The true cost of Big Screen Gaming - Gaming on a 30"

When I built this machine, I had it in my head that I should buy the biggest screen I could. The problem was that a 30" screen, regardless of it's maker runs natively at 2560px by 1600px. This is a lot of pixels.

With a 30" screen, you have yourself enough room to open word, excel, and firefox at the same time without minimizing. We've all watched Chris surrounded by his screens and admired how easy it is to get things done with such a setup. The only problem is that he sold his privacy. I'm not sure I could do the same.

In any case, the question I put to you all is how much would a 30" gaming computer cost? If you wanted to play Oblivion at 2650x1600, 60fps, AAx8, AF and other goodies all turned on, how much would it cost?

Lets get a rough idea of the cost.
30" monitor - €1000
PC components
-- Motherboard - well we're probably going to need quad SLI here. Let's budget €300
-- Processor - Dare I overclock a q6600? Or should I just book tickets to the Cayman Islands instead?
-- RAM - This'll need to be fancy. 4GB you say? €250
-- Asprin - Math gives you headaches €3
-- Graphics cards - Probably the most expensive bit, given the focus of the machine. Let's say €800
-- Power supply - Ooh gosh, this bit might be tricky. a 750W at the very least. €150
-- Case - All those fans are going to be noisy. Let's get a good noise insulating case for €150
-- Drives - Well, I like to be able to back things up and copy CDs for people who don't back up enough. Should I get a blu-ray burner? Yeah, why not! And a DVD reader drive, just in case. Hard drives? 1TB will do nicely. All in at €300

Total? €2953, not including keyboard or mouse.

Tags: 30", a, burning, cost, discussion, gaming, hole, hypothetical, in, oblivion

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Enousc on October 29, 2008 at 3:39am: Gaming does cost a lot. :P; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by llama man on October 29, 2008 at 3:44am: I think your calculations are way out... you're going to need a lot more Asprin.

Good luck.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shtanto on October 29, 2008 at 7:55am: Lol! Yeah, you're probably right. The idea of the discusssion is to find 60FPS in Oblivion with all the goodies turned on at a resolution of 2560x1600.

Of course there's no guarantee that a 30" screen won't have awful ghosting. I'll discuss that in another thread because I'm pretty sure large panel tech is improving.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mateus Augusto Lopes on October 29, 2008 at 8:12am: Lot of money.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SniperKitten on October 29, 2008 at 8:56am: Buy a playstation 3 and connect it to a beamer, it costs less and you'll have a bigger screen.

For your pc buy to 22 inches screens and connect them with a dual sli graphical card, it's more fun to work with 2 screens instead of 1 big screen (you can maximize two programs, have two wallpapers,...); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shtanto on October 30, 2008 at 4:53pm: Massive seam down the middle? Yuk!

As for the PS3, it is a tacit fact that PC hardware makers benefit from software piracy. This isn't of course to say that you can't pirate PS3 games, it's just a bit trickier to do.

Can you even get near 2560 x 1600 on a projecter yet?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robert on October 30, 2008 at 8:37pm: I have a dual monitor setup, one 19" and one brand new 22". The gap isn't really that bad.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by efesbe on October 31, 2008 at 10:26am: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm not, SLI does not work with dual screens.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bill K on October 30, 2008 at 4:45pm: That all sounds good I mean a 30"screen and all.
Try gaming on a 52". U will NEVER go back to A 30"!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Shtanto on October 30, 2008 at 4:58pm: Is there really a 52" monitor? I saw a 100" one at CES which was rather mind boggling. Shame I wouldn't have the space for it.

Is this what you were referring to?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David on October 31, 2008 at 9:49am: Any 52" HDTV with a PC connection will do just fine; unless you're a ultra-mega-high-resolution fanatic. If that's the case, then nothing can save you.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Klasic Kumputerz on October 30, 2008 at 5:50pm: I have a Samsung 52 inch HD LCD 120 HZ TV. There is really no reason to run your computer at 2560 X 1600. There is no program or software that requires this resolution. I also run mine at 1024 X 768. That is fine when you have 52 inches of screen space. I also have a Olevia 37 inch and a Olevia 27 inch hooked up to two other computers. The most I have spent on a "Bought Branded" computer is $7500.00. My Dell Dimention XPS 730 H2C.; ▶ Reply to This