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Mycotopiotic



Registered: 08/18/10
Posts: 67
Loc: over the edge
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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help with gaming pc build
#19154949 - 11/18/13 03:56 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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I've been contemplating lately upgrading my gaming rig (if you can call it that), currently it's an alienware m14. I'm looking to spend 1-2k, and there's an overwhelming choice of components to choose. This will be the first pc I've built and I'd like to get a couple years (hopefully) out of it!
I know a little bit about components, from upgrading my old old desktop, but I don't keep up with any of it. Any input will be greatly appreciated!
-------------------- When can I take you from this place? When is the word but a sigh? When is death our lone beholder? When would we walk the final steps? When can we scream instead of whisper? When is the new beginning, and the end of this sad Madrigal
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DieCommie

Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Note that you get diminishing returns on every extra dollar spent on your PC. That is, a 2k PC will not be nearly twice as good as a 1k PC.
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deadwk
00101011


Registered: 06/17/09
Posts: 8,890
Loc: Canada, eh?
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: DieCommie]
#19157331 - 11/18/13 10:42 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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For 1K-2K you can build a pretty slick gaming PC, if you already have some components (Monitor, keyboard, Mouse) this will allow you to save on your build, and devote more money to components. For $1423 I built a gaming pc with the following components, and I bought a high end Keyboard, and 1080P HD monitor. Without the monitor and keyboard, this build would run around $1200 depending on the exact price you get your goods at.
If you aren't going to overclock (which I recommend you don't, unless you get a raging boner at overclocking) you don't need to get a super awesome cooling system. I use the stock cooler that came with my CPU, and 2 extra case fans, and I love the temps my system gets to during gaming, and when it's idling.
If you don't want to spend as much money, I'd recommend going for 8GB of RAM, and a lower grade GPU. I was able to save some money because my Bose sound system connects through USB, so I didn't need to buy a dedicated sound card.
You can use these components as a guideline, and look for lesser tier gear and help save some money. You need to pay attention to the socket type on the motherboard, the socket type of the processor, and the form factor for the Motherboard (ATX, ATX12V) and the case you are getting (AT,ATX,ATX12V). Be wary of the number of PCI and PCIe slots you have.
If you have any questions as to whether your components will work in your system, feel free to post here or PM me.
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760M, came pre-overclocked so that's nice!!! (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=85587)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87X-D3H Motherboard (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=84040)
CPU: i5-4670 3.4Ghz (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=81328)
RAM: G.Skill 16gb 8x2 (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=73133&vpn=F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL&manufacture=G.Skill&promoid=1287)
Case: http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=66063
PSU: http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=58382&vpn=CP-9020042-NA&manufacture=Corsair&promoid=1287
That wasn't the PSU I got, I went for a 650W which is enough to power my system.
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Juicin
Stranger

Registered: 10/27/13
Posts: 897
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I've built a couple rigs
Patience is the key in this, there are all sorts of sites out there that compare prices and index deals. Decide on a few possible GPUs and monitor their price, ask around on PC forums.
pc part picker is a great site for some building your first. Gives compatibility and price on most of the major sites. And is where I would start to get an idea of what you need and a rough idea of how much it will cost.
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Galvie_Flu



Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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coming from a former and current Gigabyte Mobo user, I suggest against Gigabyte for anything, simply due to their customer service. Whenever I had problems they would simply tell me to update bios, which never worked. I'd go with an Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 with an FX- 8320, you can overclock that niceley with good cooling, make sure your case will fit a cpu heatsink cuz you'll be buying one, especially if you go intel which their chips get hot. For GPU get 1 nice one, instead of 2 mediocre ones.
For Hard drive, if you want to get a fast one, look at the Velociraptor HDD's, mabey you'll want 1 Raptor and a 1TB, with external usb 3.0 backup.
Edited by Galvie_Flu (11/19/13 03:33 AM)
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant


Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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1-2k is a pretty huge gap, ranging from a budget pc to a rather high end pc.....
every time somebody says something like this I feel like they really mean they want to spend $700 after debating it with us for months...
$179.99 Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Mid Tower Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139006
$159.99 CORSAIR AX series AX760 760W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139042
$199 ASUS Z87-PRO LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131979
$239 Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899
$91 CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 120mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181031
$174.99 G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10D-16GTX
$439 EVGA 04G-P4-3776-KR GeForce GTX 770 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support FTW 4GB Dual w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130948
$239 SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2W00ZD1539
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$1,721.97
If you want to spend less, half the ram to 8gb kit, downgrade the video card to an evga 760, get a cheaper case like a corsair carbide 400r, cheaper motherboard like asrock z87 extreme6, cheaper cooler is corsair 60i.... all are still nice products, and would probably take the total down to $1300... you could also forgo the modular power supply and save like $60 and still have a quality one, but it's a lot harder to have a nice looking rig and hide the wire clutter...
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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Mycotopiotic



Registered: 08/18/10
Posts: 67
Loc: over the edge
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#19160978 - 11/19/13 06:04 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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I just recently got a toshiba 1tb external hd, but I'm looking to drop a solid state into this desktop. I think I just want to dump a bunch of money into the CPU, GPU, and HD right? Everything else can be somewhat lacking?
Thing is, I don't know which of those to go with. I've been told i-5 over i-7 for gaming, and AMD is better than nvidia right now, yadda yadda. But is it to each their own?
-------------------- When can I take you from this place? When is the word but a sigh? When is death our lone beholder? When would we walk the final steps? When can we scream instead of whisper? When is the new beginning, and the end of this sad Madrigal
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant


Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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i5 is best bang for the buck for gaming, diminishing returns on i7, but i7 is better... just not much...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-5.html
graphics card reviews @ $300+ price point, the gtx 770 is the high end gaming pick, you don't have to go with the high end 4gb card and can opt w/ the 2gb one and that will save you a good $80-90 off the 4gb model.... is up to you
whatever you do don't skimp out on a power supply, i wouldn't go less than $90 for say a Corsair Tx 650w. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
you can skimp some on case, motherboard if you don't plan to overclock (to an extent, don't get total crap)... you can get 8gb of 1600mhz ram.... don't skimp on cpu (don't need unlocked cpu though if you aren't OCing), gpu, or solid state drive... and most definitely not the power supply...
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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Galvie_Flu



Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: CosmicJoke]
#19161644 - 11/19/13 07:58 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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never a bad idea to get a more powerful PSU. Mines 880W, just to be safe. Have 3 120mm fans running, you'll want to buy intake, exhaust fans too. My comp is loud tho.
Any input on the 9000 series of AMD CPU's?
Also, note that water coolers have leaked coolant into peoples computers, only reason I prefer Air. I'm running stock CPU heatsink, just upgraded in/out fans, lower temps all around.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#19173374 - 11/22/13 01:38 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Nvidia > *
Water leaks are quite rare unless you use crap components or noob it up
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Galvie_Flu



Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Shroomism]
#19174849 - 11/22/13 01:19 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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I'm good for right now, the ambient temps are low, so tis the season to overclock.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Galvie_Flu]
#19185320 - 11/25/13 01:59 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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tis always the season to overclock
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Mycotopiotic



Registered: 08/18/10
Posts: 67
Loc: over the edge
Last seen: 4 years, 1 month
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Shroomism]
#19200005 - 11/28/13 09:44 AM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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that looks like a pretty badass build. I have a few questions though.
If I only game in short increments anymore, like a few hours at a time, do I really need the water cooler thing? It seems like just a case fan that's water cooled right?
And will that video card be able to hold up me playing a game (dota2, skyrim, d3/poe) and watching a hd movie on dual monitors without a problem?
Should I invest in higher than 60hz monitors? I currently have 1 Dell ST2421L, I was thinking of just getting a 2nd.
Thinking of waiting until Monday to see if there are any better deals, if not I'm going to start piecing this together!
-------------------- When can I take you from this place? When is the word but a sigh? When is death our lone beholder? When would we walk the final steps? When can we scream instead of whisper? When is the new beginning, and the end of this sad Madrigal
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deadwk
00101011


Registered: 06/17/09
Posts: 8,890
Loc: Canada, eh?
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Water cooling is a bit over the top IMO, even if you're over clocking. You can always get an after-market CPU fan+heat sink, and get some case fans. Plus when you spend money on an unneeded device like water cooling you are taking away money from your system. $179 for water cooling? If you don't plan on overclocking you don't need any after-market cooling systems. That's $179 you could spend on additional hardware.
IMO (this is going to offend people) water cooling is for those elitist hot-shot gamers. There is no need for it, it's a waste of money.
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Galvie_Flu



Registered: 06/30/02
Posts: 6,632
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: deadwk]
#19201726 - 11/28/13 05:37 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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what he said ^^ only really needed when you run a stress test on the computer, those can burn out the components.
And honestly, i think it will run 2 moniters fine, is it the 2GB one? those are better if your running 2 displays, i have one gonig to my HD smart tv.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: deadwk]
#19203102 - 11/28/13 11:29 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
thedeadwalkk said: Water cooling is a bit over the top IMO, even if you're over clocking. You can always get an after-market CPU fan+heat sink, and get some case fans. Plus when you spend money on an unneeded device like water cooling you are taking away money from your system. $179 for water cooling? If you don't plan on overclocking you don't need any after-market cooling systems. That's $179 you could spend on additional hardware.
IMO (this is going to offend people) water cooling is for those elitist hot-shot gamers. There is no need for it, it's a waste of money.
Erm. Not so much.
Water cooling is one of the best ways to keep temps down. ESPECIALLY when overclocking. And you don't have to go all crazy with a custom water loop. The all-in-one CPU watercoolers like a Corsair H80i/H100i and similar are affordable and do a very good job without much effort and are pretty much maintenance free.
There's not much need to watercool GPUs these days unless you have some SUPER hot running card (R9 280x ). But any Nvidia 600/700 series, water is usually overkill unless you are running quad SLI or someshit.
CPU watercooling, is easy and very beneficial. It will extend the lifespan of your CPU especially if you are overclocking. Lower Temps = longer lifespan. Fact.
My CPU, I have 10-15C difference in temps between air and water. That's a big difference. And that's just using a Corsair H60.. no crazy custom loop.
i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5GHz, rock solid stable for almost 3 years. Max temps at 65C under Prime95 and Linx CPU stress tests.
Water cooling the CPU is much easier for the average person nowadays with All-in-one CPU coolers that require no maintenance aside from blowing dust out of the RAD every once in a while.
Is it absolutely necessary? No.. you can get by with air cooling. A decent aftermarket air cooler and good airflow will work fine. BUT you are likely spending ~$60 on that aftermarket air heatsink, might as well spend a tiny bit extra and go water which will always keep temps lower than air.
Heat is the number one enemy of processors and that which shortens their lifespan the fastest.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



Registered: 02/13/00
Posts: 66,015
Loc: 9th Dimension
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Quote:
Mycotopiotic said: that looks like a pretty badass build. I have a few questions though.
If I only game in short increments anymore, like a few hours at a time, do I really need the water cooler thing? It seems like just a case fan that's water cooled right?
See my above post. The H80i CJ linked is basically an "All-in-one" watercooling for the CPU that comes complete with everything assembled together and non-removable. Which includes the waterblock (the part that makes contact with and cools the CPU), the tubing, water pump, radiator and fan.
It's basically the exact same principle as the radiator / water/antifreeze cooling in your car. The "waterblock" sits on top of the CPU and absorbs heat through the metal. Water flows through channels in the metal, transferring the heat to the water.. the heated water goes through tubes and into the radiator which dissipates the heat through a series of thin tubes with fins attached to them to provide maximum surface area for the heat, a fan on the radiator helps actively cool the radiator. The cooled water then exits the radiator and back into your loop.. repeating the process.
Quote:
And will that video card be able to hold up me playing a game (dota2, skyrim, d3/poe) and watching a hd movie on dual monitors without a problem?
Which one? a 770 4GB? For sure. Not sure why you'd want to play a game and watch a movie at the same time though but whatever.
Quote:
Should I invest in higher than 60hz monitors? I currently have 1 Dell ST2421L, I was thinking of just getting a 2nd.
Unless you plan on doing 3D Surround (gaming spanned across 3 identical monitors in 3D, which requires 120Hz monitors), there's really no need atm.
Quote:
Thinking of waiting until Monday to see if there are any better deals, if not I'm going to start piecing this together!
Cyber Monday 
Quote:
Thing is, I don't know which of those to go with. I've been told i-5 over i-7 for gaming
i5 will give you a better bang for your buck for gaming. The i7 holds a very slight edge... but Hyperthreading is not needed for gaming - unless you are doing VIDEO EDITING and whatnot, then go with the i5. The extra you spend on an i7 would essentially be wasted as it's not going to give you a dramatic increase in game performance. I'd recommend an i5-4670K
Quote:
Mycotopiotic said: I just recently got a toshiba 1tb external hd, but I'm looking to drop a solid state into this desktop. I think I just want to dump a bunch of money into the CPU, GPU, and HD right? Everything else can be somewhat lacking?
DO NOT skimp on the PSU. Many people do and that is a big mistake, as the PSU is the LIFEBLOOD of your system. Cheap PSUs like to go POP and die, and oftentimes.. fry other components in your system in the process.
DO NOT get high end hardware and then power it with a crappy PSU.
More important than wattage is the QUALITY of the PSU. The top reputable high quality brands are Seasonic, Corsair, EVGA, Enermax, Cooler Master, LEPA, Cougar, PC Power and Cooling (before they got bought out by OCZ....)
Brands to avoid like the plague: OCZ, Kingwin, Rosewill, Ultra, Dynex (best buy brand), Powmax, cheap Thermaltakes, Apevia, Q-Tec, and any generic or no-name.
Been working in the PC industry for ~15 years. Crappy PSUs are the NUMBER ONE CAUSE of weird system failures and dead/fried components. I have seen many a fried motherboard and graphics card due to shit power supplies. Sometimes they catch fire. Quality PSUs will almost never have these problems, as they are built to MUCH higher quality standards and have many built in fail-safes like overcurrent protection, overvoltage protection, short circuit protection, undervoltage protection, etc. Meaning if they DO majorly fuck up , it will just shut itself down instead of overvolting and frying the rest of your system.
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teknix
πβπ
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Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 11,953
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Quote:
Mycotopiotic said: I've been contemplating lately upgrading my gaming rig (if you can call it that), currently it's an alienware m14. I'm looking to spend 1-2k, and there's an overwhelming choice of components to choose. This will be the first pc I've built and I'd like to get a couple years (hopefully) out of it!
I know a little bit about components, from upgrading my old old desktop, but I don't keep up with any of it. Any input will be greatly appreciated!
Well, I'm planning on investing around 2.5k on a badass gaming PC/LTC coin miner(which will use dual to quad Radeon 7950+ GPU's , I would start with the motherboard and a good powersupply and go from there, because the motherboard and PSU is what determines your upgradability in the future.
IMO, the case is the last thing to worry about, followed by the harddrive.
So, imo, get a badass mobo, pcu, and graphics card and then determine how much money you have left for the other stuffs.
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teknix
πβπ
’ππ
π°π‘ πΌπ⨻



Registered: 09/16/08
Posts: 11,953
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: DieCommie]
#19206651 - 11/29/13 10:00 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
DieCommie said: Note that you get diminishing returns on every extra dollar spent on your PC. That is, a 2k PC will not be nearly twice as good as a 1k PC.
It could be a return in investment if it is plotted right. ^.^
(Which I know that you know that I know that you know . . )
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CosmicJoke
happy mutant


Registered: 04/05/00
Posts: 10,848
Loc: Portland, OR
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Re: help with gaming pc build [Re: Shroomism]
#19206903 - 11/29/13 11:19 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomism said:
Not sure why you'd want to play a game and watch a movie at the same time though but whatever.
Quote:
Should I invest in higher than 60hz monitors? I currently have 1 Dell ST2421L, I was thinking of just getting a 2nd.
Unless you plan on doing 3D Surround (gaming spanned across 3 identical monitors in 3D, which requires 120Hz monitors), there's really no need atm.
I know you've played games where you've had to grind like WoW & Diablo, a second display to do anything remotely mind expanding is a lifesaver imho But yah, using a second screen for surfing & playback really uses no extra graphics card resources, you won't see any fps loss... this holds true on my laptop w/ a 650m that runs in clamshell w/ two 1440p display. it's only when spanning a game over two displays that you'll see a massive bottleneck if you don't have the gpu for it.....
i figured with the 120hz displays you could run without vsync on games where your fps exceeds 60fps but doesn't exceed 120fps and you wouldn't see the occasional tiny stutter from running vsync or the screen tear of your fps exceeding 60fps... is the advantage i could see... but personally if i was gonna fork out the cash on an expensive display i'd get 1440p IPS displays, i love my dell u2713h displays, amazing color accuracy, contrast, everything pops... 60hz and higher input lag though....
-------------------- Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good. If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence. I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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