Sound and Video - Build an Awesome PC - page 62

Now that the graphics card's data and power connections are hooked up, we
can close the PC case by putting the two sides back on. Recall that we have
to plug the side fan into the available four-pin power adapter mentioned
toward the conclusion of the section Installing the CPU-Cooling Unit , on page
26 . With the side fan powered and the PC case closed up, we can connect a
display to the graphics card to see the beautiful imagery that the GTX 780
Ti generates.
Displaying the Graphics
The GTX 780 Ti has four graphics output ports: two DVI ports, an HDMI port,
and a DisplayPort. This technically allows the card to simultaneously output
graphics to four separate displays. Doing so can make for some very interesting
monitor configurations. For example, you could connect a desktop monitor
to a DVI port for computing by day and a flat-panel TV to the HDMI port for
evening entertainment. Some people have even connected three monitors of
the same size and resolution on their desk while mounting a flat-panel TV
on a wall just above the three monitors.
I have tried a number of monitor variations, often settling on two for my
software-development purposes (one to display my code and the other to show
my running application). But for gaming and watching movies, I find the side-
by-side bezels of a multimonitor setup incredibly annoying. Given the falling
prices of high-resolution flat-panel computer monitors, you can buy a 29"
display for much less than the cost of two 19" displays.
Two popular types of flat-panel monitors on the market today are LED and
IPS. LED is more prevalent and less expensive, but can't match the viewing
angles or dynamic contrast of IPS. But if you're a gamer, IPS may not be ideal
since its lower refresh rates can cause ghosting or smearing of high-speed
action onscreen. IPS is ideal for computer-aided design (CAD) and graphic-
design work.
Being more a gamer than a graphic designer, I chose the 27" BenQ XL2720T
model for my monitor of choice (see Figure 66, The BenQ XL2720T 27" display ,
on page 65 ). 4 In addition to its sleek look and small-footprint stand, the
XL2720T features customizable viewing preferences and aspect ratios in
multiple resolutions, up to 1920×1080. Its high 120Hz refresh rate has
lightning-fast 1 millisecond pixel-display response times and also supports
NVIDIA's 3D Vision 2 for 3D viewing entertainment.