darkowl72 said:man, I haven't laid eyes on a monitor like that in forever... those things are pretty rare buys nowadays. Honestly, I'm not even sure what the quality is like lately—back in the day, those TV panels were kind of hit-or-miss when used as PC monitors, though I doubt that's even an issue anymore. Even the budget LCD panels have come a long way...
But hey, there's actually another reason why I personally wouldn't touch a monitor with a built-in TV tuner. I mean, all you can really do is watch TV, right? And with this specific version, you don't even get a remote—so you can't just kick back on the couch and channel surf... since the screen size basically invites you to lounge... the ones that *do* come with remotes are usually way pricier. Not to mention, you have such a massive selection of regular monitors and other brands to choose from, whereas only a handful of companies even make monitors with tuners...
If it were me, I'd just grab a standard monitor and a dedicated TV tuner card. That way, besides just watching shows, you get cool features like time-shifting and recording, which is way more convenient—plus, even the cheapest tuner cards usually come with a remote! The only catch would be if you had a dual-core processor...
But hey, I guess it just comes down to what you're into. ...
I honestly think these newer models—especially this one I'm looking at—are miles ahead of the old ones you're remembering, and most of them actually include a remote in the box now.
As for the TV tuner card thing, the idea of having to keep my whole PC running just to watch a show kind of bugs me—you know, dealing with that constant fan whirring, and the power bill probably takes a hit too. I'm not really interested in recording programs anyway, and unfortunately, I don't have a dual-core processor 😢
darkowl72 said:oh, and by the way, your graphics card is a bit weak for a beastly monitor like that. It's gonna struggle a bit with HD resolution, especially if you're planning on gaming. If you aren't thinking about upgrading the rig (or at least the GPU), maybe consider sticking to a 1680x1050 resolution instead...
Regarding the graphics card, you're probably spot on there. Is it even possible to find a better card that would actually fit in this machine? It's been about 5 years since I built this thing. And how much cash am I talking about having to drop for a decent upgrade...?