Guess who just spent some war moneys?

[Cavadus]

Beep! (http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=12787846)

So before I left I sold my yearish old rig to my cousin and now that I have about six weeks left I just couldn't resist spending some cash to get some loot.

Although afterwards I regretted placing the order due to the thirty day return policy... yeah... hope I don't need to RMA anything. I got a little too excited and forgot about that.

Ah well, damage is done. This is basically going to be my all-inclusive entertainment center. I can't wait to unpack all of this stuff!

[Kolya]

Yay freedom money!

[Campbell]

Going the HTPC route? Get a mid or high end projector. 100 inches of ER would rock, and projectors these days are HD. (DLP sucks, get a LCD with features)

Oh didn't see the plasma the first time, that's nice too.

[Cavadus]

I researched LCD versus plasma to great extent actually and there really isn't a reason to choose LCD over plasma any more. The two most common criticisms with plasmas were the life of the set and burning images both of which have been resolved with newer plasmas (of which mine is newer).

Plus plasma has the advantage of much better color. The LCD versus plasma debate is over. Plasma won about six months ago.

Here's the Cnet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-tc-p42g10/4505-6482_7-33497899.html) of the screen I bought.

The only downside I came across with plasmas is that they aren't as bright as LCDs but this wasn't really issue for me because all of this is going into my sex dunge... ehm, bedroom, so it's gonna be plenty dark anyways.

Aside from superior color the other contributing factor to sealing the deal over an LCD screen was how much better motion looked. I spent a long time staring at an LCD and plasma side by side over at the big PX on Liberty and the plasma just looked so much richer and more fluid.

The only thing that kind of irked me, and it isn't a huge deal I guess, is that the PC analog input can only do resolutions as high as 1366x768 which sucks. But even if it could do the full 1900x1080 I reckon I would have gone HDMI anyways so the point is moot.

[Campbell]

The only thing that kind of irked me, and it isn't a huge deal I guess, is that the PC analog input can only do resolutions as high as 1366x768 which sucks. But even if it could do the full 1900x1080 I reckon I would have gone HDMI anyways so the point is moot.

That's what spurred me to get a better HTPC display, my TV couldn't handle PC input very well either. The TV's out there either suck for hooking computers up to them, or are stupidly expensive so I purchased a very nice projector.

[Cavadus]

Well, to be clear, the plasma I bought can and will be 1900x1080 but that resolution can only be achieved via an HDMI connection which that EVGA GTX 285 does include. I just can't get the 1900x1080 on the analog PC input.

[Campbell]

So all your loot is going to sit in the US till you get back?

[Cavadus]

Yeah, it'll just be at my dad's until I get home.

[Wolfe]

Unfortunately, you may have jumped the gun on buying a new PC. Here's why:

AMD and Intel are both releasing a new line of chips in December, with standard clock frequencies of up to 5GHz. That will both drive the price down on older models, and drive the price down on older motherboards.

Nvidia are releasing a new line of cards, their 300 series, which are Dx11 compatible. The 285's are semi-compatible, but you will only get the multi-threading support. No new shaders.

DDR3 ram is getting upgraded near December as well. 4GB chips. Sweet.

[Cavadus]

Is there any reason to think that DX11 will catch on more quickly than DX10 though? Because DX10 is just barely being utilized right now.

I'm not gonna sweat it too much either way though. Like I said, damage is done :p

[Wolfe]

The only reason DX10 is taking so long to gain notice is because the shaders for games being developed for Dx10 are really being developed for DX11, but rendered with DX10 (so effectively, the moment you run a game on DX11 you'll know it).

But honestly, dx11 is pretty hyped up. Multi-threading is the best thing it delivers, and most new model cards can utilize that.

[O'Neil]

AMD > Intle

[Cavadus]

AMD > Intle

I was an AMD fanboi for the longest time but ever since the Q6600 dropped Intel has destroyed AMD in terms of performance. AMD seems comfortable being the "value" manufacturer for the moment and if I had been looking to save a little cash I would have gone that route I guess.