Desktop Computers

gogusrl_sl said:

I'd never go back to 1080. There are 120hz IPS monitors (http://overlordcomputer.com/) but there are some caveats. As for the video card, if you plan on throwing a second card, go with nvidia (670), if you're staying single card go with ati (7970).

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You are both right. If I plan on SLI then yeah I should go with nvidia, but my concern is that I didn't plan on going SLI/xfire right off the bat. The 7970 seems like the better single card. If this single card could push the 1440p display fine on it's own then I wouldn't have a problem. There are 4gb 670 options that I've seen, but what I've also been reading is that some demanding games don't even push the AMD cards beyond 2gb vram.

I guess what it comes down to is that I don't feel that a single 670 can push a 1440p display properly on it's own and I would be selling myself short by doing just that. The 680 is better, but for a premium price and a little 5% (or something) increase in performance it isn't worth it. So it seems either get the 7970 and be done with it or get 2x 670's.

Feel free to correct me on any point. I'm trying to finalize these last few details and as you can see it's a bit frustrating.

Looking to get new monitors. Currently have a (mismatched) pair of 23" off the shelf at Best Buy junkers that I can't stand anymore. Any recommendations for something decent? Not afraid to spend a few hundred per monitor.

Thoughts on 23" vs 27"? Is 2560 resolution anywhere near affordable yet?

Some limited googling led me to this thing on Amazon, which doesn't look half bad:

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VS239H-P-.../dp/B008DWITHI

Look at some LED backlit IPS monitors. I think they are ze best because of image quality and sharpness.

Plus they just flat out look better.

I triple monitor game on ASUS VN247's 24". They have 3 inputs each (2HDMI and vga(? is that right) connection) so that works out for other systems I run at 1920x1080. The ASUS VN247's appealed to me because of their slim borders and multi-inputs. And at $170 a pop for what I paid for them was not half bad considering you can get them from Fry's for 189.00 each.

If I could go back I might look at IPS monitors.

[Edit]

Oh uh, let me reference my setup I just put together last week. The game is Bioshock Infinite.

Big Image from my phone (lol)

didnt wanna make a new thread, was wondering if anyone using the razer imperator, had any problems with the left mouse click dying, it takes 3-4 clicks to register, the mouse is only like 1- 2 years old no real abuse to it, like dropping it or smashing the buttons down to like wear and tear on it.

I really like the mouse, im almost tempted to just buy another one, but im not sure if it just died over time due to shitty engineering and shit or what.

Razer aren't known for their reliability. Some could say you were lucky to get 2 years from it. Go with Logitech for immortal peripherals.

I had a G9 for ~4 years. When my scroll wheel rusted or some shit I emailed logitech asking for a replacement. They didn't sell the part but gave me a 35% discount for my next mouse purchase and free shipping.

Ronne_sl said:

Thoughts on 23" vs 27"? Is 2560 resolution anywhere near affordable yet?

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Have you looked into those Korean monitors? I got one in November and love it.http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACHIEVA-Shim...item4ab90f1888

I bought from that vendor, and it got to me real quick with perfect pixels for about $350 shipped.

I've had a razer mouse go out on me. It started doing weird things (like only able to target lower process applications in the background, like shit on my task bar while I was playing games). I fucked with it for a long time trying to figure out how it was doing it. Drivers / windows re-installs / SSD firmware updates. I decided it had to be the mouse and that it had to go.

The $5 dell mouse replacement has worked flawlessly since.

gogusrl_sl said:

Razer aren't known for their reliability. Some could say you were lucky to get 2 years from it. Go with Logitech for immortal peripherals.

I had a G9 for ~4 years. When my scroll wheel rusted or some shit I emailed logitech asking for a replacement. They didn't sell the part but gave me a 35% discount for my next mouse purchase and free shipping.

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wish i woulda saw this earlier before going out to buy another mouse, i took the replacement plan seeing as my other mouse lasted like 2 years so i mean worst comes to worst i get my next mouse for 15$.

i havent had a logitech since my mx13 i loved that fucking mouse.

Disp_sl said:

Have you looked into those Korean monitors? I got one in November and love it.http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACHIEVA-Shim...item4ab90f1888

I bought from that vendor, and it got to me real quick with perfect pixels for about $350 shipped.

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I bought a similar monitor on eBay (maybe same guy), arrived within like 5 days from Korea and no dead pixels, looks awesome. Can't beat the rez or size, gonna build myself a eyefinity version this summer I think. Only thing to be aware of is the input, I got one that is DVI-D only which is fine for me, but it has no HDMI or VGA outputs and only the latest video cards do DVI-D. The panels are top notch but they skimp on the casing (in terms of outputs etc) so check very, very carefully that its the correct one for your PC, and you won't be doing shit like hooking up consoles or boxees to it.

That's the monitor that I'm going to get when I do all my upgrading... they look fantastic.

Regarding DVI, my 5 year old Nvidia 8600 GTS has the same port as shown in the picture of that ebay listing so unless I'm missing something, I didn't think they were that rare (or new, even).

Of course DVI-D could be totally different even though the ports look the same.

yeah there are 5 different versions of DVI no clue how far back the dual link DVI-D goes back on video cards but you need all the holes and shit to match up I think

Looking to build a rig for my wife. She is a casual gamer. I only wanna spend around $1000 any suggestions?

$1000 on the nose, not including a monitor:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PdCR

A few notes, you could easily swap the 660ti Video Card for a Radeon 7950, they can be had for about the same price. Also you can save big on the CPU + Motherboard if you have a Microcenter store near you. The prices are cheaper then listed on-line and you get a $40 discount for buying any mobo+cpu combo. Could probably get both the motherboard and CPU at a Microcenter store for $250ish, would knock a good 60-80 bucks off the price.

edit - that's basically my current build. I have more RAM and a SSD boot drive, but other than that it's damn near the same. Plays everything I throw at it on ultra/highest settings at 1920x1200. Played Bioshock Infinite and the new Tomb Raider just great. Got in the 40-50 average fps range in the benchmark tools for both, which is plenty smooth with all settings maxed.

Nightrun_sl said:

Looking to build a rig for my wife. She is a casual gamer. I only wanna spend around $1000 any suggestions?

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This site is pretty cool for basics with pricing:

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

My friend wants me to put together a rig for him for some lightweight video editing and HTPC capabilities. That's all he wants it for he doesn't game or anything. This is what I've come up with -http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=27265647. He has a GoPro (head camera) and wants to edit some of the videos using shit like Vegas Video and Premiere. Anyone have any input? Another friend is arguing I should include a video card, but I don't think the performance gains would be worth it. Thoughts?

mkopec_sl said:

Looks good, although with video editing he might be better off with the i7. But if its just light stuff i5 would be allright.
The PSU is way overkill, look a page or two back, I linked a few that are better and wont burn down your house.
I would definitely add a GPU, like a 7850 or a 660. For $150? why not?
Oh, and the non pro Samsung SSD are not recommended. Samsung 840 (non-Pro) drives use new low-endurance TLC NAND, the 120GB version may only last 3.5 years in normal usage.

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I'm just apprehensive with buying such a beastly GPU. We use the head cam for rock climbing, hunting, and doing some biking. At the most he just wants the ability to slow down the video frame rate - slow moe. He's not a tech guy at all and won't use 90% of the capabilities. Just seems like overkill.

I need to keep the price tag under $900.

mkopec_sl said:

Well here is one for $100. I would be apprehensive about using Intell HD graphics. But if you want to scrimp, by all means.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CE&PageSize=20

I guess he could always ad one later if he needed one.

Also do you have a microcenter near you, if you do you should get at least the CPU and mo-bo there. You will save about a $100.

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I do have a microcenter I didn't realize they were priced that much better. I'll do that.

The bottom line is my friend would rather wait an additional 30 seconds for a video to render than spend $200. However, is this GPU is critical to both rendering and playback than we'll do what we have to do. I was just under the assumption that video editing is primarily CPU based and GPU's are for gaming and allowing top of the line anti-aliasing etc. etc.

Here's attempt #2 on video editing machine:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Po7Y

Love that site, btw!