wain 879 Posted December 31, 2017 Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 (edited) currently have a 23inch Acer from around 2011, need upgrade, roughly same size.....budget no more than £200.......not sure what are good specs, don't understand 60hz thing, or is 120 better?.......TV or monitor whats best? PC SPECS- GTX 1070 8GB Z170A KINGSTON 2400 RAM (16GB) i5 6600K @4.2 Thanks Wayne Edited December 31, 2017 by wain more info Link to post Share on other sites
hlminx 301 Posted December 31, 2017 Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 Afraid i can't help with this one.. I have 3x 32" LGs so i'm stuffed if something happens to one of them. All i remember from what hubby said is that they shoud be identical and have the same spec.. hope some of the other MH gang can help HNY :-) Link to post Share on other sites
phil white 274 Posted December 31, 2017 Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 Look for something with an IPS panel as these give better colour representation and 60hz is fine also look for any that are 1440p resolution but I suspect that res might be more than you want to pay. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted December 31, 2017 Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 You'll probably do better, price-wise, with a TV. 1080 lines of resolution or better, i.e, 1920 X 1080 or better native resolution. LED types run cooler, LCDs are generally cheaper. Neither is a huge heat source but there is a difference. Don't know about 120 Hz option - have only ever used 60 Hz devices but that seems fine. Re connectors, be sure new display has a VGA, DVI or DP output port. My experience with an HDMI port on display to HDMI port on graphics card was not very good - switching from VGA on display (same unit) to DP port on graphics card (also same unit) using an adaptor improved display quality tremendously. You can buy adaptors in most any configuration to bridge from one port configuration on the display to another kind on your graphics card if needed but if it were me, based on my experience, I'd reject any display with only HDMI output. Take my advice with a grain of salt if a REAL expert chimes in. John 1 Link to post Share on other sites
phil white 274 Posted December 31, 2017 Report Share Posted December 31, 2017 How about this one. https://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-dell-ultrasharp-u2414h-monitor-ips-ultra-thin-bezel-1920x1080-8ms-250cd-m-dp-mdp-hdmi-black-silve?v=c 1 Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted January 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 thanks for the advice guys, are you recommending a monitor over a TV? currently have PS4 and PC connected to my monitor by HDMI.... Main reason for change is this monitor is about 6 years old, I assumed maybe newer ones = better more clear picture, am I wrong? Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 13 minutes ago, wain said: I assumed maybe newer ones = better more clear picture, am I wrong? Maybe not. See what I said above about HDMI connection. I don't see it worth the extra money for a monitor over a television. John 1 Link to post Share on other sites
wain 879 Posted January 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 cheers John, more research before parting with my cash.... Link to post Share on other sites
phil white 274 Posted January 2, 2018 Report Share Posted January 2, 2018 1 hour ago, wain said: thanks for the advice guys, are you recommending a monitor over a TV? currently have PS4 and PC connected to my monitor by HDMI.... Main reason for change is this monitor is about 6 years old, I assumed maybe newer ones = better more clear picture, am I wrong? I assumed maybe newer ones = better more clear picture, am I wrong? Thats correct, i suspect your current display will have a TN panel but do look for an IPS panel as i have already mentioned as these are more clearer and show better colours. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Tim_A 996 Posted January 3, 2018 Report Share Posted January 3, 2018 TV vs monitor is really only an issue when looking at big panels (say 42" and up). Below that, look for a monitor with an IPS panel. 1080p (1920 x 1080) or 1440p (2560 x 1440) if you can stretch to it. If it doesn't say it's an IPS panel, then it probably isn't (it'll likely be a TN panel & the same quality as your current one). Remember too that poor quality monitors are considered an eyesight hazard if you spend any significant amount of time in front of them. My monitor is connected via HDMI and I've had zero issues. Make sure the cable you get is HDMI2 compliant, otherwise it may not support higher resolutions (don't be fooled into buying a really expensive cable: the signals are digital, they either work or they don't. A £100 "professional" cable is no better than a £6 "Basics" cable from Amazon. Just make sure it supports HDMI2.0. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
needles 1,010 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 Cheers Tim. I must admit, I had no idea there was more than 1 type of HDMI cable. Type 2 ordered. Thanks. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 On 12/31/2017 at 11:57, allardjd said: clip.......... based on my experience, I'd reject any display with only HDMI output. I'm not real clear on this statement. Are you saying you would reject the video card (output - outgoing HDMI signal) or the monitor/tv display (input - incoming HDMI signal)? Or is the passing of digital signals a back-and-forth sort of arrangement? I've always been less than satisfied with my displays. Not for the scenery - that's OK. My system happily runs REX, ORBX, and the sim with no video or OOM issues. It's reading the gauges from any reasonable (eyepoint) distance that bugs me. A lot of the aircraft models available, whether FSX or P3D suffer from hard-to-read gauges. I realise that some of these shortcomings are due to aged sim packages, but I don't think I should be straining to see the gauges on a 737NGX by PMDG . I'm in the throes of revisiting this whole issue. I've spent a lot of time trying to decide whether or not to try the Oculus Rift but I'm hearing less than stellar reports on the interaction between the visual sim and switches/knobs/ etc. I may be far better off going with video upgrades and a Track IR. I know we have some simmers on MH who use multi-monitors. Some use Track IR. Some say "don't use multi-monitors and Track IR". Because I spent so much time aboard a boat where space was at a major premium, my computer/video card choices were limited. I'm still using that equipment. Going to the Oculus Rift will require a major change in that I'll need to upgrade the video card. This cannot be done without upgrading my enclosure, the present one being a very small form factor. I'm thinking that upgrading the box/video card/monitor should be my first move.. I'm running an LG IPS 1920X1080 - 24" monitor (D-Sub and HDMI input) on a NVIDIA GT730 GPU (D-Sub, DVI, HDMI output, supports VGA, DVI, HDMI). The NVIDIA card is a result of the available space in my enclosure (it's a 'half-height' card). Also the motherboard only has one PCI slot. My wife is going away for a trip so this will be a good time to usurp the TV and plug it in to my video card. The TV is a Samsung - a 40" 1920X1080 LED. The TV has two HDMI input ports labeled: HDMI 1 STB and HDMI 2 DVI. I'm going to assume the port marked "DVI" is the one to use. I'll also take JA's advice and go find an HDMI 2 cable. The cable might improve the video on the monitor as well. I'm not holding out much hope for the TV as that is the same resolution as the 24 inch monitor blown up to 40 inches. I'll probably wind up selling pencils on Main St. I'm watching this space.............. Here's a 2013 link describing the cables and ports - a bit outdated: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2030669/laptop-accessories/hdmi-vs-displayport-which-display-interface-reigns-supreme.html Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 13 minutes ago, Quickmarch said: I'm not real clear on this statement. Are you saying you would reject the video card (output - outgoing HDMI signal) or the monitor/tv display (input - incoming HDMI signal)? Or is the passing of digital signals a back-and-forth sort of arrangement? No, sorry to be unclear. I had a display connected via HDMI to HDMI and the quality was poor. With the same display and graphics card, switching to VGA (display end) to DP (graphics card end) it improved tremendously. I blamed the HDMI output, possibly incorrectly. I originally connected that way because I didn't have the necessary cables/adaptors to do it differently Had to buy an adaptor to go from VGA to DP. Like Brian, I didn't know there was more than one kind of HDMI. I also advised in my first post to this thread that my advice should be taken with a grain of salt if a real expert happened to come along. John 1 Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 54 minutes ago, Quickmarch said: Some use Track IR. Some say "don't use multi-monitors and Track IR". I use TrackIR with two monitors and am VERY happy with it, but I don't have the main display across both monitors. The main cockpit view is entirely on one large (32" monitor). The second monitor is smaller and is static when TrackIR is used. I use it for parking popups such as GPS, radio stack, charts, etc. I find that entirely satisfactory but have no clue how TrackIR would behave if my main display was spread across two or three monitors. I suspect that it might require a bit more in the way of PC and graphics card power to support a dynamic, TrackIR-driven display across two or three monitors, but that's just a guess. John Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 I'm thinking of @hlminx. Talk about monitor envy. I think she said she's got three 32" displays. I don't have that much wall space. Unfortunately, I don't have the DP output on the video card. I'm becoming convinced that the problem lies in the forced (by form factor) choice of the GT730 video card. My tough luck that the solution is a new box+a new motherboard+a new GPU. I'm willing to bet that the 8Gig of memory mounted on my current motherboard will not be usable on a new board, so more expense incurred. I've got to hold out hope that my i7 chip can be moved over. Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted January 7, 2018 Report Share Posted January 7, 2018 I also have two monitors and use TrackIR. I use it for both one and dual-monitor FS setups. Usually I fly like John on one monitor and use the second screen for pop up windows; maps, GPS, LNM, ATC window...etc...but occasionally I dual-monitor sim and have no TrackIR issues doing so. I only have room for 21 inch monitors...two of them...and have to ignore the center bezel when I dual screen, and TrackIr helps to see around the bezel. Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted January 8, 2018 Report Share Posted January 8, 2018 Do yourself a favor and get Chaseplane March, it's great for those quick zoomed in looks when needed. Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 28, 2018 Report Share Posted January 28, 2018 OK. I bit the bullet. This better work because it's darned expensive. I bought a GeForce 1060 video card. The card is almost as big as the motherboard inside my computer. It definitely has more fans. In fact, the thing was so big that I had to find an old ATX box and swap out my motherboard. As an aside, it's really quite amazing that the form factors in these machines have stayed so consistent over a huge span of time, relative to the development cycle of the hardware. The ATX box that I found (for $5) still had a 1.44M floppy drive pair mounted. Haven't seen one of those in close to twenty years. It also had twenty years of dust-bunnies living in there. Solved that problem by dunking the whole thing in warm, soapy, water in the tub. Remember the wife is away. Mums the word! That started the cascade. The power supply in my previous machine wasn't up to the requirements so in went an 850W Gold power supply. I'm pretty sure they call it "Gold" because that's a reflection of the cost. The upside of this is that someone has finally figured out how to tame the wiring nightmare that is common with the old style power supply's (supplies??). Made by EVGA, nice piece of kit. All up and running today. Size DOES matter. Wow! So, now comes the reason why this post is where it is. **The MONITOR** I haven't pulled the trigger on this yet. I'm still staggering from the sticker shock of the GPU and the PS. Here's the plan: 32 inch, curved, Asus XG32VQ LED LCD VA, 2560 X 1440. Or a BenQ PD3200U PD Series, 32 inch, 4K, IPS, 3840 X 2160 monster. I'm leaning towards the BenQ, partly because I'm still messing about with CAD/CAM design work for 3D printing (hard to completely retire). I guess I'll go to the dark side and trade my Win7 Pro O/S for Win 10. Perish the thought! The guy in the computer store where I bought the GPU muttered something about dinosaurs. Oh yeah; I've ordered a TrackIR 5 (and a year's supply of Gravol). Obviously, I've decided to put VR on the back burner for a while. The video card an everything is VR ready, so it won't be a big deal to make the switch somewhere down the road. Before I go - an interesting side conversation came out of this. Evidently there's a serious shortage of large video cards in the computer market. Wouldn't you know it; I waffle for ages before making the decision to upgrade my video hardware and now I'm having problems buying it. This was explained to me by the computer store guy who was happily writing up the bill for full retail. The bitcoin market has something to do with this. I don't pretend to understand, but it appears that bitcoin trading is somehow tied to the amount of video processing that you can do. He was saying that they are building machines with multiple GPU's on board. That's all for now folks. Ref: https://www.asus.com/ca-en/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-STRIX-GTX1060-O6G-GAMING/ https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=210-GQ-0850-V1 http://www.benq.ca/product/monitor/pd3200u/specifications/ https://www.staples.ca/en/asus-xg32vq-rog-strix-xg32vq-31-5-inch-led-lcd-va-curved-screen-gaming-monitor-2560-x-1440-4-ms/product_2846526_1-CA_1_20001 Link to post Share on other sites
brett 2,284 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Best of luck with the new system John. Here's a link to a better understanding of that whole price increase thing for GPU's, not sure I understand it but I hope it all comes crashes down regardless, pure craziness. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/01/cryptocurrency-boom-creates-insane-global-graphics-card-shortage/ Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Thanks for that @brett, I confess to being highly confuzzled by the whole bitcoin thing. I'm definitely not interested in getting involved. I just got caught in the cracks by trying to buy a high-end video card at the wrong time. Who knows? Maybe next week (month?) that whole smoke and mirrors thing will crash and we'll be able to buy video cards for a song. Won't help me - I've already shelled out for one. Fingers crossed it's a good (as in quality build) one as I'll bet my warranty is useless. It's interesting that at least one of the sites selling powerful power supplies has a remark on their website - "one per family". 1 Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 I don't really understand what crypocurrency mining is. I understand that a powerful computer grinds away and turns electricity into funny-money, somehow, but I really don't understand what the computer is doing to create "value". If anyone has a good explanation or a link to one, I'd appreciate it. I have a pretty high-end graphics card but have no intention of diving into the crypocurrency pool, but am curious about what exactly the computer does when "mining". I guess I ought to read up on blockchains - it seems that's at the root of it, somehow. John Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 See the link in @brett 's contribution just above. I looked it over and it's all clear as mud. Seems the video cards are used to solve some sort of mathematical query (puzzle, problem) where the solution earns you electronic money. Right up our alley, JA Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Coffee 2,030 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Call me crypto-cynical but... I suspect a lot of high end slightly used graphic cards are gonna be had for a song soon. At least my old computer hopes so...as does my wallet which still relies on folding cash. Link to post Share on other sites
allardjd 1,853 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 10 hours ago, Quickmarch said: See the link in @brett 's contribution just above. I looked it over and it's all clear as mud. Seems the video cards are used to solve some sort of mathematical query (puzzle, problem) where the solution earns you electronic money. Right up our alley, JA Not for me. I did read the linked article and didn't really see anything like an explanation of what "mining" consists of and why engaging in that somehow generates funny-money. Put another way, what is the computer doing that generates "value", to whom, and why? John Link to post Share on other sites
Quickmarch 488 Posted January 29, 2018 Report Share Posted January 29, 2018 Right! Sorry, as in all things internet, one link leads to another that leads to another - ad nauseum. Without trying to repeat the trail, the info I got "started" with that article. I probably wasted an hour yesterday chasing down that path. Probably googled "bitcoin mining" and/or cryptocurrency. One thing I did learn: don't give up your previous card. If anything should go wrong with that new GT1060, I'd be stranded without video output on that computer. Link to post Share on other sites
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