Is this a good deal?

[fiveohnine]

I have a guy trying to sell me this monitor Asus VE248H for $100. Just wondering how good it is and if its worth it? I noticed on new egg that brand new its $180 but that never really means anything.

 

[bdiddytampa]

Yes that is a good deal. That is a nice quality monitor. I have had ASUS monitors for my last couple builds and was very happy with them. Make sure to view the monitor before you buy so you can make sure there are no dead pixels or other issues, buying monitors blind is a bad idea. If everything is up to scratch, I'd pick it up if I was looking for a good quality monitor with good gtg response. GL!

 

[fiveohnine]

Is there anything specific I should look at? Like obviously dead pixels, anything else?

 

[fiveohnine]

Also if you look at my build, should I upgrade anything for $100 first before a new monitor? Or am i pretty set as of now?

 

[bdiddytampa]

Just make sure it is displaying colors correctly, easily done by looking at something you view regularly on a monitor that displays correctly and make sure they match. Make sure the casing of the monitor isn't chipped or cracked or any visual signs of abuse or taking a fall. Test the different inputs (HDMI, DVI, etc) to make sure they all work.

There isn't much you could do to your rig to improve for $100. You have a decent CPU and GPU that should be able to handle 1080p gaming just fine. I had a 7870 and it is a decent card, newer games may have to have a few settings dropped to medium, but your detail should be fine.

 

[fiveohnine]

Okay thanks about the monitor.
But if I were to upgrade my computer what would I upgrade first? I don't even know where to start really...

 

[bdiddytampa]

Your 7870 is quite a good card at the moment. It compares well with Nvidia's $250 option, GTX760, matching and in some cases beating it. So to upgrade your GPU to something you would actually notice a difference with you would likely be spending $3-400 which is quite a bit of money. And in that case you would probably need a CPU upgrade to match :-/ For 1080p gaming your PC is quite good. If you are noticing some slowdowns you could try overclocking your CPU. Those FX-6300s overclock quite well with an upgraded cooling system. Maybe a closed loop liquid cooler or a nice air cooled heatsink and some tweaking would be the best option for you right now.

My favorite upgrade is an SSD. Not sure if you have one or not. Wouldn't help your gaming performance but your overall PC experience would be vastly improved. Even just a 120 GB SSD for your OS and regular programs would work a treat. Really solid models can be found for $60 or so.