The PC Snobbery Thread

[Badger3920]

Hey to each his own. I'd take an LED monitor any day of the week, and bet $50 that it wouldn't have a dead pixel. Those happen, but it's not some massive chance that you'll get the monitor that slipped past QA or was damaged in transit. So that's not a huge concern. Clarity, crispness, color, and brightness are pretty amazing in them. And they're not that expensive.

Or, you can always buy a used relic from the stone age for the same price!

[Favelle]

I'm gonna save that link for now.. Probably the best deal I've seen on SSDs in like ever(no I will never pay $200 for 60 GB I don't care what kind of boost I get). Definitely a good deal, even after the discount fizzles. I'm sure I'll get enough money for Christmas to subsidize this or cover the entire cost outright. It is my first holiday as a graduate, after all. /high hopes to probably be dashed.

MTBF is 1.5 million hours? You mean to say close to 200 years?

Yup, pretty solid man. Run the SSD as an OS/main programs drive.....you will see performance instantly. Ask anyone who's got one...they will NEVER go back to spinning HD's again. Post here before buying/installing. Gotta change stuff in the BIOS prior to.

[MA16v3]

Yup, pretty solid man. Run the SSD as an OS/main programs drive.....you will see performance instantly. Ask anyone who's got one...they will NEVER go back to spinning HD's again. Post here before buying/installing. Gotta change stuff in the BIOS prior to.

You mean like boot priority? What else would need to be changed?

And yeah, SSD as primary OS drive is the intent. I'd still edit off of and render to platters but 120 GB would give plenty of headroom for more programs and games for sure.

[twonunpackmule]

Ugh, it's taking ssssssoooooo long to defrag my HDD. I want to play some Old Republic.

[KTA]

Dudez steam sale:

Half-Life 2: Episode One
1.99 USD
Psychonauts
2.49 USD
Fable III
12.49 USD
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
4.99 USD
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
1.99 USD
Dungeons of Dredmor Pack with Realm of the Diggle Gods
1.87 USD

Subtotal
25.82 USD

Not bad, I didn't have digital versions of HL: EP 1 & 2. Now I do.

[twonunpackmule]

I could have gifted Episode 1 to ya.

I have a copy of Half Life 2 and Episode 1 to give out.

[KTA]

well I have the box's tucked away somewhere so I would have felt odd about that. It's just me being lazy and not wanting to import a disc I have in storage into steam with that price.

BTW are you confirmed for MAGFEST? And did you need a hotel room? FB message sorta confused me.

[twonunpackmule]

I have a ticket for Magfest. Right now, I'm going. But, with the nature of my work it's hard for me to make long term plans. I'll at least go one of the days. I don't know if I need a hotel room yet. However, if there's an opening available for one, I'm driving down with one of my friends - and meeting several of them down there - and it would be helpful if there was room for him too.

[KTA]

We'll just wing it, i'm sure there's floor room somewhere. I think Godstar is going to.

[Blinx123]

I posted a link to the JVC monitors. Just get a few of those.

Seriously?

I utter the need for an inexpensive, colour accurate monitor without dead pixels and next to no latency and you suggest something that is way beyond what I paid for my whole computer?

Tell you guys what. If I can find a mint Sony GDM FW-900, I'll buy it. If I can't, I'll buy a consumer S-IPS panel by either Viewsonic or LG. Easy as that.

[twonunpackmule]

We'll just wing it, i'm sure there's floor room somewhere. I think Godstar is going to.

I look forward to the meet and greet. I might be skinny and wimpy, but just be warned that I'm a heavy drinker.

Ugh, I just came back from a bar with a $45 tab. So pissed.

[twonunpackmule]

Seriously?

No. I was being a dick. I have a hard time believing people that aren't myself when it comes to monitor quality. I just don't think average users can tell a notable difference. You're a numbers guy and I just don't believe half the shit you say. Sorry.

A used FW-900 will not net you better performance than a reasonable price LED Monitor. The monitor is too old now. You might get one that will net you solid black for about a year. However, the nature of analog tech is that it doesn't last. It gradually gets worse. Those black will get green over the course of usage.

I loved my monitor for the 4 years that I had it. It's just not a viable solution now. It's been replaced. If you want quality you HAVE to pay for it. If you are doing anything that requires the precision of a CRT then get a cheap secondary one. Don't put your eggs in one basket. It's a waste of money.

Why waste your cash? Why? Instead, spend it on something that will get you 10 years of life. I bought a "top of the line" Samsung LED to replace my Sony. It might not have the black levels of my FW during it's prime, but those blacks won't go green. You missed the boat with those monitors. If this was 2004, I'd say buy it.

[Blinx123]

No. I was being a dick. I have a hard time believing people that aren't myself when it comes to monitor quality. I just don't think average users can tell a notable difference. You're a numbers guy and I just don't believe half the shit you say. Sorry.

Lol? I can totally tell the difference between a cheap LCD, an LED and a CRT. Everyone with two working eyes does, I'd say. So far, there is only one consumer monitor that I've personally looked at and that would suffice. The rest was either too blurry or had washed out colours.

A used FW-900 will not net you better performance than a reasonable price LED Monitor. The monitor is too old now. You might get one that will net you solid black for about a year. However, the nature of analog tech is that it doesn't last. It gradually gets worse. Those black will get green over the course of usage.

I use CRT projectors, so I know that. However, one year seems rather short. Been using my Miro for over 8 years now and still no apparent loss of black. That's why I pointed out I was looking for a "mint" Sony, btw. Mint as in seldom used.

I loved my monitor for the 4 years that I had it. It's just not a viable solution now. It's been replaced. If you want quality you HAVE to pay for it. If you are doing anything that requires the precision of a CRT then get a cheap secondary one. Don't put your eggs in one basket. It's a waste of money.

I don't really need the precision of a CRT (aside of some quick and dirty photo editing, perhaps). The image is just more pleasant to look at and I'm kind of a reactionary. I hate getting used to new conditions. Like having a monitor that doesn't completely block the sight of my wall.

Why waste your cash? Why? Instead, spend it on something that will get you 10 years of life. I bought a "top of the line" Samsung LED to replace my Sony. It might not have the black levels of my FW during it's prime, but those blacks won't go green. You missed the boat with those monitors. If this was 2004, I'd say buy it.

If those Sony tubes are really that poor, I guess I'll have to look into LED monitors after all.

Any advice on which monitor in the sub-400 class got the deepest blacks and best colour accuracy? Without introducing too much ghosting, of course.

[Badger3920]

You're really a strange creature, and probably some merit to the being too much of a "numbers guy" comment.

However the right answer here is that you need to buy what you think will make you the most happy - even if it's just snake oil and placebo effect. If that's a CRT, everyone here is going to throw their arms up like "WTF" but that doesn't matter, the monitor is for you.

At this point, in my opinion, LED's are offering amazing pictures. They're going to beat the pants off of a consumer CRT - especially one that is used and 6-7 years old. I mean, that's just silly.

What do I think you should do? Especially if your budget is $400, holy shit. You said you were worried about seeing your wall. What about getting a larger monitor (seeing as you have a generous budget)? I, too, love the ASUS and Samsung LED's - although I also have a viewsonic which is awesome too (I've gotten more compliments on my ASUS monitor though). With your budget, you can go LED, and you can go bigger - so it blocks your view of your wall if you're concerned about that

I was just looking at LED monitors in your price range, and you can easily get an awesome 24"-27" LED monitor from good name brands like ASUS, LG, Samsung etc at ~$400. 27" is huge. If I were you, I'd maybe tone it down to 24" and save some coin, and get one of the best monitors in that class.

I'd think the perfect solution is looking through the 24" widescreen monitors, finding one with reviews and specs that satisfy the OCD numbers guy inside of you, and going for it (probably only having to spend $300)!

[Blinx123]

You guys are probably right (about everything but the numbers guy stuff. If I would care for numbers that much, I wouldn't have bought a 560 TI after all. Seeing as how the 6970 outperforms it in almost every scenario).

Perhaps I should make some more space, wait till I can either replace my 560 TI with something higher end (Kepler/Southern Islands) or put in a 2nd 560 TI and go dual-monitor.

Some of the consumer monitors already have rather thin frames, haven't they?