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"I need a New PC!" 2011 Edition of SSD's for everyone! |OT|

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C

Cj70

Member
Hi guys, I'm completely new to Pc building but have decided it's time to get one. I work as a software dev and want to have more than the mid range gaming laptops I've stuck to in the past while at uni.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM (DDR2/DDR3) / Motherboard / GPU:
2 year old acer laptop with core 2 duo p7450 @ 2.13ghz and a 9600gtm
Budget: Price Range + Country:
£1000 - 1750 UK
Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, 3D work, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback):
Gaming, work, 1080p playback
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
Really not sure what to go for... have been encouraged by a friend to go for a 3D monitor
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play:
Bad Company 2, Witcher 2, BF3, SC2, Total War Games, 2 Eve Online Clients
Are reusing any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX 520W):
No
When will you build?: When do you want your computer, do you need it in a week, can you wait a month or two?
I can wait if it's really worth it
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes)
Yes


As I say I haven't build a PC before and having talked to a friend and spent a wee while looking on Scan I've cobbled this together. Friend suggested going with 3 drives to RAID 0 two of them and keep the 3rd for files I don't fancy losing (would going with 1 2TB and a SSD be better idea?).

Total so far is £1239 inc vat. Though I still need a monitor, 3d kit(?), keyboard, windows, sound card(?) and feedback on what I've picked already (things like the case I'm really not sure on). I've not yet shopped around to see if another site can do the build cheaper either. I really want a machine that will last me a long time and I want it to wow me als I'd like it to be not too noisy :p

I am a complete novice at pc building so feel free to shoot holes in my plan.

Cheers

29uvt68.jpg


http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/85ff5fc7c4dd43cbb61737f67ac61f82
 
·

·feist·

Member
Cj70 said:
Hi guys, I'm completely new to Pc building but have decided it's time to get one. I work as a software dev and want to have more than the mid range gaming laptops I've stuck to in the past while at uni.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM (DDR2/DDR3) / Motherboard / GPU:
2 year old acer laptop with core 2 duo p7450 @ 2.13ghz and a 9600gtm
Budget: Price Range + Country:
£1000 - 1750 UK
Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, 3D work, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback):
Gaming, work, 1080p playback
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
Really not sure what to go for... have been encouraged by a friend to go for a 3D monitor
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play:
Bad Company 2, Witcher 2, BF3, SC2, Total War Games, 2 Eve Online Clients
Are reusing any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX 520W):
No
When will you build?: When do you want your computer, do you need it in a week, can you wait a month or two?
I can wait if it's really worth it
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes)
Yes


As I say I haven't build a PC before and having talked to a friend and spent a wee while looking on Scan I've cobbled this together. Friend suggested going with 3 drives to RAID 0 two of them and keep the 3rd for files I don't fancy losing (would going with 1 2TB and a SSD be better idea?).

Total so far is £1239 inc vat. Though I still need a monitor, 3d kit(?), keyboard, windows, sound card(?) and feedback on what I've picked already (things like the case I'm really not sure on). I've not yet shopped around to see if another site can do the build cheaper either. I really want a machine that will last me a long time and I want it to wow me als I'd like it to be not too noisy :p

I am a complete novice at pc building so feel free to shoot holes in my plan.

Cheers

http://i52.tinypic.com/29uvt68.jpg
Click to expand...
You have a triple-channel ram kit for a dual-channel motherboard. Change that to a 2x2GB, or 2x4GB kit.

The PSU is serious overkill, even for heavy overclocking. Didn't notice any mention of multi GPUs down the line, so either save some money with a lower wattage model, or switch to a higher spec, lower wattage model at roughly the same price.

The rest looks fine.
 
C

Cday

Banned
Patita said:
hey guys,

I installed windows 7 on ssd and I enabled ahci. So, what are the tweaks I can do for the ssd?
Click to expand...

One thing you can do to save space is to lower the amount of space system restore takes up.

Start > left click Computer > System Protection > Configure

Another thing is to make sure TRIM is enabled. To make sure:
Command prompt > fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

If it says 0 then TRIM is enabled if it says 1 then it's disabled. If you ever need to format an SSD just quick format and never defrag an SSD.

Edit: There's actually all of this and more in the 2nd post of this thread.
 
K

knitoe

Member
Cj70 said:
Hi guys, I'm completely new to Pc building but have decided it's time to get one. I work as a software dev and want to have more than the mid range gaming laptops I've stuck to in the past while at uni.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM (DDR2/DDR3) / Motherboard / GPU:
2 year old acer laptop with core 2 duo p7450 @ 2.13ghz and a 9600gtm
Budget: Price Range + Country:
£1000 - 1750 UK
Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, 3D work, general usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback):
Gaming, work, 1080p playback
Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later?
Really not sure what to go for... have been encouraged by a friend to go for a 3D monitor
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play:
Bad Company 2, Witcher 2, BF3, SC2, Total War Games, 2 Eve Online Clients
Are reusing any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX 520W):
No
When will you build?: When do you want your computer, do you need it in a week, can you wait a month or two?
I can wait if it's really worth it
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes)
Yes


As I say I haven't build a PC before and having talked to a friend and spent a wee while looking on Scan I've cobbled this together. Friend suggested going with 3 drives to RAID 0 two of them and keep the 3rd for files I don't fancy losing (would going with 1 2TB and a SSD be better idea?).

Total so far is £1239 inc vat. Though I still need a monitor, 3d kit(?), keyboard, windows, sound card(?) and feedback on what I've picked already (things like the case I'm really not sure on). I've not yet shopped around to see if another site can do the build cheaper either. I really want a machine that will last me a long time and I want it to wow me als I'd like it to be not too noisy :p

I am a complete novice at pc building so feel free to shoot holes in my plan.

Cheers

29uvt68.jpg


http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/85ff5fc7c4dd43cbb61737f67ac61f82
Click to expand...
Sandy Bridge are dual channel. Get ram in pairs of 2s. Go 8 or 16 GB. And, MB comes with right angle sata cables. Don't need to buy them.
 
R

RoboShmup

Banned
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
RoboShmup said:
I live in New Jersey, but I'm just going to ship it to Philadelphia to dodge the tax haha.

Also this might be a good monitor choice if you wanna take a risk with a refurb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=recertified_monitor-_-24-176-211-_-Product

I might go for this one.
Click to expand...
In the end I'm not saving any real money.

I have one for 179.99, with a 10$ off coupon, and free shipping

That one is 144.99 with 15 dollar shipping

So 169.99 for new
or 159.99 for used

And I may need to but cords with the refurb. The 169.99 one is also backlit.
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
Okay, so I'm going over a couple of things while I wait for my rig to arrive.

First off, on the SSD side, I notice that you can't update SSD firmware if your drive is already designated as the system drive. So it looks like I have two choices. One, I get a USB stick and install Ubuntu to it, and run the firmware update from there. Two, I use a Windows Recovery disc and the command line to update the firmware. Does anyone have any experience with either of these things? If so, I would really like to know which is the easiest/least painful method of going about it.

Also SSD related, what exactly is "manual Over-Provisioning" and how would I go about enabling it? OCZ forums say it could improve performance, but they offer no information as to how I would actually use it.

My last SSD related question is what SATA controller would be ideal to use. I've got both the P67 and the Marvell PCIe 9128, and I'm not sure which one would be best. They're both SATA 6.0 Gb/s. I'm planning on grabbing the most recent drivers for both and installing them after my OS is up and running.

As for my motherboard, how exactly does one actually update a UEFI BIOS? All of these new-fangled technologies, I have no idea what's going on anymore. I downloaded the .ROM off their site but I have no idea what to do with it.

balladofwindfishes said:
Oh thank god

Sales tax would have put me well over 900 dollars. But NewEgg doesn't charge sales tax in NY, so I dodged a bullet there.

Tax would have been 72 dollars!
Click to expand...
Newegg doesn't charge sales tax in Washington state either, thankfully.

Congratulations on your new machine, dude.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
Use the Intel SATA controller. The Marvell controllers have a reputation for being crap. I can tell you that on my Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, first I had the SSD on the Marvell controller, then I heard about how crap it was and how crap the drivers are (they STILL don't support TRIM!), so I moved it to the Intel ICH10R (SATA2 only) controller and I noticed no difference in performance at all! Yup, that's how crap the Marvell controller is on my mobo, even though it's SATA3, the Intel SATA2 controller matches it! The other benefits to using the Intel controller include support for TRIM with the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, and the Intel SSD Toolbox software tool that Intel includes with their SSDs works.
 
R

RoboShmup

Banned
My updated build:

8benE.jpg


Free game, TV Tuner, and Flash Drive. 8GB RAM for rendering. Was gonna get the Corsair Enthusiast TX750 PSU but it's out of stock :/ The one I have in there has a 15% off coupon though if anyone has any input on it.
 
W

wandering goat

Member
Izayoi said:
Also SSD related, what exactly is "manual Over-Provisioning" and how would I go about enabling it? OCZ forums say it could improve performance, but they offer no information as to how I would actually use it.
Click to expand...

By manual overprovisioning, they mean not using up all of the space on the SSD (or taken a bit farther, not partitioning 100% of it). I sometimes hear people recommend anywhere from 5-20% of free space to be left on an SSD for optimal performance. To be honest though, I don't know if this is still all that important nowadays or not, now that there's TRIM. I personally wouldn't worry about it, but I like to keep a bit of (partitioned) free space on mine, as with all HDDs. If you're worried about it though, just don't partition all of the space, and you can always partition more later when you need it.
 
D

Danne-Danger

Member
GAF, I've recently realized that I want a quiet PC and I'm starting with the case, I'm looking at the Fractal Design Define R3 and Antec P183 cases in the OP, I checked some reviews but none that actually measured dB levels. What I have now is some HP crap that doesn't help with noise at all, even when idle it's loud as all hell (and it can't fit anything larger than a 275). What I want is a quiet case that'll let me fit the largest GPUs without any hassle, and I can't see myself every using more than one card. So those are my needs! A quiet case with lots of room, which of those two would be best for me? Both seem to be pretty cheap over here, though one is roughly half the price. Other suggestions?


I'm also thinking about getting into the world of water cooling, but I know almost nothing about it, is there a good beginners guide out there? I don't even know what benefits I'll gain... it'll be much quieter, no? Is it fiddly, high maintenance? Help a newbie!
 
W

wandering goat

Member
Danne-Danger said:
GAF, I've recently realized that I want a quiet PC and I'm starting with the case, I'm looking at the Fractal Design Define R3 and Antec P183 cases in the OP, I checked some reviews but none that actually measured dB levels. What I have now is some HP crap that doesn't help with noise at all, even when idle it's loud as all hell (and it can't fit anything larger than a 275). What I want is a quiet case that'll let me fit the largest GPUs without any hassle, and I can't see myself every using more than one card. So those are my needs! A quiet case with lots of room, which of those two would be best for me? Other suggestions?


I'm also thinking about getting into the world of water cooling, but I know almost nothing about it, is there a good beginners guide out there? I don't even know what benefits I'll gain... it'll be much quieter, no? Is it fiddly, high maintenance? Help a newbie!
Click to expand...

The cases that are usually recommended are the P183 and R3 that you mentioned, as well as the Silverstone FT02 which will also provide pretty great cooling. Don't expect the cases to do more than take the edge off of the noise, though. Most important is still having your individual components be as quiet as possible.
 
C

Coldsnap

Member
Danne-Danger said:
GAF, I've recently realized that I want a quiet PC and I'm starting with the case, I'm looking at the Fractal Design Define R3 and Antec P183 cases in the OP, I checked some reviews but none that actually measured dB levels. What I have now is some HP crap that doesn't help with noise at all, even when idle it's loud as all hell (and it can't fit anything larger than a 275). What I want is a quiet case that'll let me fit the largest GPUs without any hassle, and I can't see myself every using more than one card. So those are my needs! A quiet case with lots of room, which of those two would be best for me? Both seem to be pretty cheap over here, though one is roughly half the price. Other suggestions?


I'm also thinking about getting into the world of water cooling, but I know almost nothing about it, is there a good beginners guide out there? I don't even know what benefits I'll gain... it'll be much quieter, no? Is it fiddly, high maintenance? Help a newbie!
Click to expand...

I build a silent PC and went with the fractal design R3. I have all my fans running at 500 rpm but my gpu fan runs at about 40-50%. Computer is dead silent but my caviar black is loud... need a ssd.
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
Unknown Soldier said:
Use the Intel SATA controller. The Marvell controllers have a reputation for being crap. I can tell you that on my Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, first I had the SSD on the Marvell controller, then I heard about how crap it was and how crap the drivers are (they STILL don't support TRIM!), so I moved it to the Intel ICH10R (SATA2 only) controller and I noticed no difference in performance at all! Yup, that's how crap the Marvell controller is on my mobo, even though it's SATA3, the Intel SATA2 controller matches it! The other benefits to using the Intel controller include support for TRIM with the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, and the Intel SSD Toolbox software tool that Intel includes with their SSDs works.
Click to expand...
Well, that answers that. Thanks dude.

Kurashima said:
By manual overprovisioning, they mean not using up all of the space on the SSD (or taken a bit farther, not partitioning 100% of it). I sometimes hear people recommend anywhere from 5-20% of free space to be left on an SSD for optimal performance. To be honest though, I don't know if this is still all that important nowadays or not, now that there's TRIM. I personally wouldn't worry about it, but I like to keep a bit of (partitioned) free space on mine, as with all HDDs. If you're worried about it though, just don't partition all of the space, and you can always partition more later when you need it.
Click to expand...
So if I wanted to install Windows 7 64-bit (which is what, 20-30GB?), and about 50-60GB of games on a 120GB HDD, should I leave like 15GB non-partitioned?

Also, is there a way to force all temporary files to cache somewhere else? I want as little write activity on this thing as possible.
 
W

wandering goat

Member
Izayoi said:
So if I wanted to install Windows 7 64-bit (which is what, 20-30GB?), and about 50-60GB of games on a 120GB HDD, should I leave like 15GB non-partitioned?

Also, is there a way to force all temporary files to cache somewhere else? I want as little write activity on this thing as possible.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that would be fine. As for temporary files, there probably is some kind of way (you'd have to Google it), but I wouldn't worry about it. The SSDs dying from over-writing thing is more or less a myth nowadays, harking back from 1st generation models where this may have actually been a problem. The amount of info that can written to them now before they "die" is just ridiculous. I'd only worry about it if there was a program that was writing to it non-stop for some reason, which is probably a pretty rare occurence.
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
Kurashima said:
I'm sure that would be fine. As for temporary files, there probably is some kind of way (you'd have to Google it), but I wouldn't worry about it. The SSDs dying from over-writing thing is more or less a myth nowadays, harking back from 1st generation models where this may have actually been a problem. The amount of info that can written to them now before they "die" is just ridiculous. I'd only worry about it if there was a program that was writing to it non-stop for some reason, which is probably a pretty rare occurence.
Click to expand...
I just realized that I called it an HDD. It's going to take some time adjusting, especially getting over the BIOS -> UEFI disconnect.

Anyway, that's good to hear. I'm not big into stuff like Photoshop, will be disabling my page file, and plan on keeping stuff like browser caches in a RAM disk, so there isn't much to worry about there. The most write-intensive thing going on will probably be MMO patches, which don't happen terribly often. Thanks for the help!
 
D

Danne-Danger

Member
Kurashima said:
The cases that are usually recommended are the P183 and R3 that you mentioned, as well as the Silverstone FT02 which will also provide pretty great cooling. Don't expect the cases to do more than take the edge off of the noise, though. Most important is still having your individual components be as quiet as possible.
Click to expand...
Coldsnap said:
I build a silent PC and went with the fractal design R3. I have all my fans running at 500 rpm but my gpu fan runs at about 40-50%. Computer is dead silent but my caviar black is loud... need a ssd.
Click to expand...
Right, thanks. I guess I'll go with the R3. I really need a new case (it's impossible to overstate how crappy my current one is) so I figured I'd go for a robust quiet one to have a good base for future builds. I don't need it to be super quiet as I can cope with my current one, it's more for when people come in and go "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE!?", and I guess my ears won't complain either. If I can isolate some of the noise when I need a bigger case for new GPUs anyway I don't see a reason to not go for a quiet one.

Thanks for the quick answers!



As for water cooling, is that mainly for cooling or will it bring the noise down considerably as well? I'm not that into overclocking so I don't really need extra cooling, but if I can bring the noise down I might look into it, overclocking would be a nice bonus!

And a SSD drive would be good too I guess... hmm! Ideas starting to whirr... wallet commencing to cry!
 
C

CaLe

Member
Hey guys, what would you consider to be the best size for a PC monitor ?

I can get an awesome 40" Samsung 120hz LED for 799$ and I was wondering if it could perform relatively well as a PC monitor.

I plan on sitting within 2 feets of it, so I'm only worried about pixel density.

Thoughts ? Anyone here uses a big screen as a Desktop monitor ?

Thanks :)
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
Izayoi said:
So if I wanted to install Windows 7 64-bit (which is what, 20-30GB?), and about 50-60GB of games on a 120GB HDD, should I leave like 15GB non-partitioned?

Also, is there a way to force all temporary files to cache somewhere else? I want as little write activity on this thing as possible.
Click to expand...

I think they've estimated that a modern SSD would last about 5 years, being written to nearly continuously, before it would start to have cells become unusable. In about 5 years we'll be laughing at our 120GB SSDs because all storage will have moved to solid-state memory technology and you'll be able to buy a 4TB SSD for $100. So I wouldn't worry about it, go ahead and partition all the available space and use it however you like because the price of storage has only gone down even as capacity has grown throughout history and I don't see that changing with SSDs.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
D

Danne-Danger

Member
CaLe said:
Hey guys, what would you consider to be the best size for a PC monitor ?

I can get an awesome 40" Samsung 120hz LED for 799$ and I was wondering if it could perform relatively well as a PC monitor.

I plan on sitting within 2 feets of it, so I'm only worried about pixel density.

Thoughts ? Anyone here uses a big screen as a Desktop monitor ?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...
That's not a monitor, it's a TV! I'm happy with a 19" CRT but I sit very close to the screen. Are you using a chair or a couch? I don't think you'll have any trouble with the resolution (looking at my own 40" TV), but you'll have to move your eyes around a lot! Personally I think it's a bit overkill, 24" or something in that area is more than enough if you're in a chair at a desk.

If you watch a lot of movies on your PC it's a different issue I guess.
 
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
Okay, order has been placed.

With mail in rebates and coupons, the total came to a hair above 800 dollars.

Thanks Gaf for your help. I appreciate it. I can actually look forward to PC games now, and I'll be able to play the ones I actually own without a problem.

And to top it off, I get a game out of it!
 
C

CaLe

Member
Danne-Danger said:
That's not a monitor, it's a TV! I'm happy with a 19" CRT but I sit very close to the screen. Are you using a chair or a couch? I don't think you'll have any trouble with the resolution (looking at my own 40" TV), but you'll have to move your eyes around a lot! Personally I think it's a bit overkill, 24" or something in that area is more than enough if you're in a chair at a desk.

If you watch a lot of movies on your PC it's a different issue I guess.
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry, I know it's a TV :)

I actually use a chair and a desk, and I mostly wanted to get it to game on it.

I currently have a 24", had it for a few years, and I'm beginning to think it's rather small.

So you think I'll have to move my eyes alot...? Hm...

Decisions, decisions... The price is temporary, and it's a brand new TV... :\

No one here uses a TV that big as a monitor ?
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
Okay, order has been placed.

With mail in rebates and coupons, the total came to a hair above 800 dollars.

Thanks Gaf for your help. I appreciate it. I can actually look forward to PC games now, and I'll be able to play the ones I actually own without a problem.

And to top it off, I get a game out of it!
Click to expand...

You got a pretty nice setup there. Enjoy!
 
D

Deleted member 81567

Unconfirmed Member
As I'm a newbie, what's a good laptop to play games like TF2, ranging 700-900 dollars (maybe 1000), that would also accommodate to college needs? Decent battery life etc.
 
N

n0n44m

Member
Danne-Danger said:
Right, thanks. I guess I'll go with the R3. I really need a new case (it's impossible to overstate how crappy my current one is) so I figured I'd go for a robust quiet one to have a good base for future builds. I don't need it to be super quiet as I can cope with my current one, it's more for when people come in and go "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT NOISE!?", and I guess my ears won't complain either. If I can isolate some of the noise when I need a bigger case for new GPUs anyway I don't see a reason to not go for a quiet one.

Thanks for the quick answers!



As for water cooling, is that mainly for cooling or will it bring the noise down considerably as well? I'm not that into overclocking so I don't really need extra cooling, but if I can bring the noise down I might look into it, overclocking would be a nice bonus!

And a SSD drive would be good too I guess... hmm! Ideas starting to whirr... wallet commencing to cry!
Click to expand...

Yeah R3 is a good choice ... noise is 80% fan RPM and 20% case isolation in my experience, I think the R3 has decent enough fans with not too much RPM and the isolation is great

right now I'm using a CoolerMaster 690 II with 6 yateloon fans running at 550 rpm, and it's really quiet even though the isolation on this case is pretty bad (open mesh for lots of airflow)

have 7200 and 5400 rpm Samsung HDDs for data, they're silent as well (way better than the Hitachi's I've had during the past decade)

GPU is usually the biggest issue, I've got an Accelero Xtreme Plus on my Geforce GTX480 and it's nice and quiet but installation is not for the faint of heart :p so try to grab a card with some more quiet non-reference cooler

---

forget water cooling lol ... I'm currently almost done moving this rig to a watercooled casemod and even though it will be xtremely quiet , it costs a bucketload of money and you need steel nerves ;)
 
R

RoboShmup

Banned
RoboShmup said:
http://i.imgur.com/8benE.jpg

Free game, TV Tuner, and Flash Drive. 8GB RAM for rendering. Was gonna get the Corsair Enthusiast TX750 PSU but it's out of stock :/ The one I have in there has a 15% off coupon though if anyone has any input on it.
Click to expand...
Last call for advice, I'm about to place an order tonight! Antec 100 case fits a Radeon 6870? PSU acceptable? Should I wait until the TX750 restocks?
 
C

CaLe

Member
RoboShmup said:
Last call for advice, I'm about to place an order tonight! Antec 100 case fits a Radeon 6870? PSU acceptable? Should I wait until the TX750 restocks?
Click to expand...

I have an Antec sonata 3, which is a relatively small case, and it fits the 6870.

I'm not sure how your case compares to mine, but I'm pretty sure its bigger.

The 500W stock PSU in mine is also sufficient for the card.

Edit: Yup, from what I could see, your case is bigger.
 
N

n0n44m

Member
CaLe said:
Hey guys, what would you consider to be the best size for a PC monitor ?

I can get an awesome 40" Samsung 120hz LED for 799$ and I was wondering if it could perform relatively well as a PC monitor.

I plan on sitting within 2 feets of it, so I'm only worried about pixel density.

Thoughts ? Anyone here uses a big screen as a Desktop monitor ?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

hmm I'm using a 32" Samsung 1080p TV at about ~2 feet

+ great for games & movies

- not so great if you need very accurate colors (photoshop etc)

+/- 1080p at 32" means text is very readable, but overal amount of pixels isn't that high of course compared to some other solutions out there

verdict: media-consumption yes, (professional-)productivity no


I wouldn't really want a 40" in my situation though ... maybe if it's extremely flat so it can hang back another feet but at 2 feet it would seem too much
 
D

Danne-Danger

Member
n0n44m said:
Yeah R3 is a good choice ... noise is 80% fan RPM and 20% case isolation in my experience, I think the R3 has decent enough fans with not too much RPM and the isolation is great

right now I'm using a CoolerMaster 690 II with 6 yateloon fans running at 550 rpm, and it's really quiet even though the isolation on this case is pretty bad (open mesh for lots of airflow)

have 7200 and 5400 rpm Samsung HDDs for data, they're silent as well (way better than the Hitachi's I've had during the past decade)

GPU is usually the biggest issue, I've got an Accelero Xtreme Plus on my Geforce GTX480 and it's nice and quiet but installation is not for the faint of heart :p so try to grab a card with some more quiet non-reference cooler

---

forget water cooling lol ... I'm currently almost done moving this rig to a watercooled casemod and even though it will be xtremely quiet , it costs a bucketload of money and you need steel nerves ;)
Click to expand...
Hehe, yeah I think I'll stick to getting a few good fans if I need to, thanks! I kinda look forward to researching some GPUs later, ah, upgrade times are good times!
Yeah sorry, I know it's a TV :)

I actually use a chair and a desk, and I mostly wanted to get it to game on it.

I currently have a 24", had it for a few years, and I'm beginning to think it's rather small.

So you think I'll have to move my eyes alot...? Hm...

Decisions, decisions... The price is temporary, and it's a brand new TV... :\

No one here uses a TV that big as a monitor ?
Click to expand...
Yeah, if you feel like it then go for it, it's good to have a nice TV anyway! Maybe you can move some stuff around? Games will look great but you'll probably want a lot of AA if you're going to be that close to it.

I'm using my 40" TV as a monitor right now as a matter of fact (in a comfy couch!), I really can't imagine it being comfortable for extended usage at "desk range", but maybe that's just me. 30" would be nice, maybe. But yeah, maybe someone else has something to say about it.
 
C

CaLe

Member
n0n44m said:
hmm I'm using a 32" Samsung 1080p TV at about ~2 feet

+ great for games & movies

- not so great if you need very accurate colors (photoshop etc)

+/- 1080p at 32" means text is very readable, but overal amount of pixels isn't that high of course compared to some other solutions out there

verdict: media-consumption yes, (professional-)productivity no


I wouldn't really want a 40" in my situation though ... maybe if it's extremely flat so it can hang back another feet but at 2 feet it would seem too much
Click to expand...

Thanks n0n44m, much appreciated.

Yeah the pixel density on a 40" at 1080p might be a bit too low for viewing at a distance of 2-3 feet...

It is actually extremely flat, the new LED models are very slim, so maybe I could just hang it on the wall or something.

Why do you say that the colors are not accurate ? I always thought that TVs had more accurate colors than monitors ?


Danne-Danger said:
Hehe, yeah I think I'll stick to getting a few good fans if I need to, thanks! I kinda look forward to researching some GPUs later, ah, upgrade times are good times!

Yeah, if you feel like it then go for it, it's good to have a nice TV anyway! Maybe you can move some stuff around? Games will look great but you'll probably want a lot of AA if you're going to be that close to it.

I'm using my 40" TV as a monitor right now as a matter of fact (in a comfy couch!), I really can't imagine it being comfortable for extended usage at "desk range", but maybe that's just me. 30" would be nice, maybe. But yeah, maybe someone else has something to say about it.
Click to expand...

Thanks Danne :)

So you're using an 40" afterall ! How far away are you from it ? 5-6 feet ?

I also wanted to get a 30", but I can't seem to find one at 120 Hz (or even at 60 hz...) at a decent price.

I mean, it would be a shame to spend 350-400$ on a 27"-30" when you can have a 40" 120hz 3D capable TV.

So I take it that I have two choices:

1) Get it and hope for the best, even though as you and n0n44m said the size might be too much, so I'll have to figure something out.

2) Wait and get a smaller screen for cheaper in X months.

Thanks again for your input !
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
balladofwindfishes said:
Okay, order has been placed.

With mail in rebates and coupons, the total came to a hair above 800 dollars.

Thanks Gaf for your help. I appreciate it. I can actually look forward to PC games now, and I'll be able to play the ones I actually own without a problem.

And to top it off, I get a game out of it!
Click to expand...
Awesome man. You've got a very solid build. Grats again!

CaLe said:
No one here uses a TV that big as a monitor ?
Click to expand...
I have used TVs as monitors and in my experience they're terrible. Awful pixel density and from two feet away it's going to be a blocky mess. I would take that $800 and invest it in a bitching monitor. For that kind of money there are some really fantastic products out there, like the HP ZR24w.

RoboShmup said:
Last call for advice, I'm about to place an order tonight! Antec 100 case fits a Radeon 6870? PSU acceptable? Should I wait until the TX750 restocks?
Click to expand...
The case should be able to fit a 6870 just fine. I have had no experience with that particular manufacturer (PC Power and Cooling), but they seem to get good reviews so I would say go for it. There's also a five year warranty on it. Can't go wrong with that.
 
C

ColonelColon

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
Okay, order has been placed.

With mail in rebates and coupons, the total came to a hair above 800 dollars.

Thanks Gaf for your help. I appreciate it. I can actually look forward to PC games now, and I'll be able to play the ones I actually own without a problem.

And to top it off, I get a game out of it!
Click to expand...

shit, I hate to say it, but you might want to go with the GTX 560 instead. >_>
I didn't know about this deal before now: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1610199
 
C

CaLe

Member
Izayoi said:
I have used TVs as monitors and in my experience they're terrible. Awful pixel density and from two feet away it's going to be a blocky mess. I would take that $800 and invest it in a bitching monitor. For that kind of money there are some really fantastic products out there, like the HP ZR24w.
Click to expand...

Oh snap.

Why is that monitor so expensive though..? Am I missing something..?

Is it due to the color accuracy or something.. ?
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
CaLe said:
Oh snap.

Why is that monitor so expensive though..? Am I missing something..?

Is it due to the color accuracy or something.. ?
Click to expand...
It's got an ISP panel, which means you get true 24-bit color, unlike most LCDs that use TN panels and are only 18-bit, that just simulate 24-bit color by dithering colors outside of their range. The picture is going to look way better than your standard run-of-the-mill LCD.
 
C

CaLe

Member
Izayoi said:
It's got an ISP panel, which means you get true 24-bit color, unlike most LCDs that use TN panels and are only 18-bit, that just simulate 24-bit color by dithering colors outside of their range. The picture is going to look way better than your standard run-of-the-mill LCD.
Click to expand...

Ah gotcha.

Do you have something similar in the 27-30" range to recommend ?

Also, IPS-wise, how does Apple's cinema display compare ? Is it sub-par ?
 
I

Izayoi

Banned
If you wanted to spend a little more, you could go for the Dell UltraSharp U2711 which is 2560 x 1440, 27", and is 30-bit (over 1 billion colors, as opposed to 24-bit's paltry 16.7 million).

Apple's Cinema Display is a dolled-up HP at a higher resolution - it's only 24-bit. Hardly worth the price when you consider the fact that the UltraSharp costs the same.
 
C

CaLe

Member
Thanks for your input guys, it was very valuable.

That 27" does seem better (and much more expensive) than the 24". :)


Cday said:
That's overpriced for a ZR24w

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003D1ADUU/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I have one and while it has superior color compared to TN monitors I don't see much of a point in paying twice as much for an IPS monitor if having accurate colors isn't a requirement. It isn't for gaming.
Click to expand...

Yeah I don't really need color accuracy to be honest. As long as Red, blue and yellow look like .. well.. Red, blue and yellow :)

It's mostly for playing games, browsing the web and watching the occasional movie.
 
D

Danne-Danger

Member
CaLe said:
Thanks Danne :)

So you're using an 40" afterall ! How far away are you from it ? 5-6 feet ?

I also wanted to get a 30", but I can't seem to find one at 120 Hz (or even at 60 hz...) at a decent price.

I mean, it would be a shame to spend 350-400$ on a 27"-30" when you can have a 40" 120hz 3D capable TV.
Click to expand...
Yeah! I'm currently in the process of moving in so it's a temporary solution. I'm about 6 feet away when I lean back, which is not ideal if you're playing a game with a lot of text (which tends to get rather small at 1080), I tend to scooch to ~4-5, which is a pretty good distance. I play a lot of MP FPS games though and when I do I'm really only comfortable with my ol' 19" CRT, I've never felt that it's too small or anything like that, I have everything within focus and that's the way I want it. I move the game view and keep my eyes stationary. And nothing beats a CRT in image quality and/or resolution capabilities! It's the winning team.

But yeah, same price but smaller is very good advice if you're that close anyway, you won't lose much with the size and you'll get much better image quality (a nice crisp image is very important!). But at the same time with a 40" you could wall-mount it and move the desk around, I guess. :p
 
N

n0n44m

Member
CaLe said:
Thanks n0n44m, much appreciated.

Yeah the pixel density on a 40" at 1080p might be a bit too low for viewing at a distance of 2-3 feet...

Why do you say that the colors are not accurate ? I always thought that TVs had more accurate colors than monitors ?
Click to expand...

actually the density is OKish, I just meant the sheer size of the damn thing ;) would be hard focusing on stuff going on off center

colors are fine for games/movies but my TV for example has an issue with red text in anything other than "pc mode" , whereas in pc mode it has slight banding issues ... I still use this mode all the time because of the red text and because it reduces input lag to normal pc LCD screen values ;)
 
C

CaLe

Member
Alright alright, you guys convinced me ! :lol

*puts back the credit card in the wallet*, no big TV as a monitor then.

Always bet on GAF to help you out when you need advice. :)
 
R

RS4-

Member
How much do you guys think I can sell this for?

q6600
Gigabyte p35 DS3L
2x1GB DDR2 OCZ Reapers
NZXT Lexa case
8800 GT
Pioneer 112 (I think it's the 112, one of the dual layer burners)

About 300 bucks? Or what about the mobo + cpu alone? I plan on keeping my Corsair 620HX to use in my next build.

Going to grab the p8p67 Pro + 2500k.

I'm going to have to figure out what kind of ram to get.

edit - might grab the Deluxe depending on price difference. The USB 3.0 thing for the front panel isn't bad.
 
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