Building a pc for my Dad...a few questions

McGraw · 05-09-2010, 09:53

Hi.

As per thread title, looking to put a build together for my Dad.

I'll no doubt think of more things to ask but my main considerations are:

-Wall mountable 22" ish monitor with built in speakers and HDMI (the audio must pass in through the HDMI)
-A reasonably high end graphics card with onboard HDMI audio (something in the region of £200-£250).
-A power supply that will look after a mid range i7 and the above graphics card without being noisy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks very much.

damien c · 05-09-2010, 10:25

Graphic's card whise you could get a ATI 5870 for £280 - £310 or a Nvidia GTX 470 for £230 - £320, which perform's about the same or a little less than the 5870.

Monitor wise not sure about them haven't used one for the last about 4 years now, I just use a TV.

Power supply you could try a Corsair or Antec 750w modular which would handle that pc fine.

McGraw · 06-09-2010, 12:22

Thanks.

Have since found out that all the nvidia cards I'm considering have HDMI audio.

Struggling to find monitors with built in speakers and HDMI though...

Aragorn · 06-09-2010, 13:47

A monitor with HDMI and speakers - It's called a TV

I have a 22" Technika TV from Tesco for £150.

ZrByte · 06-09-2010, 14:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

Thanks.

Have since found out that all the nvidia cards I'm considering have HDMI audio.

Struggling to find monitors with built in speakers and HDMI though...

I use a Samsung SyncMaster T200HD. Its essentially a TV as it has coaxial, scart, dvi VGA & HDMI Inputs but this particular model was aimed more at pc users with the main focus being on using a pc through one of the various digital inputs. The T220HD would be exactly what you are looking for as that is the 22" version, mine is the 20". Another handy feature is that it remembers the previous volume level If you plug headphones in so if you remove them quickly you dont deafen yourself. I have never seen a pc monitor with speakers that could do this.

McGraw · 11-09-2010, 13:37

Cheers.

TVs are usually not as good as monitors for PC use.

I've seen a DELL ST2320L with speaker bar for £200 23" LED HDMI etc.

Can't find out for love nor money whether it's vesa mountable though...

**Graham M** · 11-09-2010, 14:22

The sound is usually pretty awful on the built in speakers

ZrByte · 11-09-2010, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

Cheers.

TVs are usually not as good as monitors for PC use.

I've seen a DELL ST2320L with speaker bar for £200 23" LED HDMI etc.

Can't find out for love nor money whether it's vesa mountable though...

Not anymore, unless you buy extremely cheap or older hardware e.g. low-def or crt.

McGraw · 14-09-2010, 07:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZrByte

Not anymore, unless you buy extremely cheap or older hardware e.g. low-def or crt.

Well I just don't think native res on any LCD/Plasma TV I have tried a pc on looks quite as good as on even a cheap LCD monitor.

Text is never quite as crisp IMO.

ZrByte · 14-09-2010, 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

Well I just don't think native res on any LCD/Plasma TV I have tried a pc on looks quite as good as on even a cheap LCD monitor.

Text is never quite as crisp IMO.

I think you would be hard pressed to tell that mine is also a TV, the only real giveaway is it has a remote. I think part of the problem maybe incorrect screen resolution on the TVs in question.

damien c · 15-09-2010, 08:41

My 42" Panasonic look's fine at 1920x1080 anything lower than that and it look's horrible.

I need to get a monitor for lan's either this or next month, but trying to decide between a TV or a monitor not sure what to get.

ZrByte · 15-09-2010, 23:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by damien c

My 42" Panasonic look's fine at 1920x1080 anything lower than that and it look's horrible.

I need to get a monitor for lan's either this or next month, but trying to decide between a TV or a monitor not sure what to get.

I find most TVs look fine as long as you pick a resolution suitable to the aspect ratio. On mine 1650x1050 is best, then 1440x900 and so on. Anything in-between looks horrible but that is also true of every tft monitor I have used.

McGraw · 17-09-2010, 12:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZrByte

I think you would be hard pressed to tell that mine is also a TV, the only real giveaway is it has a remote. I think part of the problem maybe incorrect screen resolution on the TVs in question.

See my native resolution comment.

I have tried a 43" Pioneer Plasma, 40" sony LCD and 32" Samsung LCD all atheir native resolutions and even though the Sony and Samsung look amazing for games, they're still not quite as good as this bog standard LG 22" LCD I'm using at work when it comes to general browsing and word processing etc.

ZrByte · 19-09-2010, 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGraw

See my native resolution comment.

I have tried a 43" Pioneer Plasma, 40" sony LCD and 32" Samsung LCD all atheir native resolutions and even though the Sony and Samsung look amazing for games, they're still not quite as good as this bog standard LG 22" LCD I'm using at work when it comes to general browsing and word processing etc.

See my other reply, #12.

McGraw · 22-09-2010, 12:49

Not sure where you're going with this.

The two most recent TVs I have tried were Full HD 1920x1080 panels and the pc resolution was set to 1920x1080 also through HDMI (in the correct DVI socket as labelled on the back).

Compared to a dedicated computer monitor, they just don't quite look as good (in my opinion).