30" Monitors

[brummieboy]

Anyone got a 30" TFT Monitor and if so which make.
Just read reviews on one website and it rates the Samsung as being better than Dell and HP's model.
I love my 24" Dell but being greedy want a new machine and 30" monitor.
Would I notice a substantial difference in viewing area compared to the 24"?

[kinboshi]

What are dimensions of the two screens in terms of pixels?

[TheChipPrince]

How far will you have to sit from the screen?!

[Dry em]

got the Dell one - very happy with it

[RichEO]

I have the Dell 3007WFP-HC.

It's excellent. It uses the Samsung panel, which is also the same as the Apple cinema display. I'm not sure about the HP one.

Make sure you either get the HC (high colour) version, or revision A02 of the non-HC version. The original screen had some inconsistencies accross the screen where a colour would have lighter and darker sections (becuase the screen is so big!).

The Dell 30" is 2560x1600 (4MP), you can fit 6 full size poker tables and a little to spare, but more importantly, games are awesome. You need a nice graphics card though. And even if you aren't playing games, you need a graphics card with a dual link DVI connector to run any of these screens at max resolution.

Can be had for £824 delivered off ebay with a 3 year NBD warranty. At the moment it is back up to £1000+VAT on dell's site. they do offers now and then and it comes down to £900 inc VAT. It was that about 2 months ago anyway. The 27" is on offer on their site, but personally I would eihter get a 2nd 24" or a 30". The 24" is 1920x1200.

[brummieboy]

I have the Dell 3007WFP-HC.

It's excellent. It uses the Samsung panel, which is also the same as the Apple cinema display. I'm not sure about the HP one.

Make sure you either get the HC (high colour) version, or revision A02 of the non-HC version. The original screen had some inconsistencies accross the screen where a colour would have lighter and darker sections (becuase the screen is so big!).

The Dell 30" is 2560x1600 (4MP), you can fit 6 full size poker tables and a little to spare, but more importantly, games are awesome. You need a nice graphics card though. And even if you aren't playing games, you need a graphics card with a dual link DVI connector to run any of these screens at max resolution.

Can be had for £824 delivered off ebay with a 3 year NBD warranty. At the moment it is back up to £1000+VAT on dell's site. they do offers now and then and it comes down to £900 inc VAT. It was that about 2 months ago anyway. The 27" is on offer on their site, but personally I would eihter get a 2nd 24" or a 30". The 24" is 1920x1200.

I had decided on getting a second 24" monitor as I'd need to get a new PC as well for the 30" Dell due to needing a dual link DVI graphics card.
I decided to get the 24" BenQ monitor as it had great reviews everywhere I looked.
However had another nice win last night and have decided to treat myself and get the 30" Dell and a new machine.
Scan and PCBuyit are selling the monitor on deals at the moment PCbuyit selling for £851.
Need advice on getting a decent machine though to run this baby.
Willing to spend about £1200 on the base unit, can anyone offer recomendations for a good machine about that price.
Not been keeping up with recent technology, is the Geforce 8800 card the way to go?
Machine will be used for poker, playing games (WoW etc..) and a bit of video-editing.
All advice appreciated.

[RichEO]

If you spend £1200 on a PC it will do anything. You don't need to spend that much.

What is your current PC spec? You could upgrade that, or are you after a new PC anyway?

There are some PCs here, I wouldn't necessarily buy one of these, but it's something to look at http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=20

Personally I'd probably build my own PC, how techy are you?

[kinboshi]

Eventually, I'm getting a monitor set up like this:

Click to see full-size image.

[boldie]

Eventually, I'm getting a monitor set up like this (but with larger monitors that are more poker friendly):

Click to see full-size image.

I might just be a simpleton and Lord knows I'm about 20 years behind in the technical evolution but why the hell would you get a 30" monitor? Jesus..my tell is only 21" and that's big enough.

[kinboshi]

Found the proper picture now of the setup I want.

[brummieboy]

If you spend £1200 on a PC it will do anything. You don't need to spend that much.

What is your current PC spec? You could upgrade that, or are you after a new PC anyway?

Yeah i've decided to get a new machine, currently have two Medion machines which are decent enough but going to give one to my son and get a new machine.

There are some PCs here, I wouldn't necessarily buy one of these, but it's something to look at http://3xs.scan.co.uk/Category.asp?SystemMasterCategoryID=20

Is this model any good 3XS Core™2 Duo - Water Cooled(PCW)
What graphics card have you got in yours?

Personally I'd probably build my own PC, how techy are you?

I built a machine about 5 years ago and bought most of the items from Scan but it was a pain as the Abit motherboard I was initially send was DAO and as i'm a lazy sod, I think i'll skip the hassle and pay the extra on a prebuilt machine.

[brummieboy]

Eventually, I'm getting a monitor set up like this (but with larger monitors that are more poker friendly):

Click to see full-size image.

I might just be a simpleton and Lord knows I'm about 20 years behind in the technical evolution but why the hell would you get a 30" monitor? Jesus..my tell is only 21" and that's big enough.

Hasn't your wife told you those extra inches make all the difference.   

[RichEO]

Just put a spec together for a self built PC. Compare it to what you get from a pre built one, a lot more for your money or a lot cheaper for the same thing. Products are from ebuyer.com if you want to look up the items, input the quickfind code in the search box.

£796 total, and that includes £111 for windows vista ultimate, which depending on what you want / how you see it is optional.

[RichEO]

Is this model any good 3XS Core™2 Duo - Water Cooled(PCW)

Here's the spec for that PC:

 CPU
1 Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail
 CPU Cooler
 Memory
1 1Gb (2X512Mb) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC6400 (800), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-15
 nVidia VGA-The Way It's Meant To Be Played™
1 256MB XFX 8600GT XXX, PCI-E (x16), Mem 1600 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz, 2x Dual Link DVI-I/HDTV
 Additional VGA Water-Cooling Option **Includes Additional Radiator & Necessary Components**
 System Drives
1 320 Gb Seagate ST3320620AS Barracuda 7200.10, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ
 Hard Drive Caddie 
1 Jou-Jye Black SNT-2131 3 Bay SATA Hot Swap Rack fits into 2x5.25" Bays
 Storage Hard drives
 Floppy Drive /Flash - Card Readers & Writers
1 Mitsumi FA404M 1.44 Black FDD+Int USB2 7 in 1 Card Reader (SM/MMC/SD/CF/MD/MS) Fits in 3.5" FDD Bay
 DVD ROM/ DVD Writer
 DVD Writer 
1 Samsung SH-S183L/BEBN x18 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM, LS
 TV Tuner card
1 Hauppauge Win TV Nova-T 500 MCE/Dual Digital DVBT Tuner+Remote LowProfile PCI 
 Operating system
1 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 32Bit 
 Gaming Keyboard 
1 Logitech Media Keyboard Elite
 Gaming Mouse Option
1 *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
 Speakers
1 Logitech X230 2.1 Speakers (desk or wall mount) 32W RMS
 Extended Warranty
1 Standard 3XS System Warranty

My Notes:
It only has 1GB of RAM, for the PC you are after you definately want 2GB. It has a 2.4GHz processor, the one I specced up has 3GHz.

It has 320GB hard drive, 500GB is about £15 more, if you compare just the hard drives. If you are adding a 500GB though it's about £60.

It comes with a keyboard and speakers and bluetooth, I didn't spec for these, but you could get them for £20 if you wanted, but depends on which keyboard you want or if you are keeping your current one.

It only has vista premium not ultimate - doesn't really matter, but premium is about £30 cheaper (I think!).

Graphics: nVidia 8600GT, nowhere near as good as the 8800 GTX, and nowhere near as expensive, 8800GTX is £300 (cheapest version) 8600GT is about £80. This is a cheap graphics card, it will play the latest games and run your monitor nicely, BUT it should not be in a £1000 system, it should be in a sub £500 system.

Overall, please don't buy this one for £1000

[RichEO]

What graphics card have you got in yours?

I have an ATI X1800. It runs command and conquer 3 at maximum resolution on the dell 30" and it copes with half life 2 at max res also.

I'll need an upgrade soon (3-6,months), but I'll wait until it struggles with something. And then I'll prob get a new MB, CPU and RAM as well. I upgrade often and not to top spec, much more 'bang for your buck' that way.