Bjossi on 18/8/2009 at 21:53

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Looks like a mighty fine drive, definitely go with that rather than many cheap drives. Cheap is not designed to last very long, plus you're buying hardware that will be treating your discs like crap, it would be safer to spend some money there. And it is just more convenient when all disc reading needs can be taken care of in a single drive. :cool:

Bjossi on 19/8/2009 at 00:40

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Looking at the specs it seems like those speakers are for people who just want to hear noise, ignoring anything that touches the subject of pleasing sound quality.

Bjossi on 19/8/2009 at 01:51

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All the reviews point to the quality for the price, and since the price is very low, don't expect much.

I hate too much bass as well by the way, but if you are around my age and haven't raped your ears with way too loud music playing over the years, the complete lack of frequency response in the lowest bands is going to greatly hurt the output, after all what makes audio is the delivery of its full frequency range, any cut-off equals loss of detail.

There are 2.1 systems out there that don't have a sub that can cause volcanic eruptions on the other side of the planet, I think you should find something considerably more expensive and close to your preference. ;)

bikerdude on 19/8/2009 at 10:53

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And in that regard, have you looked at newegg or tigerdirect..?

jay pettitt on 19/8/2009 at 15:32

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This is turning into a fascinating exercise in money spending and an insight into the mind of a gamer. A few things spring to mind. Also, I'm feeling grumpy at the world in general, so here goes:

Nobody in the world wants to publicly admit to having made a poor purchasing decision. It's like admitting to being stupid or having a small pecker or some other shameful inadequacy. User reviews may have all the heir of independence, but in truth are biased and anything but trustworthy.

Case.
Is it me, or is black the absolutely dumbest colour for a PC case; especially one you want to keep cool? Physics 101. Also, I remember from last time I had a desktop PC that I was going to get a bigger case next time around as third party quiet CPU cooling gizmos tend to be huge. If that's your bag you might want to check...


Memory.
The memory you've chosen has huge, blue fins on. Just saying...

CPU.
I'm baffled by your choice of processor. For starters Intel are obviously the company on form at the moment. For seconds you're paying a premium for minimal gain by picking the latest top end item. The 955 that it supersedes has near identical performance, consumes less juice and costs a fraction of the price. Chasing numbers is a zero-sum game. In a few weeks time you'll no longer have the greatest AMD processor ever, all your bragging rights will be like dust in the wind - but you'll still have less money to spend on the important things in life like cake.

Screen.
I'm still unsure about your choice of monitor. I can't find an expert review of it anywhere, but it sounds for all the world to me like a budget screen, better than some perhaps, but budget all the same. I know I said that user reviews are always rubbish, but every mention of viewing angles on the newegg reviews suggest to me that this monitor is poor to the extent it will be less than suitable for anything more demanding than watching Arnie films and typing. Depending on what you want to be doing that might be fine - but I can tell you that I find mine, which sounds similar, painfully limiting in that it is unusable for even my amateurish photo editing. The screen is a pretty essential bit of a system - I wish I'd spent a bit more money this time around. Sadly mine is attached to my laptop, so I'm kind of stuck with it. I urge caution.

Drive.
I think picking a decent drive is great. Cheapo ones are, among other things, noisy. It's never occured to me though, that I might want my DVD drive to actually etch pictures of Disney characters and clip-art onto my disks using lasers. I find a pen sufficient for that sort of thing and USB sticks more useful for transporting files these days anyway. Perhaps you have other ideas...

GPU.
On the upside I think your choice of GPU looks quite smart.

Speakers.
I have Acoustic Energy Aego M speakers. They are outstanding. Something like (http://www.lars-ivan.com/product2.php?itemID=81788931&catID=44936537) these might appeal to your sense of aesthetics.