HDTV for my PC

whitescar1000 · 11 Jul 2012 at 22:47

Hi there,

So with my birthday coming this month and my PC I built back at the start of the year finally getting fix tomorrow, I was going to get a brand new ivy bridge to replace my 2500k. However the reviews I have seen so far say that the new ivy's aren't worth upgrading to if you already have a sandy, not yet at least.

So I was going to get my first HDTV, I badly need one as I have been using crappy 5 year old TV's up to this point. However I also need a new monitor for my PC the I have now will in no way do my 680 gtx justice, but don't have the money right now.

So my question is could I buy a new HDTV and some how use it also as a monitor for my PC when I not watching TV. I mean they come with vga or dvi support? do I need like £20 worth of adapters? the response time might not be great I guess but most of my gaming is in MMO's atm.

Any help you guy could give would be great, thanks.

Rooster212 · 12 Jul 2012 at 01:26

I'd get a monitor over a TV anyday, the honestly look terrible using a PC with them as the pixels are huge. You could watch TV through the internet instead, or you could get a monitor with Freeview support built in, or get a monitor with HDMI and get a Freeview box that connects over HDMI.

Asus do a reasonably cheap monitor that fits this kind of bill (HDMI)

Edit: A quick google search turns up cheap HDMI connected Freeview boxes, so an HDMI monitor and Freeview box could cost you about £150!

I searched "freeview box hdmi" which gave me some good results

Axeia · 12 Jul 2012 at 13:08

So basically the question is can you hook up a 680 GTX to a HDTV? Well yes you can, HDTV's come with a HDMI in, the 680 comes with a HDMI out. Stick a cable between those and you're in business, no converter needed.
HDMI <> DVI can be done with a £2.59 adapter.

sypher365 · 12 Jul 2012 at 15:27

As already said can get dvi-hdmi converters/cables and go in through there but if the 680 has it just go hdmi-to-hdmi and that will also pass sound through to the TV as well.

I know a few that have done that with light gaming rigs in the lounge while not as crisp as a monitor up close they are more than happy the game from it and use it to watch films and as long as your sitting further away than you would with a monitor it works. Also check which tele you get as some handle PC input better than others by telling it the hdmi source is from a PC (something to do with how it treats the pixel ratios?)