quote:
While you read this, I'm gonna go make out with Bloodsage's mom:
I could do a lot of things more cheaply than I do. Luckily, I don't have to, and price remains a secondary consideration. At a certain point in life, $400 becomes beer money, in fact.It's not as if I'm unaware of the price difference, as you all seem to assume; I simply don't care. I like my Apple display, and will get another when I go dual monitor.
I appreciate the thought, but it's not really relevant to my situation.
It's just that the dells are pretty much better than the apple. Aside from the metal casing.
And $400 doesn't become beer money for the vast majority of us. By myself I make more money than the average American household, and $400 is still a lot of money to me.
I've seen the Dell, and other monitors, and I like the Apple. While the LCD part of it is almost identical to the Dell, the rest of it is far superior in workmanship and aesthetics.
I don't want to make an issue of who makes what, so just trust me when I say I don't care so much about saving $400--or, even worse, $200 since I'd need to buy two of anything else--that it's an issue. 
In fact, after talking to Karnaj, the main reason I'm going with the dual core instead of the quad core QX6700 processor isn't price, but rather the fact that by the time quad cores become truly relevant in the kind of computing I'm likely to do, there'll be something much better on the street.
So can we leave off the ranting about monitors?
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
Nothing you can reasonably suggest is going to make his checkbook weep.
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Blindy. had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
It's just that the dells are pretty much better than the apple. Aside from the metal casing.And $400 doesn't become beer money for the vast majority of us. By myself I make more money than the average American household, and $400 is still a lot of money to me.
That is funny, last time I checked they are the same EXACT LCD panel. The only difference is the extra hookups, Apple has Firewire and Dell has an S-Video input. Oh and the fact that apple uses what is considered to be a slightly better backlight.
The difference is negligible between the two and comes down to which one a person is willing to spend and which they like better. I think the apple looks better but didn't want to spend the money. So I went with a High end Viewsonic instead. If Sage wants the Apple then more power to him. Although I suggest the Refurb store since you can save 150+ on a 20 inch monitor.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Bloodsage had this to say about John Romero:
Speaking of which, I don't need an SLI setup to drive two monitors, do I? I wouldn't think so, but saw it mentioned in passing regarding some of the larger LCD displays.
Negative. You have 2 DVI ports on your video card.
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Bloodsageing:
Speaking of which, I don't need an SLI setup to drive two monitors, do I? I wouldn't think so, but saw it mentioned in passing regarding some of the larger LCD displays.
No, but it helps if you have a second card driving a second monitor if you plan to game on both monitors at the same time.
If you don't plan on dual monitor gaming, then you definately don't need a second card.
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Azizza must think they're pretty smart:
That is funny, last time I checked they are the same EXACT LCD panel. The only difference is the extra hookups, Apple has Firewire and Dell has an S-Video input. Oh and the fact that apple uses what is considered to be a slightly better backlight.The difference is negligible between the two and comes down to which one a person is willing to spend and which they like better. I think the apple looks better but didn't want to spend the money. So I went with a High end Viewsonic instead. If Sage wants the Apple then more power to him. Although I suggest the Refurb store since you can save 150+ on a 20 inch monitor.
It's been a while since you checked. The Dell I linked has HDCP support, a newer screen and backlight. You're thinking of the old 2005.
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Channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Maradon! absently fondled Watson and proclaimed:
No, but it helps if you have a second card driving a second monitor if you plan to game on both monitors at the same time.If you don't plan on dual monitor gaming, then you definately don't need a second card.
Ah, thanks. Won't be doing any two-monitor gaming, I'm pretty sure. The most stress I imagine putting on it will be having music videos running on one monitor while I work on the other, or putting the toolboxes on one monitor and the output on the other when I edit video.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Verily, the chocolate bunny rabbits doth run and play while Naimah gently hums:
You'll have about 10x more power then you need then.
As it should be. 
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Blindy. had this to say about Matthew Broderick:
It's been a while since you checked. The Dell I linked has HDCP support, a newer screen and backlight. You're thinking of the old 2005.
Doh! Thanks for the correction. That is one of the main reasons I got the display I have HDCP support is a must now!
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Did someone say Azizza:
Doh! Thanks for the correction. That is one of the main reasons I got the display I have HDCP support is a must now!
Yeah, it's gonna be a big deal in a year or so here when the HD-DVD drives start comming cheap.
If you are looking for a reasonable one even now, the Xbox 360 drive will work on both Windows XP and Mac OS.
You have to do some looking to get a actual Player that works with HD-DVD movies, however it is doable.
-H
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
But that should be stupid fast. Blindy. fucked around with this message on 02-11-2007 at 11:39 AM.
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Blindy. startled the peaceful upland Gorillas, blurting:
I hope having a quiet system is not on your list of desirables.But that should be stupid fast.
That's sort of the goal. 
As for noise, I didn't see a way, really, to do much about it other than water cooling, which I want no part of. 
From what I've read, the Lian Li cases are quieter than cheaper ones, at least.
I did look at the SATA DVD drive. . .but meh. Bloodsage fucked around with this message on 02-11-2007 at 12:53 PM.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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Channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael absently fondled Watson and proclaimed:
Dad just got a machine for video editting and stuff. Nice dual core machine, dual graphics cards, etc. Piled in the RAM. So...when in doubt ADD MORE RAM HAHAHAHA
That's probably my plan after getting the thing put together and running: add another gig or two of RAM and maybe another HDD to have one dedicated to video stuff.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Bloodsage painfully thought these words up:
That's probably my plan after getting the thing put together and running: add another gig or two of RAM and maybe another HDD to have one dedicated to video stuff.
Yeah Dad's got like six gigs in his machine. My stepmother gave him a budget and he was like a kid in a very expensive candy shop.
On the other hand, he has this tablet thing that's also a freakishly high-res monitor that I covet oh so much, and has two computers hooked to three monitors.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Bloodsage had this to say about Knight Rider:
That's like Matrix territory, dude.
He's paying for it, though. That high res tablet/monitor is like $2400 cheapest place I saw it.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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Channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Bloodsage absently fondled Watson and proclaimed:
Okay, here's the final build. I went a bit beefier on the processor and mobo after a bit of research, because it was only a couple of hundred dollars between the bleeding edge and something on the second tier.
- Lian Li PC-65B case -- $119
- Intel Mobo -- $246
- Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor -- $995
- GeIL 2 x 1GB RAM -- $199
- Western Digital 320GB HD -- $99
- Foxconn GeForce 8800GTS video card -- $399
- Thermaltake 650W PS -- $149
- HP DVD writer w/ Lightscribe -- $53
- SoundBlaster X-Fi sound card -- $69
- ZyXEL wireless adapter -- $56
- Linkskey card reader -- $13
- Vista Ultimate -- $199
- TOTAL -- $2604
My megahertz are in the mail! Hope the stuff arrives before we go skiing next weekend!
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael wrote this stupid crap:
Yeah Dad's got like six gigs in his machine. My stepmother gave him a budget and he was like a kid in a very expensive candy shop.On the other hand, he has this tablet thing that's also a freakishly high-res monitor that I covet oh so much, and has two computers hooked to three monitors.
A Cintiq. Worth every penny.
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I bet Faelynn LeAndris's Mother is proud:
A Cintiq. Worth every penny.
But oh- so many pennies.
I have an old tablet PC i use for these tasks.
Why a whole PC costs $1,200 and does pretty much the same task as the $2,500 cintiq which is just a monitor, i will never understand. Blindy. fucked around with this message on 02-14-2007 at 09:40 PM.
Lian-Li cases are not quiet. At all. In fact they're pretty damn shoddy, I wish I'd never have bought mine. They're for looks alone, nothing else. They are better than plain steel cases though, however since money was not an issue you could've got a lot better. Antec for example make superb cases and some come pre-padded inside with special noise dampening materials.
Thermaltake PSU, not really anything particularly good to say about it, but nothing particularly bad to say either. Middle of the road stuff. Again, Antec probably make the best PSU's currently, providing the cleanest lines. Enermax isn't top dog in this area anymore.
GeIL RAM is pretty meh. Corsair is top dog there. But in most cases RAM is RAM, it doesn't really matter.
Could've also researched quiet PSU's and got a nice big quiet CPU fan like a Zalman. But that's hindsight for you. Wish I'd read this earlier. What you got isn't bad by a longshot and will do what you need. I'm just a freak when it comes to quiet computing.
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ACES! Another post by Blindy.:
But oh- so many pennies.I have an old tablet PC i use for these tasks.
Why a whole PC costs $1,200 and does pretty much the same task as the $2,500 cintiq which is just a monitor, i will never understand.
Not even on the same level, not even close.
Tablet PCs cannot manage the pressure sensitivities that pass from the pen (Vitaly important when dealing with actual painting and art functions.), nor can they get the same pixel perfect percision and mapping. The Citiq monitor itself is also configurable well beyond just a normal monitor, and thats not even including the custom sliders, touch slide controls, and other features built onto it. Hell the Wacom pens by themselves are an awesome piece of hardware.
That being said, the Cintiq is for the elite. If you aren't making money of your artistic pursuits it's a complete waste as the much cheaper pads offer the same capabilities minus the feel of "Draw On". In which case it just becomes a really expensive toy/gadget. And if yer just gonna scribble or like to work exclusively with vector graphics and the likes a cheap Tablet PC or cheap pad is also fine.
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Mortiousing:
Could've also researched quiet PSU's and got a nice big quiet CPU fan like a Zalman. But that's hindsight for you. Wish I'd read this earlier. What you got isn't bad by a longshot and will do what you need. I'm just a freak when it comes to quiet computing.
I built my computer from almost entirely generic parts and it runs so quiet that I honestly cannot tell it's turned on.
When I was pulling crap out of my old hard drive, I thought that something was wrong because the drive was thrashing so much... then I realized, the whole rig was so quiet that the modest hdd clicking, normally covered up by fans, sounded like a blown transaxle.
:bravo:
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Maradon! said:
I built my computer from almost entirely generic parts and it runs so quiet that I honestly cannot tell it's turned on.
It all depends on what you buy. Some fan makes are more silent than others and manufacturers of PSU's, CPU fan blocks, etc use some of these makes.
Generic can be good. It can be very good. But it's a lucky dip. Sometimes you reach in and pull out a nice big brown turd.
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Faelynn LeAndris had this to say about dark elf butts:
That being said, the Cintiq is for the elite. If you aren't making money of your artistic pursuits it's a complete waste as the much cheaper pads offer the same capabilities minus the feel of "Draw On". In which case it just becomes a really expensive toy/gadget. And if yer just gonna scribble or like to work exclusively with vector graphics and the likes a cheap Tablet PC or cheap pad is also fine.
Dad had the money to burn. To be honest, I think of his computer now as a sanity machine. He entered into semi-retirement last year, and he's worked in computers since before I was born. He got into the (extremely healthy) mindset that he had to earn his play time and his toys...so when he tried the full retirement thing it was good...for about two months. Then he started getting antsy. So he does some part time freelance consultant stuff now, which I gather flips the trigger in his mind that he's earned his play time and he can pay for his toys without damaging the household budget.
I always suspected my Dad would have loved to get into art as a career...he always encouraged me to develop what skill I had, and most of our family on his side is artistically inclined in some fashion or another.
Sooooooo even if he doesn't make any money off his hobby, I'm glad he's in a position to afford the very best to play with. He says that video editting is a lot of fun once you get into it. I guess he got a taste for it when he taught himself Flash animation stuff.
As far as having more power in a machine than you need, Dad's motto has always been to hedge your bets. If you have more power than you need, you will inevitably find a use for it, even if you don't initially intend to.
But yeah...dual core on his machine, two graphics cards, RAM out the wazoo...a terrabyte of storage capacity between the video editting box and his old computer (which is now the household server).
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
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Channeling the spirit of Sherlock Holmes, Mortious absently fondled Watson and proclaimed:
In too late to make a difference, but I thought I should say.Lian-Li cases are not quiet. At all. In fact they're pretty damn shoddy, I wish I'd never have bought mine. They're for looks alone, nothing else. They are better than plain steel cases though, however since money was not an issue you could've got a lot better. Antec for example make superb cases and some come pre-padded inside with special noise dampening materials.
Thermaltake PSU, not really anything particularly good to say about it, but nothing particularly bad to say either. Middle of the road stuff. Again, Antec probably make the best PSU's currently, providing the cleanest lines. Enermax isn't top dog in this area anymore.
GeIL RAM is pretty meh. Corsair is top dog there. But in most cases RAM is RAM, it doesn't really matter.
Could've also researched quiet PSU's and got a nice big quiet CPU fan like a Zalman. But that's hindsight for you. Wish I'd read this earlier. What you got isn't bad by a longshot and will do what you need. I'm just a freak when it comes to quiet computing.
You should've read this earlier. 
Actually, I'm not a big freak on trying to make everything as quiet as possible. I actually wanted the Antec case, but there was no external 3.5 bay for my absolutely necessary card reader. Yeah, could've gone external, but my desk already resembles a Borg mothership in terms of random cabling laying about.
RAM, I went with what was cheapest, frankly. I doubt an potential computing I will do would be worth the extra $$$ for the superfastblowyouwhileitcalculates-type RAM.
If it's icky noisy, though, it's easy enough to order a new case and I'm only out $100 and a bit of time to re-do stuff. Disappointing, though, how all the reviews on Newegg talked about how good the Lian-Li cases were.
--Satan, quoted by John Milton
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There was much rejoicing when Bloodsage said this:
You should've read this earlier.
Actually, I'm not a big freak on trying to make everything as quiet as possible. I actually wanted the Antec case, but there was no external 3.5 bay for my absolutely necessary card reader. Yeah, could've gone external, but my desk already resembles a Borg mothership in terms of random cabling laying about.
RAM, I went with what was cheapest, frankly. I doubt an potential computing I will do would be worth the extra $$$ for the superfastblowyouwhileitcalculates-type RAM.
If it's icky noisy, though, it's easy enough to order a new case and I'm only out $100 and a bit of time to re-do stuff. Disappointing, though, how all the reviews on Newegg talked about how good the Lian-Li cases were.
90% of after market components are made by the same manufacturers. You'll be fine.
Hope the other two boxes get here quickly and in good shape.--Satan, quoted by John Milton
