I just couldn't justify the savings of $10-20. Well you'll definitely pay more but there's that shitty mail in rebate.
Another good choice I believe: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022

IP needs to use Newegg Canada for reliable results.

Also, after shipping and handling, the computer comes to ~$930 CDN. Which is a bit over my budget, because I need to have a monitor, the speakers and keyboard with it.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 20 2009, 3:03 am by Vi3t-X.

lol, there are two things wrong with that statement:

1) 2ms grey-to-grey (GTG) typically is saying the same thing as 5ms without saying grey-to-grey. They are basically equal. As far as I know, there are no LCD displays with less than 5 ms when not talking about grey-to-grey.

2) If you say latency, it refers to something other than response time, in relation to LCD displays. Latency implies that it is a delay in displaying the image. Response time does not refer to the delay in displaying the image. In fact, if a display has any delay, it is never stated in the specs. (!)

Note that low response times do not always mean low delays. This mostly seems to be determined by LCD panel type. Twisted nematic (TN) and in-plane switching (IPS) types typically have very low delays (often hard to measure), while MVA/PVA types (don't remember what those stand for) can have a one to two frame delay (don't worry, you aren't likely to see those even close to the price range you are looking at anyway - possibly not even within double the price range you are looking at, in that size). The kinds of cheaper displays you are looking at all have TN panel types, which have the lowest picture quality and viewing angle of the 3 main types (with IPS variants having the best).


lol, two more things to respond to/pick at.

1) Monitors with HDMI will usually have some integrated speakers, since HDMI carries audio. This is something you will be seeing a lot; get used to it. Some monitors will have the speakers hidden, so you won't really know they are there unless you use them.

On a related note, for those who want to use an Xbox 360 on the HDMI but want to use their own speakers (with a stereo analog plug), a monitor with an audio OUTPUT can be useful (some have this, some don't). Unless you want to buy the expensive HDMI kit from Microsoft, you get no other audio connection than the HDMI itself, since the normal AV cables block the HDMI port.

2) Contrast ratios higher than 1000:1 are typically referring to a mode where the monitor dynamically adjusts the backlight brightness. Many people don't like the results, so it is often left disabled (and often by default). It is basically a feature they include as a gimmick to try to make their monitor sound better on paper. No monitors in this price range have a real contrast ratio of higher than 1000:1. Any of these higher numbers they state for that mode cannot be compared to each other, probably not even from the same manufacturer.


Between LCD monitors of the same size, resolution, and panel type (all of them you are looking at will be TN, for now), the differences will mainly come from how evenly the backlight system lights up the display, individual features on each display (options in the menu), connectors available, and accessories provided. Also see if there are any kinds of guarantees or warranties that it comes with (for example, some say something like "zero bright dot guarantee" and will let you get a replacement if there is even one, if I'm interpreting it right).


Heh, don't really know whether that is something they made. Could just be another Realtek chip. Of course, even if that were the case, you still get some of the benefits of having a dedicated sound card just by having the chip on a separate card instead of integrated on the motherboard. These benefits are clearer sound (supposedly; don't remember whether I saw any reviews where they tested this) and reduced cpu utilization comparable to other dedicated sound cards (saw a review where they tested this). I don't really know for certain why putting it on a separate card helps in those areas, but apparently it does.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on May 20 2009, 12:04 pm by ShadowFlare.

Eh, I wasn't thinking about that. The ASUS has SPDIF out, nothing stated on the LG as far as anything sound wise. Fuck ;o Expensive splitter for me it seems.
Edit: actually... Xbox 360 Premium - HDMI Cable / Digital Optical Adapter Hack

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 20 2009, 12:53 pm by isolatedpurity.

Or someone could also get a cheap third-party cable for the audio instead of breaking apart the casing, like someone there mentioned. I think there was a specific one someone mentioned that fit.

The audio out wasn't the only reason I got this monitor I have instead of a different similarly priced one anyway. I also was unsure whether my other choice had any aspect ratio setting and I had info that the one I got would have it. I hadn't actually owned any wide-screen LCDs, so I didn't (and still don't) know whether it is or is not a common option.

Square ones just aren't cool anymore. Anyone know where I could get a video splitter (Dual Screen)

To put the same thing on two screens?

Yeah.

http://www.monoprice.com/ has some low-cost powered (amplified) splitters. I bought a 2-way 400 MHz SVGA splitter along with a couple SVGA cables (just arrived today) and I don't notice any quality degradation with it. Apparently it is also designed for extending a signal up to 300 feet or up to 150 feet for optimal picture quality.

They do also ship to Canada.

I also recommend a dedicated fan for harddrives. I bought a bunch of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835299003
For $2, they were pretty effing great. I did notice one was completely dried when I was testing my fans yesterday. I oiled it up really nice and then actually put more of a proper covering on the bearing, which didn't have any of those rubber little covers. Also changed the fan to blow air into the harddrive, not try to take it away. Temps dropped even more after that.
Too bad they are deactivated now. Don't know what to recommend otherwise.

I run 2 7200RPM drives and have never needed to blow any air on them. Then again, they are right by my front intake fan, not that it's all that powerful.

Mine are right in front of my intake as well, however, there's a 20 degree Celsius difference when there's a lot of drive activity going on, like swapping files/downloading.

I decided to throw this in my case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835192016

Wow, what a waste of money!

Of course, I ended up buying this for my PC. Why would I want to buy an HDD cooler though? I have four 500 Gb drives in there and they barely give off any heat. If anything, the thing that needs most cooled is my graphics card, and I'm not spending hundreds of dollars more doing that. For brands, I've always had fantastic luck with eVGA for nVidia cards and motherboards. Thermaltake has served me well for PSUs, and I couldn't give less of a flying shit about OCing. "Oh, but you can squeeze another 10% performance out of your system!" The most I've done is bump my E6700 up from 2.66 to 3.2 GHz, and I'm firmly convinced it's all just a pissing contest. The stock cooler will do you fine, and you can spend the money upgrading something else. I mean, the $40 that you'd spend upgrading the stock CPU cooler could go towards a 4870 512 Mb which will give you a solid 10-15% better FPS. The 4850 is a good card for its price, but a faster GPU is more important than a CPU for most "important" tasks if you get my drift. I would, in a heartbeat, upgrade that GPU before purchasing a better heatsink to OC the cpu.

OCing is meant to be done at high percentages over stock. We wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't worth it.

I have an E2140. It runs 1.6GHz stock. I paid 70$ for it a year or two ago. I threw a 36$ cooler on it. It runs at 3.2GHz 24/7, that's a 100% overclock. Not every CPU can do that, but I knew it could, so I spent the money. 106$ would've gotten me an E4xxxx around then, and it wouldn't have OC'd as high. I spent my money wisely.

Now I admit someone who buys an E7400 and a 50$ cooler (Very likely since the Xigmatek and it's retention bracket go for around that much.) for it and OCs it to 3.4GHz didn't exactly get his money's worth. He would've been better off with the E8300 he could've gotten for that kind of money. But that's what I mean about doing it wisely. Because an E7400 can do 4GHz on air. And an E8300 can probably do about that too, but it has more cache. Friend of mine had an E7300 that he ran at 2.9GHz, and then bought a QX6850 for 250$ when it wasn't preforming well enough. Well that E7300 was good to go up to 3.7GHz about. But rather than get his money's worth out of his CPU, he went and got another one, which he isn't planning to OC by the way, which is twice the waste because that's an extreme edition, unlocked multiplier.

o rly now...
I influenced Ex on a computer build issue?
Let me know how the product performs.

I was joking actually.

but whhhhhhhhhy

Front intake fans are mainly for cooling hard drives (not particularly effective at anything else, according to some sources), so if you want to cool your hard drives, just get a case that can have a fan or two in front of the hard drives to blow on them.

Your case's exhaust fans are what provide the main airflow through the case, btw.

Just so you know. My purchasing has been delayed until I can come up with additional funding. Expect topic to revive in July and August.