Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I will keep the post short and sweet.

I have come into a problem which needs resolving. Recently I have been playing a lot of video games with my girlfriend and her laptop sucks so I want to buy either a new rig or a gaming laptop for myself so she can use my old one.

My initial thoughts so far are, if I get a new gaming rig then I will need to get a new monitor. The problem I have encountered is if I primarily play MMORPG’s, RPG’s and Dota 2 then should I buy a TN or IPS monitor? A review sites asserts that the Asus VG248QE () is one of the best. However, the trade off TN monitors have don’t seem worth it for a MMORPGer. Also I absolutely adore my current monitor which is a 4 year old Samsung which cost 100 pounds. Is the extra cost that noticeable?

Secondly as my current rig is 2 years old and runs all the games I have thrown at it so far. Should I hold off upgrading my PC and get a gaming laptop instead. This is my current rig.

Intel i5 Sandy Bridge chipset
Asus Motherboard
Asus Geforce 570 GPU
8 GB G-skill memory
120GB OCZ SSD

Any advice, links, suggestions would be greatly appreciated as my head is currently spinning.

Thanks

I always recommend people don’t buy gaming laptops unless they absolutely must. I also recommend not upgrading until something makes you stop and think that you should. Your rig seems decent enough for its age. A comparable rig with more or less the same parts might go for $600-ish. Maybe just get her a similar rig? Something along those lines will be good enough for another while yet and a simple GPU upgrade down the line will probably rectify any micro leaps in min req. thresholds.

As for a monitor, if you want to dip a toe into the IPS side, this this is a budget one but is also of excellent quality and if it sways you, you could pick up a second one, or a bigger/better one and I’m sure your gf will be very happy with this one.

Wouldn’t bother upgrading your setup. As far as IPS vs TN, how about the best of both worlds? A PLS panel which would be superior to IPS and allow overclockability. A QNIX QX2710 will be what Im referring to.

Now, having said that I myself do own the ASUS VG248QE, BenQ XL2411T, Yamakasi Catleap Q270, Achieva Shimian QH270, and QNIX QX2710. The IPS and PLS are absolutely beautiful panels that I cannot recommend enough with my QNIX able to do over 120Hz, but since the majority of my gaming is FPS, the ASUS VG248QE and BenQ XL2411T cannot be beat for smoothness.

If purchasing IPS, I really recommend looking at PLS instead since it offers IPS color quality with TN refresh.

A GTX 570 won’t perform too well on a 27" 2560×1440 monitor.

I am waiting for the 800 series to upgrade the 570 I have, and while I wanted a Qnix 2710, I knew my card wouldn’t like it.

I decided to go with an AOC q2963Pm Black 29" ultra-wide for now. It is an IPS monitor, and the extra width is awesome for both MMOs and shooter, plus it doesn’t have the same requirements to run settings like the 2560X1440 monitors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160162

Once I get one of the new 800 series video cards, I’ll grab a Qnix and give my monitor to my wife for her WoW gaming needs.

Edit: If you decide to go with a higher def monitor, like the Qnix, or the one I linked, you’ll need a dual link DVI cable to get it to work. The Qnix usually comes with one, but the AOC does not.