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That sucks that you get motion sickness. I don't have that happening to me. I don't don't feel like I can notice the difference between 30 and 60 or more. Like I said, though, below 30 or around 10 is where it's definitely noticeable (the game barely runs).

You just changed how I feel about 4K. I thought there was probably something you could do, I didn't quite think about resolution scaling, but that makes sense. Higher resolutions do drop your FPS, though. For some games getting 60 at 1080p is easy, but getting 60 at 4K is very tough, from what I've seen. You made me interested in 4K, I'd like to see how that looks. I actually thought about Googling some pictures of 4K to see what the desktop would look like. Maybe I'll have to look into it.

Since I'm having problems with this monitor, I may actually return it. There is an Alienware 1080p monitor I really want it. It's 240hz. I may end up getting it, even though it looks like it'll be overkill. Although, now thanks to your comment, I'm starting to think whether or not I want to upgrade to a higher resolution. LOL

The Alienware: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0733VW5QB/?coliid=IAQI9SF41YF4O&colid=3RTYMSB6B7JIF&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Also, I'm aiming for a 1ms response time. That apparently makes a difference in gaming, especially shooters, although I don't usually play them. I'm not sure I'm noticing this change either.

The Acer Predator: https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Predator-XB241H-bmipr-1920x1080/dp/B01C05C1OK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

In the end, I'm thinking maybe it all has to do with our own individual eyesight. My eyes are imperfect, so perhaps I can't see what others can (like the difference in higher than 30FPS).

Thanks for joining the discussion! This is something I've been thinking about lately and I wanted to share it here.

Yeah, I understand the correlation between VSync and FPS. With the Dell that came w/ my Alienware PC, I play with VSync on. With this Acer, I turn off VSync, but turn on GSync. CivVI has in-game VSync and frame limiter, which I enabled for the Dell, but disabled for the Acer. Without those enabled, the Dell had screen tearing, where as the Acer does not.

So, I looked at pcpartpicker.com and it looks like 4K monitors are very expensive. 4K means that the second dimension is 4,000+ (like for example 1000x4000), right? The 2K monitors also look expensive, but I found a 1440 that looks reasonable. So now I'm wondering, should I get one with the highest refresh rate (the Alienware) or one with a higher resolution. I found a Dell 1440p that is 144hz or 165hz (depending on the model). I won't buy another Acer monitor due to the issues I'm having with the one I have and their technicians. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find a good monitor on Amazon, because there are positive reviews, but also negative ones, so I'm kind of trying to find one that has a lot less negative ones. The Alienware seems good, it seems like many people got a good unit, while only a few received a defective one. The one I bought (Acer) seems to have more people reporting defective units.

Thanks for the clarification, I should have just Googled. That certainly changed things on my pcpartpicker.com search, but they're still a bit expensive. Now I'm thinking about high refresh rate vs. resolution. I'm thinking I might look around at recommendations for a monitor that best fits my GPU.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts on my new-to-me debate (high refresh rate vs. resolution).

Ok, now I'm leaning towards a Dell with a higher resolution. I haven't tried a high resolution out yet. I've experienced higher refresh rate and don't really feel the difference. This one seems good, be cause it's a like a middle ground for high refresh rate and resoltion. I still have to look at reviews. So here's what I'm thinking of getting now: https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Gaming-S2716DGR-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B0149QBOF0/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

I'm still not sure when I'll get a new monitor. Luckily, I don't *have* to get one as my old Dell that came w/ my Alienware PC is still really good. But, I want to experience newer tech. I am working on a refund for the Acer. That won't give me enough for the Dell or Alienware monitor, so I may have to wait a little bit to save.

I'm still interested in opinions on this.

Now I'm thinking about getting an IPS panel, pretty much for better color. LOL I've been looking at Amazon and there are quite a few different monitors to choose from. The Dell seems to be the highest rated, so I might go with that. I may get it sooner than the Switch and make the Switch wait.

Thanks for the input Jon! I'm definitely interested in seeing what hardware you get and what you think of that higher refresh rate and more FPS. What are your thoughts when it comes to resolution?

I think I've finally decided what I'm going to get soon. It's pretty much the Dell I shared earlier, but 24" instead of 27". I think both my other Dell monitor and this Acer that I'm returning are 24" and I think I'm fine with that. I think a bigger monitor would just take up too much space. Already one of my speakers kind of hides behind the monitor. This seems to have mostly good ratings on Amazon. It's also cheaper and thus more affordable. Here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Gaming-S2716DGR-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B01IOO4SGK/ref=sr_1_14?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1568248913&refinements=p_n_feature_fifteen_browse-bin%3A17751808011%2Cp_n_feature_eleven_browse-bin%3A17726573011%7C17726574011%7C17726576011%2Cp_n_feature_twelve_browse-bin%3A17726584011&rnid=17726583011&s=pc&sr=1-14&th=1

If you want, feel free to share with me what monitor(s) you are using, along with specs. and what you think about it/them.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Travis, you said you're using 4K, right (or at least higher than 1080p)? It seems like you don't use resolution scaling for your desktop. My question is, how does YouTube look? Most videos I've seen only seem to have 1080p as their highest quality level, although there are videos that are created in higher resolutions. I thinking, maybe that if you full screen a video, it can be stretched to fit your desktop resolution. I'm wondering if that has a noticeable impact on the video, or if the video just displays at 1080p with a black box around it covering the remaining of the resolution.

>Not sure where you got that. I definitely do, it would be insanely hard to read otherwise.

Well I kind of assumed. You mentioned how a 4K desktop looks and that Google search results will "blow your mind." You mentioned desktop rescaling, but you didn't exactly say whether or not you were using it, so it was a bit of an assumption on my part. So, what resolution have you scaled your desktop to? I imagine you've set it for something that looks good and is comfortable.

>Like Travis said, the video will stretch and it will be a 4K sized video without the pixel density to back it up and depending on if you have an upscaling video player could look better? Like VLC might do that? The PS3 did that very well for DVD's, I remember watching Star Wars on DVD and the upscaler made it look incredible. Then I got it on Blu-Ray and found true religion. 4K DISNEY PLZ!

Thank you both for explaining. It makes sense, really, because I can watch videos that are <1080p and still fill the screen without a black border. Not sure what I was thinking there, I guess, because I haven't experienced greater than that then I didn't really know. I barely remember the upscaling on the PS3. I haven't used my PS3 in a long time.

So, Jon, you're running at 4K, too (like Travis)? Do you both use that resolution for gaming? If not, what do you use? Being that you're both devs., 4K's extra desktop space makes sense. Do you both also have IPS panels? Those are usually recommended for people like content editors for their better color. Travis mentioned 5ms response time and I have recently seen something that pretty much less than 10ms is good. I have no idea what this old Dell of mine has for that spec.

I've gone back and forth between this old Dell and the Acer and I really feel like I can't tell the difference. It seems like the Dell has better color, or maybe it's because that's what I got used to. I've also seen that OCing a monitor for a higher resolution will or can in some cases make the colors worse. I've read where people have said colors looked "washed out" on things. I've never really color calibrated this Dell, but I did tinker with the Acer, although I never got it set good enough. I'm still not sure this Dell's color is completely good enough, but generally, I think it is.

Cool, thanks for the info! I'm more excited now to get a new monitor. :)

Now gaming at 1440p @ 165hz! :) Time to test some more games!

Do you guys notice the higher resolution in your games? I'm not sure if I did. Spending all weekend troubleshooting the issue w/ the new monitor and not playing any video games has me thinking I should just stick to my good ol' [email protected] IPS. That would save me the trouble I've been through w/ two new(er) monitors and money, especially since I feel like I'm not really noticing a difference. Maybe I am, but the difference isn't greatly significant to make me "wow!" Maybe the replacement that arrives tomorrow won't have the same issue and I'll be able to grasp the difference more easily.

Minecraft looked like it was on a lower resolution when I tested it again with my good ol' monitor, although that might have had to do with the GUI scale (in-game). The upside to all of this, also, is that I realized my good ol' monitor not only has ports for VGA and DVI (which i was using), but also DisplayPort. I was surprised when I realized this and now have it (temporarily) connected via DP. Although, I'm not sure if I'm noticing the difference between DVI and DP, but I am generally aware that DP is better and supports higher resolutions and is required for GSync.

Feel free to share w/ me your "new" monitor/panel specs and experiences here. :)

What resolution are you using?

Cool, thanks for the info! I don't think I noticed the resolution in games, although the old monitor is displaying MHW in full screen, but it has top and bottom black borders. I don't know if this was the way it was while playing at a higher resolution. That may be, because I don't recall really noticing it or paying attention to it at all before. I did notice resolution difference in Windows and in Steam, but Windows automatically rescaled and wasn't really different. But as it goes for image quality, I don't think I noticed a difference.

As it turns out, the replacement Dell sent me was manufactured this year as opposed to the one it was replacing which was manufactured last year. Unfortunately, the image quality was exactly the same and I've decided to get a refund and stick w/ my good ol' Dell. I don't know which part or technology was at fault for the picture that didn't look as good on the new as the old. Maybe the difference between a TN and IPS are just that different and I can't stand it. I may try out some other TN panels in the future, but for now, I'm sticking w/ my good ol' Dell IPS, even if it maxes out at [email protected] Maybe I'll just wait until I can afford a good IPS panel.

I liked Q, too. I loved Female Q2, who we saw in Voyager. The same woman also played the mother of Worf's son, I felt strongly attracted to her. LOL She also had other roles in the series. (https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Suzie_Plakson) I doubt Q will make an appearance in this show, but who knows. I believe Riker and Troi are returning as well, I think that was confirmed in a video I saw.

I think "dropping" all the episodes at once would be awesome, because then you could easily watch them all in one binge sitting, although I don't know if networks actually do this. I do enjoy not having to wait for episodes to be released, though. I enjoyed binge watching a season of Game of Thrones, although I missed the last season and am thinking about buying the full series when it releases (in December I believe).

As wonderful as these shows are (Game of Thrones) and seem to be (Picard), I'm still not really too interested in paying a subscription to a streaming network to watch them. I liked Amazon Prime mostly because I could easily rent and stream movies. I was a Prime member with my own account, but then an annual fee came up and I decided it was too expensive. Now though I'm actually tied to my mom's Prime account, so I could actually continue to watch it. I'm actually tempted to do this so I can catch up on the MCU movies I've missed. Netflix had some good stuff on it, too. I enjoyed a lot of Sci-non-fiction, but also Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but when they increased their price, I left. I watched some stuff on Hulu (like Quantum Leap which I watched when it was out on TV and Rick & Morty which was good). I did watch most of Family Guy and American Dad, but I really wasn't entertained by them as much as I thought I'd be, so I left that service, too. So, I don't really feel too compelled to join CBS All Access for this show nor Disney+ for the Star Wars stuff. I'm kind of overwhelmed with these services right now. Although, I do very much prefer them over cable/satellite TV, because I can watch exactly what I want, instead of having to pick from whatever the network decides to air at the time. I also love that they usually don't contain commercials, or their commercials are short.

What do you think about all of these services? Are you going to subscribe to CBS All Access for this and Disney+ for Star Wars?

Thanks for joining the discussion! :)

Star Trek: Discovery is something I've missed out on, unfortunately.

New trailer! https://youtu.be/FySrgrKJguE

Spoiler-free review of premiere episode looks good! https://youtu.be/bB2-WUybikE

Awesome!

Everything has arrived, except the case. According to Amazon, it's supposed to be here between 7/26-7/31. I've already set up my new monitor as a external display on my mom's laptop. I already took parts out of the Aurora that I'm using in the new build and set them aside. The case comes with two fans, but can hold more and the motherboard has four fan headers, so I ordered two more fans.

LOL You could check out my pcpartpicker.com link, open up the link for the case, and imagine everything in there. I remember you and Travis wanted a picture of the Alienware, but I never did it. I'm not sure if I'll do it for this one. Laziness aside (although probably mostly why), my cable management skills are terrible, so it might be embarrassing to show it off. When it comes to cable management I really just don't give a duck. Plus, I imagine the flash of the camera would reflect on the case. I'll see when it comes, who knows, maybe I'll do it.

I actually think I found the name I'm going to give this build, "Azul." :)

LOL

I updated the build on pcpartpicker.com. It's kind of a long and complicated story, so I'll just say I'm keeping the original monitor I ordered and (hopefully) returning the latter. There's a bit of a price difference between the two. The original has G-Sync, while the latter has FreeSync, but is G-Sync "compatible." The original can also be overclocked to 180hz, which will probably not be necessary (but I might try it anyway). I know I did not pay full price for the original, it's a "recertified" (or "refurbished") monitor. It looks and feels brand new to me, so I'm ok w/ that. I can't wait to get this PC built, it's been a week now since I've been w/out a decent working PC. ;(

The case arrived today, which meant I had everything and was ready to put my new PC together. So, of course, I did! At first, I had a power issue, but I think that's because I didn't actually turned the power on (the PSU and case have power buttons). Then I had "no signal" trouble when first booting. I took out the GPU, tried another, same thing. Then I realized that I should probably try the on-board video, which worked. I think my GPU wasn't fully seated and plugged in. Once I got it working for sure, I screwed it in so that it wouldn't move when I tried to plug in a cable. Now I'm using a Display Port for the first time ever! I'm sorry, but I don't want to take a picture of it and share it, because (as I said) the cable management is awful! I added a molex cable so that I could get an extra fan in the case, but I didn't have enough adapters and headers to add one more fan that I got.

Anyway, that's my update! Time to go test some games!!

Yeah, the RTX 2080 Super costs about as much as this build cost. It's too bad the devs couldn't have considered that the majority of players probably can't afford such expensive GPUS. I don't have at i7-9990k either. So, yeah. LOL

Wow I'm impressed! I can't explain it, but Ark just looks better! It looks more 3D, I think, it's really hard to explain. It's on "Epic" settings, which I believe it was before, but it didn't look this good. Plus, I am seeing more FPS. Before it wouldn't go above 40-ish(fps), but I saw it hit like 92fps while I was in a cave. It's also running almost 10c cooler (no higher than 75c, before it stayed at 81c)! I didn't think this case would be that effective at cooling, but apparently it does have good airflow. I have the two pre-installed fans in the front and one I got installed in the top. The CPU cooler has a radiator sandwiched between two fans blowing through it and out the case. The PSU is also installed upside down (on purpose for this reason), so that when it uses it's fans, it sucks air from the case, through the PSU, and out the case. I thought I was going to need more fans and fan headers. I thought I'd order a fan controller, but now I don't think that's necessary. The overclock on the monitor did give me nearly 180fps in Civ6, although the color in the game looks off, so I'm trying to work on that.

My games didn't seem to load faster, they loaded about the same as before. I feel like I noticed a different in how applications worked and were "poof" right there immediately when I opened them. But, this might because I may have gotten used to the crappy laptop I was using to watch YouTube while waiting on my parts to arrive. That laptop is terrible!

Anyway, that's probably about all I have to say about this build. Thanks for joining in the conversation!

> Sounds like you got an impressive FPS gain from your upgrade, which has a huge effect on how the game feels. I went from a fairly blah/laggy Rage 2 on my laptop to a really smooth experience on the Desktop I got recently and that game feels so much better.

It's kind of difficult to gauge how much of an FPS gain I got. This is because FPS varies greatly. In some places just even looking in a different direction will give you a variable amount of FPS. However, I can see a difference between the highest I got before (even though VSync was on) and the highest I'm getting now (with GSync on). There is definitely a difference. Whether or not I can actually visually tell the difference between 30fps and 90fps is kind of something I haven't figured out yet. As long as the FPS doesn't drop extremely low, I don't seem to notice a difference. I think the <1ms response time on the monitor might have something to do with it, but honestly, I think just about everything is contributing to it (new faster RAM, new CPU, and new motherboard). In a way it kind of seems like the game might be loading a little faster, I'm not sure, but I kind of think so.

Are you talking about the MSI gaming laptop you got? Are you also talking about the desktop you got from Will? (Correct me if I'm wrong on those.) It is actually quite fascinating how different hardware can make a significant difference in gaming. But, I actually believe (especially after watching some videos by JayZTwoCents and his testing) that you don't really have to have a beast to get a good gaming experience, but it does help if your computer isn't a POS. I tried Minecraft, too, and the FPS was incredibly high in some areas, I don't know how it got so high. I had Geforce Experience optimize my settings (in all games). I have installed Optifine for Minecraft, but haven't played it since I installed it, so I might give that a try soon.

*Update*
The new CPU liquid cooler arrived today. I managed to get it installed, although it was quite frustrating. Trying to put the (long) screws through the back of and into the case and into and through a fan and into the radiator was difficult. I did watch a YouTube video of someone doing just this thing with my PC. I think at first he had the system (cooler) in the wrong orientation. It took me a while to realize why I wasn't having any luck with it, so I had to flip it upside down (or right side up). Then I got it all screwed in and plugged up. My CPU with the old cooler just days ago was running at a blazing 91c! I downloaded an Intel program that can tell you whether or not your CPU is thermal throttling and sure enough at that temp, my CPU was doing it. No wonder it shut itself off! It's still in the 90's but that's no longer the celsius measurement, that's the fahrenheit temp (which is what the cooling system's software from Corsair is telling me). However, HWMonitor is telling me that the CPU is running at a very cool 36ish (in celcius) at max. Wow this tech is seriously awesome! I must admit at first I was sceptical about liquid cooling, it's well known that water and electronics don't mix. However, there (obviously) are some good systems out there that remove all worries (just don't try to take it apart yourself and fix it or you might spring a leak). From what I've been through with this PC, I believe that liquid cooling is very necessary, especially if you're planning to run a beast and do some really good gaming.

On that note, I'd like to add that I upgraded a couple of other pieces of hardware in recent years. I got a Razor Chroma keyboard, which has lit keys. Now I believe this kind of hardware is essential, especially if you're gaming in the dark (WASD are not the "home keys" unfortunately). I also got a Corsair Harpoon RGB mouse. I needed a new mouse, went to Wal-Mart and found "gaming" mice, so I picked one up. It's pretty good and the Corsair software (iCUE) controls my mouse and my new liquid cooling system. I've been a fan of Corsair for a long time, I've bought at least two of their PSUs.

Wow that looks like a sweet laptop! That sucks that you've had issues with it though. I wonder how a beastly laptop like that stays cool. I used the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24075/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-) to see that my CPU was throttling.

It's good that you got an extended warranty, although bad that you had to get some replacements and such. I initially didn't have a problem w/ my PC, except the mouse's optical piece was damaged shortly after getting it, but I quickly replaced it.

Anyway, I'm glad we have another Cheerful Ghost Alienware user. :)

I agree with you and I think you're right on both accounts and so am I. LOL I haven't really cared much about "cutting edge" tech for a while. But, I've decided it's time to try some out. The CPU Liquid Cooling System in this PC was new tech to me when I got it 5 years ago. The GPUs I've order are a bit "cutting edge," too. Now, I'm making the jump to SSD, which is long overdue, I'm sure! Now I might even get into higher def gaming. I might not go 4k, but I might take the step above me w/ 144. I don't know much about ray tracing, just that it's new. I'm not too worried about it, but you're good because it's on your GPU. I'm not quite up to date on CPUs, either. However, I did read that my i7-4820k is still actually a really good processor. I'm sure your's is better and you have faster RAM, but I think what I have has been very good and I don't have too much reason to change (yet I'm doing some upgrading). I like computer tech, but I haven't been staying "in the loop," so I've missed out on a lot. Luckily, I found a great YouTube channel that's helped me get up to speed on things (https://www.youtube.com/user/Jayztwocents).

Update! All parts have arrived by now and are installed. I'm now running a fresh install of Win10 on the SSD and the difference is astounding! Before I had to wait maybe 5 minutes before Windows was ready for me to do stuff, now it's pretty much like *BOOM* right there! Whoa!

I tested the GPU, it got just over 120fps in Heaven benchmark (which is double what my monitor can display). It did reach 80c, so I emailed EVGA to see if this is normal or if they have suggestions for a water cooler or if I should reapply thermal paste with my new tube of Artic MX-4. I might let you know what they say, but I bet this is normal. It idles about 40c, but the CPU w/ the new water pump idles, well it looks like less than 25c. I did a stress test on it and I think it reached 40c. That's freaking sweet! I found out I can overclock it, but I'll see how things go and if I need that extra horsepower.

I have returned the motherboard as I didn't need it. I installed the new RAM in the first pair of slots. There were only 2 and for some reason I was expecting 4 (I got 2x8 not 4x4). So I decided to let the old RAM stay in DIMM 3 & 4 slots, but it wouldn't POST with both sticks in, so I had to settle w/ just leaving one of them in. So now I'm running at 20GB RAM. Wow!

I ran CineBench and well, the results didn't look so good, but that's a hard stress, demanding test. The only way I can check my CPU is to keep an eye on it and see how it goes. I've installed lots of monitoring software, but HWMonitor feels like the best while Prime95 is quite confusing.

I think that's it. I may update this post more in the comments section (since I used the max amount of characters in the post). I might get a new higher refresh rate monitor, otherwise I think I'm good for now. Oh and I did get that 10 year warranty for the GPU, not cheap, but I think it's worth it considering my GPU history in the last decade.

I have successfully revived my PC. The difference is astounding! It really feels like a brand new PC. I think the major key involved is the SSD. If you don't have one, you seriously need to get one, it makes a world of difference! I also firmly believe a liquid cooler kit (as the one I got, read the post) is essential, especially for a CPU and if you do heavy gaming.

That's awesome! I don't know much about the Xeon processors. I'm assuming as long as the CPU is an Ivy Bridge with the same socket it might be compatible. I'm not sure exactly what CPUs are compatible with this motherboard. I don't know much about NVME, but I just Googled it and it looks cool. I don't think my SSD is NVME, but Windows boots up incredibly fast now. As for the CPU cooler, I love this Corsair one. It was a pain to install it, though. I had to put four screws through the case, through the fan, and into the radiator and didn't have very much screw to do so. At first it wouldn't work at all, then I realized I had to change how I had it positioned. I finally got it to work. My PC is incredibly quiet now! I don't mind running the Corsair iCUE software as I was already running it because of my Corsair Harpoon mouse that I got months ago. I put the iCUE cooler on "Extreme" fan control and I either can't hear it or barely so. The one that came with the PC was much louder.

Thanks for replying to this post!

Cool. I haven't done a benchmark like that in a long time. I don't have a 4K monitor either, although I'm thinking about getting an upgrade to 1440p.

Sweet! You probably can find a good deal on something like that. Like I said in another post, $300 for the 1660Ti, was a great deal considering the past few GPUs I've had. What do you have now? I've been going w/ 6GB of VRAM for a while and I feel like that's enough, for now.

After your comment, I actually watched a new video explaining why now is not a good time to buy new hardware, because new stuff is coming soon and what's new now will get go on sale. https://youtu.be/kip0axDBjQ0 However, I think you'd be fine, because you're not really looking for currently brand new. But, still, if you wait then yeah prices are definitely going to get reduced. I was thinking about upgrading to a better monitor, but I pretty much blew what I had saved over recent months on all the other parts to get my PC back up and running. I might wait until next month or longer to get a new monitor, or maybe not at all, I don't know yet. I haven't done a whole lot of research or "window shopping," yet. I think I want a 1440p GSync monitor, that's about it, I'll need to do more research.

I agree with what you've decided. If you're going to be playing your Switch instead of your PC then yeah, do that and wait for GPUs get get cheaper. Playing on your Switch gives you something nice to do while you're waiting. As JayZTwoCents mentioned, waiting for the "back to school" or end of year (holidays) sales would be wise.

Back to the Switch, hit me up and tell me if you're going to get Civ 6, or write about it so I can read and comment!

Sadly, I've grown to actually hate this PC, mostly because I took the case a part and didn't put it back together very well. This caused an issue with the power button, which I had fixed, but then I accidentally ripped two small cables in the front and now the power button no longer functions. There's also an amber light inside that I don't think I've seen before. I don't really want to repair it, because I don't want to go through the frustration of trying to put the case back together yet again. So, I've decided to build a new PC. I'll be posting about the new build soon, in case you're interested.