OT: Video Games VI
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Curious to hear everyone's preferences or current setup configurations as far as monitors go. Since this is Cyber Monday, it seems the ideal time. Lots of people are shopping this week/weekend for an upgrade.
I have two PCs at my main desk, including a gaming rig with a Ryzen 9 7950X3D / RTX 4090. My secondary PC is a Ryzen 8 5800X / RTX 3080 Ti machine. Each PC is hooked up to a single panel. My main PC is dedicated to gaming, browsing, photo and video editing, and productivity whenever I work from home (which is rare). My secondary PC is now for secondary batch imagery/video processing, SSD/HDD storage, backup in case anything is wonky with my main gaming rig. But usually, it's playing YouTube videos or media files while I'm gaming (e.g. a MMO) or working on my main PC.
To my main gaming rig, I have the excellent Alienware 34" AW3423DW Ultrawide 1440p OLED panel hooked up, which I picked up in 2022, not too long after its release. Fantastic at the time, lots of other very good OELD panels have emerged since then. My secondary rig is using an excellent 27" ASUS ROG PG279Q IPS monitor. I have two of those, but they are 10 years old now. (My main PC is also connected to this panel via the HDMI connection to use as a second monitor for productivity.)
I have found myself increasingly torn in the ways that a lot of people are torn these days. OLED panels produce fantastic blacks, but burn-in is a real issue to watch for, and that makes them incredible for pigeonholed media playback and gaming applications, but not for regular desktop use. IPS are fantastic for desktop applications, photo editing as far as color accuracy, and TN have excellent response times for pro gaming, but reproduction of blacks and HDR performance can be wanting there. VA are very good for all around performance, yet motion blur can be something to watch out for there from some brands. It's not really a field where there's a perfect panel for every application scenario and no perfect technology for an all-arounder needs case.
I decided to pick up a 32" Samsung Neo G8 at half price this weekend. A good VA panel, it uses Mini LEDs, is full 4K, has good ratings for color accuracy, very good brightness levels, and very good blacks for a non-OLED panel. Won't have any burn-in issues. It's supposed to be an excellent all-arounder with strong gaming scores, and that's what I need for my gaming rig. At launch, it had scanlines issues at 240 Hz, but nothing at 120 Hz. Firmware updates since then have evidently reduced the scanlines issue to a non-issue or only minor issue.
I'm going to use my Alienware on the secondary PC. It has suffered from mild burn-in issues and it's not really bright enough for desktop applications. That PC is almost always playing back media these days, though, so it is well suited for that use case.
I have two PCs at my main desk, including a gaming rig with a Ryzen 9 7950X3D / RTX 4090. My secondary PC is a Ryzen 8 5800X / RTX 3080 Ti machine. Each PC is hooked up to a single panel. My main PC is dedicated to gaming, browsing, photo and video editing, and productivity whenever I work from home (which is rare). My secondary PC is now for secondary batch imagery/video processing, SSD/HDD storage, backup in case anything is wonky with my main gaming rig. But usually, it's playing YouTube videos or media files while I'm gaming (e.g. a MMO) or working on my main PC.
To my main gaming rig, I have the excellent Alienware 34" AW3423DW Ultrawide 1440p OLED panel hooked up, which I picked up in 2022, not too long after its release. Fantastic at the time, lots of other very good OELD panels have emerged since then. My secondary rig is using an excellent 27" ASUS ROG PG279Q IPS monitor. I have two of those, but they are 10 years old now. (My main PC is also connected to this panel via the HDMI connection to use as a second monitor for productivity.)
I have found myself increasingly torn in the ways that a lot of people are torn these days. OLED panels produce fantastic blacks, but burn-in is a real issue to watch for, and that makes them incredible for pigeonholed media playback and gaming applications, but not for regular desktop use. IPS are fantastic for desktop applications, photo editing as far as color accuracy, and TN have excellent response times for pro gaming, but reproduction of blacks and HDR performance can be wanting there. VA are very good for all around performance, yet motion blur can be something to watch out for there from some brands. It's not really a field where there's a perfect panel for every application scenario and no perfect technology for an all-arounder needs case.
I decided to pick up a 32" Samsung Neo G8 at half price this weekend. A good VA panel, it uses Mini LEDs, is full 4K, has good ratings for color accuracy, very good brightness levels, and very good blacks for a non-OLED panel. Won't have any burn-in issues. It's supposed to be an excellent all-arounder with strong gaming scores, and that's what I need for my gaming rig. At launch, it had scanlines issues at 240 Hz, but nothing at 120 Hz. Firmware updates since then have evidently reduced the scanlines issue to a non-issue or only minor issue.
I'm going to use my Alienware on the secondary PC. It has suffered from mild burn-in issues and it's not really bright enough for desktop applications. That PC is almost always playing back media these days, though, so it is well suited for that use case.
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Devil Dancer
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2006
- 18,649
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Tried Elden Ring again and man it just sucks. The world is boring, the combat is awkward, bosses are damage sponges that take forever, there’s nothing engaging about the story, and the hours and hours spent grinding are tedious and in no way rewarding or engaging. People can’t actually think this is one of the best games of all time, what a waste of time and money.
Jags
Mildly Disturbed
Sounds like what you've got there is an embarrassment of riches. 
When it comes to PCs, monitors are really the only thing in a setup that defies recommendation because the choice is 100% personal. Everyone's needs are different, some folks are videophiles that see every rendered flaw, and some aren't. And of course the biggest issue is price. You can easily spend anywhere from $100 to well over a grand and be perfectly happy based on your preferences.
For a setup like yours, the only real concern for most people is gaming in 4K, but you've got that covered. Both rigs are capable of it and then some. The 3080ti will have to work harder, but is more than up to the task.
The only thing I can think of that'd be even a remote concern is the size of the room these rigs reside in. If you're batch-encoding video on one machine and gaming on another (or similar workloads), the heat output of well-cooled machines is definitely going to raise the temperature of smaller rooms. So if you're operating in a den or bedroom-turned-office type situation, that could be something to think about. But it's also something you've already been dealing with, so it's likely a crossed bridge.
You did mention batch video processing on the 5800. Not sure I'd do that with the 7950 sitting right there unless I really had to. The 7950 will be up to 50% faster, which adds up crazy fast on lengthy batches. And if file size isn't a concern and you're using your video cards to encode, there's still a similar disparity. Depends on your use case though, and/or whether any of that matters to you to begin with.
Congrats on the new addition!
When it comes to PCs, monitors are really the only thing in a setup that defies recommendation because the choice is 100% personal. Everyone's needs are different, some folks are videophiles that see every rendered flaw, and some aren't. And of course the biggest issue is price. You can easily spend anywhere from $100 to well over a grand and be perfectly happy based on your preferences.
For a setup like yours, the only real concern for most people is gaming in 4K, but you've got that covered. Both rigs are capable of it and then some. The 3080ti will have to work harder, but is more than up to the task.
The only thing I can think of that'd be even a remote concern is the size of the room these rigs reside in. If you're batch-encoding video on one machine and gaming on another (or similar workloads), the heat output of well-cooled machines is definitely going to raise the temperature of smaller rooms. So if you're operating in a den or bedroom-turned-office type situation, that could be something to think about. But it's also something you've already been dealing with, so it's likely a crossed bridge.
You did mention batch video processing on the 5800. Not sure I'd do that with the 7950 sitting right there unless I really had to. The 7950 will be up to 50% faster, which adds up crazy fast on lengthy batches. And if file size isn't a concern and you're using your video cards to encode, there's still a similar disparity. Depends on your use case though, and/or whether any of that matters to you to begin with.
Congrats on the new addition!
That 5800X rig is now for secondary batch processing. I'll run Topaz Video AI, DxO PureRaw 4, and Photoshop/Lightroom on my main rig primarily. If I'm working on a bunch of batch tasks, though, I may have both rigs churn on content. Like AI upscaling an old TV show from 480p or 720p up to 1080p or 4K. I'll queue up multiple episodes on both rigs and let them work on that for a few hours.
The 7950X3D does require some manual core parking between productivity and gaming, but it flies. Definitely my primary rig for those tasks. The problem is, it's the primary rig for all tasks.
Separately, I rebuilt my HTPC with a 7900X and AM5 platform and placed it in the living room. In time, I may make that a dedicated video/photo processing rig. Just haven't got around to it. I'd put the 3080Ti in there, if so. I have a RTX 2080S and 2080Ti that can go in the 5800X if it's not going to be primarily doing AI workloads.
(I salvaged two 2080Tis and a SLI bridge from a VR workstation at work, but gave one to a coworker for his kids' gaming needs. Have still never played around with SLI at any level, and now SLI is gone. Maybe with retro Voodoo cards someday.)
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I ended up picking up a SAMSUNG 49" Odyssey G93SC Series OLED Curved Gaming Monitor, 240Hz, 0.03ms, Dual QHD, DisplayHDR True Black 400, FreeSync Premium Pro but have not installed it yet. Having the 55" LG C2 with a regular 4k size and then the same alienware you have here seems to be the best of both worlds since both resolutions are better for some games on one but not the other resolution.
Just have no issues with burn in with two different OLED type monitors. One thing I do to help a bit is to pick up wallpaper engine app on steam for basically live wall papers and have the task bar set to auto minimize and have not shortcuts on the desktop.
Bolded curious to what setting you had the monitor setup to get some mild BI/IR.
- Jun 25, 2018
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- 2,062
I haven't played Elden Ring, but the whole Souls-like genre's just not for me. My time for video games has gotten so limited that I don't want to waste it dying over and over to the same boss while I learn some complex combat system that relies on my steadily declining reflexes. All respect to the people who like that sort of game, but all they do is make me want to break a controller.
I have not played Elden Ring specifically, but I have spent my last few years of video gaming playing hard games that require beating my head against the wall. (Hades [with the heat turned up], Celeste, Enter the Gungeon, Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, Spelunky / 2, etc.)
And, for me, what I've found is simple: It needs to be fun. I haven't really figured out why but some 'hard' games are instantly like - Nope. And others, Celeste is a more recent game I loved, I was instantly like - yep, that's worth dying thousands of times (not exaggerating) to beat Farewell.
Yes, I'm definitely trending towards Indie games, but I'm also currently playing Fallen Order for the first time and having an absolute blast. Maybe I just love glowing swords.
Devil Dancer
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2006
- 18,649
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twabby
Registered User
- Mar 9, 2010
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Celeste is so good. I still pick it up and play through it every year or so.
Hades is awesome, as is Celeste. Your point around needing to be fun is simple but true. I don’t shy away from hard games and can dislike easy games just as much as hard games (see RDR2, for example). If I feel like I’m wasting my time or that they made it unnecessarily large or complex just for the sake of it I quickly lose interest. I don’t care how easy or hard it is — I’ll keep at it if I think it’s engaging and there’s a method to the madness. Outer Wilds is another one I find difficult and repetitive but still super captivating.
The other aspect I've learned is to forgive myself when a game just isn't working for me and not forcing myself to keep playing it out of obligation.
The first time I played Witcher 1 I thought it was so dull I didn't make it out of Vizima. I picked it up a few years later and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Totally agree. Ghost of Tsushima is in the running for my favorite game of all time but the first time I played it I couldn’t get through Act I because I just dumped 100 hours into Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and was burned out by open world games. I came back to it a few months later and couldn’t put it down.
