If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

what kind of monitor would I need if I was playing the video from my hdd? I'm assuming I'd need to have a monitor with at least *x1020 max resolution? Would I need DVI connectivity?

I've seen some monitors with a decent enough resolution for about £140 (20") but then there's other 17" monitors for over £200 and I'm unsure what the major difference would be. Customer reviews say that the picture quality etc is all good but I thought I'd ask about HD before buying one. I just ordered a new pc from Dell so I'm gonna have to order a monitor within the next few days really.

Cheeaars!

Buy this

http://h41306.www4.hp.com/section?SID=bf7c4925ee628be12df1a30bd897dc1b96a:1223&secid=65152

stunning monitor, i own the slightly older model, Gorgeous screen to look at.

and 199 quid from that hp site, just register and save 40 quid on first order

£140 is probably my budget for this one as I've just forked out on a whole new system so the funds are low. It's not that important that I have a top notch display but I'd like the best I can get for about that much money and the HD compatibility is a factor. I still have a 19" CRT in use here so I can't afford to be too fussy

Also a bit OT, is a 350W PSU going to be enough for a system with 2 hdd's in raid 0 and a 512mb GF 8800GT? I'd have gone for a 500W+ if i was building it all myself as i was planning to but dell had an offer on that i couldn't resist but it seems they're a bit shy on the PSU side of things

Well there's a canny difference between the GTX and the GT versions in terms of power needed. It says that a 450W will be supplied in GTX systems so I'm guessing the bare minimum must be about 350 for the GT.. I have a thermaltake 450W PSU in this pc that's a year old or so though so I think i'll be doing swapsies. Wish I had a 500 though!

You'd have thought Dell would let you choose what power PSU you'd like. They seem to have choices for everything else (apart from case and mobo but that's cos the two come as a fitting pair apparently). God i hope the PSU doesn't come in a triangular shape as a dell original or something

why not cancel the order and self-build?

As for the PSU you'll deffo have some trouble with a 350watt i'd imagine. The RAID should be fine but 8800s are very power hungry. A 350watt will be somewhat of a bottleneck!

I've just bought a 750watt corsair!

You can't overclock a dell either can you?

The mobo/case should just be standard ATX

edit - just seen you mentioned the dell offer! what is it?

The Dells (the one i'm getting anyway) use a BTX case and mobo... apparently it was the predecessor to the ATX but Dell ended up being the only company buying into it so future plans were pretty much scrapped. Overclocking won't be an issue for a few years yet by which time my warranty will be long gone so a mobo upgrade will allow me to overclock all I like.

I was going to self build until i seen the dell offer which saves me hassle building anything, paying delivery(s), waiting for parts to arrive from different vendors and having no onsite warranty options etc.

Offer is:

Intel® Core 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 8MB, 1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
Base Warranty - 1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)
3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024/2x512]
640GB Dual Hard Drive Raid 0 Stripe (2x320GB - 7200rpm)
SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
16x DVD +/- RW Drive
Dell Enhanced USB Multimedia Keyboard
Dell Optical Scroll Premium Mouse
Integrated HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio
19-in-1 Media Card Reader
Microsoft® Works 8.0 - English

£584.10

You can upgrade most of those if you like but I see no need.

Only concern of mine is the PSU obviously but if dell are providing them in that system as standard then i guess it will work.

Yeah i suppose it will!

that's a fairly decent deal that mind you! i paid just over 850 for:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Energy Efficient 95W edition
CPU Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120-LFB CPU Cooler
GFX: BFG 8800GT 512MB OC2 Dual DVI HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11 32MB Cache
Mobo: ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP AiLifestyle Series P35 Socket 775
Memory: 2x Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2(CL4-4-4-12) (total 4GB)
PSU: Corsair TX 750W
Case: Antec P182

Dells pricing is actually very competitive, i was always on the build your own band wagon, and i have built all mine, but i must admit. Companys are offering equally good systems for cheaper these days.

they have the buying power and companys like dell and mesh etc arent using shit components.

that seems like a reasonable offer mate

It was with free delivery (£60 usually but it's on offer) a free upgrade from a 500GB hdd to a 640 raid 0 setup, extra gig of memory and a 10% discount code that I got hold of. So I saved a lot of money otherwise i'd have gone with the build your own option.

honestly mate youve made the best choice, there was a time when building ya own meant you either saved money, or had a better chance of stability, but now thats not the case.

like i say, these companies can buy in bulk and build mass numbers of systems, they can afford to make things cheap.

dont let anyone knock them cos they offer the warranty side of things, and the lack of hassle in setting up.

i think in future (although i have more fun building) i wont be adverse to buying a made one

I defo think building your own is the best way if money is tight and you're after a specific/best system possible. I had lists of a variety of components that I could buy for my own build until I seen the offer from Dell which tbh is probably only due to the time of year plus the voucher code that i found was a bonus, saving me about £64. I dunno if I'd have gone ahead with the purchase had i not used the code and defo not if Dell didn't have a new year deal on. for an extra £150 or so i could have had a slightly better system with branded parts but at the expense of needing to build it all and having several return to base warranties blah blah blah so I'm happy with my choice

Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

Anyway - is there anything I need to keep an eye out for besides the resolution?

Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

response rate, more for games than films, the lower the better

Re: Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

So I'm guessing 5ms is a good rate to aim for?

Re: Re: Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

Aye, that should be fine. for the budget have a look on overclockers.co.uk forum and ask people in monitors section

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

I've found a few that catch my eye already. OCUK charge a canny penny for delivery if i remember correctly though. That's one of the things i hate about most websites - they never give a clear indication of postage costs for items until you've registered/logged in and got to the final page or the checkout section. Boils my piss cos the difference in delivery costs can be immense.

Re: Re: Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

Yeah 5ms is good

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: If I wanted to watch 1020p movies on my pc..

yeah they do. i dont shop from them any more, but i use the forum.

ive used ebuyer a few times and theyve been good. but otherwise i like dabs or somewhere as they do free delivery sometimes

Overclockers are a bit sneaky..they say free delievery on orders £250 or higher..but that price excludes VAT!

If you are prepared to wait a week you will get it free from eBuyer