Seeing before buying??

[phill8800GT]

I've been looking at buying a new monitor for my PC and since I've recently gone from a 22" LG to a 27" Dell and I'm now looking at buying a Dell 30" screen or something with a 30" screen

I've read so many reviews of late saying that the older screen (3007) is better but doesnt have any scaling features for some graphics cards displaying a screen/picture properly that I'm all confused and would just like to be able to physically see it myself before buying anything.

I'm looking at physically driving to Scan's place and hopefully having a bit of a demo providing this is possible. Spending £1000 on a single monitor is nuts but for that 2560 x 1600 resolution I think its worth it

Would this be possible to do or am I pushing my luck here?? I'm currently upgrading a few things of my PC and would love to be able to game properly at 2560 x 1600....

[Singh400]

I'm pretty sure they have a retail store somewhere.

[DavidM]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Information/ContactUs.aspx

[phill8800GT]

Thanks for that David

I'll contact them when I get home tonight

I'm struggling to decide whether to get this new monitor or a phase cooling unit with a few SSD drives!!

[Splash]

Just be aware that you're going to need some serious horsepower to drive that resolution - you may struggle to game at 2560x1600 with your 2 8800GTS cards. Other than that... I'm sure they can arrange a demo or alternatively this is pretty much what DSR is for (though if you rejected it under DSR I believe you'd need to pay return postage - on a screen like that you might take a pretty big hit for postage)

[Zak33]

take your pc with you

[Bugbait]

Just be aware that you're going to need some serious horsepower to drive that resolution - you may struggle to game at 2560x1600 with your 2 8800GTS cards.

Agree, my 4870 curled up and died on World of Warcraft (hardly the most graphically advanced game) when I went to 2560x1600. You'll need a 4870x2 or a 280/260SLI set up to get the most out of it IMO.

Another thing, make sure Scan offer the Dell Premium Panel warranty (ie. No dead pixels for the life of the warranty). Handy to have when you're dealing with that many pixels!

[phill8800GT]

Just be aware that you're going to need some serious horsepower to drive that resolution - you may struggle to game at 2560x1600 with your 2 8800GTS cards. Other than that... I'm sure they can arrange a demo or alternatively this is pretty much what DSR is for (though if you rejected it under DSR I believe you'd need to pay return postage - on a screen like that you might take a pretty big hit for postage)

Well I have just bought myself a lovely HIS 4870 X2 which I simply cant wait to come through Thursday morning Hopefully that'll replace the Gigabyte 4850 without any problems (I changed boards and cards my system at the moment is out of date a bit )
I think going to them is cheaper overall than getting it sent and then having to pay postage back

take your pc with you

If you saw the size and weight of it, you'd understand why I'm not even going to attempt that!!

Agree, my 4870 curled up and died on World of Warcraft (hardly the most graphically advanced game) when I went to 2560x1600. You'll need a 4870x2 or a 280/260SLI set up to get the most out of it IMO.

Another thing, make sure Scan offer the Dell Premium Panel warranty (ie. No dead pixels for the life of the warranty). Handy to have when you're dealing with that many pixels!

Thanks for the warning regarding the Panel Warranty and as I said in reply to the first post, not so worried about the graphics card as I now have the HIS card

Basically the thread title still stands to be a bit cloudy for me... What screen would I be best to buy? The newer Dell or the older Dell?

[Bugbait]

Basically the thread title still stands to be a bit cloudy for me... What screen would I be best to buy? The newer Dell or the older Dell?

I went for the newer Dell since the build quality issues in earlier revisions have mostly been addressed since A02 was released. Although at the time the extra connections offered by the 3008 over the 3007 were largely fluff in my eyes, I have since been told to connect a DVD player to it for the wife so they've come in handy. I'll admit, I would've paid extra for the glass base and brushed aluminium frame anyway since it looks great.

Older Dell if it's cheaper and you don't need the extra connections or cash is a concern. I think the input switching on the older Dell (3007) might be faster as well due to the absence of a hardware scaler. The input switching is rather slow (several seconds) on the 3008. It's almost annoying enough to really bother me so if you're the impatient sort this could be a killer.

Newer Dell (3008) if money doesn't matter and you want the extra connections or IMO a better looking monitor .

[phill8800GT]

Well that makes life a little easier

For me money when investing in something like this is best to be sure 1001% because if you make a wrong choice, its a lot of money to try and make up

But like most things, I believe in just spending once and this is where spending the £1000 or so for the 3008 will be a good thing

I've just bought myself a HIS 4870 X2 and I'm sure I can buy another when the prices drop like a stone for Crossfire X later on I just hope my phase cooled QX9650 will be able to handle it