going to be a TN panel, so that means dithering, shitty colours and viewing angles.

I kind of figured that.. I work at a certain store that handles a lot of TV's and the only difference I knew was that LED's are just thin LCD's. I dunno anything about the specifics about it.. haha. I just didn't know if the LED's were more expensive than LCD's since they're relatively newer.

Doing some research, this one seems to be a great deal for the price.. and just a good monitor overall

Unless I should stay away from Samsungs for some reason... haha

 

[brain_stew]

I kind of figured that.. I work at a certain store that handles a lot of TV's and the only difference I knew was that LED's are just thin LCD's. I dunno anything about the specifics about it.. haha. I just didn't know if the LED's were more expensive than LCD's since they're relatively newer.

Doing some research, this one seems to be a great deal for the price.. and just a good monitor overall

Unless I should stay away from Samsungs for some reason... haha

$300 for a TN panel definitely isn't a great deal.

 

[apocalidiot]

$300 for a TN panel definitely isn't a great deal.

Balls. I don't want yall to do research for me without doing any for myself, so I was wondering if you had any base advice so I could search for a better deal? What should I be looking for when buying a monitor?

 

[drhankmccoyphd]

Well, great. My PC was fine last night, just built it in Feb. Now I power it on and the monitor doesn't have a signal, can't hear any POST and the fan seems to be spinning at max. Am I boned?

 

[kinggroin]

:lol I wish I bloody was!! I could sure do with the cash right about now! :lol

True true.

And maybe the dude helping folks build all these fancy PCs, can afford to get one of his own :lol


; )

 

[brain_stew]

Balls. I don't want yall to do research for me without doing any for myself, so I was wondering if you had any base advice so I could search for a better deal? What should I be looking for when buying a monitor?

Any modern TN panel is going to be roughly the same quality, so don't pay more than $200 for one. I wouldn't pay a premium for an LED backlight.

At $300+ range see what VA or IPS panels you can find, heck a 26-32" 1080p HDTV, even from a low end brand may not be a bad buy so long as it supports 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. Its often the cheapest way to get a none-TN panel these days. 1:1 pixel mapping support is crucial though, without it, its useless as a monitor.

If you do your research and find out whether or not something like this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...27627562&skuId=9574098&st=26" 1080p&cp=1&lp=1

supports 1:1 pixel mapping, the image quality will utterly shit all over any TN panel including the one you picked out.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Any modern TN panel is going to be roughly the same quality, so don't pay more than $200 for one. I wouldn't pay a premium for an LED backlight.

At $300+ range see what VA or IPS panels you can find, heck a 26-32" 1080p HDTV, even from a low end brand may not be a bad buy so long as it supports 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. Its often the cheapest way to get a none-TN panel these days. 1:1 pixel mapping support is crucial though, without it, its useless as a monitor.

If you do your research and find out whether or not something like this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...HDTV/9574098.p?id=1218127627562&skuId=9574098

supports 1:1 pixel mapping, the image quality will utterly shit all over any TN panel including the one you picked out.

It says page not found

 

[apocalidiot]

Any modern TN panel is going to be roughly the same quality, so don't pay more than $200 for one. I wouldn't pay a premium for an LED backlight.

At $300+ range see what VA or IPS panels you can find, heck a 26-32" 1080p HDTV, even from a low end brand may not be a bad buy so long as it supports 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. Its often the cheapest way to get a none-TN panel these days. 1:1 pixel mapping support is crucial though, without it, its useless as a monitor.

If you do your research and find out whether or not something like this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...HDTV/9574098.p?id=1218127627562&skuId=9574098

supports 1:1 pixel mapping, the image quality will utterly shit all over any TN panel including the one you picked out.

Well... I looked it up and Insignia's do support 1:1 pixel mapping... and this works out nicely because I work at Best Buy and I'm pretty sure they own Insignia.. so I should get at least something off thanks to the discount. So you would suggest a HDTV over a monitor if it has 1:1 pixel mapping?

It says page not found

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...8127627562&skuId=9574098&st=9574098&cp=1&lp=1

I got the sku from the link, haha

 

[Salaadin]

Worked on my case a little today. Cut some holes next to the PSU and HDD cages and started running the wires behind the mobo. I cant help but feel that I couldve done a better job but Im a little unsure right now as to where to put all of the wires. SOme of them just arent long enough.


Before:

After:

The HD Audio cable will be tucked into the top of the case and Im going to try and tie the CPU FAN cable up there too and make it more out of the way. I still have a huge jumble of SATA and SATA power cables for all of my HDDs so I need to pull those through a little bit more and tie them off which should get it more out of the way.

The biggest change is the Scythe Mugen 2.

Temps:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/mgs2_solid_snake/temps.jpg

Previously, temps hung at 36-39C idle, 71-73C load. Now we have 25-29C idle, 45-48C load. Maybe theyll get better once the AS5 settles.

The rest of my night is going to be about further cleaning up the case some and tieing off the wires. I also heard theres issue with the Antec 900 side fan and the Mugen so I might have to monkey around there. Overall, Im pretty happy.

Now to overclock this thing

 

[Dynamic3]

The intel X-25M is outclassed now, but gets recommended so much still because of how popular it was.

That explains a lot, thank you.

Can anyone comment on this:

I just noticed that EVGA now has a non-EE 460 1GB on newegg, what does the EE designate? Is this the improved less noisy card?

 

[brain_stew]

Well... I looked it up and Insignia's do support 1:1 pixel mapping... and this works out nicely because I work at Best Buy and I'm pretty sure they own Insignia.. so I should get at least something off thanks to the discount. So you would suggest a HDTV over a monitor if it has 1:1 pixel mapping?




http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...8127627562&skuId=9574098&st=9574098&cp=1&lp=1

I got the sku from the link, haha

At your price range? Absolutely, its likely the only way you'll really be able to afford a none-TN panel and it will be much more enjoyable for games and media in general. The pixel pitch is still pretty damn high and its useful for hooking other stuff upto as well.

Its the processing that low end models like this cheap out on, but since you'll be bypassing all that, its a none issue. You might want to check to see if this particular model ahs major issues with input lag but if it has a 1:1 pixel mode then that is unlikely.

Since you work there, you might as well try hooking up a PC/laptop up to one of them efor buying, just to ensure it works well with a PC (it should).

 

[vazel]

Any modern TN panel is going to be roughly the same quality, so don't pay more than $200 for one. I wouldn't pay a premium for an LED backlight.

At $300+ range see what VA or IPS panels you can find, heck a 26-32" 1080p HDTV, even from a low end brand may not be a bad buy so long as it supports 1:1 pixel mapping over HDMI. Its often the cheapest way to get a none-TN panel these days. 1:1 pixel mapping support is crucial though, without it, its useless as a monitor.

If you do your research and find out whether or not something like this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Insigni...27627562&skuId=9574098&st=26" 1080p&cp=1&lp=1

supports 1:1 pixel mapping, the image quality will utterly shit all over any TN panel including the one you picked out.

There are affordable e-IPS PC monitors now in the $300 range. I have a NEC EA231WMi. There's also the Viewsonic VP2365wb and Dell U2311H. All of these use the 1080p e-IPS panel made by LG.

 

[brain_stew]

There are affordable e-IPS panels now in the $300 range. I have a NEC EA231WMi. There's also the Viewsonic VP2365wb and Dell U2311H. All of these use the 1080p e-IPS panel made by LG.

Well I'd take the bigger screen, better contrast and extra inputs personally but its an option worth considering. Depends on the usage I guess, I know he plans to play plenty games on this thing so a bigger screen with better contrast is going to deliver a better experience there whereas slightly more accurate colours and a better pixel pitch would be more suited for professional work.

Either way, he certainly doesn't want to get a $300 TN panel like he was originally going to.

How do you find the NEC? What is the response time and black levels like?

 

[vazel]

Either way, he certainly doesn't want to get a $300 TN panel like he was originally going to.

How do you find the NEC? What is the response time and black levels like?

The response time is 14ms for B2W and 16.7ms for G2G. There is blurring. But I'd rather take the blurring than the bad colors and viewing angle yellow tinting of TN panels. As a CRT and plasma fanboy I find the black levels on any LCD disappointing this one being no exception, but at least the colors are great. Here's a review by tftcentral. http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_ea231wmi.htm

 

[Diablohead]

"LED" monitors are LCDs. Anything under $200 is going to be a TN panel, so that means dithering, shitty colours and viewing angles.

I can agree with the viewing angle, all I need to do is move my head to the side by about a foot and everything starts changing shade, but I still think a LED lit screen is lovely to look at, i've never seen my pc or 360 look so good and i've tried a few different flatscreens over the years of all sizes and shapes.

But unlike some here I personally don't have the cash to buy an awesome expensive screen very often

 

[apocalidiot]

At your price range? Absolutely, its likely the only way you'll really be able to afford a none-TN panel and it will be much more enjoyable for games and media in general. The pixel pitch is still pretty damn high and its useful for hooking other stuff upto as well.

Its the processing that low end models like this cheap out on, but since you'll be bypassing all that, its a none issue. You might want to check to see if this particular model ahs major issues with input lag but if it has a 1:1 pixel mode then that is unlikely.

Since you work there, you might as well try hooking up a PC/laptop up to one of them efor buying, just to ensure it works well with a PC (it should).

That's great to hear! Thanks! I'll look into it further.

There are affordable e-IPS PC monitors now in the $300 range. I have a NEC EA231WMi. There's also the Viewsonic VP2365wb and Dell U2311H. All of these use the 1080p e-IPS panel made by LG.

Well I'd take the bigger screen, better contrast and extra inputs personally but its an option worth considering. Depends on the usage I guess, I know he plans to play plenty games on this thing so a bigger screen with better contrast is going to deliver a better experience there whereas slightly more accurate colours and a better pixel pitch would be more suited for professional work.

Either way, he certainly doesn't want to get a $300 TN panel like he was originally going to.

How do you find the NEC? What is the response time and black levels like?

Are the differences between the two a big deal? I would be still using the pc for video editing (going into Digital Cinema), but I'm guessing that using a HDTV would serve just as good as purpose as a e-IPS would?

 

[-COOLIO-]

"LED" monitors are LCDs. Anything under $200 is going to be a TN panel, so that means dithering, shitty colours and viewing angles.

when you say shitty colors. do you mean SHITTY colors or marginally inferior colors? because when i look at photos on my tn panel monitor things look about right. maybe i lucked out on my monitor.

 

[vazel]

Are the differences between the two a big deal? I would be still using the pc for video editing (going into Digital Cinema), but I'm guessing that using a HDTV would serve just as good as purpose as a e-IPS would?

PC monitors have color calibration settings in the OSD. HDTVs have this through a service menu. If you're getting an HDTV make sure it has a service menu and try to read other people's experiences with it.

when you say shitty colors. do you mean SHITTY colors or marginally inferior colors? because when i look at photos on my tn panel monitor things look about right. maybe i lucked out on my monitor.

TN panels can only natively produce 262,144 colors. They get 16 million colors through dithering. They also have color shifting when viewed from off angle. If you care about good color you should avoid TN panels.

 

[brain_stew]

when you say shitty colors. do you mean SHITTY colors or marginally inferior colors? because when i look at photos on my tn panel monitor things look about right. maybe i lucked out on my monitor.

No I mean shitty colours. They're 6 bit in nature and cover a huge amount of the colour gamut through dithering. If you look close at your panel, you should be able to see lots of dancing pixels, also give this colour gradients test a go:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/downloads/Colour_Gradients.exe

All the bars should show a perfectly smooth gradient, with no visible steps or banding.

 

[Diablohead]

PC monitors have color calibration settings in the OSD. HDTVs have this through a service menu. If you're getting an HDTV make sure it has a service menu and try to read other people's experiences with it.TN panels can only natively produce 262,144 colors. They get 16 million colors through dithering. They also have color shifting when viewed from off angle. If you care about good color you should avoid TN panels.

Maybe I lucked out then because I seen no dithering yet unless is no where near wii and psp levels , as someone who does 3D work if I noticed dithering on my screen it would have gone back no questions asked.

Reading this thread sometimes get's me paranoid lol.

No I mean shitty colours. They're 6 bit in nature and cover a huge amount of the colour gamut through dithering. If you look close at your panel, you should be able to see lots of dancing pixels, also give this colour gradients test a go:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/downloads/Colour_Gradients.exe

All the bars should show a perfectly smooth gradient, with no visible steps or banding.

handy program, just ran it and i'm fine when it comes to no dithering, woo!

 

[Dennis]

I would not recommend a TN panel unless the only things you are going to do is game, browse and office.

 

[vazel]

Maybe I lucked out then because I seen no dithering yet unless is no where near wii and psp levels , as someone who does 3D work if I noticed dithering on my screen it would have gone back no questions asked.

Reading this thread sometimes get's me paranoid lol.

It's a different kind of dithering called temporal dithering. You will not see blatant dithering dots like in traditional dithering but the color is still bad.

 

[Lkr]

You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is.

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol

Shows the 2009 version for me :\

 

[-COOLIO-]

PC monitors have color calibration settings in the OSD. HDTVs have this through a service menu. If you're getting an HDTV make sure it has a service menu and try to read other people's experiences with it.TN panels can only natively produce 262,144 colors. They get 16 million colors through dithering. They also have color shifting when viewed from off angle. If you care about good color you should avoid TN panels.

i care about good color. id consider an upgrade if the color was substantially better, but are we talking good colour as in how graphic artists need pitch perfect colour when they're designing a flyer, or good color as in things will look noticeably better? i know hdtvs dont use tn panels but i dont think i see a difference in color not accounting for viewing angles.

 

[Diablohead]

It's a different kind of dithering called temporal dithering. You will not see blatant dithering dots like in traditional dithering but the color is still bad.

ah right, well i still have 11 days or so to return this screen if it's going to get in the way of my work but so far so good, it's better then my old early-2006 samsung lcd so it's off to a good start!

 

[brain_stew]

PC monitors have color calibration settings in the OSD. HDTVs have this through a service menu. .

Depends on the set really. I know every HDTV I've bought has full colour controls through the standard OSD, that's no coincidence though, I made sure they did before I bought them.

Usually the "PC mode" will give you a good enough colour calibration on most HDTVs but it depends how sensitive and important the work is.

 

[-COOLIO-]

No I mean shitty colours. They're 6 bit in nature and cover a huge amount of the colour gamut through dithering. If you look close at your panel, you should be able to see lots of dancing pixels, also give this colour gradients test a go:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/downloads/Colour_Gradients.exe

All the bars should show a perfectly smooth gradient, with no visible steps or banding.

i see bands ya but they're pretty faint.

edit: great now i thiiiink i see bands on my background. ignorance is bliss :[

 

[vazel]

i care about good color. id consider an upgrade if the color was substantially better, but are we talking good colour as in how graphic artists need pitch perfect colour when they're designing a flyer, or good color as in things will look noticeably better? i know hdtvs dont use tn panels but i dont think i see a difference in color not accounting for viewing angles.

ah right, well i still have 11 days or so to return this screen if it's going to get in the way of my work but so far so good, it's better then my old early-2006 samsung lcd so it's off to a good start!

I don't mean to make any of you feel bad for your purchases. To me the differences are horrifying but different people have different standards. The popularity of TN panels shows most don't care. If you can't notice with your own eyes what it is we're talking about then don't worry about it.

 

[brain_stew]

Shows the 2009 version for me :\

it has all the versions under the same result, if you look carefully.

i see bands ya but they're pretty faint.

edit: great now i thiiiink i see bands on my background. ignorance is bliss :[

We aim to please! :lol

I was happy enough with my TN panel until I put my new HDTV next to it, it was pretty painful switching between the two after that.

That's why I'm selling it. So if anyone in the UK needs one of the better TN panels (23" 1080p Fujitsu) then send me a PM and you can have it for £100 before it goes on Ebay. Amazon sell the same model for £180 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002K6BVZU/) and its got two HDMI inputs which is nice for hooking up consoles.

 

[-COOLIO-]

I don't mean to make any of you feel bad for your purchases. To me the differences are horrifying but different people have different standards. The popularity of TN panels shows most don't care. If you can't notice with your own eyes what it is we're talking about then don't worry about it.

ya, fair enough.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

I don't see bands on my monitor, but I do on my tv. Guess my cheap monitor is superior.

 

[Corky]

hmm is there even a reason to keep any of my gts 250s for physX? I mean I could get around 100$ for each of them.

Should I omit that potential 100$ , which would go in my future pc-upgrade fund ( ssds, new fans, another 460, new psu , cpu etc) in order to get physX in maybe one or two games that I'm planning to buy that support it...?

 

[Diablohead]

hmm is there even a reason to keep any of my gts 250s for physX? I mean I could get around 100$ for each of them.

Should I omit that potential 100$ , which would go in my future pc-upgrade fund ( ssds, new fans, another 460, new psu , cpu etc) in order to get physX in maybe one or two games that I'm planning to buy that support it...?

$100 sounds good to me, batman uses the physx stuff well for eye candy but it's not worth $100 to me.

 

[Tensai]

hmm is there even a reason to keep any of my gts 250s for physX? I mean I could get around 100$ for each of them.

Should I omit that potential 100$ , which would go in my future pc-upgrade fund ( ssds, new fans, another 460, new psu , cpu etc) in order to get physX in maybe one or two games that I'm planning to buy that support it...?

Get an SSD.

 

[iNvid02]

could somebody suggest the cheapest i7 build for video editing. all i need is a powerful CPU, lots of RAM and 4-5 HDD drive slots. don't do PC gaming so would settle for any GPU good enough to edit video, don't need an OS, or a monitor, or any peripherals. price isn't an issue, but i think £1000 should suffice ($1553)

 

[-COOLIO-]

i feel like the kid in the 6th sense :[