Which display for a 7800GTX SLI 4800 X2 system?

Hi, I'm just about to complete on the sale of my falt and I've put aside £3000 for a new system from the proceeds. Wife's not all that happy about that ;)

I'm pretty sure about everything, except for what display to get with it.
The system is from Scan (wish they'd refund me more than the postage!)

3XS High-End Socket 939 System £2,502.15 inc Vat
Asus A8N-SLi Premium NF4 S939
480W Tagan 2Force SLi Ultra Quiet 21db
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ S939 1MB (2.4)
2 x 1 Gb (2 x 512Mb) Corsair TwinX-XL, DDR, PC3200XLPRO
2 x 256MB MSI PCI-E GF7800GTX DV ViVo (Video In Video Out) TV (G70)
2 x 74Gb Western Digital Raptor Enterprise (10Krpm,8MB) - SATA

This leaves me with around £500 for a monitor. This system is going to be used almost exclusivly for gaming so the question is do I

a) Buy a CRT eg 22" Iiyama CRT VM Pro 513 for £335
b) Buy a Viewsonic VP191B 19" for £376
c) Buy a Viewsonic VP201B 20" for £517
d) Sacrifice some other component eg 1 x 7800GTX to get a more expensive monitor

Bearing in mind that I score brownie points with my wife for keeping it under £3k and possibly lose essential parts of my anatomy if I venture over it :eek: ......

What do you all think?

Sacrifice one of the 7800GTX and get a 24" Dell WS jobbie.

You KNOW you will!

I agree with Dougal, I think one 7800 atm is more than enough power :P you need a sweet display to match the rest of the gear, if you find 1 gpu not enough then buy one later on.

just wanna WOW...crazy spec, makes my shuttle look like a calculator. hehe

Id also not b happy with a 480Watt Tagan. Sure it's a decent PSU, but with a rig that like, id want at least a 520Watt OCZ.

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Originally Posted by Dougal

Sacrifice one of the 7800GTX and get a 24" Dell WS jobbie.

You KNOW you will!

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I hadn't thought of going as large as that as the latency will be high compared to the VP191 so will show ghosting, plus there aren't that many games that play in widescreen format? I know Half Life 2 does.

I'll have a think about that though :p

I would also drop the x2 in favour of an FX57 if gaming is your bag. If multimedia is more your thing, then the x2 is the thing to have.

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Originally Posted by camalbitboy

I hadn't thought of going as large as that as the latency will be high compared to the VP191 so will show ghosting, plus there aren't that many games that play in widescreen format? I know Half Life 2 does.

I'll have a think about that though :p

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Your talking rubbish :p

I bought a second hand Dell 2405 from someone on here and there is no ghosting whatsoever. Widescreen support is more widespread(groan!) than you think. I think this will improve over time.
I cannot see the point of a mega system like the one your considering and then use an average monitor. Your monitor is one of the most important components as it really finishes off your PC.

And i was a die hard CRT man for years before i took the plunge. If you can see the Dell in action, particularly HL2 or BF2, then i reckon you would not be able to resist.
Btw, I will be upgrading to an almost identical system as the one your considering, the only difference being i have the 2405 already.

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Originally Posted by paddlegod

I would also drop the x2 in favour of an FX57 if gaming is your bag. If multimedia is more your thing, then the x2 is the thing to have.

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I thought long and hard on the processor and went with the X2 as this is the last time I'll be spending a large amount of money on kit for a long time as I'm going to become a dad in Feb, so I need it to be as future proof as it can as well.

FX57 is more expensive, and won't fare so well in any games that come out supporting dual core, for a small increase in performance now.

At least thats my theory!!

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Originally Posted by Smokey21

Id also not b happy with a 480Watt Tagan. Sure it's a decent PSU, but with a rig that like, id want at least a 520Watt OCZ.

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Scan only build these systems with the 480W Tagan, no other options offered.

I'm gonna assume that they know what their talking about, but I have to say, I was kinda expecting to have to get something like an Enermax noisetaker 600W

Why are you getting a Scan pre-built? Let alone the facts that similar components would set you back about a £500 less at least and Scan aren't massively reputable.

Dell's 2405FPW response time is quoted as 16ms GTG or 20ms (BTW) which is ok, ghosting isn't really a massive issue but you'd be doing a massive disservice getting a CRT with that kind of setup. With the 24" widescreen being so big as well, you could afford to run non-WS games at 1600 x 1200 and set the display to 1:1 aspect only (so you lose a bit of real-estate whilst gaming but still end up with a 22"-ish viewable area). And if you're still not convinced, take a look here:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots.php

I jumped in for a Dell 2005FPW and would never go back now, the resolution increase over a 19" SXGA panel is incredible.

Ok, Ok!!! You've convinced me

Gonna order a Dell 2405 today :)

Dell themselves have it on a sale at £688.79 inc VAT and delivery, £100 cheaper than I can find elsewhere. Anyone know anywhere selling it cheaper?

That's probably the cheapest for a new one with 3 year warranty, it can be had a little cheaper from eBay - seller "ericbunny" is well regarded, he had some for about £633 all inclusive recently. They come straight from Dell with 3 yr warranty etc. He's currently got a couple for ~£650 all in, but that includes delivery to Europe so he might knock a bit off for UK delivery.

Personally if I was spending that much on a screen I'd rather get it from Dell themselves.

I can vouch for 'ericbunny' as well. Haven't had a display from him but spoke via e-mail a lot and he's the only UK seller around. He does seem to be the only person in the UK with them, because frequently Dell don't.

heh, when you pick your jaw up from the floor, let us know your opinions/comments.. Enjoy.

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Originally Posted by camalbitboy

Scan only build these systems with the 480W Tagan, no other options offered.

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I'm sure that if you speak to them & ask for the 580W Tagan 2Force SLi they will do it. :)

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Originally Posted by BUFF

I'm sure that if you speak to them & ask for the 580W Tagan 2Force SLi they will do it. :)

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Good point. Now that I've dropprd the second 7800 I 'm not so worried, but I may well still ask in case i get any 'birthday presents' in the future ;)