The Hot Rod/Sweeter Spot Build

[riviera74]

Go here.

[PainIs4ThaWeak1]

Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB ($59 reliable?)

Can comment on these.

Been using 3 in RAID 5 for the past year. No issues with the drives. Just works. Access times/writes/reads are much better than I originally expected, in said RAID level.

[Conza88]

Thanks guys, just made the purchase. Finally haha.

1 x Intel S1155 Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz Quad Core CPU
1 x Asus S1155 P8Z68-V-LE Motherboard
1 x DDR3 8GB (2x4G) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 CL9 Kit
1 x 120GB OCZ Agility 3 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD Drive
1 x ATI 6950 1GB Powercolor PCIe Video Card
1 x Corsair TX650 V2 Power Supply
1 x LG CH10LS20 BLK BluRay Combo,10XBD-R,16xDVD, BD-R/RE
1 x ASUS USB-BT211 USB Mini Bluetooth Adapter EDR
2 x Antec TriCool 120mm Fan
1 x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 32M SATA HDD
1 x Antec Three Hundred Mid ATX Case
1 x MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM

Still need monitor, mouse, keyboard, asus sonar dg, hyper+ cpu cooler. The guys there test hardware I think. So what do I say in terms of setup?

[riviera74]

For monitors, look here.

[Conza88]

Changed case at last minute to the the case he suggested. Antec 900 two ver 3. Didn't realise the fans were part of the price. So better cable management. All black. Usb 3. And you can turn off the blue LED's which I think look tacky.

I am wondering what system tests I can do, what programs there are... that I can use to see how much improvement I go through in the upgrade.

[Conza88]

For monitors, look here.

Looks like I will need to add in hyper 212+ CPU cooler and Asus Xonar DG in afterwards. Pick up from store in a few days.

Monitors, I got the 24" LG... but the reviews on newegg seem to trash it, and favour the asus considerably. No real difference except one is LED and the other is LCD. So takes more power, hotter etc, not that it matters much to me. Just in terms of picture quality long term wise, what do you think would be better?

24" LG E2441V LED LCD monitor
24" Display, LED Backlit LCD, 5ms Response, 1920x1080 Resolution, 16:9 Aspect Ratio, DVI-D, D-Sub ($189)

23" ASUS VH232H LCD Monitor in built speakers
23" Display, 1920x1080 Resolution, 5ms Response, Stereo Speakers, DVI-D, D-Sub, HDMI ($169) *Don't need speakers.

Ended up getting the Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 to pick up later in the week. But again, just checked newegg and reviews are pretty mixed.

I spouse if I have problems can take it back? But would prefer getting something that works and avoiding the hassle. Any suggestions on alternatives?

[JustAnEngineer]

Both of those monitors use Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). One uses light emitting diodes (LED) for the backlight that shines through the LCD while the other uses compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). LEDs are smaller and more energy-efficient, so you could build a monitor that was thinner and ran cooler compared to fluorescent lighting, but the spectrum emitted by the LED array may not be as complete as CFLs provide.

Both of those cheap monitors use Twisted Nematic (TN) type LCD panels. These are the cheapest and the fastest LCD type, but they have serious problems when viewed from any angle other than perfectly-perpendicular to the screen. They are also 6-bit panels (with 2^6 = 64 levels each of red, green and blue), so they won't represent smooth color gradients as well as an 8-bit LCD panel would (with 2^8 = 256 levels each of red, green and blue).

The link that riviera74 sent you includes popular monitors using In-Plane Switching (IPS) LCD panels. IPS LCD panels provide consistent color and brightness even when viewed at an angle. They're not able to change states as fast as TN panels can, but they're fast enough for anything short of alternating-frame 3D with shutter glasses. Many quality IPS LCD monitors cost more than TN LCD monitors of the same size. The e-IPS LCD monitors are the most affordable of the IPS types. The Dell U2311H that I suggested is one example of a monitor using an e-IPS LCD panel.

The third popular type of LCD panel is Patterned Vertical Alignment (PVA) or Modified Vertical Alignment (MVA). These are slower than IPS, but they have good color representation. Viewing angles are good, but not quite as good as IPS.