Cleveland612

Absolutely true. However, it is the first one that came to mind. I'm not a daily viewer of tech videos by any means, but I have been following on and off since the early LTT days. Heck, I even remember some of the NCIX stuff. It was good and relevant. I just find it very surprising that there is no current info on something as simple as a monitor. It's why I made the suggestion. I can't be the only person who wants to buy a decent monitor and soundbar without spending excessive amounts of money.

I will be renovating my home office next month and plan to get myself a new monitor and soundbar. My budget for the two items is approx $500 CAD (combined). In an effort to get some ideas for both, I spent some time searching Amazon this past weekend. Obviously, there are many choices for both. Almost too many to make a confident decision I checked various websites for "best Monitor under $YYY.000" and again there are lots of reviews and lists, but some of the info I saw made me skeptical. I have concerns that some reviewers are biased (aka..trying to promote a specific product line). Sooo, I jumped on youtube today to see what LTT has for Best Monitor under $250 etc.... To my surprise, there was nothing current/relevant. Nothing current/relevant for soundbars either. Soo, I have suggestion for LTT: Please create a video series that reviews and compares common accessories that are budget friendly. Update it regularly (perhaps on a quarterly basis?). Ideally something that the average Viewer can watch and use the info to help make an educated decision. In my case, I'd like to see a reviews of the top 5 budget friendly monitors currently available in the market.... Soundbars too! It would be even better if it's not limited to Amazon since I like to support the "local store" whenever possible. Thanks!

Love to see a thorough review of wireless home lighting options including smart bulbs and hard wired options. Could include integration with Echo Dot, Google Home etc, phone apps etc. This is a growing industry. Lots of options out there. Good and bad

Absolutely. I watch just about everything. I just don't post much (I'm a lurker) Regardless, I DO enjoy watching and hearing the opinions of the other personalities and I will admit that I have started following some of their channels too. This is why I am open to seeing more production involvement from their channels. And NO, I did not suggest this idea as a changed Scrapyard Wars. Instead, something NEW and different that can happen outside of Scrapyard Wars. Something that has some intrigue to it and allows input from the average viewer.

True. But since the personality can spend the majority of their time in their own location, perhaps they can be responsible for filming their own portion of their selection and build. Each of you then releases your own self produced explanation and build video after the audience judging. Again, you each have different tastes and production methods. So, this will affect your aesthetics score. Once built, configured and optimized, the systems can be sent to a consolidated point in advance of you all getting together. The initial judging can happen in advance of you all getting together. Otherwise.... you can shorten the timeline to something that works! Perhaps make all of your purchaees in 1 week and assemble in 2 or 3 In the end, this could be a "build off" of your own individual $1000 build guides that don't focus primarily on gaming. The Winner might be the one that doesn't win any specific category, but has the best "balance" and looks really cool....and I gotta admit, it would be kinda cool to see all of you cruising the usual sites to get the best possible price for each individual component while complaining that you don't have enough $$ to get what you really want....Just like us!

Yes. I am suggesting a build off....basically a "Build Wars". However, the scoring I suggested allows them to pursue other paths instead of true gaming performance to gain points. Since many of us choose to spend our $$ on other components that do not relate to gaming performance, I think it could better emulate the type of decisions we make when choosing system components with a limited budget. I honestly think we will see plenty of different systems. Definitely in the aesthetics category since there are many, many case options. Do they go mini? Mid-tower etc? I'm also guessing that this format could be easier on their own schedules since they can spread their efforts over time in their own location without having to commit to time travel at another's location. This should also gain interest from a broader range of potential sponsors which I am sure would be of interest to them.

I watched the latest Scrapyard Wars and I got to say that it was the least enjoyable of the bunch. Although I do like the involvement of other personalities (Jay, Dmitri, Austin etc), It tends to be the same old stuff. It also focuses entirely on performance which is not always the main priority for many in their fanbase. In many cases we factor other things into our decision So, I'd like to propose an alternate theme: a. Each personality is allowed $1000.00 USD to purchase new components from any online source available to them. This includes everything except the monitor and software. b. Each personality is allowed 2 weeks to complete their Research, make their purchases and receive their products. They can use existing components in their possession as long as they can provide a legit source for that item and it is confirmed as "in stock" during the 2 week period. The price shown during the 2 week period must be deducted from their $1000.00 c. Each personality is then allowed 4 weeks to assemble their system, configure and optimize. They must also produce a video of their system on a plain back round with whatever theme music they want. This will allow the personalities to put their personal tastes and production skills to the test! d. At the end of the 4 week period, the videos will be submitted as "blind entries" onto the website(s) so that the audience/forum members can judge the units for appearance and build quality. The audience can also have fun trying to figure out which system belongs to who.... e. Once the voting period has ended, the systems will be identified with the personality and judged in the following categories by a predetermined panel of judges i. Gaming performance: 30 pts ii. Processing power, storage capacity and program loading times: 25 pts iii. Aesthetics and coolness: 20 pts (this is determined by the audience when they review the videos, not the judges) iv. Noise output: 10 pts (get out the decibel meter during stressful benchmark tests) v. User interface: 15 pts (system reliability, controls, Keyboard/mice selection etc). After the audience voting has ended, there is no reason why the personality can't release their own video outside of the contest that involve the use of these systems or individual components..."How to's" etc. In my opinion, the more personalities they involve, the better. They can also accept a few audience entries if they wish. Thoughts?

I've got 100Mbps down. We do have a few other system's in the home and although they all experience the occasional buffering situation, none are as bad as this machine. This machine is by far the oldest...everything else is a Gen3 I5 or better. Simply put, Netflix is just about the only source that can provide video at 720 or better without buffering.

I purchased a refurbished Lenovo M58P SFF desktop a few months ago to use as an HTPC. It arrived with an E8400, 4GB of Ram and Windows 7. It cost me $100 CAD with shipping and taxes. I replaced the HDD with a spare 128GB SSD, added 4GB of spare RAM, upgraded free to Win10 and added a low profile GT730 with a passive heatsink. My total cost was $170 CAD. The machine is very quiet, it works well as a simple web browser and it looks and fits great in my entertainment center. Unfortunately, I get a lot of buffering when streaming video. Netflix is flawless, but Amazon Prime video and a few other sources are lousy. I've got lotsa bandwidth and I've run random speed tests without ever noticing anything odd. So my question is: Is the Duo core E8400 capable for streaming and playing video in the conditions outlined above? Or, do I need more CPU power?