purity said:
I'm writing this from my laptop (my only computer), so I have none of those things. If I bought a PC I would not be using my TV as a monitor, as that is used by my wife as well.
I opt for using a 24 inch monitor for both PC and PS3 gaming. My primary reason was computer monitors have far lower display lag* but the best benefit is that no one else in my house games or is interested in split screen so for me to game on our HDTV would be a kinda selfish. I mean a TV show or Movie on TV you can share, but games aren't much fun to watch.
SO leave the (HD)TV for public/sharing, Monitor for personal whether single player PC or console games. That's my theory.
(*display lag is the milliseconds delay between the console rendering frames and them actually appearing on screen. This is caused by HDTV post processing and is not a problem for movies but for games where response time is critical it is. Most console games have pretty high input lag - 150milliseconds for Killzone 2 - which ADDS to the 66ms lag of a typical HDTV to give over 200ms of latency. Your own minimum response time is about 180ms, which actually also ADDS to total system time in your reaction time so you can only adjust your aim in as much as half-second increments = you suck at the game)
If it's so easy to find a guide to build such a machine, can't you give me a link? I do know how to assemble a computer, so that's not an issue.
Don't take this as dickish but the components themselves come with instructions of how to assemble and I found them guide enough. I used that as my guide on my very first build but it helps to have someone to help you. It's entry level electronics, please take this the right way in that if PC building was a school course they would teach it to 14 year olds.
As to parts compatibility, that is a tricky one. What I did was looked at component reviews to see what they say is minimum, shop around, then email the component manufacturers to confirm what is compatible. It's simple enough matching up socket types, just bone up on the wikipedia page, but power supply can get a bit tricky, don't want too little, also don't want to overdo it. That's where I resorted to emailing manufacturer, spelling out my system specs and confirming if their PSU could take it.
Really it's an art, a craft you have to pick up. I'm not really sure how I got the hang of it myself other than hanging around on PC build forums, I did get a PC building book but it was already hideously out of date. Useless.
It's a real shame this move from Desktop dominance to Laptop dominance... everything closed, only accessible by corporations. It only leaves you open to exploitation, knowledge is power and manufacturers would rather not you know how to build your own system cheaper.
