This is the fifth article in a series where I am looking at finding the best desktop PC I can build for myself in $1,200 or less with a small monthly budget to improve it as we go. The last article, I showed off the motherboard and CPU I planned to get. At this point, I have used up $443.96 of my $1,200 budget.
Below are my best picks and what I picked for monitors and video cards. It should be noted I’m more worried about a great video card than monitor, so price is my main factor for monitors and performance for video card. Also, I plan to only get one monitor at this time, more on that in a future article.
Monitors
Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0″ Monitor
Price: $399.99
This monitor is clearly the Royals Royce of computer screens with 2560 x 1440 recommended resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio, 5 ms response, 1 HDMI and 1 VGA input and 27″ screen. But at that price, I will be way over my budget. Maybe this is a great living room television, but not going to be my computer monitor.
Acer S220HQLAbd 60Hz 21.5″ Monitor
Price: $99.99
This is definitely the cheapest of the monitors I found worthy of considering to use with specs of 1920 x 1080 recommended resolution, 21.5″, 5 ms response time, one VGA port but no HDMI. I want HDMI and 21.5 is on the smaller size. Not going to be my pick.
BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0″ Monitor
Price: $152.23
A 24″ screen with 1920×1080 best resolution option, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 2ms refresh rate with 1 HDMI and 1 VGA port. It isn’t the cheapest, but it’s reviews give it high marks for me to say this is the one I want.
Video Cards
MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card
Price: $338.49
This graphics care confuses me because the price is high but the quality looks low. It has 4GB of on board memory and 2 on-board fans, but it only has a 1.14 Ghz core and 2 HDMI outputs. Not worth the price, even though it’s the same maker as the motherboard we are getting.
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card
Price: $174.99 after rebate
This graphics card has a good price and with 1.28Ghz core, 2 built in fans, 4 HDMI ports it looks good until you realize it only has 2GB of memory on it. I like it, but don’t love it. I’m willing to pay more.
EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card
Price: $209.99
This video card has 4GB of memory, two built-in fans, 1.28Ghz clock, and up to 4 HDMI ports. At this price, I am absolutely going for this card. Not the top of the line, but for what my budget can handle, definitely a premium card.
Greg says
Thanks for all the research and reasoning. I’m taking notes as I look at building my own to replace an aging HP still running (gasp) Windows Vista (hangs head in shame).
Jeremy Smith says
Ha. The HP isn’t bad, but Vista? Ouch. :p Let me know if you’d change anything in this process.
Al says
I think you mean “Rolls Royce”, not Royals Royce….
Also, did you know that you can connect HDMI to a DVI port with a simple passive adapter (So long as you don’t need the audio)
Jeremy Smith says
My experience with any adapters, including passive, is that it is just one more point of failure.
Eric Dye says
Sweet card. 😀
Jeremy Smith says
Someone I know suggested it to me.