Thoughts on this final setup?

[Cycloptis]

Well, except for the monitor:

ATI Radeon X1900XT
AMD Athlon X2 4800+
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Edition
OCZ EL Platinum PC3200 2GB 2x1GB DDR400
Enermax Liberty ELT500AWT 500W
Western Digital WD4000YR
Plextor PX-716A IDE
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Cooler Master Cavalier 1

Now I just need suggestions for a monitor. In addition, it would be helpful if you provided comments on the pieces already there. (YES I know Crossfire doesn't work in my motherboard, but I have a single ATI card in there anyways). Remember, the more comments/recommendations you make (hopefully without flaming me), the easier it will be for me to finish the list. As a result, I'll not have to bother you with these generic threads for a long time yet.

EDIT: I live in Canada, just in case that'll affect availability(and it probably would).

 

[mwmorph]

drop fatality and get extrememusic. the fatality only gets you some embedded dram which gains some performance but not nearly enough to justify the cost.(like a couple %)
drop the platinum and go valureram amd64s care nothing about latency or bandwith.
plextor is overpriced but good, if you want to save some money get a benq or nec3550a dvd writer. same level of performance 1/3 to 1/2 the cost.

as for monitor, get a dell 2405 or a Sony GDM FW900
the dell is smallter, sleeker, newer, uses less energy but the sony has the trump card of better image quality, abosolutely no ghosting and actual decent resolution scaling. Your chouice. Form or Function?

 

[Cycloptis]

I'm just waiting to see the comments (hopefully) pile so I hope you don't mind if I just sit here and wait. Thanks for your reply, though, I'll definitely analyze it to the T.

lmao, that's just the monitor I was looking at. The main problem is they don't ship to Canada. (I should probably make a note of that in my original post).

 

[Rommels]

L90D+

 

[potato28]

This Viewsonic or this Viewsonic will probly fit the needs. EDIT: me no spel good.

 

[Cycloptis]

Would it be advisable to go for CRT or LCD? These all seem like good LCDs you guys are showing (and that one CRT was a dream, but I can't get it), but with LCDs come native resolutions. Just a thought.



And a subliminal bump too.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

well i like it. amds are rather picky(in my case)of ram and if u game. and have been for a while and switched to premium ram. i notice a HUGE difference

 

[Rommels]

Native slative...by the time a game comes that you want to play that your card can't handle any more at native you can just sell your old get a new.
A freind of mine just sold his 6800 ultra for $350 on ebay, bought a new 7800gt.

 

[mwmorph]

lcds have antive and hgenerally look great at natve but say if your lcd is a 1280x0124 ant i have to play a particualrly demanding game at 1024x768(s you will surely need to as time goes on). The game will look blurry, alised and crappy due to the pixel scaling. This annoyed the heck out of me that Iplayed games under native in a window and then eventually switched back to my old CRT. My 9800xt just couldnt keep up at 1280x1024 in games like quake4/bf2 and it was absolutely horrible.

Originally posted by: HybridSquirrel
well i like it. amds are rather picky(in my case)of ram and if u game. and have been for a while and switched to premium ram. i notice a HUGE difference

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

use the money to buy a better gfx card.

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: Rommels
Native slative...by the time a game comes that you want to play that your card can't handle any more at native you can just sell your old get a new.
A freind of mine just sold his 6800 ultra for $350 on ebay, bought a new 7800gt.

That's actually something I never thought of.

In either case, I've never been one to notice the downside of choosing a non-native resolution, at least in games. On Windows, I can notice blurred text, but in games not so much.

If I were to go with LCD, what would probably be a good resolution to stick with? 1600x1200 or 1280x1024?

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
lcds have antive and hgenerally look great at natve but say if your lcd is a 1280x0124 ant i have to play a particualrly demanding game at 1024x768(s you will surely need to as time goes on). The game will look blurry, alised and crappy due to the pixel scaling. This annoyed the heck out of me that Iplayed games under native in a window and then eventually switched back to my old CRT. My 9800xt just couldnt keep up at 1280x1024 in games like quake4/bf2 and it was absolutely horrible.

So if I were to go with CRT then, would any 19 or 20" monitor be good?

I've been considering widescreen, but it's really hard to find widescreen CRT monitors. If I go with LCD then I have to make sure to keep up with the technology.

 

[Rommels]

Hasn't somebody out there developed a program that will play games on an LCD at a lower resolution but the CLD doesn't actually change it's resolution it just adds black where nothing is going on?

Ok, I could have explained that better ;p

 

[overst33r]

why do you have an SLI mobo if you have a ATI card...

 

[Rommels]

He likes payin for things he ain't gonna be using ;p

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: mariok2006
why do you have an SLI mobo if you have a ATI card...

I was going to get the 512MB 7800GTX, but then the X1900XT came out. I have to order now, I can't wait for the next Nvidia cards. I want the option for SLI, though, but I more than likely won't be using it.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Cycloptis

Originally posted by: mwmorph
lcds have antive and hgenerally look great at natve but say if your lcd is a 1280x0124 ant i have to play a particualrly demanding game at 1024x768(s you will surely need to as time goes on). The game will look blurry, alised and crappy due to the pixel scaling. This annoyed the heck out of me that Iplayed games under native in a window and then eventually switched back to my old CRT. My 9800xt just couldnt keep up at 1280x1024 in games like quake4/bf2 and it was absolutely horrible.

So if I were to go with CRT then, would any 19 or 20" monitor be good?

I've been considering widescreen, but it's really hard to find widescreen CRT monitors. If I go with LCD then I have to make sure to keep up with the technology.

CRTs adjust to resoutions much better, shooting tiny electrons and all instead of having fixed pixels.

The CRT monitors will be good and a lcd will be good but for best image quality, i'd say CRt. if you plan to kee your pc say 2 years to amybe 2.5 years, a 1280x1024 lcd will suit you fine but longer than that and you will probably need to paly at a lower resolution and a crt becomes a huge benefit there.

LCD:
cool looking
energy efficent
simple screen adjustments
technically perfect geometry

CRT:
True blacks possible
great though not 100% perfect geometry(you probably wont notice on a trinitron, the difference will be fractions of a mm on a properly adjusted screen)
great resolution adjustments
acts as a mild space heater in winter.

 

[Rommels]

A space heater for sure.
This room used to be warmer (80F), now I got my LCD...not so warm any more(75F)...But I would still pick my LCD over my CRT.
Don't get me wrong I love CRT's but now I love my LCD more ;p
Take the leap to LCD, you know you want to ;p

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: Cycloptis

Originally posted by: mwmorph
lcds have antive and hgenerally look great at natve but say if your lcd is a 1280x0124 ant i have to play a particualrly demanding game at 1024x768(s you will surely need to as time goes on). The game will look blurry, alised and crappy due to the pixel scaling. This annoyed the heck out of me that Iplayed games under native in a window and then eventually switched back to my old CRT. My 9800xt just couldnt keep up at 1280x1024 in games like quake4/bf2 and it was absolutely horrible.

So if I were to go with CRT then, would any 19 or 20" monitor be good?

I've been considering widescreen, but it's really hard to find widescreen CRT monitors. If I go with LCD then I have to make sure to keep up with the technology.

CRTs adjust to resoutions much better, shooting tiny electrons and all.

The CRT monitors will be good and a lcd will be good but for best image quality, i'd say CRt. if you plan to kee your pc say 2 years to amybe 2.5 years, a 1280x1024 lcd will suit you fine but longer than that and you will probably need to paly at a lower resolution and a crt becomes a huge benefit there.

LCD:
cool looking
energy efficent
simple screen adjustments
technically perfect geometry

CRT:
True blacks possible
great though not 100% perfect geometry(you probsably wont notice on a trinitron, the difference will be franctions of a mm on a properly adjusted screen)
great resolution adjustments
acts as a mild space heater in winter.

Well I'll ALWAYS have access to some cheap CRT monitor that I've got stashed away somewhere else, so I think I'm going to go with an LCD since I can afford to upgrade something every year or so.

In which case I'll just stick with a 1280x1024 19" monitor that rocks. I've been using a 19" LCD for about two years now, and I've gotten used to the image. In fact, I didn't even have a choice in picking it. I imagine this time, with more technological know-how, I'll get something much better.

I'm going to go check out those ones listed in the thread right now. I think if I decided to go with 1600x1200 then it would be tough to keep up with the necessary power to run games at the resolution. 1280x1024, despite being 5:3, seems to be a nice middle ground.

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: Rommels
A space heater for sure.
This room used to be warmer (80F), now I got my LCD...not so warm any more(75F)...But I would still pick my LCD over my CRT.
Don't get me wrong I love CRT's but now I love my LCD more ;p
Take the leap to LCD, you know you want to ;p

Well I think I might. Besides, great CRTs are dirt cheap nowadays so if I ever need to get one it'll be incredibly easy.

 

[Cycloptis]

Well actually if you guys are up for another question, I'd appreciate it. Widescreen or not? Not too many games use it yet, but it's apparently nice when a game does. On the other hand, fullscreen games would be a burden to resize and such. ~_~

 

[Bobthelost]

There are hacks for most/many games so you can use widescreen. There are issues with 20" screens in that they aren't very tall, and there isn't all that much realestate to play with, 24" screens are fantastic, but you do need a high end GPU for them and have to be willing to keep shelling out to keep up with latest games.

 

[Rommels]

Highly dirt cheap, I saw a KDS USA 19" for $120, almsot got that but somebody in the family said if I get a LCD they would give my $100 ;p

 

[Looney]

Where are you in Canada? I have that exact same monitor, but it's branded Sony (which it is originally), and looks better than the (the bezel/case color is much better).

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
There are hacks for most/many games so you can use widescreen. There are issues with 20" screens in that they aren't very tall, and there isn't all that much realestate to play with, 24" screens are fantastic, but you do need a high end GPU for them and have to be willing to keep shelling out to keep up with latest games.

yup. most games work in widescreen well, wether natively or with a hack, but beware many ea games dont take the effort to support it natively and thus the image can look pretty funny. In NFS Most Wanted, there is a widescreen hack and the 3d objects look fine but the guages become all stretched and ugly looking.

 

[Cycloptis]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
There are hacks for most/many games so you can use widescreen. There are issues with 20" screens in that they aren't very tall, and there isn't all that much realestate to play with, 24" screens are fantastic, but you do need a high end GPU for them and have to be willing to keep shelling out to keep up with latest games.

I can go for a 24" widescreen monitor, but the problem is the resolution. If I go for the massive 1900x1200, then keeping up with the framerates would be pretty tough at good quality settings. Of course I could turn the settings down and not the resolution, but that would defeat the purpose of getting a new computer.