pcweber111's Setup Thread 2.0 (New Apt. Edition) - Page 2

Yeah the plan now is for a 59" Sammy. Need to just pull the trigger. As for tv, it's worked out great so far. Sure there's a lot I miss from cable but eh, it's out of sight out of mind really. I rent BDs too so I catch a few shows on disc from time to time. As for sports if there's a game I want to watch I'll just go to the local pub or Hooters or somewhere similar to catch it. I enjoy the social experience more, to be honest. I will never intentionally go back to paying for tv service the way it's set up now. There's just too many options available.

Just a quick update to my system. It's moved to the adjacent wall because the room flows better this way. It sits in front of my fireplace now but come on, this is Texas lol. Anyway not much has changed other than the addition of a Panny BD85K and a new computer build. The receiver is getting up there in age but it still works and I only have two sources so I don't really have a pressing need at the moment. The Panny is connected via analog 5.1 so I get hi-rez that way and the computer is connected via Toslink but it serves its purpose right now. I wanted to upgrade my tv but I've started to think and I might wait for more of the 21:9 sets or see what rolls around next year in 4k. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but eh, the tv works for me so I'm gonna wait a bit.

I've also put together a few pics of the bedroom "setup". It's just a 42" Panny 720p set with a 160GB PS3, Panamax Max5100 powercenter, and a Bello stand. Hardly a "setup" but again it works for my needs. Anyway here's a few pics, video coming soonish:

Living room:









Bedroom:



Ignore the dusty lamp lol.





Sorry for the poor quality, it's a camera phone lol.

Quick and dirty:

1100T @ 4.0 on air
Coolermaster V8 cooler
Gigabyte 990FXUD5
16GB Corsair Dominator @ 1666
Sapphire 6950 2GB in X-fire stock
X-fi Fatal1ty @ 24/96
Killer 2100
Intel 80M SSD bootdrive
A couple of WD 1 and 2 TB green and blue drives for data and games
OCZ ModXtreme 750 watt
HAF X

The power supply needs to be upgraded so I can have some breathing room. Looking at the 80+ Plat Seasonic 1000 watt supply. It's pretty sweet and I doubt I'd ever need anything more. I also went AMD knowing Intel offers better performance for the watt but eh I've been an AMD guy for so long now I've just stuck with them. Plus their upgrade path is much easier to comprehend versus Intel. Intel does though make the best SSDs hands down and I won't ever go with another company unless they just get out of the biz altogether (which I heard is a slight possibility). Skyrim plays super smooth even without Xfire and Crysis screams. I'm pretty happy with it.

Boy you aren't kidding. It's pretty impressive. To me sound advances have been just as exciting as visual advances in games. More so in some cases. Walking across the frozen tundra or through a forest in Skyrim and hearing the faint bellows of a dragon off in the distance, all the while hearing the stream make it's way down the mountain, the wind rustle through the trees, and the sounds of wolves up on the peaks, man it's something else. Skyrim has probably some of the best game audio I've ever heard, hands down. It's a downright wonder what they did with that game. Combine it with a somewhat decent home theater system and really, it's more rewarding than watching a movie. I'm amazed each time I play the game because I hear something new.

I have a new receiver. Got an AVR-3310CI from a neighbor selling his system. The unit has the infamous dead ethernet port so I can't really take advantage of network audio but eh that's why my computer is hooked to the tv. I just wanted it for the HDMI switching and hi-rez audio. The 4802 was a beast and had served me well but it needed to go. I actually made money selling it when I bought the newer receiver. Sold the old one for $250 and he let me have the new one for $150 so I can't really complain. Once I decide to upgrade I'll throw it in the bedroom when I decide to upgrade that system. Speaking of that, I have a 360 now too. Got one free as a prize at an office party. Been itching to get back into Halo among other games; guess this is a good way to do it. It was the 4GB w/ Kinect bundle. I ended up getting a 320GB HDD and upgrading it. Man what a difference compared to my old 20GB first gen box. Night and day. Here's some pics of both:

Sure. The only issue is I've heard that the 3310 tends to have finicky network cards. I don't want to replace it only to have it fail in a year. Still, I wouldn't mind as long as it's not too much. Keep in mind I only invested $100 in it.

Thanks! It's eatin' time!

Thanks, I did. We ate too much as usual. Black Friday midnight at Best Buy was underwhelming too as I didn't really see anything worth it. I ended up buying BDs from Target lol. Anyway onto more shopping this weekend.

-Phil

Well BB did have a 55 LED for 799, but other than that no, not really. This is the first black Friday in awhile that I haven't really been after anything. I was with my brother as he got an Xbox but other than that it was kinda 'meh'. Most of what I want isn't on sale during black Friday so it's just a matter of coming across any BD or game deals. Microcenter didn't have any deals either and I normally fall back on them to provide something but alas, nothing. Of course I did just build another computer and there's really not a whole lot else I need at the moment so maybe that's it. Well, there's stuff I want but nothing I'm willing to splurge on atm. I am getting my son his first tablet though: the LeapPad 2. It's pretty slick and at 4 he's in the perfect age bracket for it. I just hope he doesn't bemoan the fact that it's not an ipad. lol

Now that I think about it, I did just get a second hand Canon G12 and want the lens tube adapter plus whatever else I can add to the camera. I'm in a bit of a photography mood and I wanted to start small and work my way up to an SLR. This is just about the best P&S I've seen and it has all the manual control of the big boys so I'll probably geek out over it for awhile until I feel I'm ready to commit to a decent SLR. Maybe next year.

What about yourself?

Nah I'm not really an LCD fan. Good deal but I'm also moving in a few months so I have furniture in mind. TV can wait a bit. Besides I'm more concerned about a real speaker upgrade than anything. Just trying to decide on what to do. As for the camera, thanks! It's a fairly nice camera for what I got it for. No SLR but damn close. I'm probably gonna look at what mid-range DSLR Canon has coming this next year and keep this one as a secondary point and shoot. On the ipad, oh I know he wants one lol. No question on that. My brother has tainted him with his when he brings it over. This is strictly an MS house though; he can wait until I get my Surface Pro once they're released if he wants Angry Birds.

As for the Bond score, nice! What did you pay for it? I've wanted the Bond films for awhile but I just never get around to buying them.

I'm moving right across the complex lol. Next building over. Bigger apt.. He needs the space. Heck I need the space. Plus it will give me the chance to put together a little system for his room lol. He's going to be the only four year old in his class with a home theater system in his room haha.

Ha, yeah no kidding. My mom said just get him an ipad mini. I said first he's four, and second, no lol. He will enjoy the leapad 2 I know it. In fact I kinda want to see all it can do.

Just a quick update. Got some new half-height bookshelves from Ikea for my BDs. Much better than what I did with them before; i.e. all sitting on my dining room table. lol

For backup drives they're actually very good. Low power, goes to sleep when not accessed, and pretty reliable. For media drives though they can be a bit irksome as they need to "wake" when you access them. Once you're watching or listening of course there's no issue but it's the slight lag when first accessing them that's a bit on the annoying side. Nothing too bad though but I think I'll probably keep the two I have and use them for backups and get some blues or reds (if I NAS) for media/games I don't want on the two SSDs. More cache space as well on the blues and reds (blacks too but I don't really want to spend the premium for those).

edit As for the media shelves, thanks, they really work well. I didn't really want a full height shelves so I opted for two smaller units side by side. It works although my new apt. I will have a built-in full height shelf so I might not need them. I could always use them in my bedroom though and I might give one to my son for his room.