Budget Monitor for First Gaming PC!

[MvDRelentless00]

Hey guys, my first post here,

I am looking to buy the Titan Tanto PC form Overclockers within the next 2 weeks (whenever it is next on sale really) and I am wanting advice about monitors for it.

I originally was aiming at a budget of £1000 to get me completely up and running, but more than that will go on the Tanto already (I am making slight changes to the build including a 2Gb 770). So basically, I am looking for a good quality monitor that will do the PC justice for around £100-150. I know that is probably quite a limiting request, but I haven't got more money to throw at it at the moment, I will likely get a new monitor in the next 6 months anyway, but I want one capable of outputting the resolution, graphics and fps that the system will be dishing.

Advice and reasoning will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks guys.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Hi there,

With that monitor budget you can afford either a 24in 1080p TN panel monitor or a 24in 1080p IPS panel monitor. The TN panel will be a bit better for fast paced games (due to the faster response time of the pixels in the TN panel) while the IPS panel will have better colour accuracy and viewing angles (so much better in less fast-paced games).

Two good examples are the ASUS VE247H (TN panel) and the ASUS VN248H (IPS panel).

 

[MvDRelentless00]

Ok, thanks for the advice,

At the moment I am mainly playing League of Legends, with some shooters such as Insurgency played lass frequently. I may get into other shooters or MMO's in the coming months, but I would say that fast paced games are more my thing. Would you say based on those games that the TN panel is going to be better suited for my needs? Its also cheaper, which helps.

Thanks again!

 

[Venares]

For moba's or mmo's id go with an IPS/PLS screen.
However if FPS is your thing then you'll probably want a faster TN panel.

Also reducing your graphics card vram to 2gb may not be a wise decision as a lot of games are starting to push past that now.
3gb seems to be the minimum these days.

 

[MvDRelentless00]

3Gb? Really? I read that anything more than 2Gb was only needed if you were intending to do rendering and stuff.

If that is the case, I can't afford the 4Gb 770, so is the 2Gb 770 or 4Gb 760 going to be a better option?

I think I will shift toward FPS games a bit more, so I am inclined to go with the TN for the moment, as I said I will likely replace it at somepoint this year as well. Also with the faced paced nature of LoL I would sacrifice slightly less vibrant colours for less latency.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Venares]

It all depends on what resolution and how much eye candy you turn on as well.
Honestly most stuff should run just fine on a 2gb card.

There may be the odd game where you can't turn everything upto max though without hitting the vram limit but they are the rare exception.

At 1080p you should be just fine with 95% of stuff.

 

[MvDRelentless00]

Well this is my first "toe dipping" into the world of PC gaming after abandoning consoles this generation.

I would like to make out the majority of games in 1080p, but new games I don't mind just having the settings on "high", I guess as I am just getting into PC gaming, going all out might not be necessary.

Interestingly though I compared the price gap of the 2 and 4Gb 770 and it isn't as big as I thought. This will push the price of the rig up to around the £1200 mark (including monitor), which is more than planned, but I can manage it.

Any ideas on getting a cheap OS? I was told that you can upgrade and get Windows 8.1 very cheap, but say I tried updating my Windows 7 laptop, could I actually use the new OS on this rig or is in only viable for the same machine? £75 for the OS is annoying me...

 

[marc2003]

Any ideas on getting a cheap OS? I was told that you can upgrade and get Windows 8.1 very cheap, but say I tried updating my Windows 7 laptop, could I actually use the new OS on this rig or is in only viable for the same machine? £75 for the OS is annoying me...

you have to buy a new OS for a new machine. the windows 7 on your laptop cannot be transferred to any other device.

you could trial windows 8.1 for 3 months. that gives you a bit of breathing space to get the cash together.

you will have to format when that time is up though because the trial version is enterprise which can't be bought by normal people.

 

[MvDRelentless00]

Hmmm, trial doesn't seem worth it if it means reformatting, I guess I will just splash out, you only live once, eh!?

Thanks for the info though guys, its been really helpful!

 

[MarioGameTV]

many people invest fortune for they desktop and buy cheap monitor . Thats totally stupid !
Don't forget Monitor is what you will be looking at all the times ! monitor is show you how game graphic looks like .
Make sure you chose very good monitor (do your proper research) read reviews , watch YouTube reviews .

 

[MvDRelentless00]

I am aware that the Monitor is a key part of the system and you're right, skimping on it would defeat the point of having a kick ass PC. However, looking at what I am willing to spend right now, I would rather get the performance aspects that I want locked down and couple that with a good quality 1080p monitor. If I really get into PC gaming then the monitor will be replaced, but for the moment, getting good frame rates at 1080p will be far better than anything I have previously experienced.

I will look into other possible monitors before buying, obviously, but I think my budget will remain the same.

 

[aatu]

To put it bluntly, for £100-150 you can't get a monitor that "will do the PC justice". On the contrary, you are quite close to the bottom of the barrel, plain and simple.

So I'd suggest you save the £100 now and get a used/old monitor for £10-30 from your friends/co-workers/etc (or ask to borrow one) for the time being, so you can buy a better monitor later.

Also, I don't think LoL counts as "fast paced gaming" in this context. In general, you mostly benefit from TN in FPS (first-person shooter) games. In all the other genres the IPS/VA/PLS are better. In addition to the normal non-gaming desktop stuff, like internet, movies, office applications.

 

[cmndr_andi]

Also, I don't think LoL counts as "fast paced gaming" in this context. In general, you mostly benefit from TN in FPS (first-person shooter) games. In all the other genres the IPS/VA/PLS are better. In addition to the normal non-gaming desktop stuff, like internet, movies, office applications.

I would agree, the benefit of TN panels (and a downside of IPS) is that when playing fast-paced first person shooter games the whole screen changes very quickly (180 noscope etc) and it is important to have a screen which can change its pixel colours very quickly to eliminate visible motion blur as much as possible.

However, with a game like Lol (even though it can be fast-paced) the same benefits from a very fast pixel response time screen as less important. Instead, a screen with more accurate colours, wide viewing angles and decent response times would be a better match for that game IMHO.

For that reason I'd strongly recommend the IPS panel £180 ASUS VN248H. It really is worth the extra compared to a 60Hz TN panel monitor.

 

[MvDRelentless00]

Ok, thanks for explaining, I am very new to this.

I think I will get into FPS games again, but I always prefer them on consoles, where I can dominate, when it comes to mouse and keyboard I just get outmatched.

If you think the £180 monitor is going to be the best option then I will go for that. As I say, as long as it gives me high, steady FPS in 1080p then I am happy.

Thanks for the help all!

 

[Ewaf]

I'm also eyeing up that monitor so if you do get it let us know how it is!

 

[robertchalmers1]

Can OP not use an HDtv to save some cash for a few weeks till he can get some extra cash for a better monitor???

 

[tamzzy]

you know you can get a pretty decent *full* system for 1k right?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Dual-X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £227.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £169.99
1 x iiyama Prolite XU2390 23" Widescreen Slim Bezel LED Multimedia Monitor - Black £129.95
1 x Gigabyte Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £82.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x Toshiba SSD HDTS212EZSTA 9.5mm 128GB Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £65.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan ORANGE 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLAD38G2400HC11CDC01) £53.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x SuperFlower Amazon 450W "80 Plus Bronze" Power Supply £39.95
1 x Zalman Z3-Plus Midi-Tower - White £39.95
1 x CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle - USB Keyboard & Mouse £29.99
1 x Raijintek Themis Direct Contact CPU Cooler £19.99
1 x LiteOn IHAS124-14 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,011.24 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 

[MvDRelentless00]

I was originally planning to build my own system, however, I am very new at this and have done very little in terms of DIY electronics. Due to this I wasn't sure that building my own PC was a great idea, particularly as you are dealing with very expensive components, many of which can be broken quite easily from what I have read. I haven't decided against building one, its just the Tanto has pretty much everything I wanted and comes with the peace of mind that it is somebody else's responsibility to make sure everything is assembled right.

Also after talking to a few friends who are avid PC gamers I was told that Nvidia is far better than AMD. Reviews that I have read have said similar things.

Do you think that building the system is going to be better than buying one? I will eventually want to replace/add components, so knowledge of how it was put together might be very valuable.


@robertchalmers1 - I could use a HDTV, but the only one I own is 44", so slightly too big and I am relatively certain if I tried to move that out of the living room my girlfriend would go ape****.

 

[tamzzy]

for a similar performance build as the self built above, the titan tanto would be specced like this:

YOUR BASKET
1 x "Titan Tanto" Intel Core i5 4670K @ 4.2GHz Overclocked Nvidia GeForce Gaming PC £313
1 x BitFenix Shinobi USB3.0 Gaming Case - Black £49.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-Bit DVD - OEM (WN7-00614) £74.99
1 x 24 MONTH WARRANTY - COLLECT & RETURN £0.01
1 x Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days £0
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £43.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE120BW) £77.99
1 x TeamGroup Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYD38G2133HC11ADC01) £59.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.40GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - OEM £161.99
1 x No Sound Card Upgrade £0
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 WindForce 3x OC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N770OC-2GD) £259.99
Total : £1,056.94 (includes shipping : £12.50).



its more expensive than the full self built spec!
aka you're paying 200 quid for someone to build it for you! is it worth it? i dont think so lol

re: amd vs nvidia
not really, at their respective price points, each trade blows with each other

 

[cmndr_andi]

Do you think that building the system is going to be better than buying one? I will eventually want to replace/add components, so knowledge of how it was put together might be very valuable.

If you are up for a bit of a challenge then building your first PC is a really fun thing to do. It will get you exactly the PC you want, save you a bit of money and give you the confidence to build and upgrade your future PCs.

It does seem a bit daunting to start with, but in reality assembling a PC doesn't require any electronics knowledge - just the a bit of understanding of what goes where and how to properly use a cross-head screwdriver. Also, PC components are pretty hardy - so long as you treat them with some care then you won't damage them.

The hard part is getting a spec which will all work well together (which OCUK members love doing) - once you have that you really just need to slot it all together and screw where needed. There are loads of excellent build guide videos on youtube, I would recommend having a look at a couple of them. Once you have seen two you will realise that build procedure is pretty much the same and very simple.

Also after talking to a few friends who are avid PC gamers I was told that Nvidia is far better than AMD. Reviews that I have read have said similar things.

I would have to disagree with this. AMD and Nvidia both make excellent graphics cards and they are very competitive. Whatever your budget is for a graphics card is, it makes most sense to look at both AMD and Nvidia options to see what will give you the best graphics card for your money.

In your particular case I would suggest that the GTX 770 and R9 280X are the cards most likely to fit in your budget. Between these two I personally opt for the 280X, as it is a powerful card with 50% more graphics memory and is a bit cheaper (so more money left to spend on the nice £180 IPS monitor).