Posts by wiredotter14

Those power supplies are garbage, but I think you're overreacting. That build isn't even pulling 400W at peak load.

That one hits 300 nits and actually has speakers, so it might be a better fit for an office setup, but the listing says it's out of stock.

Fair enough. Who knows, maybe it’s actually the exact same panel used in the Dell monitors.
Either way, if I were shopping for a workstation within that budget, I'd be looking at a 32" 1440p setup.

wanderingbison9 said:Either the Dell UltraSharp, or if you want a design that actually looks decent:

Supposedly it's identical to my Dell UltraSharp. At this price point? Looks like I got ripped off...

Wait, why does the description say 1080p?🤔

Kevin Kern said:Since I've been working from home a lot lately, I want to pick up a decent, non-curved monitor for about $270-$325. It's strictly for work—no movies, no gaming—so looking for recommendations.

Also, is it worth holding out for Black Friday? And what specific specs actually help reduce eye strain?

Thanks!

I picked this one up; it's great for productivity. We even grabbed another one for a coworker who runs AutoCAD, and they're happy with it.
IPS is generally the way to go for work, and honestly, I think pixel density matters for eye comfort. On this screen, it feels just like a 23" 1080p setup.

Check back through the last few pages; we already discussed this monitor there.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Q3279VWFD8

At that price point, they better be throwing in some kind of warranty. Otherwise, I’d expect it to cost way less.

That Apple monitor uses a TN panel—I wouldn't touch it at that price point.
The Samsung one is VA, which can be alright, but if you're dead set on a high refresh rate and fast response times, you'll want an IPS instead (though VA does have better contrast).

Plus, one is curved and the other isn't; that’s just down to personal preference.
Honestly, just look up some actual reviews. It's hard to give a definitive answer without actually having the specific model in front of me.

Depends on what you're playing. I ran a GTX 1060 on a Core i7-920 for ages—which is way slower than yours—and in basically any heavy game, my GPU was the bottleneck.

NVIDIA and AMD are rolling out their new series soon. Sure, they're targeting the high-end market, but this should eventually force prices across the board down. An AMD Radeon RX 580 for... $467 It was a solid deal a year or two ago, but I don't think it holds up anymore. You're basically paying for an old card that’s drifted right into entry-level territory. (I actually own an AMD Radeon RX 580 myself, by the way.)

How smart is it to buy used? If you can find something that still has a warranty, go for it. But if you're picking up something without any coverage, you better score a killer price. Get it cheap, then just ride it until it dies.

It's fine, I guess, but don't expect to max out everything. There's always those demanding outliers that'll push it too far. Just make sure you grab it at a decent price—I wouldn't pay more than $267

Used GPU prices haven't dropped yet because the new series hasn't actually hit the shelves. An RTX 3060—which should sit somewhere in the ballpark of a GTX 1080 Ti—ought to land around $300-$$1167. We'll have a better idea in a few weeks. If that's the case for new cards, then GTX 1080 Ti models should be sliding down toward the $200 mark and beyond...

No big deal 😁

So, my colleague was trying to run a mining rig in a Small Form Factor case? 😁

Anyway, if he actually cares about his hardware, everything should be fine.

All B460 motherboards support the i5-9600K, so you won't run into any issues there. Plus, since you're sticking with the stock CPU cooler, you shouldn't have any trouble with the RAM either.

You really need to double-check the GPU and PSU dimensions—just like Adam Moore3 mentioned—to make sure everything actually fits inside the case.

P.S. For a small build like this, just grab an M.2 SSD. It’s basically the same price, takes up way less room, and saves you from dealing with two extra cables.

Mark Perez4 said:And how much does that ink actually cost?

A massive printer or copier with those huge refillable tanks—everything else about them is going to be pricey too. Not to mention they're way more sensitive to breakdowns and clogged nozzles...

Laser printing isn't cheaper than ink?? 🤔 🤔

Honestly, first time I'm hearing that, but sure...

Original ink$21 for 127ml or 4,500 pages—which is the key part—is actually cheaper than laser. You can definitely find third-party stuff even cheaper.
https://www.printink.com/ink-for-epson...m_medium=click
I used an HP OfficeJet Pro for years where the ink cost about $3.25 per color / $5.00 for black. Even with these bottles, and those cheap unchipped inks, they're way cheaper than the cheapest laser printer. Ink ends up being cheaper than the paper you're printing on.

The whole bottle thing existed before, but back then you had to add an external tube system to replace cartridges. Now, it's just built right in from the factory.

Look up the prices and see what works for you. For example, check out https://copy-electronic.com/epson-eco...m_medium=click

For your few hundred pages a month, I think it makes more sense to go with something cheaper using cartridges, like the one I linked. It lists which compatible inks it uses; just search for them on Staples or Amazon to see the cost.

Or, if you've got more cash and care more about reliability than saving pennies, just buy a laser for $1.75+

The folks running tank printers just top them off every few thousand pages. Plus, you can always see exactly how much ink is left and refill it on the fly. If you go with an inkjet that uses standard cartridges, swapping them out is a breeze—just click and go.

Lasers are more reliable, sure, but they’re a pricey hobby if you need A3 scanning and printing. At that scale, the cost per page isn't any cheaper than ink.

wanderingbison9 said:Just set the color temp based on that review and use Gamma 1.

Look, I already mentioned that my Dell fits me perfectly because of where the buttons are—one of them gives you direct brightness control. I had a similar setup on an old 22" Dell back in 2009...

I'll mess around with those settings when I get a chance. Thanks for the link.

Yeah, some manufacturers totally miss the mark on ergonomics. The menu itself isn't half bad, but if they were going to be cheap and save that extra pocket change by skipping a cursor or joystick, they could have at least copied the button layout from your 2009 model....

Yeah, exactly. That’s the catch—once you lock those settings in, you're stuck with them.
I use my monitor both during the day and late at night, so obviously I can't keep the brightness static. During the day, I'll have it at maybe 80%, but at night? It needs to be down to 0-20%.
It drives me absolutely insane that monitors don't just have a dedicated brightness button. Instead, you have to click through some tiny, finicky buttons five times just to find it, and if you miss one, the monitor switches inputs or something equally stupid...

I honestly don't get why they didn't just map one of those buttons specifically to brightness. It's the one setting that changes more than anything else combined. Nobody is messing with other settings every single day.

Build suggestion using the 1600AF processor (basically a Ryzen 5 2600).
With this budget, you're better off dumping the cash into the GPU. If you go cheaper, the graphics card will just end up bottlenecking a Ryzen 3600.
I used a monitor as a placeholder—1080p 75Hz with AMD FreeSync, which works fine on an Nvidia GTX1000 or newer cards.

The monitor is mostly a matter of personal preference.
I prefer a larger screen with higher resolution, which is why I use my current setup (1440p 75Hz, 31.5").
https://www.amazon.com/monitor-31-5...m_medium=click

Some people want a standard-sized monitor with a higher refresh rate, especially for competitive games like CS:GO.
Either way, that price starts from $500 and goes up, so you’ll need to either trim the build somewhere or bump up the budget.
27" is a weird middle ground—too big for 1080p, whereas 1440p looks great on a 31.5" screen (pixel density feels normal there).

Anyway, this build is from futura-it.com. I think they offer free assembly and a 2% discount for forum members, so it lands right around $600.
You can grab a monitor elsewhere—this model or something else entirely. This one might be cheaper if you check Newegg.

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AF, 12nm (3.2/3.6GHz Boost,19MB,65W,AM4) box
Part number: YD1600BBAFBOX - $333
1 * ASRock Main Board Desktop B450M PRO4-F 90-MXBAB0-A0UAYZ
Part number: ASR-0007 - $217
1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz
Part number: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $166
1 * KINGSTON A2000 500GB SSD, M.2 2280, NVMe, Read/Write: 2200 / 2000 MB/s, Random Read/Write IOPS 180K/200K
Part number: SA2000M8/500G - $174
1 * Fortron power supply Hydro Pro 500 w, 80+ Bronze
Part number: fsp-hydro-500 - $181
1 * ANTEC NX100 Gray, MIDI, ATX, window, black
Part number: 052.600.254 - $100
1 * AOC LED IPS 23.8" 24V2Q, HDMI, DP, AMD FreeSync 24V2Q
Part number: aoc-24v2q - $394
1 * MSI Video Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER VENTUS XS OC GDDR6 6GB/192bit, /14000MHz, PCI-E 3.0 x16, 3xDP, HDMI, torx 2 x Cooler(double slot) Backplate, Retail
Part number: GTX_1660_SUPER_VENTUS_XS_OC - $711
Total: $2276
Total with discount: $2048

Sure, I get why some people want to just flip the switch without having to shell out cash for an extra tuner. Personally, I don't even watch TV, so it’s a non-issue for me.

By the way, did you have that same AOC model?
Any tips on dialing in the colors? I'm getting a bit lost trying to navigate the individual settings versus those specific Gaming modes.

Mark Perez4 said:Thanks for the reply. For my needs, I need true A3 functionality—meaning scanning and printing at A3 size, plus the ability to upscale A4 up to A3...

A laser copier that handles A3 isn't cheap. Honestly, if you aren't cranking out hundreds of pages a day, it’s probably overkill.

I actually just picked this up for the office; I'm pretty sure it does both A3 scanning and printing.

https://www.staples.com/hp-officejet-pro-series-printer
Third-party ink is an option too, and it won't break the bank.

One tip: if you're doing heavy paper-to-paper copying (long documents), inkjet printers work better if you just scan everything to a PDF first and then hit print. It makes things much easier, especially for double-sided jobs, since most machines—even the laser ones—don't actually support automatic duplexing straight from the scanner.