Last time (hopefully)

[hyperlite]

Here's the deal. I ordered a monitor from Bestbuy (Same price as Amazon or Newegg, but I had $75 in gift cards). My uncle just informed me today that he would sell me his monitor for $50. He has the Samsung Syncmaster SA350 (size could be 21.5 to 24, not entirely sure now). Also a big plus of this monitor is it does have a 2ms response time, and my asus has a 5ms. My monitor is supposed to get here today though, but it is smaller than my uncle's but, brand new. My uncle's has been sitting in a storage unit for around a month now, I am not sure if it has scratches, but assume it doesn't, and it works perfectly fine. Assume. What is the better choice for image quality? Gaming concerned of course, because if everything goes on schedule, I should be an official member of the PC master race next week.

Also, if you are going to post something here, make sure you read the entire paragraph, and research it a bit, don't just give me BS in your head (unless your name is fr0st, of course).

Sa350 in ation



Asus - easier, already here, no shipping it back to Bestbuy, brand new, but may be smaller screen, lower response time, not sure about overall image quality but I have a hunch Samsung's is better.

And here is the Asus, $150 after tax I paid, but the Samsung is selling for around $200 REFURBISHED. I am getting it for $50.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+21.5 ... &cp=1&lp=1

[CrashDive]

Just get a Mac.

[hyperlite]

Somebody delete his comment and my comment. This is the kind of bullshit I specifically asked not to be here.

[Ivan2006]

Sorry, I would help you, but I know nothing about screens.

[CrashDive]

Somebody delete his comment and my comment. This is the kind of bullshit I specifically asked not to be here.

Why? Macs just work. Best computers ever won't have to worry about screens and stuff.

[hyperlite]

Actually, I just watched a video with the Samsung screen, and the guy said it was comparable quality to an iMac. I have seen an iMacs screen, a 27 inch iMac, it looked great, super high quality, but, the benefits of Windows machines greatly outweigh this, and I can get the Samsung and have same quality image.

[ACH0225]

Get both. Hook them up to same computer, bigger screen/multitasking

[hyperlite]

Well, ya see, no. I can only choose 1. Which one should I choose? I am really leaning towards the Samsung, heavily, though I have had an experience in Samsung TVS. They have great image quality but one big tv I had is now in garage because half of the pixels on the screen died after 5 years of use. This thing may have been used (not very heavily) for about a year or two. Monitors are also different than Tvs, maybe Samsung doesn't have a problem with dead pixel monitors. Whatever I get, it will look amazzing compared to this laptop display, at least 5 times better.

[fr0stbyte124]

My general advice:

• Get your reviews from Newegg. In my experience they have been the most helpful.
• Any response time < 10ms is going to be imperceptible in real-world scenarios. Monitor/TV manufacturers often overengineer the specs on their devices, because perceived superiority is what sells units.
• Don't trust the brightness of floor models. They are all cranked up to 100% to look good in showroom lighting. Color reproduction is a better indication of the picture quality assuming they have been calibrated. Even then, though, it's really hard to know for sure until you hook it up in the room you will be using it in.
• I normally wouldn't go refurbished on a monitor (absolutely never go refurbished on hard drives, btw), but $50 bucks is not too bad for a gamble.
• Contrast ratio is important for image quality. The best you are going to see is 10,000:1 and bigger is always better. However, if they are advertising a adaptive or a smart or a dynamic contrast ratio with numbers in the millions, they are lying their ass off. The way they get those numbers by changing the backlight levels to reduce the bleeding on dark screens, but it looks exactly like if you lowered the brightness on your tv (ie, terrible), so you'll never want to use it in practice. Ignore this number and ask for the static contrast ratio if it is not listed.
• Best Buy makes a ton of money from peddling extended warranties on its customers, regardless of whether they are useful. Don't buy it and instead look at what the manufacturer's warranty already gets you. ASUS and Samsung are both pretty good with customer service. Expect no support if you ever get an ACER.
• Don't get a Mac. Or any other OEM PC for that matter. They often sneak in things on the OS or in the hardware or BIOS that restrict your ability to upgrade or use 3rd party components, and you'll be learning all about the ways you got screwed the day after it is too late to back out. Plus, it is ridiculously easy nowadays to build a desktop PC from parts.
• One thing you may not have considered is if you want to upgrade to a dual monitor setup at some point down the road. If you do, you will be much happier if you can have two of the same model. Anything else is always going to look slightly off in some way. If you think you might want this, make sure that the monitor you get isn't too old or a second one might not be available by the time you want it. That's just personal preference, though.
• Newer LCD monitors are much better about dead pixels than the older generations were, but I would probably scrap a monitor with even one, if it is particularly visible. That sort of thing will drive you mad over time.
• 1920x1080 is a great resolution for movies and games, but there is really no reason to go any higher than that. After 1080p you get dwindling returns and sharply reduced performance on most games. Not Minecraft, though, but Minecraft is funny like that.
• Eh, really you'll likely be happy with anything, once you grow accustomed to it, so don't agonize too hard over what to get. Monitors that are explicitly bad for gaming don't really exist anymore (in the desktop market, at any rate), so go with whichever you like.

[hyperlite]

Going for Samsung, will use the Bestbuy credit to get the EVGA 650ti SSC. It is on sale for 147.98 as compared to Newegg's 260 for the same card.

[Prototype]

Just get a Mac.

Worst possible solution, Macs suck at gaming, I know, I own a two month old top of the range Mac, and it handles games worse than my 7 year old laptop.

[hyperlite]

Asus just got here, and it is tempting to open it, but for an easy return I won't.

[hyperlite]

Well crap, now I have another conflict, not sure about. I have had it before, it is the GPU. Should I get this

it is a galaxy card because Bestbuy is out of EVGAs, though this brand performs similarly and it also has 2 fans and less of a case, which combine for better cooling. My computer case would be able to fit it. But Galaxy is smaller than EVGA and has less driver support, but this won't be an issue with a 660. So, should I stretch it all the way?
Oh, it also has a full size hdmi out, and not a mini like the 650ti. That is a $5 saving right there!


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Galaxy+-+GC ... &cp=1&lp=2

Or the cheaper option this

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/EVGA+-+NVID ... &cp=1&lp=1

I feel that the 660 will last a lot longer than the 650ti and I will be a lot happier with it. But it stretches to the very end of my budget. What else am I gonna spend my money on though? Books?

[Chairman_Tiel]

Go for the 660. It's EVGA and it's a good futureproof; much faster chipset than the 650.

[hyperlite]

First of all, the 660 is the galaxy one. But I agree, driver support is not that important, also, since I now will have 5 fans total in my case (2 in card, 2 power supply, 1 cpu fan), I could easily overclock with no issues there. But why would I need to? This thing is gonna be a beast already. I am excited .