OLED isn't really something you'll find in an affordable way right now for a desktop monitor to my knowledge. LED and LCD are not exclusive technologies. LED simply refers to the use of LED's for backlighting as opposed to more traditional CCFL back lights. LED backlighting in most uses is intended as a power saver. Technically I think it limits the possible light spectum that can potentially be achieved, so wide-gamut monitors generally don't use LED, but most people don't need or care about that anyway and without fancy calibration equipment it may be a moot point regardless. LED is probably good to get if you can.
The bigger differences are in different panel types in the LCD style. The most popular types are TN panels that are cheap and have fast refresh rates, and IPS panels with better coloring and angle view quality. If you want a 3D capable monitor it'd end up being a form of TN panel, though it may not be so cheap anymore.
IPS prices have been coming down in price and such panels can be had for almost reasonable prices. (Though an IPS panel alone does not a quality monitor make)
There's a monitor with a coupon code listed in this article for instance.
I don't spend THAT much time looking at monitors and such so I don't have a lot of specific advice. I like this site, but the reviews there are more for higher end stuff. Still a good source for general terminology info.
I'm sure it's pretty good and all, but it says it's both discontinued and out of stock. So I'll have to find a different (Though probably fairly similar) one.
Information regarding AMD's new Jaguar cores has appeared with some performance numbers for Kabini as well. These are further clues as to the capabilities of the future PS4 and Xbox One.
I am fascinated but not really impressed by the value prospects for the gaming consoles as far as CPU power is concerned. I think this makes an interesting case for a new set of netbooks and especially some hybrid tablets with Windows 8 though. Throw Haswell into the mix in the near future and the tablet market could really get interesting.
I haven't bothered to pay attention. I will say that on the hardware front it is looking like the PS4 will be slightly better if only by having mildly improved graphics capabilities, but I doubt it'll mean much. I'm pretty sure Sony and MS BOTH want to take over the living room as you might say. At this point MS has just been more clear about it.
Overall, my prediction is that Steam will beat them both as a gaming platform and fuck consoles. Neither is likely to see the success that either the PS3 or Xbox 360 had. They likely both know it and won't likely sell consoles at a loss this time.
I was intrigued by a mention of 3 OS's on the XBox though which to me speaks of a virtualization host and two guest OSs with one being more locked down and intended for multimedia functions and the other having lower-level hardware access for the games. Not like it means much to most people, but it struck me as an interesting approach.
EDIT: Also, no HSA features on Kabini? AMD, I AM DISAPPOINT!
The fact that you apparently cannot turn off the built in Kinect frightens me. Not just because I have no desire to turn on a purported XBOX by telling it "Xbox on", but because of the ramifications of an always on camera that can record everything, has an internet connection, and is controlled by Microsoft.
I'm going to make tens of dollars with my "Kinect One Soundproof Black Box". Watch TV and maybe play a game much, much later without having to worry about Big Bill watching your every move.
It's odd that the Wii U seems like the best console for gaming purely because of what it doesn't have.
I believe said "Xbone" also has to be connected to the internet every 24 hours or it stops working, and there's some rumors about them being rather draconian about used games.
Yeah, the PC looks like the place to be for games right now. Though you could throw in a Wii U or MAYBE a PS4 for some extra stuff.
I stand corrected. I guess their marketing department is particularly hopeful, but then they aren't marketing the XB1 as strictly a game console.
The rise of smart TV's could eventually kill the market need for a living room entertainment console. A "Steam Box" of some sort may eventually be a powerful contender for the living room gaming market. Microsoft COULD be right about this, but they'd be using a pretty generous definition of console and it doesn't mean they'll have a big place in that market.
I think I really like this video and possibly the whole youtube channel, but I'll have to see about that. I know the information in this video and quite a few more details but for those who don't this seems like it might do a good job of explaining some things.
I'm not really much of one to link Daily Tech, but they kinda brought up the points that were on my mind anyway. Suffice to say this is relevant to my interests.
I've been waiting for some market-disrupting goodness in the memory markets for a while. Looks like I might get to see some of the waves start to surface within a couple more years.
Hmmm. It's been a few months. I should chatter about stuff. Graphics cards are a fun topic for me, at least in the past, but I do have the distinct issue of becoming a bit bored of the current graphics market. It's simply been slowing down. AMD just launched a new top product, something that can aguably beat nVidia's Titan and not much more than half the price. Seems exciting but I'm bias in favor of efficient cards and for all that AMD has improved on that, the showing isn't a strong one on a card that's probably set to draw close to 300W of power to do it's thing. There's certainly the point that AMD's card manages to outperform Titan despite being a noticeably smaller chip I guess. AMD has seemed to me to be a bit better about assembling space/transistor efficient chips. Still...that sort of effiency means nothing to the end user. Really it's actually the Radeon 7790 that was the most compelling AMD card in my book. It has the same advancements as the new big dog but in a smaller form where that efficiency and functionality really shows. Still, anybody thinking of getting something with more kick than that card can offer I've generally steered toward the nVidia camp. I don't argue with efficiency.
On the other hand there are getting to be other bothersome brewings on the graphics front that aren't directly related to new hardware. AMD's brewed up some new API deal for game developers to use that would give lower level control of the graphics card to them so they could squeeze significantly more performance out of them. The downside is that it would mean a special version of a game might exist that only worked with a specific set of AMD cards. Tough luck for nVidia. Also they got this new 3D surround sound emulation thing they want to push that is supposed to allow a graphics card to manage spacial sound processing as part of a game engine to provide better 3D positional audio in games. Again...I'm not sure about this being vender agnostic and may require specific cards to pull off so I'm not sure how important it is, especially since there's only like...4 cards that support it out now as of today? Notably that's 4 cards based on only 2 actual chips. The previously mentioned Radeon 7790 is one of those cards as is the R260X which is VERY similar to the 7790. Then there's the R290 and R290X cards which likewise are based on the new big chip.
Meanwhile nVidia is pushing G-Sync which is a tech setup that involves monitor makers putting extra hardware in monitors that allows them (when connected to select geforce graphics cards) refresh the screen at a variable rate determined by the GPU's frame updates. No more 60Hz refresh or whatever, it now updates in sync with the actual graphics card. If you aren't sure what difference that makes, just know it's kind of a big deal as far as smooth gameplay matters. However, this is once again a card specific deal, though I guess it doesn't rely on game developers at all and instead the monitor manufacturers.
Weird stuff going on and it leaves me wondering how to recommend GPUs to people. As it is, I'm banking on AMD's Mantle not really taking off too much and only see use in a limited number of cases (though maybe it's also supported on the PS4? I know it's definitely not for the Xbone). The audio thing will similarly creep into some things, but without enough wide-spread hardware out supporting this, it won't likely be a fast uptake.
nVidia's G-sync is an almost good idea but I can't help but thing more general standards for similar tech are in development. It's not like they are the first to have thought of it. The prospect for it has been considered for almost as long as LCD screens have been the dominant display tech since the constant refresh rates are a relic of CRT screens anyway.
In other news, I own an iPad foisted upon me by my college which has gone an entire month on a single charge. This isn't really a big praise of the iPad's admittedly good battery life so much as it is an indication of the device's apparent uselessness to me. I honestly never use it. I am impatient for some halfway decent Windows 8 tablets to emerge. Intel's Bay Trail Atoms should be sufficient for a decently cheap Windows tablet that is actually capable as a workhorse machine and not a silly toy for watching all the movies that I don't have and playing little games I can't easily mod.
So I'm eyeing up an HP Omni 10. It draws my eye based on it supposedly having a 1920x1200 resolution. I'm a big fan of the 1200 vertical resolution. Running Bay Trail means the price is likely to be handily lower than the likes of the Surface Pro 2 as well. I guess it even comes with Office 2013?
I do have some concerns as it comes with a rather pitiful amount of storage, and the only usb port on it is a mini usb port. I'm uncertain what the true nature of that port is. Furthermore, discussion is spotty as to the option of having a stylus. I'm not much of a wrist-artist, but some sort of respectable stylus option would be nice.
I got a bit more waiting to see if the Omni is what I'm looking for either way, and if it is I gotta know what the prices are so I can determine how much I can spend to trick it out a bit and buy needed accessories.
Yeah, I'm still reeling over that one. But it's good to know that the latest IE has killer browser features like energy blasts and Sailor Moon-esque transformations.
Support for 15 Frostbite games (Some pretty epic namedrops in that list too) coming up already and it's apparently not locked to the GCN architecture? Not even necessarily vendor locked?! That is not what I was expecting from Mantle API. Not at all. It's the sort of news that has me slowly starting to lose my shit and put me to pacing in circles for literal DAYS trying to rebuild my whole worldview. I'm probably blowing things out of proportion and the end user will never really notice any dramatic changes but there could be some big stuff happening in the background of the gaming world over the next couple years. AMD may well be in the middle of the shitstorm. I'm beginning to feel they may be about one step away from having some sort of Xanatos Gambit bullshit going on and how the chips fall with that will likely depend on Valve and Nvidia.
I'm a bit excited for Kaveri still, even though it's come out that it won't support GDDR5 like some rumours suggested. Granted this is largely because I really want to see how the new Steamroller CPU architecture fares. I don't figure Kaveri has any real hope of being a huge success for AMD, but I think it may be a good indicator of whether or not the Excavator CPU architecture will do some good. A switch to 20nm manufacturing, Excavator CPUs and DDR4 memory together could make AMD's 2015 APU a real contender worth having. At least in smaller form-factor desktops. It's not much, but it'd be a start to AMD being more competitive in the CPU market.
...Still waiting for HP to release a version of the Omni 10 with enough drive space to not be useless. Also they really ought to give some support to that thing. It could be a very nice device, but has no recognition from their site even for the exiting version. No drivers even. Not sure what I expected. This sort of thing is why I like being able to build my own computers in the first place. I hate having to wait for these OEMs to do something correctly for once. And they wonder why Apple does so well...
Also, tablets need good stylus inputs as a standard. Touchscreen are fine, but they are an inferior input method used for convenience. A pen input brings it up to a level offering truly unique benefits that make it another first-class input method along side a keyboard and mouse.
Hmmm. Kaveri is nearing release. Looking back at this thread I think I first talked about it last February and it's been on my mind for longer than that. That's how I roll I guess. Brand new product comes out for computers and in MY head it's possibly a couple years old already and when they talk initial performance figures I'm thinking "Yup, exactly as I was expecting" while everyone else is crying doom and gloom as if a 20% IPC improvement isn't good. Kaveri was never going to suddenly stomp Intel to the curb. I SAID that much. It's got some weird technical witchery going on that makes it academically interesting. That is all. The Steamroller cores are showing promise, but the change in manufacturing process to something less specialized for their CPUs means they aren't getting quite the same clockspeeds they did before so performance isn't really going to be seeing especially significant gains. It's enough to hold ground against Haswell at least.
As before, 2015 is AMD's real window of opportunity. I'm hesitant to believe AMD will manage to pull off something good at that time from the earliest rumors, but if they were going to surprise that would have to be the time they do it. Sadly they'd need to go 20nm, implement DDR4, and get some very good improvement with Excavator cores to really get anywhere with that. Rumors make the likelyhood of DDR4 very questionable even by then, I've seen some possible doubt on them making 20nm APU's by then...well no good info on Excavator cores either way yet.
Empirical evidence suggests AMD won't successfully get the software situation to go their way either. GPU acceleration using OpenCL just doesn't seem like it has the sort of push it'd need to make AMD's chips look better.
I miss AMD being in a reasonably competitive position. It feels like Intel's been coasting along and facing pressure far more from ARM than AMD. Tablets and phones are lame. I want to see some real competition in higher end machines again.
So, I've been looking into getting a new computer for video editing/gaming. The problem is that I have no idea what makes up a good PC, despite being a programmer. I was wondering if you guys could help me come up with a list of components to buy in order to build a machine for around $600 (excluding the cost of an OS)
Hmmm. Fun challenge! My knowledge has been shifting to a more academic level for this stuff as I haven't known people on the market for PC builds as of late so I'd have to look into it.
It's a tough question to answer well without knowing some specifics of what sort of games you play and/or what kind of software you use for video editing and how much video editing you do.
Video editing is actually a task that can run pretty well on AMD's FX processors and if you ever do things like recording streams from a game, especially more demanding games, once again, the high core count of AMD FX processors (particularly the 8-core models) can be a benefit, at least for the price.
That said, Intel processors are definitely more efficient and objectively better for games in most cases. I'd normally suggest an Intel, but the talk of video editing and the lowish budget may change the balance there.
The graphics card situation for a $600 PC is really a matter of seeing what you have left with the rest is sorted I guess...
I don't do much PC gaming, so the video editing would be more important. I'd just like to have a computer than can run something like Skyrim at better than 1/3 of a frame per second
Fair enough. Skyrim isn't actually that hard on video cards though and can run pretty well on almost any modern card. Regardless, making the best of your budget on a video editing rig would seem to be pretty dependent on your specific software of choice. Some video editing/rendering software can leverage various GPU acceleration features (OpenCL/CUDA/OpenGL) and can affect your ideal choice of processor/GPU, so that's important to know and/or look into.
Another concern right now is that ram prices are super high. You'd be paying as much for 8GB of memory today as I did 5 years ago. That's not a good omen when you want to build a budget video editing computer.
I'm thinking waiting until the 14th for some Kaveri reviews would be helpful. It should invite some very nice mid/low end hardware comparisons.
Comments
The bigger differences are in different panel types in the LCD style. The most popular types are TN panels that are cheap and have fast refresh rates, and IPS panels with better coloring and angle view quality. If you want a 3D capable monitor it'd end up being a form of TN panel, though it may not be so cheap anymore.
IPS prices have been coming down in price and such panels can be had for almost reasonable prices. (Though an IPS panel alone does not a quality monitor make)
There's a monitor with a coupon code listed in this article for instance.
I don't spend THAT much time looking at monitors and such so I don't have a lot of specific advice. I like this site, but the reviews there are more for higher end stuff. Still a good source for general terminology info.
It works for me, and I like it.
I am fascinated but not really impressed by the value prospects for the gaming consoles as far as CPU power is concerned. I think this makes an interesting case for a new set of netbooks and especially some hybrid tablets with Windows 8 though. Throw Haswell into the mix in the near future and the tablet market could really get interesting.
Overall, my prediction is that Steam will beat them both as a gaming platform and fuck consoles. Neither is likely to see the success that either the PS3 or Xbox 360 had. They likely both know it and won't likely sell consoles at a loss this time.
I was intrigued by a mention of 3 OS's on the XBox though which to me speaks of a virtualization host and two guest OSs with one being more locked down and intended for multimedia functions and the other having lower-level hardware access for the games. Not like it means much to most people, but it struck me as an interesting approach.
EDIT: Also, no HSA features on Kabini? AMD, I AM DISAPPOINT!
It's odd that the Wii U seems like the best console for gaming purely because of what it doesn't have.
Yeah, the PC looks like the place to be for games right now. Though you could throw in a Wii U or MAYBE a PS4 for some extra stuff.
Microsoft predicts 1 billion next-gen console sales
They're delirious.
The rise of smart TV's could eventually kill the market need for a living room entertainment console. A "Steam Box" of some sort may eventually be a powerful contender for the living room gaming market. Microsoft COULD be right about this, but they'd be using a pretty generous definition of console and it doesn't mean they'll have a big place in that market.
AMD Vs Intel 2013
I've been waiting for some market-disrupting goodness in the memory markets for a while. Looks like I might get to see some of the waves start to surface within a couple more years.
It's always a waiting game.
On the other hand there are getting to be other bothersome brewings on the graphics front that aren't directly related to new hardware. AMD's brewed up some new API deal for game developers to use that would give lower level control of the graphics card to them so they could squeeze significantly more performance out of them. The downside is that it would mean a special version of a game might exist that only worked with a specific set of AMD cards. Tough luck for nVidia. Also they got this new 3D surround sound emulation thing they want to push that is supposed to allow a graphics card to manage spacial sound processing as part of a game engine to provide better 3D positional audio in games. Again...I'm not sure about this being vender agnostic and may require specific cards to pull off so I'm not sure how important it is, especially since there's only like...4 cards that support it out now as of today? Notably that's 4 cards based on only 2 actual chips. The previously mentioned Radeon 7790 is one of those cards as is the R260X which is VERY similar to the 7790. Then there's the R290 and R290X cards which likewise are based on the new big chip.
Meanwhile nVidia is pushing G-Sync which is a tech setup that involves monitor makers putting extra hardware in monitors that allows them (when connected to select geforce graphics cards) refresh the screen at a variable rate determined by the GPU's frame updates. No more 60Hz refresh or whatever, it now updates in sync with the actual graphics card. If you aren't sure what difference that makes, just know it's kind of a big deal as far as smooth gameplay matters. However, this is once again a card specific deal, though I guess it doesn't rely on game developers at all and instead the monitor manufacturers.
Weird stuff going on and it leaves me wondering how to recommend GPUs to people. As it is, I'm banking on AMD's Mantle not really taking off too much and only see use in a limited number of cases (though maybe it's also supported on the PS4? I know it's definitely not for the Xbone). The audio thing will similarly creep into some things, but without enough wide-spread hardware out supporting this, it won't likely be a fast uptake.
nVidia's G-sync is an almost good idea but I can't help but thing more general standards for similar tech are in development. It's not like they are the first to have thought of it. The prospect for it has been considered for almost as long as LCD screens have been the dominant display tech since the constant refresh rates are a relic of CRT screens anyway.
In other news, I own an iPad foisted upon me by my college which has gone an entire month on a single charge. This isn't really a big praise of the iPad's admittedly good battery life so much as it is an indication of the device's apparent uselessness to me. I honestly never use it. I am impatient for some halfway decent Windows 8 tablets to emerge. Intel's Bay Trail Atoms should be sufficient for a decently cheap Windows tablet that is actually capable as a workhorse machine and not a silly toy for watching all the movies that I don't have and playing little games I can't easily mod.
So I'm eyeing up an HP Omni 10. It draws my eye based on it supposedly having a 1920x1200 resolution. I'm a big fan of the 1200 vertical resolution. Running Bay Trail means the price is likely to be handily lower than the likes of the Surface Pro 2 as well. I guess it even comes with Office 2013?
I do have some concerns as it comes with a rather pitiful amount of storage, and the only usb port on it is a mini usb port. I'm uncertain what the true nature of that port is. Furthermore, discussion is spotty as to the option of having a stylus. I'm not much of a wrist-artist, but some sort of respectable stylus option would be nice.
I got a bit more waiting to see if the Omni is what I'm looking for either way, and if it is I gotta know what the prices are so I can determine how much I can spend to trick it out a bit and buy needed accessories.
So this guy points out that this isn't a totally new thing from MS...also pony craze?
Hold on...Let's try this: Google.com -> "internet explorer pony" -> I'm feeling lucky -> Bam.
In Soviet...Equestria?, pony craze uses you!
(So, no. MS probably won't use ponies...because the ponies apparently already used MS.)
Also, tablets need good stylus inputs as a standard. Touchscreen are fine, but they are an inferior input method used for convenience. A pen input brings it up to a level offering truly unique benefits that make it another first-class input method along side a keyboard and mouse.
As before, 2015 is AMD's real window of opportunity. I'm hesitant to believe AMD will manage to pull off something good at that time from the earliest rumors, but if they were going to surprise that would have to be the time they do it. Sadly they'd need to go 20nm, implement DDR4, and get some very good improvement with Excavator cores to really get anywhere with that. Rumors make the likelyhood of DDR4 very questionable even by then, I've seen some possible doubt on them making 20nm APU's by then...well no good info on Excavator cores either way yet.
Empirical evidence suggests AMD won't successfully get the software situation to go their way either. GPU acceleration using OpenCL just doesn't seem like it has the sort of push it'd need to make AMD's chips look better.
I miss AMD being in a reasonably competitive position. It feels like Intel's been coasting along and facing pressure far more from ARM than AMD. Tablets and phones are lame. I want to see some real competition in higher end machines again.
It's a tough question to answer well without knowing some specifics of what sort of games you play and/or what kind of software you use for video editing and how much video editing you do.
Video editing is actually a task that can run pretty well on AMD's FX processors and if you ever do things like recording streams from a game, especially more demanding games, once again, the high core count of AMD FX processors (particularly the 8-core models) can be a benefit, at least for the price.
That said, Intel processors are definitely more efficient and objectively better for games in most cases. I'd normally suggest an Intel, but the talk of video editing and the lowish budget may change the balance there.
The graphics card situation for a $600 PC is really a matter of seeing what you have left with the rest is sorted I guess...
Another concern right now is that ram prices are super high. You'd be paying as much for 8GB of memory today as I did 5 years ago. That's not a good omen when you want to build a budget video editing computer.
I'm thinking waiting until the 14th for some Kaveri reviews would be helpful. It should invite some very nice mid/low end hardware comparisons.