Desktop Computers

uncognito · Nov 24, 2013

I am looking for some advise on getting a new monitor this cyber monday season..

I use my desktop for all of my gaming and movie/tv watching, mostly low quality video streams but also some higher quality stuff like hbo go.
since I use it as my TV as well i was thinking of a 27" monitor.
Looking to spend not much more than $225ish unless its a really great deal.

what kind of monitors should i be focused on? ratios, resolutions, brands, etc.
I know next to nothing about this

Sobaka · Nov 24, 2013

uncognito_sl said:
I am looking for some advise on getting a new monitor this cyber monday season..

I use my desktop for all of my gaming and movie/tv watching, mostly low quality video streams but also some higher quality stuff like hbo go.
since I use it as my TV as well i was thinking of a 27" monitor.
Looking to spend not much more than $225ish unless its a really great deal.

what kind of monitors should i be focused on? ratios, resolutions, brands, etc.
I know next to nothing about this

You should look at an IPS panel. This is newer screen technology that is also used in many tablets. The colors are much better than regular LCD (TN Panels). Resolution you want at least 1920x1080 (1080p). Anything higher you would need a beefy video card to power it. It might be a bit over budget for 27" however.

Melvin · Nov 25, 2013

joeboo_sl said:
why why why why why is anyone buying ANYTHING this close to Cyber Monday? For the love of god wait 10 days. You might save 25% or more

Lenovo just started their Black Friday sale, and the laptop I ordered a week ago for $949 is now on sale for $1,067. YMMV.

Titan_Atlas · Nov 25, 2013

Need some opinions, gonna try to do a mild upgrade spending around 300-350. Have amd dual core processor in an am3 board. Memory standard is ddr2 1066 and have 4gigs. 500 gig hard drive and a geforce 9800gt. So here is my debate obviously i'm going to do video card and want one with an hdmi out so i can run it to my 47 inch. Question is should i upgrade the motherboard to a 55 dollar am3 board that supports ddr3 and get 8 gigs of 1600 ram so like 125 total. Or should i spend that 125 on a SSD? Also my power supply is 450 bronze cert will that be ok for a beefier video card?

Zodiac · Nov 25, 2013

What are your goals with this "upgrade". I wouldn't recommend sinking money into an old amd system. The ssd is a good purchase because you can reuse it when you actually do upgrade. If you want better fps in games, video card / cpu is what you should be looking at.

Joeboo · Nov 25, 2013

Throw all $300 into a nice video card, and set a plan in place for doing a whole system build in the future that you can move that video card to.

I wouldn't spend any money putting more RAM into that system, or trying to slap a different processor into the socket or getting a new motherboard or anything of that sort. The whole core of that system (mobo/cpu/ram) are old and really past the point of trying to improve them much through piecemeal upgrading.

edit- an SSD is never a bad option either, that can be put in a new system down the road too, it wouldn't be wasted money like more old ram or a motherboard for the same processor would be.

Titan_Atlas · Nov 25, 2013

Zodiac_sl said:
What are your goals with is "upgrade". I wouldn't recommend sinking money into an old amd system.

Generally i only play wow and check my fantasy, want to be able to run it through my 47 inch and watch some netflix. So i don't need to break any benchmarks but the current one can't give me that functionality at least not very well. So i'm looking for a stopgap that might carry me 2-3 more years.

TecKnoe · Nov 25, 2013

heres my buildIntel Core i5-4670K, EVGA GeForce GTX 780, Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) - System Build - PCPartPicker

i have a little wiggle room, would an i7 be better? or anything else?

TecKnoe · Nov 25, 2013

jeydax_sl said:
PM'd you.

Side note for people building new computers and are more or less planning it around BF4 or similar games, please see this article for GPU and CPU benchmark comparisons:Battlefield 4 Retail GPU and CPU Benchmarks

i looked at all those charts and i dont get it at all, according to the first one my 780 is going to get 54. average fps?

Intrinsic · Nov 25, 2013

I think 54 is your min and 77 was the avg. Really poor way to do a chart, lol. Also not sure about the difference between your i5 and their i7 in BF4, so ymmv on those numbers.

Falstaff · Nov 25, 2013

I'm really hoping to be able to snag an i5, a decent motherboard, and an above average video card for ~$500 this weekend/Monday...

TecKnoe · Nov 25, 2013

Intrinsic_sl said:
I think 54 is your min and 77 was the avg. Really poor way to do a chart, lol. Also not sure about the difference between your i5 and their i7 in BF4, so ymmv on those numbers.

is that at max settings? seems pretty bad if not lol.

Intrinsic · Nov 25, 2013

TecKnoe_sl said:
is that at max settings? seems pretty bad if not lol.

It is at Ultra Quality, 1920x1080, and no AA as per the chart title. 4x MSAA drops you to 39/61 as per the 2nd chart.

mixtilplix · Nov 25, 2013

TecKnoe_sl said:
is that at max settings? seems pretty bad if not lol.

Frostbite 3 is a pretty taxing engine so if you want consistent 60 FPS with all max settings you are going to need more then a 780. For titanfall, since it is a Source engine game, your card will be overkill.

jeydax · Nov 25, 2013

Eyashusa_sl said:
I'm really hoping to be able to snag an i5, a decent motherboard, and an above average video card for ~$500 this weekend/Monday...

Admittedly I know jackshit about this micro ATX board but it is on sale for $75 right now:Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H

jeydax · Nov 25, 2013

Also REAAAAAAAALY happy I snagged an i7-4770k for $200 at MicroCenter. NewEgg's blackfriday deal is for $300 on them... just lol.

Kovaks · Nov 25, 2013

uncognito_sl said:
I am looking for some advise on getting a new monitor this cyber monday season..

I use my desktop for all of my gaming and movie/tv watching, mostly low quality video streams but also some higher quality stuff like hbo go.
since I use it as my TV as well i was thinking of a 27" monitor.
Looking to spend not much more than $225ish unless its a really great deal.

what kind of monitors should i be focused on? ratios, resolutions, brands, etc.
I know next to nothing about this

27 LG 27EA33V 1920x1080 IPS LED Monitor + $10 Macy's eGift Card $200 + Free shipping - Office Depot Deals, Coupons and Promos

antha124 · Nov 26, 2013

Those looking for some storage, not sure if price mix up but pretty good deal

Toshiba Desktop 3.5-inch Internal Hard Drive - 2TB

$28

Kovaks · Nov 26, 2013

Nevermind

Falstaff · Nov 26, 2013

Is it worth the extra $50 for the 4th gen i5-4670k or is the i5-3570k still top dog or close enough?

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