Kira

Well, the monitor arrived today. Needless to say it looked good... until I turned it on. Oh, it worked, all right, but the brightness was ridiculous, causing washout. My reds are now oranges, and no amount of fiddling with brightness or contrast seems to make them red again, or my blues deep blue, or my blacks not grey. Any suggestions for something I'm missing? Here are the specs: Webpage: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/acer-19-5-led-hd-monitor/8816192.p?id=1218902549934&skuId=8816192 http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/UM.IS0AA.002 Screen Size 19.5" Screen Mode HD+ Response Time 5 ms Aspect Ratio 16:9 Horizontal Viewing Angle 170° Vertical Viewing Angle 160° Backlight Technology LED HDCP Supported Yes Panel Technology Twisted Nematic Film (TN Film) Adjustable Display Angle Yes Adjustable Display Height No Adjustable Display Pivot No Video Maximum Resolution 1600 x 900 Standard Refresh Rate 60 Hz Color Supported 16.7 Million Colors Contrast Ratio 100,000,000:1 Brightness 250 Nit (cd/m²) Interfaces/Ports DVI Yes VGA Yes Power Description Input Voltage 110 V AC 220 V AC Operating Power Consumption 14 W Standby Power Consumption 490 mW Off-Mode Power Consumption 320 mW Physical Characteristics Color Black Height 13.1" Width 18.3" Depth 6.6" Weight (Approximate) 4.40 lb Weight with Stand (Approximate) 5.10 lb I'm thinking that 250 Nit is the problem, but I'm not sure. It falls into the category of one more thing I just don't know enough about to ask an intelligent question to get the answer I'm looking for. I've come across a website talking about my old Gateway 2000 Vivitron 1776 CRT as about 170 Nit. Fortunately, Best Buy seems to be better than Newegg when it comes to actually returning something you're unhappy with. Called them up, and I can return it to a brick and mortar place rather than shipping it back. Next up, try to find out the Nits/cd/m² of my old monitor.

No, I ended up reformating so... yeah.

Yeah. I've a whole blankity blank stack of blank CD/DVDs that I had for exactly that purpose, but "never got around to it". I think I have some, but by no means all on those disks. Grrrrrr. Well, looks like I didn't do much updating of the files that I had put onto CDs, I'd just transferred most of them to the 2TB. Most of the pictures, including the ones of Sir Cat are there. Nothing of Kira, though. Perhaps the family might still have some squirreled away somewhere...

Backup your backups. I just had my 2TB backup drive delete everything when it said it needed to do a check on the files to make sure they weren't corrupt, which it's done before, so I wasn't concerned. Lost around 1TB of info including old pictures of Mr. Cat. Those of you who know me know how important those were. Sigh. Well, I still have a cat and a camera, but they won't be the same. The really old pictures of Kira, however, are gone for good.

The first restoration from the Boneyard at Davis-Monthan for a B-52. http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-ghost-rider-b-52-rises-from-the-grave-to-ride-aga-1686588702

"(unless it's different to 99.99% of the other psu's on the market)" Bingo! I tested it the same way I test my other fans: Start it up and put a hand next to it. Might not be the coolest, most accepted practice for finding out which way the thing's running, but it'll tell me without a doubt which way the fan's blowing the air. Incidentally, it's some no-name brand that they most likely were "required" to throw into custom builds by somebody or other. I looked it up the other day when I had the other side of the case off and could see the label, but can't think of it at the moment. It's entirely possible that the new Thermaltake PS-TPD-0850MPCGUS-1 will run the other direction. That'll mean no need for cutting and also that it won't be dragging warm air into the PSU from the exhaust fan which is right below the PSU intake currently. Silly setup, for sure. Yep, I thought just touching the case was enough to ground self/components. Thanks for the confirmation.

All ordered and on the way. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday arrival. Looking at having it up and running by Wednesday night. Got my 8GB (2x4) RAM yesterday, but I ordered that a few days before the rest, when I knew I would need DDR3 regardless of motherboard, and didn't know when the price would go up to something more along the lines of what everyone else seemed to be charging. By the way, I had a thought about cooling, and mounting a smaller 80-90mm fan on the side grill... I happened to find a picture of someone who'd done exactly that. Looks like it'll work like a charm, and help keep temps down. Yippie!

Oh absolutely. I saw the "calibration" (ha!) sector, and tried to get it to do so with no luck. That's why I said "knowing full well that not being hardware, it's yet another educated guess". In other news, went into a local PC place, looking for an anti-static "grounding" wristband sorta thing. After informing me that they didn't have such a thing, nobody did, and all I had to do was X, Y and/or Z, (bascially take an old extension cord, strip the ends and ground yourself to a 220 wall outlet via the grounding screw in the center. I smiled and nodded, and went on to other subjects. I've no interest in getting anywhere near 220, grounded or not!), I got into a long involved conversation on the subject of what I was building with the old man (literally). When the conversation got around to power supply, (this was after basic stats, including the I-7, though I didn't go into the specifics of graphics card) he asked what I had. My response of "850W" brought an "Oh, you'll be fine then." Interesting results with regards to CPU. When I mentioned that this computer was an AMD with an ASUS board, he all but cringed. "Well, I was going to say you could use your old computer for running something else , but AMDs are junk. The board's worthwhile, though." He then proceeded to tell me about how much trouble AMDs were for him. Getting grumpy with the boss about "You get mad when I only get four computers done a day, yet you only give me AMDs! Come on, this is ridiculous. Spread the fun! (And give me some Intels for a change!)" When I mentioned my Thermaltake Shark and how it dumps hot air from the power source down into the case, he suggested just replacing it. Cases are cheap these days. Yeah, but, but, but... Right now I'm trying to find out if I can flip the PSU over and mount it with the exhaust fan up instead of down. If it worked, the next step would be cutting a hole in the top of my case for all that hot air from the PSU to go right out the top. A great plan, but would require some sort of dust cover when not in use, not to mention filing/sanding the edges of the hole so they weren't so sharp.

Got curious and started looking for some semblance of "how much power do I use?". Without a KillAWatt, I'm using Microsoft's "JouleMeter" software, knowing full well that not being hardware, it's yet another educated guess. So far, interesting results, all of which are pretty much in line with what my research (as per buying this new PC) has indicated. Rough guesstimate shows 122W at idle, 150W at startup for Skyrim, 140-145 for CLoD. Shows my monitor as pulling 50W, plus a "base" pull of 65W (whatever that means), both constant. Not sure weather to believe that or not. In any case, the power supply of 450W total capacity means I'm running roughly 33% under load, which sounds like the guys who built it (I had it speced and built by a shop back ten years ago) seemed to know what they were doing so far as power supply was concerned. Well, at least so far as "how much is needed". We won't go into "how it was mounted". That's a sore subject. Idle, it's at 27% capacity, well within the 20-85% maximum efficiency window for computer power supplies.

And that's why I go here for questions. There's always someone who knows the answer, once I get around to asking the right question. Thank you, once again, Jabo. You've been a big help with this whole thing, along with the other woofs who've had input. Welp, I've officially splurged. Went and got a Trackclip for wayyy to much. Little delacate piece of plastic, then cost half again what it did for shipping! (GRRRR). I'll find a way to get my camera setup to work on this new thinner monitor, but the old tracker just didn't seem to be working right. Again, thanks to the Dog who got me hooked up with the original in the first place. Worked like a charm when it did.

Beautiful computer sir. Why are you running it on a CRT??? LED monitors. Is 1920x1080 really that much better than 1600x900? I'm loosing a 1/2in in monitor size, but getting the higher resolution, for $10 more. (Slightly) smaller monitor, better resolution, slightly higher price. 1600x900 is Acer, 1920x1080 is AOC. Could always run the 1920X1080 in 1600x900 if I wanted (yeah, like I'd really want to!) Game-Debate.com gives the GTX 960 a 10 at 1600x900 and a 9.8 at 1920x1080. http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=2436&gid2=882&compare=geforce-gtx-960-2gb-vs-geforce-gtx-760 Decisions, decisions. (Why am I debating $10 for a slightly smaller monitor with better performance that's still 4.5" bigger than my current one? We've been here already...)

Okay. I was wondering about that. It sounds like that 850 Gold was waaayyy overboard, even if the price was right. I was rather concerned coming up with those low numbers. Kept forgetting the improvements in tech. Basically, those numbers were odd, especially when considering the jump in capability of the processors, for just a tweak more power. Intuitively, it makes no sense, yet the reality is that it really is that way. I was looking at around 600W, probably will go with 650W just to be on the safe side of the safe side. Right. Scratch, edit, delete, whatever. Finally figured. 1. Estimates are just that: estimates. Ballparks. Fudgefactors. Reality: "Meh, we don't know, it's your system, you decide!" 2. Power systems have been known to supply far less than they say they do. 3. Old power supplies definitely supply less than they did when new. This can happen in as little as a year. 4. To hell with it, I've a good deal on a big arse power supply that's bound to be more than I need, but I won't ever leave my system wanting no matter how much I add to it. Decision made!

I would except for one last minor (major) question. Power supply. The calculators are saying 600W or so. One even ran as low as 500W, full load. Others, 750W. I've found an 850 Gold standard for a good deal (price of a 550 Bronze), yet I'm questioning if, being pretty much twice a padded recommendation, that might be waaayyy overboard, and hence the unit not running within optimum efficiency range, ie 20-90%. Problem is that the calculator doesn't have peripherals for things like rudders, joysticks, Track IR, multiple monitors. These are things I need to plan for now, yet I'm just not sure how much they pull. I've been plugging other things (USB) into the calculator to get some idea, and I'm still running about 550-600 depending on the calculator. Electricity just isn't my thing.

Lost out on the video card, but I'll be okay with the EVGA one. Got a good combo deal going with the board and CPU I wanted. It'll save me $35 overall. Here's what I'm looking at: EVGA 02G-P4-2966-KR GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express $ 210 Intel Core i7-4790K Haswell Quad-Core 4.0GHz LGA 1150 + ASUS Z97-A LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Comboed at $445, saving me $35 between them from "first look" costs of $335 for the graphics and $145 for the board = $480, and original costs of $350 + $150 = $500 or $55 from original. Total: $655 for these components. I think I'm happy with that. Anyone find any major glaring errors there?

Well, looks like I screwed up by waiting. The graphics card I was looking at just went up $30. Damn! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-125-770 Note the lack of fans out the back... but an extra fan in the middle. I don't think this one pulls out of the case through the card, I think it just moves more air with the three fans rather than two, and sends it up to be pulled out by the exhaust fan. The other option I'm considering: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091&cm_re=GTX_960-_-14-487-091-_-Product I have an EVGA card now, and have had no issues with it. I am extremely leery of the replacement policy, however. It seems that if you pay them for a new card, and the one they send fails, is DOA, or otherwise gets returned within the return time, they send you a refurbished card as a replacement. Talk about a major rip off! I guess I could just get a refund and try again later so as not to get stuck with a rebuild for new price if something goes wrong. Unfortunately, I'm looking at what was my first choice and seeing some issues there, too. Specifically, the fact that it doesn't vent out the back, as most do. Seems odd. Also, the price went up, and they tacked some major shipping on it, too, so it's now pretty much outside my window for a "reasonable" card.

I believe so. It's what my headphones are plugged into. I'll have to take another look tomorrow and get back to you on that one.

How do I determine which direction airflow is going to be in the graphics card (before buying it) for airflow management? I'd hate to have it running downwards and dumping all that hot air right onto the sound board. Can you say "meltdown"? I guess it could go out the mesh sides of the case. The side opposite the board is essentially open on the Thermaltake Shark. It's still going to heat that sound board a bit if it's venting downward. My setup is low mount fan pulling air in in the front, mid mount fan pulling air out in the back. My CPU fan is mounted directly in front of the "dump" fan in the back, but at a 90 degree angle, pulling air onto the CPU. I do not know, but strongly suspect that this will be the same for my new CPU fan. Additionally, my power supply is mounted at the top of the case in the rear, directly over the "dump" fan, with airflow into the case, which should then be pulled right out by the "dump" fan. Oddly, this is a configuration that TomsHardware doesn't cover. They do both direction mounts for bottom mount PSU, but only one for the top, which is pulling heat from the CPU and dumping it out the back. Oh, and of course the dumped hot air, since the fan is directly below the PSU pickup fan, rises and gets pulled right back into the PSU. Great design! If the GPU is mounted in the same place as my current card (likely?), then the fan, assuming it pushes air up, will dump hot air from the GPU directly in front of the CPU fan, which will then pull that nice hot air onto the CPU if the big 120mm "dump" fan in the back doesn't pull that hot air out first. Here's a good TomsHardware article with schematics illustrations explaining my concerns much better than I can. Did I mention illustrations? Definitely worth a thousand words. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooling-airflow-heatsink,3053-11.html Oh, and bytheway... I've been looking at power supply unit cooling as well. Mine (the one that I got built for me 10 years back) is, well... funky, to say the least. It's a top mount, at the back of the case. They mounted the thing such it draws air from outside the case, runs in through the PSU and dumps the hot air, you guess it! Inside the case. Directly over the CPU fan, which then pulls said hot air straight in to the CPU before that good old 120mm "dump" fan can grab it. Way to go guys! Some expert PC builders you are. No wonder my CPU temps were off the charts. I'm going to have to do some serious searching to see if I can find a way to change that on this new build's PSU using the same case (I hope). That's not cool. Literally. If I can't, I might be looking at the case market, too. Hate to do that given what I paid for the thing in the first place. A possible solution would be to somehow mount fans on the side over the mesh that comprises 40-50% of the side of the case opposite the motherboard. The questions would be: 1. Mounting. About the only way to do so would be with zipties or the like. Not exactly vibration free. 2. Power. I'm sure I'd have to get power wire extensions for those fans to get power from the board. 3. Direction of flow. Do I pull hot air out, or push more cool air in? I'd think it better to push more cool air in. Pulling might take the cool air from the front of the unit before it had a chance to do its job.

Newegg gives physical dimensions of graphics cards. I've been searching high and low for this critical bit of information that seems to mysteriously get left out by everyone and their brother. Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-125-770 Under Specifications, General. It's the last item in that section.

Sounds good. I agree about SLI, feeling that if I'm going to spend twice the money, I'd better get twice the performance, which isn't always the case. As already stated, I like pretty, but I'm no performance freak! As I heard a DI say once: "Remember kids, if it's military, it's government, and thus made by the lowest bidder!" This was in regard to mil-spec "Birth Control Goggles" glasses with atrocious tolerances for lenses that resulted in headaches, dizziness, etc. by the poor new recruits who had to wear them due to poor eyesight. I'm sure they didn't help much.

Getting close here. I think I've found the graphics card. Scratch that, I need to do some more searching in this sector. Not that it's a bad choice, just need to make sure it's the best choice. I was considering the 760 X2, but I think that power consumption trumps card capability in this case. It's over twice the power for roughly twice the capability in some areas. If I ever wanted that much more, I could just get another 960 in SLI, right? I'd certainly save enough in energy in the mean time. http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-960-vs-GeForce-GTX-760-X2 Regarding RAM, the options: (% cost is regarding GB to $ ratio, which I've found is close to 100% for most at $10 per GB) 1x 8GB $64 = 80% cost 1333 DDR3 (GSkill) or 1x 8GB $82 = 102% cost 1600 DDR3 (GSkill) or 1x 8GB $67 = 85% cost 1600 DDR3 (Corsair) or 2x 4GB $65 = 81.2% cost 1333 DDR3 (GSkill) or 2x 4GB $61 = 76% cost 1866 DDR3 (Kingston) Being so much lower cost for higher capability, is there something wrong with Kingston? Just less advertising? Why's their product cheaper? I've run across information stating that you don't really need the 1600, that 1333 will do just fine, thanks. Not being a nitpicker on these things, I'm inclined to forgo the 1600... but only if there's something seriously wrong with Kingston RAM. Considering the 100% positive review rate on Newegg, I'd say that's not likely. Major question remains: 1x 8GB with future options up to 32GB (MB maximum) or 2x 4GB per the problems Jabo had with the 8GB ram sticks...?

Yup, I've heard that about at least the 770 from reviews. Shades of "My god this things huge! It barely fit in my case!" etc. I have all kinds of room in the Shark that isn't being utilized. Still, I need to be careful about placement as I really don't want to go through what some have on their first build with regards to X doesn't fit with Y, but neither does Z, try W, etc and so on. Talked to someone who knows far more about power than I. He said that a 750W power unit is capable of up to 750W, but isn't putting that out all the time. Just as I suspected. The other day, a friend gave me some RAM. Unfortunately it wouldn't fit in my current board... and I now I think I know why. I have 3x2GB sticks of Kingston 2GB 2Rx8 pc3-8500U (I'm pretty sure DDR3) RAM! Now to find out for certain. If so, and I can match it with this new board, I may go with just one 4GB stick, and use these as well, totaling 10GB. I've heard that can be a problem with boards with four slots, though. Basically they run #1 and #3 slots paired, and #2 and #4 slots paired. So I could do 2 and 2, but not 1 and 3. I'm currently running 2 and 2 on my board in this machine with 1 and 2 the same, 3 and 4 the same. No issues. Perhaps better would be 4+4+2+2=12GB, half of it new.

Good to hear. I've been using an oooolllldddd CRT that I got for all of $1 from a thrift store when my 24" monster originally went on the fritz many years back. It's been running fine, but I think you're right about the "you don't know what you're missing!!!" No sense in getting a seriously capable machine and then skimping on my ability to enjoy what it has to offer. Ohhh, bigger dots! Can't imagine why he likes his 40" on the same resolution. Sneaky bugger! I have noticed on the 97Z someone said something about the RAM slots not all being usable under certain conditions. I've also read something about it in the specs. Am currently wondering if this is another of the "guys who badmouth a certain piece of hardware because they think they know more than they do, and they don't have things right" deals.

"size and resolution of this monitor should govern your choice of graphics card too." Thank you Arthur, that's something "obvious" that I'd completely overlooked. What about lifespan of the LCDs? As I've stated, these daggone CRTs just won't quit, which is part of the reason I'm still using it. You have a point about power consumption though. Another power question: FT said that the power unit isn't running full load often. I understand this. Question is will a 750W unit pull more from the wall than my current 450W unit constantly, or is it only a matter of having the extra power capability there if and only when it's needed? As per what to put the savings towards, I was thinking cheap refurbished monitors may be easy to come by. Rather than spend for new, I was thinking something more like this with the extra savings from this modified build: http://livingwithanerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/hotas-warthog-thrustmaster-joystick.jpg Single versus dual RAM. Space is a major question, as is power pull on a single slot. The 8GB is "taller" than the 4, but using 2x4 uses 2 slots. The 8 also would pull twice as much from a single slot. If I go with 4, I think I can put up to 16 in. 8 would mean 32. This current machine started life with 3gb and now has 4. I've not had much issue with need to add a boatload of RAM. Thinking that 8 would work for now, and 16 would be the maximum I'd need over the life of the machine. Thus, 2x4 ( eight!!! damned smilyface! GRRRRR) and eventually 4x4 (16) would work just fine. No need for 1x8 or eventually 2x4+2x8 (24) or 1x8x4 (32) in the long run based on experience with this machine. Graphics cards and monitors. Am I correct that I'm looking for specific resolution, which is directly tied to screen size (17" would provide lower resolution perhaps than a 21-24"?) and weather it's widescreen or not? I got the impression that resolution had more to do with aspect ratio than actual screen size. Basically number of pixels horizontally and vertically which isn't directly tied to screen size. Wait. That doesn't make sense. Bigger screen = more pixels = greater resolution for Graphics card to need to put out.

Thanks again Jabo. Yup mine are all SATA. No, I don't run all three. Usually two, and usually the 2TB's one of them. I'd like to change that, since it's not what I got it for in the first place, but that depends on my 250 and if I can salvage anything on it or just start over with it. Arthur: Yep, $967's more like what I'm looking at. Didn't mean for you to go back through it all, but I do appreciate it. Best thank you I can come up with? Well, we are the Dogz. What's the only thank you worth its salt? Have a sheep! I came up with $945 from what I was looking at, minus some major parts. Rundown below: CPU: I7 4790K $320 [i7 4790K $320] Board: Z97-A $145 [Z97-X SLI $115] RAM: Hadn't nailed it but figuring 4 GB at about $40 [Patriot Viper 8GB $70] Graphics: Nvidia GTX 770 $310 [EVGA GTX 960 $210] Power: Corsair 600W or 650W $65 or $75 [Antec 750 $80] DVD: LG 2x DVD:RW in hand $0 [samsung $21] OS: Win 7 $? working on a friend who's using Win 8 now... [Win 7 $100] HD: 1x 120GB SSD, 1x 250GB HHD, 1x 2TB HHD [seagate $51] TOTALS: Original: $990 might be less. Suggested (Arthur): $795 (+up to 151 = $945) I understand most of it, but there are a few I don't follow. 1. RAM. I haven't heard of these guys. But, they're on Ebay's list of top gaming RAM manufactures, so they can't be that bad. Right? http://www.ebay.com/gds/Top-8-Best-Rated-Gaming-Ram-/10000000178078475/g.html Also regarding RAM: Is one stick better than two? 1x 8GB or 2x 4GB 2. Graphics. The GTX 960 is a conundrum. How is it that it's fairly comparable (perhaps slightly less capable), from a reputable company (I have an EVGA 240 in my current build), yet a two-thirds the price of the 770? Is it in part due to 3rd party manufacturing ie it's not the name brand card? Also, why the higher number yet comparable performance? http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-960-vs-GeForce-GTX-770 3. Power. Antec's another I hadn't heard of, but upon more research, it's mentioned as one of the better ones. Once again the question arises: Do I need the 750W or will 600-650 do? Still working various calculators figuring this number. 4. Speaking of "major parts", I'm still using an old CRT. Thing's like the Energizer bunny, it just won't quit. But the other day, I ran into a deal on a refurbished LCD for $12. Ridiculous, thought I, can it be true? More important: Is it worth risking (a whopping $12!) on an old "refurbished" monitor? Silly question, but I'm asking it anyway! Still, "refurbished" makes me leery, but the price is right. I know I'm going to want an LCD with all this capability I'm cramming into this new machine, no two ways about it. Most of them were pretty small 17" or so. I'm thinking somewhere in the region of 21"-24" or so. My old 21" CRT was just huge, and wouldn't fit in my space, but with an LCD, I'd be more than okay. I do have overhead issues, though, with a shelf mounted to the wall that the 21" CRT wouldn't fit under. With an LCD, though, I could pull it out from under and it'd be okay. The shelf covers about half of my computer desk, but there's plenty of room up "forward".