Here is my new setup. I’m calling this thread v1.0 because I change around my stuff so much, it’s almost enviable that I will buy a new Pc, new monitor, new toy something to add to the setup. It always happens so lets prepare for it.
In light of being “half” lazy I re-re-borrowed Craig’s format and used it as my
template for my review(s). The following is a review of my new 32 inch Westinghouse HD-LCD retail for $999.99.
(Notes: All underlined text are hyperlinks to websites...If you
are having problems reading certain colors against the background, scroll
to the bottom left hand side of this screen and select the "NOTEBOOKFORUMS"
template...A very special ULTRA MEGA thanks to the crew at PCTorque for
hosting these forums!!)
System Specs:
Case - Aurora in Conspiracy Blue (matches my WRX)
CPU - AMD Athlon64 3500+
RAM - 1GB DDR Dual Channel SDRAM
Video Card - NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 @ 425MHz Stock
Hard Drive(1) – 80 GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM System Drive
Hard Drive(2)160GB Seagate® Barracuda 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(3)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(4)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(5)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(6)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Optical Drive - NEC® ND-3500 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Monitor – Westinghouse 32" Widescreen HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV with DVI and PC Inputs LTV-32W1
16:9; DVI-HDCP input; 1366 x 768 resolution @1080i, 720p and 480p
Ordering Process:
Thanks to my good friend Hunter, who turned me on to this beast, I now am the proud owner of a kick ass HD-LCD TV. He sent me a link one day and I thought about but figured I couldn’t afford it now nor did I need to buy a new monitor… I mean, I had dueling 19inch LCDs. But the more I thought about it the more I decided I wanted it. It was also a good way to get rid of my Koolance machine which I ended up selling for the same price as my TV.
How Duke beat the Sales Tax System:
So initially I was going to order the TV on Best Buy’s website. But the great state of Massachusetts will add a 5% sales tax on the TV. $50 may not seem like a lot, but I’d like to avoid it if I could. Same deal if you buy it on their site and go to pick it up at the store. But then I realized how close I live to Nashua NH which has no sales tax. I tried buying it and picking up at the NH store but as soon as you enter your zip code, the block out the NH store. Here is the lame part. You can’t buy things on the website, but if you call the store directly you can order whatever the f you want and pick it up at their store whenever they have it stock. And that’s exactly what I did.
Shipping and Packaging:
Funny shipping story. I drive to NH to pick up my TV, and I go to stick in the trunk.. no fit. Then I go and try and throw it in the backseat of my tiny WRX…doesn’t fit. So I ask the guy helping me carry it if he had any string or rope I could use to tie my trunk shut. But for some stupid reason Best Buy doesn’t offer rope because their insurance policy or warranty or whatever will not cover it if it is damaged. What a shit show.
My father was with me at the time so I threw it in the trunk and made him sit in the backseat and hold it through that little opening that allows you to access the trunk. It was only a 10 min drive, he could manage.
Benchmarks:
All results are with stock hardware settings after installing
Norton Firewall, Spy Bot Search & Destroy, Lavasoft Adaware, Office 2002
Suite, X-fire, Epson CX5000 printer drivers.
Picture Gallery:
Some pics of the new rig.
Some left over Captain Morgan from that terrible night over a year ago.
Some broken mics and mice to laugh at
the TV!!
Meets Duke Approval
In Conclusion:
It was very difficult to get used to the giant screen in front of me as I played Counter-Strike, but I got used to pretty quickly and love every second of game time. The picture is so big I can turn on PIP and watch TV while I’m playing CS and it doesn’t interfere with game play.
Watching HD Trailer from Apple.com also looks amazing and with 8ms response time you would except it. DVDs, TV, Games this is a Duke dream. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. Thanks again Hunt
Full Aurora Review (vs Craig’s FX-55 and Summer of 2004 Self-Built) here
SENTIA review here
and Koolance Review here
-Duke -one big a@@ mother fu*ker … (as Roided would say)
In light of being “half” lazy I re-re-borrowed Craig’s format and used it as my
template for my review(s). The following is a review of my new 32 inch Westinghouse HD-LCD retail for $999.99.
(Notes: All underlined text are hyperlinks to websites...If you
are having problems reading certain colors against the background, scroll
to the bottom left hand side of this screen and select the "NOTEBOOKFORUMS"
template...A very special ULTRA MEGA thanks to the crew at PCTorque for
hosting these forums!!)
System Specs:
Case - Aurora in Conspiracy Blue (matches my WRX)
CPU - AMD Athlon64 3500+
RAM - 1GB DDR Dual Channel SDRAM
Video Card - NVIDIA® GeForce™ 6800 GT 256MB DDR3 @ 425MHz Stock
Hard Drive(1) – 80 GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM System Drive
Hard Drive(2)160GB Seagate® Barracuda 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(3)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(4)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(5)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Hard Drive(6)200GB Western Digital® 7200 RPM Storage Drive
Optical Drive - NEC® ND-3500 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder
Monitor – Westinghouse 32" Widescreen HD-Ready Flat-Panel LCD TV with DVI and PC Inputs LTV-32W1
16:9; DVI-HDCP input; 1366 x 768 resolution @1080i, 720p and 480p
Ordering Process:
Thanks to my good friend Hunter, who turned me on to this beast, I now am the proud owner of a kick ass HD-LCD TV. He sent me a link one day and I thought about but figured I couldn’t afford it now nor did I need to buy a new monitor… I mean, I had dueling 19inch LCDs. But the more I thought about it the more I decided I wanted it. It was also a good way to get rid of my Koolance machine which I ended up selling for the same price as my TV.
How Duke beat the Sales Tax System:
So initially I was going to order the TV on Best Buy’s website. But the great state of Massachusetts will add a 5% sales tax on the TV. $50 may not seem like a lot, but I’d like to avoid it if I could. Same deal if you buy it on their site and go to pick it up at the store. But then I realized how close I live to Nashua NH which has no sales tax. I tried buying it and picking up at the NH store but as soon as you enter your zip code, the block out the NH store. Here is the lame part. You can’t buy things on the website, but if you call the store directly you can order whatever the f you want and pick it up at their store whenever they have it stock. And that’s exactly what I did.
Shipping and Packaging:
Funny shipping story. I drive to NH to pick up my TV, and I go to stick in the trunk.. no fit. Then I go and try and throw it in the backseat of my tiny WRX…doesn’t fit. So I ask the guy helping me carry it if he had any string or rope I could use to tie my trunk shut. But for some stupid reason Best Buy doesn’t offer rope because their insurance policy or warranty or whatever will not cover it if it is damaged. What a shit show.
My father was with me at the time so I threw it in the trunk and made him sit in the backseat and hold it through that little opening that allows you to access the trunk. It was only a 10 min drive, he could manage.
Benchmarks:
All results are with stock hardware settings after installing
Norton Firewall, Spy Bot Search & Destroy, Lavasoft Adaware, Office 2002
Suite, X-fire, Epson CX5000 printer drivers.
Synthetic
Benchmarks
Benchmarks
22,833
11,679
4,766
Gaming Benchmarks
120.32 FPS @ 1280x1024 Resolution
101.49 FPS @ 1600x1200 Resolution
Default Core & Memory: 425MHz GPU/1100MHz Memory
Picture Gallery:
Some pics of the new rig.
Some left over Captain Morgan from that terrible night over a year ago.
Some broken mics and mice to laugh at
the TV!!
Meets Duke Approval
In Conclusion:
It was very difficult to get used to the giant screen in front of me as I played Counter-Strike, but I got used to pretty quickly and love every second of game time. The picture is so big I can turn on PIP and watch TV while I’m playing CS and it doesn’t interfere with game play.
Watching HD Trailer from Apple.com also looks amazing and with 8ms response time you would except it. DVDs, TV, Games this is a Duke dream. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. Thanks again Hunt
Full Aurora Review (vs Craig’s FX-55 and Summer of 2004 Self-Built) here
SENTIA review here
and Koolance Review here
-Duke -one big a@@ mother fu*ker … (as Roided would say)
Another Duke picture!!!
