almost every asus on new egg looks great haha. I need something with audio capabitlies because I am going to use it for console gaming a lot. I have a turtle beach headset that gives me auido straight from the xbox but I want to be able to take them off if I have too.

fadeetoblackk

In-monitor speakers are generally worse than logitech speakers. You will be disappointed going from even a turtle beach headset.

I am also looking into various monitors for my new PC build. I am trying to keep the cost under $200 for the monitor, while also getting HDMI support. The Dell ones are always good, but sometimes a bit pricey.

I did find this ASUS from Newegg, though, and I am leaning toward purchasing it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117

$189.99

jfcundiff

Can't go wrong with ASUS. I bought a 22" 1680x1050 ASUS LCD monitor for $150 (it was the cheapest 22" monitor from a reputable manufacturer/seller) on Amazon a couple months ago and I'm definately satisfied with it. It looks really washed out though compared to the U2311H, has really poor color reproduction, and dithers like crazy on the dark grey gamespot background but other than that I can't complain for the price.

Go with the mouse that is most comfortable in your hand and has the funcionality you want (convenient buttons, DPI adjustment, etc). It doesn't matter if the mouse is optical or laser. Some mice perform better than others regardless of this. When judging mice, ignore the insane DPI of laser mice. You will not need 6000 DPI on a 1920x1200 res screen - that means you move your mouse 1/3 of an inch to traverse horizontallly through the whole screen.

Because it only does everything.

By that logic, isent consoles turning into a low quality PC emulator, since more and more console exclusives are going multi-plat as well? The PC still has far more exclusives than the X360 or the PS3.

Mazoch

Well the difference is that a lot of multiplatform games are developed for consoles from a technical and gameplay standpoint and then ported to PC.

The Creative headset might actually be better, since the XB500 is considered an uberbass headphone which is horrible for hearing details. Even better, go with an easy-to-drive open headphone like the AD700 or HD555.

No difference on my Asus Xonar DG...

When I boot up the computer, either there is no display and beeping every few seconds (Pheonix BIOS) or I can get to the "Starting Windows" sceen (but with lots of artifacts) and then the screen goes blank.

It has no meaning. If you want a monitor that doesn't look washed out, then look for one with a true 8-bit panel (not 6-bit + dithering). That will make the biggest difference.

[QUOTE="simplyderp"]

Then with your setup, Dolby Headphone with 8 channels is probably best like you said. With an open headphone and angled drivers, stereo would be the better option since the improvement in "surround" would not outweigh the loss of sound quality.

orrytur

Is it when you have 8 channels with Dolby Headphone OFF? If DH is on, then it's DH that's making the audio sound better. Listening to a few stereo songs my heapdhones, I don't notice a difference between setting the output channel from 2 to 8. However, when I enable Dolby Headphone there is a difference. It certainly brings the sound in front of me, but makes it sound like I'm living in a tin can (a lot of reverb effects to simulate surround).