4 replies to this topic

[TiM]

I thought I'd just write a quick post on my new monitor. I know every time I trudge it out, it makes RedTechie jealous.

A little while back, after I was feeling rich after completing a commission (well, less poor than usual ), one of my friends pointed out to me that Dell was having a sale on their high-end monitors.
Having been running on 22" since 2007, I was already considering buying one of the Dell 27" ones, but given the sale, the 30" was only slightly more.

So here it is. If any of you guys are thinking about getting a giant monitor, I think this one is definitely the best. The ridiculous size aside, it's also using an IPS panel, so the colour quality is brilliant, and it has basically any kind of visual input you can think of.

At the moment, my big PC, laptop and Xbox are all plugged into it, and they all look great.

The main downside tho... is video games. ; Given the operating resolution of 2560x1600, any really high-end games that normally test the video card well (Battlefield 3, etc) will demand you're running an unholy gaming system to ensure smooth performance. ;

Since I'm running on an Intel Core 2 Quad and a Radeon 5850 here, I'm thinking it's also going to be time to upgrade my PC soon...

Anyway. If you see Dell having these things on sale again, I totally recommend you grab one. They make the whole PC experience so much nicer.

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[TiM]

ROFL!!!!! Oh criminey. I was wanting to write a quick update to this, but I just noticed that it's been exactly a year since the last post. Wow.

So... the gaming aspect of this thing (Or the absolute chugginess thereof) got to me, about midway through 2012. So I finally I decided 5 years was a good amount of time for my old PC, and that it was time to upgrade.

This year, I bought a new PC, one with an Intel Core i7 3930K CPU and an EVGA Geforce 670 Superclocked w/ 4GB RAM. I did a lot of research on the matter, and it was pretty unanimous online that if the gaming resolution is 27" or above, you'll potentially experience memory bottlenecks with 2GB. And in all of the benchmarks online, the difference between a 670 and a 680 is like $250 in price, and only 5 frames or so in performance.

So with that done and dusted, this monitor truly shines now. Every single game I've thrown at it (Including crazy high-spec ones like Saints Row The Third) runs great! Thanks to the 4GB of RAM, MOST can handle max AA as well, but sometimes they choke (But that's okay. At 30" you won't notice. ).

One other thing I discovered recently (Which is really cool) is the monitor sets itself up as a USB speaker (ie, when you go into the Sound control panel, the monitor is a valid option) which lets the PC stream its audio output to the monitor along the same USB line as the peripherals (ie keyboard etc). This audio is then routed out of the monitor via 3.5mm jacks that can do up to 5.1 surround sound. Incidentally, I have my Xbox 360 also plugged into the monitor via HDMI.

What I'm actually getting at here is that the monitor is able to dynamically route audio out of either my PC or Xbox to my speakers completely dynamically without touching the audio cables. Up until now, I didn't know audio was routed through the USB, so whenever I was planning on playing my Xbox, I was manually unplugging the audio cables.

So. To sum it all up. This monitor is awesome. Really awesome. I've had it for a year now and I still love it as much as when I bought it.

While I'd still recommend you to get one... I've just heard that its successor, (presumably the Dell U3013) is slated for release in a couple months time. So, might as well wait for that one now.

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[Veritas]

Have you heard about the Korean IPS panels that are similar to your new monitor but far, far less expensive? 

 

Coding horror had a great article on them a while back. I was sorely tempted myself. If you're looking to double up at some time in the future, you might consider it. 

[TiM]

Haha yeah. Someone I know here in Perth showed that link to me. He was freaking the crap out out at how such a deal was possible.

 

Personally, I'd still prefer at least 1 Dell UXX11 monitor since having HDMI ports that can actually reroute audio is insanely useful. But as supplemental monitors, that is a crazy deal.

 

Are they still on sale?

[Veritas]

I think so, if you pop over to eBay and look for them.