Whats the best system in terms of price to peformance?

[spat55]

Ok I built this around 3 months ago now, so take this in consideration,

CPU: i5 3570k
GPU: Sapphire 7850
MOBO: GA-Z77-D3H
RAM: 8GB Corsair 1600mhz
HDD: 1TB western digital black caviar

Gonna go and buy a monitor and SSD next :lol:

 

[spat55]

Hello Moto...

 

[spat55]

I know I shouldn't bump but what can I do?

 

[Pinhedd]

I know I shouldn't bump but what can I do?

The display market is very mature right now so the best investment you can make right now is in a good monitor. Grab a good Samsung or Panasonic display (including the companies that they manufacture for as an OEM) and splurge on it.

As for SSDs, the Sandforce 2 based SSDs are quite cheap right now, as low as $0.80/GB. I personally recommend the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe SSDs but if you're willing to spend a tad bit more, the Samsung 830 is also good.

 

[spat55]

The display market is very mature right now so the best investment you can make right now is in a good monitor. Grab a good Samsung or Panasonic display (including the companies that they manufacture for as an OEM) and splurge on it.

As for SSDs, the Sandforce 2 based SSDs are quite cheap right now, as low as $0.80/GB. I personally recommend the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe SSDs but if you're willing to spend a tad bit more, the Samsung 830 is also good.

Getting a nice monitor But I have no desk and I only have my room, it already has a 60 in TV in it too I use surround sound so I better get some headphones maybe for gaming, unless i stick with my TV for that.

 

[Pinhedd]

Getting a nice monitor But I have no desk and I only have my room, it already has a 60 in TV in it too I use surround sound so I better get some headphones maybe for gaming, unless i stick with my TV for that.

If you go for surround headphones you must get Headphones with Analog 3.5mm jacks and not some crummy USB powered ones.

These are the ones that I use

http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/x-tatic-digital

The digital and analog ones are the same, the digital just includes an optional DolbyDigital decoder that can be used with a 360/PS3

 

[spat55]

If you go for surround headphones you must get Headphones with Analog 3.5mm jacks and not some crummy USB powered ones.

These are the ones that I use

http://www.sharkoon.com/?q=en/content/x-tatic-digital

The digital and analog ones are the same, the digital just includes an optional DolbyDigital decoder that can be used with a 360/PS3

£100, not bad, still I am wondering if I'll be wasting my TV and surround sound, the two cost £1250! Gonna use for films at least though.

 

[Pinhedd]

£100, not bad, still I am wondering if I'll be wasting my TV and surround sound, the two cost £1250! Gonna use for films at least though.

I have a surround sound system and TV in my room as well, used for watching movies of course. I have an HDMI cable running from my primary display adapter to my external receiver. Unless you're a masochist, make sure that you use HDMI and not SPDIF over TOSLINK.

 

[spat55]

I have a surround sound system and TV in my room as well, used for watching movies of course. I have an HDMI cable running from my primary display adapter to my external receiver. Unless you're a masochist, make sure that you use HDMI and not SPDIF over TOSLINK.

Right now no I don't. Do you notice any lag? And I also would hate have receiver on just to use my TV with it...

 

[Pinhedd]

Right now no I don't. Do you notice any lag? And I also would hate have receiver on just to use my TV with it...

Nope, no lag. Sometimes Windows can't read display information if there's a receiver in the way and will default to 1080p/30 or 1080i/60 rather than 1080p/60. This can usually be forced without any issues in the display settings though. Also make sure that you're using Catalyst 12.8, there are dual display bugs in 12.4-12.6 which make using an external receiver / TV somewhat irritating.

How do you have your surround system setup? Do you not have a receiver or is it hooked up to your PC? Most TVs don't support surround output natively and instead provide a digital audio return channel for any audio (stereo or digital) that may come in through the tuner.

 

[spat55]

Nope, no lag. Sometimes Windows can't read display information if there's a receiver in the way and will default to 1080p/30 or 1080i/60 rather than 1080p/60. This can usually be forced without any issues in the display settings though. Also make sure that you're using Catalyst 12.8, there are dual display bugs in 12.4-12.6 which make using an external receiver / TV somewhat irritating.

How do you have your surround system setup? Do you not have a receiver or is it hooked up to your PC? Most TVs don't support surround output natively and instead provide a digital audio return channel for any audio (stereo or digital) that may come in through the tuner.

I have it through just the toslink, and haven't used it yet as it only outputs 2.1 I really didn't want to use HDMI as I was more than happy using the Toslink on my PS3 for DD 5.1 and DTS. Shame really as I hate having to have the receiver on just to use the TV's speakers, I tried using the mobo sound but my GPU disables it, might take a look on the bios though and see if I can get the audio through the mobo HDMI and the visual through the GPU.

Sorry for late reply, gonna go to bed in 10 mins too

 

[Pinhedd]

I have it through just the toslink, and haven't used it yet as it only outputs 2.1 I really didn't want to use HDMI as I was more than happy using the Toslink on my PS3 for DD 5.1 and DTS. Shame really as I hate having to have the receiver on just to use the TV's speakers, I tried using the mobo sound but my GPU disables it, might take a look on the bios though and see if I can get the audio through the mobo HDMI and the visual through the GPU.

Sorry for late reply, gonna go to bed in 10 mins too

The reason that TOSLINK only outputs 2.1 is because it uses the SPDIF format which due to data control limitations only supports at most two discrete channels. The data on each channel can be very robust, but it is still limited to 2 channels. Audio wise, this can be extended to 2.1 by mixing the LFE channel (subwoofer, or x.1) into the stereo channels (which may be stripped out again by the receiver), or to 4.0/4.1 by matrix encoding two surround channels into the front channels and the LFE in as well (a receiver is required to decode the surround encoded channels).

Fortunately there exist audio encoding solutions which can encode multiple LPCM channels (LPCM refers to the digitized audio waveform data which would be sent to your speakers with no other transformations; it's basically raw audio) into a single compressed channel. The two most popular families are known as Dolby Digital (AKA DD and AC3, not to be confused with AAC or ALAC) and DTS (AKA Digital Theater Sound). Naturally this requires an endpoint which understands these formats, such as an external receiver.

Unfortunately both Dolby Digital and DTS are proprietary encoding formats. There is a software program which can capture 6/8 channel LPCM audio in real time and compress it into a single digital channel which is suitable for transmission over SPDIF. Unfortunately this is only available on the PC with the purchase of compatible hardware from Creative Labs or a software pack for some Realtek onboard audio. Consoles have used this technology for more than a decade which is why 5.1 audio will work effortlessly on an XBox/XBox36/PS2/PS3 but not on your PC. It's completely transparent to the gameplay (which does all the audio rendering into LPCM ahead of time) and also allows for an existing DD/DTS encoded audio source to be passed through without being decoded and subsequently reencoded.

Fortunately, HDMI does not suffer from the data control limitations of SPDIF and can transmit both digitally encoded DD/DTS audio as well as multichannel sources such as LPCM and AAC (AAC is not usually passed through because most receivers don't decode AAC).