Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

It would require DisplayPort, but yes, it has the bandwidth.

In a more practical sense, however, finding a reasonably-priced monitor with a resolution higher than 1920x1080 is actually getting harder as time goes on- 1920 x 1200 used to be common (I own one myself) but they're getting quite scarce these days.

I doubt that the ability to support 2560x1440 is of great significance to the average user planning on using an integrated GPU, however, given that the cheapest such monitor on NewEgg is $700 (ASUS 27"). The cheapest 2560 x 1600 monitor is $1,180 (HP, 30"). And yes, both models have a displayport jack.

By comparison, NewEgg has 16 27" 1920x1080 monitors prices below $280. I'm going to guess that for most users, that will probably suffice.

718 of 4000

You miss those days, as well? Try getting a Shimian or Catleap 27" monitor. $300 with 2560x1440 resolution

If you relocated your drives into external USB enclosures, wouldn't you have to move them around as you obtain new media?

I didn't like the expense of a NAS myself, so I used an old case I had that had plenty of SATA power connectors and bought a Sandy Bridge Pentium processor and corresponding motherboard to run the thing. So your server-client model. But instead of an Xbox 360, I have a full-fledged HTPC, as it has a Ceton 4-channel PCIe tuner card.

Oh, the days when the emulation scene was popular. I especially liked the NeoGeo emulators.

718 of 4000

I guess you haven't heard of the Catleap monitor

Wow, prices have gone up 50%

Yamakasi Catleap Q270 SE 27" LED DVI D Dual Computer Monitor Only USA Sale | eBay

So get the Shimian, that's what I have
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-ACHIEVA-...item2c694251fb

vpc8728

If I wanted to play some TF2 and some really old games like AOE 2, Diablo 2, and StarCraft would the intel 4000 graphics be alright? I assume it will be fine for the old games, but what about TF2? Am I looking at a dedicated GPU for that?

718 of 4000

Probably wouldn't hurt

I use EVGA GeForce GT430s because they were cheap and I don't play games

This looks like the successor: Newegg.com - EVGA 01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $40 after rebate

edit: On second thought, I'd get a dedicated card if I was going to play those games. But since they are decently old, you don't need anything near top of the line.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Yes, I think I remember you (or perhaps someone else) bringing them up in another thread recently.

I'm just not willing to roll the dice on buying a $400-450 monitor from an eBay vendor with absolutely no US presence whatsoever, particularly when they go to the trouble of making it very clear that "Hey, if your monitor has a bunch of bright-dead pixels on it, we don't care."

I'll stick with my 28" Hanns-G (1920 x 1200).


They'll all run, it's mostly a matter of how well.

When I built my current PC 3 years ago, I bought the absolute cheapest video card I could find (GeForce 210) with no intention of ever doing any gaming whatsoever.

Then I discovered TF2.

It actually ran ok, and I didn't see any need to upgrade until the Pyromania update really made it clear how lackluster my video performance was.

After I installed a used GTX280, I was really floored by what I'd been missing. Not merely did everything look better, but the massively increased smoothness (much higher FPS) actually made the game a hell of a lot easier to play well. Specifically, when you're a Heavy and you have an enemy Pyro dancing all around you dousing you in fire, you need to be able to SEE him clearly in order to shoot him. With a GPU capable of supporting 60 FPS, that actually becomes possible.

G3RG

They're just as legit as Hanns-G. Hanns-G isn't exactly... a good brand, and the catleaps (and co.) have proven themselves through sales. I own 2 myself.

HD4000 will be sufficient for your needs currently. Personally I'd save my money and see how happy you are with the performance as is. You can always upgrade later, incredibly easily. GPUs are one of the easiest upgrades you can do, especially if you don't even have one in the first place.

vpc8728

That's what I was thinking. I was also doing some reading about the Haswell chips and apparently the graphics on them is supposed to be significantly better then anything intel has out now. So it might make some sense to wait. Obviously its all hearsay at this point though

shuiend

iTrader: (24)

What 27" monitor are you using?

Go back to the 27" Taiwanese monitor for $325 shipped that I posted in Vipers computer thread.

Saml01

iTrader: (9)

Prices are very similar, the second one lacks free shipping.

Any ideas where the panels are coming from? Any deads pixels on your unit?

S-IPS for that kinda money is hard to imagine.

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Oh, absolutely Hanns-G is bargain-basement.

So I'll say this again: It's not the monitor, it's the vendor.

I've had two Hanns-G 19" (4:3) monitors for about five years. Bought 'em for the office originally, and was a bit nervous about trying out a totally unknown brand. But they work great- still use 'em today. So when I decided to buy a 28" for home, I had no problem buying another Hanns-G from Tiger Direct.

The monitor showed up and worked fine. A few days later, it developed a defect- a dark vertical bar all the way down the left side of the screen (basically one column of dead pixels.)

I called up Tiger Direct, and they immediately shipped me a replacement monitor for free, along with a call-tag for me to ship the old one back with for free.

Total downtime: 0 days.
Total out-of-pocket cost for the swap: 0 dollars.
Dealing with a US-based distributor: priceless.

That's what I'm talking about.


What did I just get done saying?

718 of 4000

Achieva Shimian QH270 I believe. The one with VESA

Korea I believe. Packaged beautifully. No dead pixels and I purchased in July.

Here ya go. $325 with free shipping. http://www.ebay.com/itm/QH270-Lite-A...item4ab5f0365a

G3RG

They're LG panels, exact same panel as used in the Apple Cinema Display. They all have custom controller boards made by the company that repackages them and sells them, meaning Achievas have a different board from PCBANK etc.

I have 2 PCBANK PB2700 displays, which supposedly have the best contrast ratio and response time of the lot.

vpc8728

So I updated the memory in my laptop and it is much faster. Definitely usable again.
But then the hard drive decided to take a dump on me. I'm in the process of putting in the SSD and a new HDD and re-installing windows and everything. Still not sure about building one now or not, but this deal is certainly tempting me:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Glad to hear it. Having too little RAM is probably the single biggest bottleneck in any modern PC, as it forces the system to spend huge amounts of time swapping into and out of virtual (page file) memory.


That's an excellent price for a very nicely-spec'd system. You'd probably need to add a second HD at some point, and of course it doesn't include an OS or an optical drive, but still a nice looking package.

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

That is the i5 I bought, and nearly the same motherboard I eventually bought (instead of updating the BIOS on the Intel one I bought an MSI Z77-G43). I didn't plan on overclocking, but since I can, I bumped the multiplier up so that I am now running at 4GHz, since I could do it without a voltage increase.

vpc8728

Definitely is a good deal, however using pcpartpicker.com I can build a similar one for a similar price, so not super fantastic. I think I am going to wait and see if any of newegg's black November deals can get me a cheaper total package. I'll be looking to build a very similar system though. I may buy that case though. Seems like a good deal and the case is nice and basic, which I like. Too bad the SSD sold out already

vpc8728

Gonna buy this RAM: Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX16GX3M2A1333C9

$53 with this code: EMCJJNH45 for today only

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

Wait are you still not doing any gaming? Unless you want to overclock the **** out of that, buy some $30 ram, not $50. It literally has no advantages over the $30 ram unless you want to overclock, which you don't need for browsing this site and checking email.

vpc8728

Probably a little gaming, but that's 16GB not 8GB. Can 16GB be had somewhere for $30?

I think I'm gonna get this PSU too: Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$30 till Monday