Time to Build - Help Me Decide

[mfenn]

I've looked at the Dell U2713HM, as well as a few of Dell's Ultrasharp 24" monitors. I was a little concerned by the 8ms GTG, but most reviews seem to say that they are great monitors despite that.

This is the crux of the issue. What is more important to you, color accuracy or response time? You have to give up one to get the other, it's a necessary tradeoff in terms of panel technology and post-processing.

 

[TY-1]

So I got a bunch of my parts in the mail yesterday. I felt like I was a kid at Christmas when I saw those cardboard boxes had arrived. :biggrin::biggrin:

Right now I'm waiting on just the SSD, Motherboard, and CPU Cooler, which should arrive Monday or Tuesday, before I can get building. I'm still trying to decide on a monitor, but I hope to have a decision made and an order placed by tomorrow since I can test my build using an older monitor to make sure the components are functioning properly. Right now I'm looking into the 24" IPS/PLS monitors as I'm thinking that good color accuracy with decent response time is more important to me than great response time and poor color accuracy. That said there is a small LAN party tonight that a friend is hosting so I think I'll check out what monitors people bring and see if there are any in particular that I like.

Once I get the monitor then all that will remain is the GPU, which I will decide upon after I see what AMD has planned with Hawaii at the end of September. :hmm:

Definitely delidding the CPU to get rid of that nasty black rubber-silicone adhesive that Intel has been using with Ivy and Haswell; after I test the CPU to make sure it works first of course. :sneaky: :twisted:

 

[tg2708]

So I got a bunch of my parts in the mail yesterday. I felt like I was a kid at Christmas when I saw those cardboard boxes had arrived. :biggrin::biggrin:

Right now I'm waiting on just the SSD, Motherboard, and CPU Cooler, which should arrive Monday or Tuesday, before I can get building. I'm still trying to decide on a monitor, but I hope to have a decision made and an order placed by tomorrow since I can test my build using an older monitor to make sure the components are functioning properly. Right now I'm looking into the 24" IPS/PLS monitors as I'm thinking that good color accuracy with decent response time is more important to me than great response time and poor color accuracy. That said there is a small LAN party tonight that a friend is hosting so I think I'll check out what monitors people bring and see if there are any in particular that I like.

Once I get the monitor then all that will remain is the GPU, which I will decide upon after I see what AMD has planned with Hawaii at the end of September. :hmm:

Definitely delidding the CPU to get rid of that nasty black rubber-silicone adhesive that Intel has been using with Ivy and Haswell; after I test the CPU to make sure it works first of course. :sneaky: :twisted:

on the monitor idea i think you should definitely get that ips/pls because the tn panels are horrible. Aside from gaming the color my benq offers at stock settings (haven't bother messing with the setting) looks mediocre at best. Still love it though.

 

[TY-1]

Well, not only have I got all of my parts purchased but they have all arrived as of yesterday. Right now I am just waiting on the new monitor to arrive, which should be either today or tomorrow according to UPS.

I know what I'm doing this weekend. :biggrin:

Mini-ITX Build

CPU + RAM Combo: Intel i5-4670K + Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 - $244.98 (Purchased)
Cooler: Corsair H80i - $70.17 (Purchased)
Mobo: ASUS Z87I-Deluxe - $175.98 (Purchased)
SSD : Samsung 840 EVO 250GB - $176.99 (Purchased)
HHD : Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Hybrid - $0.00 (Already Own)
Case: Bitfenix Prodigy Black - $59.99 (Purchased)
Optical Drive: ASUS Blu-ray Reader - $56.23 (Purchased)
PSU: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold - $79.99 (Purchased)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit - $0.00 (Already Own)
Monitor: ASUS PA248Q 24.1" - $313.29 (Purchased)

Total: $1177.62

Not too bad considering I started out with a budget of around $2000 (gotta love combo deals, sales, coupon codes, and promo gift cards). This leaves me a nice cushion to spend on the GPU.

Now the only question is will AMD wow me enough with what is has been developing with its new Hawaii cards come end of September? :hmm:

 

[mfenn]

:thumbsup: Very nice!

 

[TY-1]

The monitor arrived this morning right as I was heading out to work. The anticipation of opening everything up and starting to build is going to be bugging me all day.

I might have to hold off on Friday Night drinks because the itch to build is really getting to me....

Urge to build rising...Rising...RISING...:twisted:

 

[Termie]

The monitor arrived this morning right as I was heading out to work. The anticipation of opening everything up and starting to build is going to be bugging me all day.

I might have to hold off on Friday Night drinks because the itch to build is really getting to me....

Urge to build rising...Rising...RISING...:twisted:

Isn't that the wonder of building your own? If it were just a PC in a box, you'd probably just get around to opening it when you had some extra time.

 

[TY-1]

Posting from my new rig. :biggrin:

Friday Night ended up getting away from me so I started putting everything together on Saturday and despite a few interruptions I had everything into the case and hooked up by early afternoon. The rest of Saturday was installing drivers, installing all of the stupid windows updates, installing all of my software, and verifying that everything was running optimally. Sunday got away from me so I wasn't able to OC the CPU yet, but I should have that done by the coming weekend.

A big thanks to everyone that who offered advice and recommendations on parts.

Now all I need to do is get the GPU. I'm looking at you, AMD. If you don't want me to go with NVIDIA you best bring your A-Game with Hawaii.

Isn't that the wonder of building your own? If it were just a PC in a box, you'd probably just get around to opening it when you had some extra time.

Amen, brother. Amen. ()

 

[mfenn]

:thumbsup: Awesome, glad it went well!