The Ultimate Dream Computer

GTR35 , what games are you playing?

in most cases you will be more than fine with the 7950GT

 

these r the games that i have...Quake4, NFS Carbon, CS Source, Neverwinter Nights 2, GTR2, Call of duty 2, Battlefield 2142, Empire earth2, Flatout 2, eragon, Medieval 2 Total war, Microsoft Flight simulator X, NFS most wanted, Battlefield 2, Devil May Cry 3, age of empire 3, blood rayne 2, fable the last chapter, titan quest, warcraft 3 frozen throne...BUT i hav Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 128mb...so the only games i can play r in highlights...thats why i need ur guys help if 7950GT is good enough to play all these games on a 15" monitor...i really want to play quake4 and all the modern games in highest setting, full res...with no problem...

 

I've given up on the Dominator memory, I cancelled the order.

I actually phoned the UK head of sales directly to see what was going on.

It looks as though although they are getting the Micron chips they ordered, the binning process is only yielding very small amounts of the quality chips for the Dominator (far less than expected).

Most sellers already have massive back-orders, so the memory they do get never makes it to the online stock levels, and as Dabs couldn't tell me how far in a queue I was with mine, I decided to change my order to 2x 1GB Corsair PC6400 4-4-4-12, which is now running fine. (saved me £100).

Realistically as I'm only running at 400 FSB anyway, they are just right for the job, I’ll get the Dominator or similar next time around.

I seriously envy you with the 8800GTX cards, they must be fantastic.

I’ll hold off at least until the R600 comes out, as that should bring the prices down.

I’ve also heard that the R600 should be using GDDR4 memory, so it will be interesting to see what NVIDIA’s 8900GTX is like.

The more I play with this display, the more I’m glad I finally succumbed to the calling to buy it.

@sammorris
You may be interested in these sites to get a good wall paper for your display, they have about 35 pages of 2560 x 1600 wall papers

http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/index.php?sort=date&w=2560&h=1600

http://exoteric.roach.org/bg/index.html

@DocTY
They also have a selection of dual screen walpapers on the second link that you might want to look at.

 

damn these wallpapers r huge...it cant fit into my 15" monitor...

 

Its nice to have some good sized images for a change without having to stretch the smaller ones, which then results in loss of quality.

There also be an option to download images of 800 x 600 etc...

On the first link just click on image instead of using the download button, the second link has various options already listed.

 

Yeah, the only PSUs high rating enough to run an R600 for my system I make to be the Thermaltake Toughpower 750/850, the Enermax Galaxy 850/1K and the Tagan TurboJet 900/1100. Thing is, I have to remove my top case fan to use the galaxy, which'll mean a reasonable adjustment to my airflow plan.
The Tagans apparently get stupidly hot and loud due to putting out 900 or 1100W in a STANDARD size case (what were they thinking?). The Thermaltakes are also standard size, but since their output is slightly lower, and the fan bigger than the Tagan, they can allow for it. Besides, The Tagan staff were totally incompetent about telling me how loud their PSU was at a 500 or 700W load. They assumed

I wanted a 500/700W version of the powersupply, and gave me the links for their other models, a fortnight after I asked.
GTR, graphics card goes hand in hand with a big monitor, the bigger the screen, the more power you'll want/need. a 15" LCD can only display 1024x768, which as far as I know, a 7950GT will manage for a good couple of years to come. However, a 22" or 24" widescreen will use 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 respectively. That commands a higher output graphics card. In the case of the latter, an X1900XT like mine is only just sufficient, and in Elder Scrolls Oblivion it really struggles. Turn AA/AF on and it's not really playable outside. A 30" makes the resolution 2560x1600. An 8800GTX can only just manage Elder Scrolls with AA/AF. True, that's the absolute highest strain on a PC as of yet, that game, that resolution and detail, but nonetheless, future games are only going to get worse. By all means get a big screen, they're fantastic, but make sure you have the means to upgrade your PC if you want the best from them.
As for your games:
Quake 4: A 7950GT can handle that no issue. My X1900XT as a benchmark point can play Quake IV at 1920x1200 with AA/AF no issue. Not tried 2560x1600 because it needs a little cfg edit to do so, but I think we can count out the 30"'s resolution at the moment, given mine was an ebay job and still cost me little short of £800.
NFS Carbon is one of the most power-intensive games I've played. At 1024x768 a 7950GT will manage it, but if EA get any more power hungry, who knows. 1600x1200 is a bit of a stretch for my system/
in my opinion, all the other games will also run at that red with that card, a 7950GT is probably a good 10-20x the power of an FX5200. if you want higher resolutions though, AOE3, Fable, medieval 2 and Carbon will start to become more difficult. Realistically though, unless you buy a 24" and max the resolution, a 7950GT should manage the lot. Full detail...

BigDK: OMG!! I used an Interfacelift background to start with! I'm currently using a DigitalBlasphemy 1920x1200 one, but the high res ones are jaw dropping!
GTR, you'll need 1024x768 images for a 15" screen.

 

@sammorris
hahaha u c...u do help alot...ok i know thats 15" max res is 1024x768...for 17"/19" max is 1280x1024...and 20" bout 1600x1200...ok u said that i need 24" to hav the best game experience...like max res and high settings...but that cost too much...unless there is a cheap and good monitor that u can tell me...

@BigDK
thnx for the wallpaper links...much appreciated...

 

That's not really what I said, I mean, the bigger the screen the better the experience (although I have to say, it's taking a while to get used to a 30", I'm struggling to see everything that's happening in games because there's so far between one side of the screen and the other. Getting better though after an hour of UT04 deathmatch, just taking a while to get used to it!).
With regard to al the games you just mentioned, a 17 or 19" 1280x1024 would need maybe a 7950GT to run all those games fully. Future games may be a bit of a problem. a 20" 4:3 (standard size) screen (1600x1200) would probably command something high end like an X1950XT-X or 8800GTS to run everything smoothly, especially for future games. 20-22" widescreens use 1680x1050, the same performance requirements apply.
The larger screens (with the exception of CRTs) are usually widescreen. Lots of games don't support widescreen resolutions and need to be modified to do so. This is something to bear in mind when looking at a large screen. While there's nothing to stop you running a game at a lower than recommended resolution on an LCD, you never experience the full picture quality even that lower resolution can provide. 23-24" screens use 1920x1200, and while quite a few games support that res, not all do, and it's also quite demanding. Not very many games support the 2560x1600 resolution that 30" screens use, and you're looking at an 8800GTX or R600 series card to run newer games well. I wouldn't want to try and run NFS Carbon at 2560x1600, but you can't yet anyway since a widescreen patch isn't out. EA are known to completely ignore widescreen monitors as if they didn't exist, despite the growing consumer base.
In general I advise to avoid the smaller widescreens as their resolutions aren't that often supported in games either, and usually get dropped to 1024x768. (1440x900 and 1280x800 are the resolutions I'm on about)
UK prices for these are roughly:
17-19": £120-£150
20" standard: £200-£250
20"-22" wide: £200-£300
23-24" wide: £500-£900
30" wide: £900 for the Dell (that's the only one worth getting, it's only competitor is the Apple Cinema, a lower-performing more expensive version with the same panel inside it!)
As for US, add a little bit (maybe 30%) to those figures.

 

dont know why but i prefer standard screens and not wide screens....i think i'll buy a 19"...or maybe a 20" standard screen...thnx for the price...

 

Yeah I was unsure about widescreen monitors until I got my 24 in August. Very suddenly my PC becane a DVD player! I find it's actually much better in games too. Anyhow:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116375 Possibly the best ever 19" LCD. 2ms means almost CRT-like performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116353 - the more affordable version, still good performance
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1649601&CatId=1410 - If you fancy something a little bigger, these are good.

 

my 7600gt runs all available games (outside on oblivion it stutters a bit) on max settings with more than playable framerates on my 1200 by 1000 19" lcd.

next years games, who knows, we will all be going dx10 wont we? i assume the best games will be.

 

Yeah, and only Radeon 12 series and Geforce 8 series cards will support dx10 (ignore the 7000 series' "designed with Vista in mind" ploy, they weren't). Despite the fact that nVidia have caught up to ATi in the image quality department, I'm going to stick with AMD/ATi this round as ATI have been partners with Microsoft for a fair while and may have the edge in Vista and DX10 performance.

 

what! widescreen monitor are much better in gaming...i thought they make the gameplay wider(pulling the character making them wider...)
ok if theres 19" and a 20" monitor which one would u choose?

 

They don't stretch the character, that's what happens if you play a game at normal res on a widescreen monitor. Widescreen resolutions allow more field of view, hence being useful! I prefer 20" over 19" because 20s do 1600x1200 versus 1280x1024, but of course you will need that 7950GT to work hard to pull 1600x1200 max on all games.

 

i hope 7950GT is good enough for the 20"...cause 7900GTX is too expensive...

well theres 2 monitor i wanna get...ACER 19" AL1951C LCD TFT "Gamers Line"...ACER 20" AL 2017 LCD TFT...but how come 20" is cheaper than 19"...and wat is TFT

 

If you want more power than a 7950GT, you can get an X1900XT, they're as fast as a 7900GTX but a lot less money. Having owned one I know they're capable of 1600x1200 on most games. Heck, it can play FEAR with AA and AF on at that resolution!

 

well theres 2 monitor i wanna get...ACER 19" AL1951C LCD TFT "Gamers Line"...ACER 20" AL 2017 LCD TFT...but how come 20" is cheaper than 19"...and wat is TFT?

ok that 20" monitors max res is 1400x1020...

 

That's a dire resolution for a 20", and that's not supported by hardly any games, basically you need 1280x1024 and it'll look pretty bad. I'd recommend viewsonic screens over Acers, most of the small screen acers I've seen have had very unremarkable image quality.

 

ya...i changed my mind...from acer to viewsonic...u have any good 20" viewsonic monitor in mind...and cheap of course...price range between $250-$350

 

You need to look at reviews for any monitor you end up thinking of buying, and make sure that the site doing the review isn't swayed by advertising revenue's from the makers products they are reviewing.

Most screens are made by a couple of companies (Samsung & LG) then it comes down to what components they use with them to finish the job off.

If you are determined to get a 4:3 ratio screen instead of widescreen then for quality look at Eizo.
They are generally regarded as making some of the best monitors available, but with anything you get what you pay for, and these are not cheap at all.

My latest choice was between the Dell 3007 I ended up with or the Eizo CE240W.

http://peripherals.about.com/od/displaysmonitors/fr/eizoce240w.htm

Something like the M1700 can be bought new for about £200, so you could look for second hand ones if you wanted bigger without paying too much.
http://www.nativedigital.co.uk/shop...c=45&jssCart=6af66b1183a7db33572e19b1e51fa74c

Whatever you end up going for, its best to do as much research as possible, as you'll otherwise be very disappointed.

I was very reluctant to buy the 3007 with the brightness issues, as I knew it would bug me if I ended up with such a problem, at least I was aware of it, and having the knowledge that I was getting the 3rd Rev and a 7 day cooling period gave me enough security to try it at least.

Having had the tech guys at Dell try and convince me it was driver/GPU related I was almost convinced, but hearing that sammorris can see the issue on his screen blows that theory out the water, as he is using a high spec card with much more recent drivers.

but it does show you can't be taken in with anything.