The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition

A basic 32" 1080p LEDTV would get the job done solidly but that's not a very large upgrade. My 2407WFP does have Component, VGA, S-Video, etc but the size is just not enough. Also no HDMI. It predates HDMI gaining real popularity by a bit. So while a great monitor also not what I need.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&sku=210-ADKB

If I could find one of these or similar used, I'd buy any convertor box I needed to make it work, haha. It's the perfect size for my needs. But that cost for a good quality one. Ouch!

I can consider my current HDTV/Monitor junk for my needs. It's fiddly due to the mixed and matched parts. Serviceable as a cable TV with occasional DVDs. Frustrating as a multimedia monitor that changes inputs daily. It also lacks color accuracy and contrast, which LED or an IPS panel monitor would improve immensely. Overall image quality and clarity ain't bad for monitor usage though. Basically, a 1080p LEDTV or LED monitor is my cheap option. A 2560 x 1440 monitor is possibly a much more expensive option. I really don't want to pay so much damn money, but I might if that's what it takes to get a proper display. Between 27 and 32 inches is ideal.

 

Edit: Everything previously in this post irrelevant. Dell UltraSharp U2713 27" 2560 x 1440 IPS display ordered used for $350 down from about $600-700. I'd say that's the push I needed.

Y'all can shut up about me getting a higher resolution display now, haha. It's even the exact model I've been looking at for a while now. Was looking at several Korean-made displays that use rejected Apple Cinema Display panels. They are a great deal and okay build quality, but they lack an internal scalar, so are useless for my consoles. They can't even accept a 1080p signal, so even a modern console or Blu Ray player will not work with them. They accept a 2560 x 1440 video card signal only. Only a few select models come with an internal scalar and HDMI. The rest are DVI only, though still excellent monitors.


The Dell does have a scalar, and is a premium model with all the bells and whistles, not a cut-down barebones like I was considering. In fact, the older version of the display linked above. Much better than the 1080p IPS panels I was looking at in the same size. I'm sure they would be nice in their own right, but pixel density beckons me, lol.

The 8ms refresh rate doesn't appeal to me greatly but this TV has somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-16ms and it works fine as far as fast motion is concerned so 8ms should be fine too. It's an $800 monitor new and is an UltraSharp so I think the deal speaks for itself. My 2407WFP is staying a permanent part of my monitor collection into the far future. This TV? Selling it. The 1080p 23.6" Asus monitor? Sold. I think the new UltraSharp will be joining the old in the hallowed halls of stuff I don't want to sell. It also covers 99% of the sRGB colorspace, is factory calibrated, and damnit, it's a Dell monitor lol. The Dell name makes a HUGE difference for me. Their displays are peerless.

Here she is

http://www.amazon.com/Dell-U2713HM-27-Inch-LED-lit-Monitor/dp/B009H0XQQY/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1427461698&sr=8-11&keywords=2560 x 1440 monitor 27"

Beautiful, no? The one I bought is new open box, so should be nearly pristine.

 

Also, Sam, that Philips 40" is amazing. All that size and still 0.2281mm Pixel Pitch? Wow. The 3008wfp has .25 iirc and my 2407 has .27 Of course your 32" has .185mm which is impressive. I'll settle with the U2713HM which has an excellent and nearly as impressive .23mm, topping the 3008

 

The 27" 2560x1440 panels are lovely, take it from me - I installed an Iiyama one for a customer last month and even though it's gloss versus Dell's anti-glare (which many prefer anyway) it's really nice to use, the extra DPI makes things cripser without being difficult to see.

My UP3214Q is amazing when I'm wide awake and concentrating, but when I'm doing long overtime stints into the early hours it's just too much of a burden when graphics cards don't support scaling properly over MST - MST itself is the biggest driver for changing it. I could never go down from 3840x2160 having used it for more than a year, but wanted SST and extra size would be nice to bring the DPI down a little (I can always have it further away) - was shipped today so hopefully by Monday evening I'll have an oversized display on my desk

Trust me, 8ms is fine for gaming

 

Is it pretty common for the 230mm fans in the HAF 932 to fail? Or become noisy? Because mine is making a bit of a racket lol. I used my Scythe fan controller to eliminate the 3 fans that are connected to it, so it's definitely not those. And when I tap on the top of the case, the noise stops for a short time. I guess I could attempt to put rubber between the case and the fan, see if the vibration stops.
But, I suppose it is getting old. Is 900Rpm typical for this size? I wonder if I can coax more out of another fan. Yes, I'm aware it would be noisy, but when it's running jobs, it could be beneficial to the north bridge.

 

The top one in my 932 was replaced pretty early on in its life, was very quiet but just not beefy enough. Had a pair of 120mm Slipstreams (1900) in there since which can do a better job when turned up, yet still be sub-15dB at low speed when cooling the system adequately. Unless I burn test or something daft I can leave them low all day with a low-heat graphics card like the 970 - they were mainly necessary back in the quad crossfire days.
The front LED one, however, is still fitted and sounds the same as it always has - bit of airflow turbulence from the dust filter but very little to be concerned with - especially when next to my ailing file server. It is occasionally prone to blue screening if the room gets too warm, and I have to leave the fans turned up high, which makes a bit of a racket (3x120mm 2000rpm + 2x80mm 4000rpm at about 90% of max speed due to a fan controller being used). On the assumption that it's not the RAID controller getting hot, the CPU/board/RAM/GPU now all being 6 years old I think it might be time to retire the Q9550 for something slightly more efficient. Probably going to stick a midrange Broadwell setup in there. I'm not anticipating Skylake to be anything revolutionary so no point waiting for it.
At the same time, prior to my next LAN party I think I'd like to get an ultra-lightweight machine going to reduce the effort of travelling. The existing PC has survived over 40 events and probably around 20,000 miles without ever suffering a travel-induced fault but the case is getting a bit tired!


Oh and yes, 900rpm is as good as it gets for big fans - any more and they would burn out 3-pin fan headers.

 

Ah yes, I wondered about that lol. So if I require more CFM's, multi 120mm's, or double 140mm's would be the route to take. I guess price will play a role here. I do have a load of old fans laying around. Could be interesting to see if quad 120 is worth it in my case. Oh wait... I only have one 120mm spare :S

Lol... as I was typing this, it finally quieted down! Could simply be a loose fan! I can be hopeful!

 

It is infuriating, as a 200mm fan at something like 1500rpm would be a force to be reckoned with for cooling, produce a fair bit of noise, but nothing high-pitched and irritating and deliver the sort of CFM to dump all the heat that high-performance dual-graphics setups might create if using internal coolers. [FWIW, a 1500rpm large 7-blade fan or an 1150rpm large 9-blade fan would produce almost the exact same noise both in frequency and volume as the fan used in a microwave oven] - sadly this requires the sort of current only bay fan controllers can provide, if you plugged them into a board they'd toast the fan controller circuit in pretty short order.

Oh yes, I also replaced the side 230mm even earlier - initially with four Nexus 120mms, then some Antec tri-cools before finally settling on again, 120mm Slipstream 1900s. Careful though, the acoustic quality of the HAF 932 side panel is horrendous - noise quality + higher dB count make four 120mm side fans noisier than the two tops at only 1000rpm vs the top's 1900, and more annoying to hear at only around 600rpm vs 1900. It's a real whiney high-pitched harmonic - if you've ever owned an Xbox 360 (the original, not the slim), it's very similar to that.

 

Once upon a time, I snickered at your replies regarding noisy fans. But now, I appreciate this kind of feedback. I prefer silence(or near it), with substantial airflow. If I'm running a job, or gaming, it's of little consequence. A cpu intensive job, I usually run errands, or am sleeping. I sleep like a rock, so noise doesn't bother me when I sleep. And when I'm gaming, my stereo easily drowns it out. Plus I'm more focused on game play, than the sounds my computer is generating. Unless it's really irritating. Like anything over 50% GPU/fan. That's a bit noisy lol.

 

As evidenced by the state of my server and how long it's been going on, I don't have the time to put in the effort for quietness that I used to, but that really did frustrate me, so thought you'd want a heads up on that

I can sleep through continuous noise like fans just fine, it's inconsistent noise like hard disks that are a problem - the quieter a PC actually gets, the more of a problem that becomes.

 

Sometimes I shut my computer down for the night. I find it disturbing to be dead silent in my room :S LOL!

 

I replaced the fans in my HAF with 900RPM fans with more aggressive blades. They have substantially more airflow with minimally more noise. 900RPM seems to be the de facto thing for 230mm fans, and the fans themselves aren't terribly common.

 

Yes, the stock HAF fans are 700rpm

 

What's a good CPU cooler for a Lga 775 socket?The pump on my CoolIT SYSTEMS ECO-R120 Advanced Liquid Cooling (ALC) has just died on me.

 

These days it's a case of anything that fits. LGA775 is pretty much 'legacy' in most cooler terms now. You'll probably find that coolers built to fit modern Intel sockets that still support 775. Could look at another CoolIT solution, or revert to air if you're waiting for an upgrade. Unfortunately I'm rather out of the loop (no pun intended) on water systems as I never use them.

 

Hey Sam how have you been? Good to see you still around here. Do you know of a good air cooler for Lga 775? I am not sure if I want to go with another all in one water cooling cpu cooler again after reading some reviews on a few about them leaking or failing and messing up there systems.

 

I also had a coolit eco cooler. It failed rather prematurely if you ask me!

This is what I'm using. I believe it's compatible with multiple sockets. Probably including yours. (Yup)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233087
The only hot temp I experience is my north bridge. Though I don't believe it exceeds 50C. Since I'm not overclocked, I find that a bit on the warm side. Overclocking, I recall seeing 58C. Definitely not the best board for overclocking.

Of course now my computer resides in a controlled 70F room. It runs extremely cool in here!

 

I used Thermalright Ultra-120s across the board on my 775 builds, they're a little on the fiddly side but I always had good performance from them, but I know they can be tricky to get hold of in North America - apologies, I can't remember which part of the world you come from!

The current equivalent of my coolers I believe would be this:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/thermalright-venomous-sb-e-universal-cpu-cooler.html

Your concerns are exactly why I've never entertained water, self-contained or otherwise. Most of the time they're fine, but call me boring, I never saw a reason to chance something there was no need to chance in the first place.

 

Sam i am in u.s. . does that link that you post not ship here or is that only for where you are?

omegaman7 the cooler that you posted is unavailable. Is there another place to get it?

 

That's a US site, is why I posted it - do they not ship to you then?