I’d get the SOC. Seems like a better card.
P.S. I already feel stupid because the SATA III SSD is $120 now. d:
As of 11:00 EST on April 2, 2011 AD, the computer… has been ordered!
I ended up going with the SOC card, because it performs a little better at no real heat/noise cost.
Big thanks to Fastcart and everyone else who has helped me with picking the parts for this build. In Intel recall, a virus on the old comp, and insane work ours all did their best to stop this, but we made it!
Like any good story, there is a backdoor opportunity for a sequel. (Maybe) Coming Soon: “Help Me Assemble My New Computer!” -The Thread 
Here is the final build for anyone interested:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-8GBXH
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GV-N460SO-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5-Inch Drive
In a weird turn of events, I am also getting a new monitor. These are the ones I am looking at right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236090
I want to go with to 1680 x 1050 as my resolution, which pretty much means the monitor is about 22 inches. I also wanted a stand that is height adjustable. That narrowed down the selection quite a bit. I saw you could also get a separate stand, but that cost about $40 and the cheapest monitor at 1680x1050 is $140, so it hardly seems worth it unless there is one that I really want.
So… anybody got either of those?
If you’re going with 1680x1050 why not go 1920x1080?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052 Is what I bought last august and it rocks
I had a Dell 1680x1050 monitor and after 3 to 6 months, images would burn into the screen. I kept it about 3-4 years though.
Last year, I got a ASUS VW266H Black 25.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236047
I do not know what you have now. But, I went from a 4:3 CRT to 16:10 LCD. I was underwhelmed. I just didn’t have the desktop space I needed for my uses/needs. But, I had little choice because bigger LCDs were $500+ at the time. I still have it sitting in a corner, and wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
I strongly recommend a 1920x1200 or even a 1920x1080 screen. I might even donate $10 for you to get one. That’s how strongly I feel about that. It doesn’t even have to be the one I linked even though it’s the best monitor I’ve had. No burn in, fast response, and great image quality. I beg you. Reconsider from a 1680x1050.
Edit:
Looks like we’re both Asus fans.
I am upgrading from a 17" Dell Ultrasharp monitor. I don’t have the exact model number here, but it is really amazing. Way better then all the other Dell monitors I see at work. It is a 4:3 ratio, native resolution is 1280 x 1024. As I said, I was planning on keeping it since I like it so much, but my Dad would rather just get another monitor then have to share his old computer with my old computer monitor on a switch, so he is getting me one as an early birthday present.
So, you guys recommend 1920 x 1200. Why? My feeling was to go with a lower resolution, which would not only be smaller in size, but also cheaper and fit on my desk better. I tend to sit pretty close to the screen, with the small room and all, so if the monitor is too big, it would probably be less comfortable.
Also, I know Windows 7 has pretty good font scaling so that even with a very large resolution most text can be increased. However there must be some programs that do not scale well, or scale at all. Have you found this?
Wait… I have a picture from a few years ago:
Wow, it is way more of a mess now. Anyway, you can see the desk I have is very thin.
I recommend 1920x1200 or 1920x1080. Default Prophet recommended 1920x1080.
I thought I’d be cool with 1680x1050 and I was for a while. But it just felt cramped after while.
I have no issues whatsoever with fonts or reading after using 1680x1050 for years. I’ve never had problem with scaling.
My monitor would fit on your desk no problem. You might want to move the speakers to the sides more though.
However, maybe Default Prophet’s monitor may suit you better. It’s not as much a drastic change, and it’s priced in between the monitors you listed with shipping price included and only slightly bigger compared to mine.
You could try going to Best Buy or someplace with a tape measure.
Unfortunately Best Buy only carries 16:9 ratio monitors, but I may go just to get a feeling for the size. Whatever the resolution I get, I do want it to be 16:10 ratio so it would be 1920x1200.
I have no issues whatsoever with fonts or reading after using 1680x1050 for years. I’ve never had problem with scaling.
Yes, but what about 1920 x 1200?
The only thing I have to test it on is Windows 7 running on my Macbook Pro through VMware, which isn’t really a fair test at all. First, the monitor is 17 inch not 23 inch like most of the displays, and second there isn’t a proper video driver since it is a virtual machine.
That being said, on that machine I run it at 1920x1200. On Windows 7 when setting the “Text and Other Items” (which I believe is the DPI) to 150%, some programs do look “blury”. Microsoft programs all look good, Avast looks good, Firefox looks good. Chrome, Safari, Opera, DriveImageXML, Notepad++, MySQL Workbench, WinMerge all look slightly blurred. It almost looks like those programs are running at a non-native resolution. Again, not really a fair test.
Lemme rephrase. I was trying to say, “After using 1680x1050 for years (and 1280x1024 before that), I had/have no issues whatsoever with fonts or reading on my newer 1920x1200 monitor. I’ve never had problem with scaling.”
Windows 7 “just worked.” No blurriness or any problems. But, I have a “nice” monitor. Brands, panels, etc., matter. So, YMMV.
Anti-aliasing?
Anti-aliasing?
Yeah, some programds probably don’t do it right, or it is lacking in my virtual machine.
In any case, thinking it over for a bit I would be OK with a 16:9 monitor at 1920 x 1080 (But not 1600 x 900). I’m going to check some out at the store, just to get a feel for the sizes, probably not buying.
Thanks for the help everyone!
More checking on Newegg now I am looking at these two:
ASUS VH242HL-P vs. NEC Display Solution E231W-BK
I think that Asus is the one that Default has except with an adjustable stand.
I think you are right, but they have different power consumptions for some reason too. Albeit a minor difference. Either Asus should be good.
The NEC is probably slightly higher quality, but the Asus has an HDMI port, which could be extremely usefull in the future. Leaning towards the Asus for now, will probably order late tonight.
I have no idea about NEC quality for LCD monitors. But after using a Dell for years, I’m not switching from Asus for monitors unless there’s a major screw up in thee future.
I mean quality as in overall image quality, as the NEC is a little more expensive and has a slightly smaller pixel ratio. I’m sure they are both “good quality” as in “well made”.
Monitor has been ordered, I went with the Asus mentioned above. Glad to finally be done with all the research, and happy to be starting to actually use some of it. Hopefully the monitor will show up by the time I am done assembling. Looking foward to not dreaming about motherboad specs, case dimesions and aspect ratios. Really looking foward to having it working and on my desk. Speaking of my desk, its time to get cleaning on that thing. I want it to look like it did in that picture.
Congrats!!
Btw, where do I send the 10 bucks? d: