new build New Gaming Rig Questions

Okay, I am considering building a new gaming rig. lol It's just getting to be "that time."

Anyway, before I start posting needs and budget and all that, I have a couple of preliminary questions for you kind folks since I haven't built a PC in a couple of years. One question is: Monitor, which really should be the only question before I move on to specs and what I am willing to spend. Mostly because I can spend pretty much whatever I like, so it becomes more a willingness issue on my part because I am also in the process of spending over $10K for a PA system and lights and stuff for my band.

So the main questions I want to ask are:

What size monitor would you guys recommend? I am thinking 24" or 27"

Touch Screen or no for gaming? Stated another way, Windows 7 or 8?

I definitely want 3D, but only ONE panel. I am probably setting this up in my office, where I have space, but I don't want my patents to see three monitors and think they just beamed up to the USS Enterprise.

Is LCD, LED, Plasma, or OLED even relevant to this conversation at this time?

Should I get a monitor with nice speakers or an external speaker set? Note that since this is my office, I CANNOT be churning out mountains of volume here. Most of the time I will keep the volumes on the low side because I also have billing and collection people on the phones. So nice, crystal clear, sweet sound: yes. Ear-busting volume: No.

Non-monitor question: I was thinking of waiting until the GeForce 685 comes out because I heard it will be out very soon AND this will lower the prices of the 680, 670, and 660, all cards I am considering. If the 685 is months away, I may not wait, though, so I am just curious.

I think that gets my preliminary questions out of the way.

What I will do once we get this solved is I will either close this thread and create another for the build OR perhaps just change the title and edit the first post. lol Don't want to step on our illustrious forum mod, The Slayer's toes.

The GTX 685, aka, the GK110, is now commonly known as the GTX Titan.

http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=1582&graphics=GeForce%20GTX%20Titan

Thanks for the help, guys!

A few things:

Yes, I was talking about the NVidia GTA Titan.

quote The Slayer

All up to you, just remember that if you get a 1080p resolution on a 27" monitor, the images will be stretched and become somewhat blurry to fill all the space. Personally, I like 24" monitors and they are almost too big for me.

Good info, thanks!

quote The Slayer

If you want, look into the Korean IPS monitors. I'm not sure what they're actually called, but they are the same screens that go into most of Apple's large screens. They, for what ever reason, did not pass the final inspection, but you can get a 27", 2560 x 1440 pixel display for around $400. Most of the time they have nothing wrong with them. You can read some more about it here.

I will definitely take a look at these monitors. Never heard of them but they look promising.

quote The Slayer

I don't know of any PC games that use touch screens (and even if they did, will you rather use a keyboard and mouse or poking at your monitor to play?). You will probably prefer windows 7.

You misunderstood me, or rather, I phrased it poorly. I am not looking for touch screen gaming. I was referring to the fact that on my gaming rigs, I do everything else. I am a writer, and work on my novels, I surf the web, I do business applications, etc. So the reason I was asking that question was because I wasn't sure if a Windows 8 touch screen PC would hurt the gaming experience in any way. Because then I would have a decision to make.

By the way, since we're on the subject and I am not into FPS games anymore, I usually use a 360 controller or PS3 controller to game with. But I was playing around with a Windows 8 touch screen and I really liked it, but for other programs and applications NOT for gaming, obviously. That would just be weird. So that's why I asked.

quote The Slayer

Monitors generally dont come with decent speakers. Get a decent 2.1 speaker set or headphones.

Yeah I was looking at a few from JBL, Klipsch, and Logitech, thanks!

quote The Slayer

You will always be waiting for the latest and greatest to come out as far as hardware goes. If you wait around for a new model to come out, it will be outdated in 6 months anyway. If you are wanting something that comes out in 1-2 months, then sure, wait. I also don't know anything about those cards or the release so don't trust me fully on that.

You misunderstood. First, I am not going to be doing the build for at least a few weeks, maybe even a month. I am really focused on the gear for my band right now. So it isn't like I am waiting for some fabled, technological Mecca. Also, and this is more important, unless I am looking for bragging rights, which in this case I am not, I usually don't buy the very top of the line GPU or CPU. What I like to do, if the timing works out, is buy the SECOND or third best chip at the beginning of the release of the best one in the line. So, since I want to wait a little bit anyway, my hope is that when the GTX Titan comes out, that the 680 and 670 cards will drop down in price.

Shiny Mew, I will need more info within the next few days to a week. This thread was just meant to be more of a preliminary questions thing, so that when I am ready, I will likely post questions such as, "Is this case overkill?" and power supply questions, and whether or not it is worth getting the 680, which it sounds like it will be once the Titan comes out.

Obviously things like CPU, Mobo, and all that other cool stuff (the fun stuff to talk about in a forum like this) will be addressed in either this thread or another one.

Thanks again guys! Any other input you guys have?

Just go for Win8. Even if you don't use touch screen features, they're basically the same OS with some slight UI updates (which some like and some don't like). Considering they also cost basically the same, doesn't make sense these days to go for Win7 anymore.

Go with Win 7 64 bit. Win 8 is not a upgrade. The tiles are a horrible idea.

Touch screen monitors are insanely expensive. A quick search on google found 17-19" screens to all cost over $500. Largest screen I saw was 22" and cost around $700

Do I have to be a Microsoft Partner in order to do this?