04-03-2015, 05:43 PM
I thought it would be useful to have a thread where we can recommend components we've bought, not really those that make ArmA run better as we all know there's only so much you can do in that respect, but for other things like mice, monitors, joysticks, etc. Also if you've bought something that turned out to be not that great, you can let others know to save them making the same mistake.
I was inspired to start this by two purchases I've made recently. The first was a new mouse. I've been using the A4Tech X-748K http://www.x7.cn/en/product.asp?id=40 which is pretty good but it only has two extra buttons on the side, which I use for SR and LR radio but I was fed up using Caps for TS3/local chat and also thought it would be nice to activate a few other things, like Numpad 0, zoom or range, with the mouse, so went looking for something with more buttons.
I settled on the X-755BK http://www.x7.cn/en/product.asp?id=51 from the same company, partly because they make very reasonably priced products but also because I thought the D-pad arrangement of the side buttons would be quite easy to use, compared to some mice which have a lot of buttons crammed together on the side and make it hard to be sure which one you're pressing. It works reasonably well, I have SR on the big red button as I use that most, the bottom button as TS3/local chat and the top button as LR. I've put the Zoom In/Out keys on the forward/aft buttons but I might change that.
There are some issues with it that make me think I might go back to my old mouse however. Firstly, it's quite a bit smaller so is less comfortable in my hand (and if anything I'd say I have smallish hands). Secondly, when trying to press the bottom button on the D-pad, because it's so low your finger is on the mouse mat and that makes it a bit tricky not to press the red button as well. If they'd made the mouse bigger, so there was room on the side to move the D-pad up a bit, this wouldn't be a problem. All the other sides are no problem, as your finger has space around it so you can make sure it's only on the button you want to press. I manage to cope OK but it does force me to be careful when pressing it, so it's a bit of a pain. The worse thing however is they moved the extra button which was between the left mouse button and scroll wheel to the left side of the left mouse button. In it's previous position, it was no problem pressing it but now it's almost impossible to press it without pressing the left mouse button as well, so it's essentially unusable.
So I've gone from three extra buttons to six, with one a bit tricky to use but not a major problem and one completely unusable. Considering that it's also less comfortable due to it being smaller, I can't really recommend this mouse.
My second purchase was the Benq GW2760HM 27" 1080p VA panel monitor http://www.benq.com/product/monitor/gw2760hm/. I actually bought this on my sister's behalf, as part of a new PC build I'm putting together for her. My Dad has the same monitor which he uses for X-Plane and I tested it side by side with his old monitor. The best thing about it is the VA panel gives much better black definition than even an IPS monitor, so for example in X-Plane flying at night on a normal TN or IPS monitor, there wouldn't be much to see in the darkness as dark buildings and the dark sky become blended in to each other. With the VA panel however, it's able to show a much greater range of blacks, so you can pick out the buildings in the darkness and see clouds illuminated by the stars and moon. With a TN/IPS panel, if you turn up the brightness/contrast in order to see the buildings and clouds, then the sky and whatever else is meant to be black ends up a medium grey, so you loose all feeling of flying at night or being in darkness.
I tested it with ArmA3 last night and it was great on the night time missions, being able to actually see the trees illuminated by the night sky, whereas on my IPS monitor it's hard to see much other than the nametags! It doesn't make everything brighter like turning up Gamma, so it's not cheaty like that, it just lets you see a bit more detail around you, as you would IRL.
It does have a slight downside, in that text (in general, not in ArmA particularly) is a bit less defined/sharp than on a TN/IPS panel. I'd say it's a worthwhile tradeoff if your main use is gaming but if you spend a lot of time reading/writing text, you might find it a bit annoying. It does have a flicker-free feature that most other monitors don't though, which is meant to reduce eyestrain and it also has a reading mode which adjusts the colour of the screen to be easier on the eye but I just use f.lux to adjust the colour depending on the time of day to make it less harsh https://justgetflux.com/ My Dad's eyesight is not that great and he hasn't complained about having any difficulty though and he spends 90% of his time using it reading/writing and only about 10% flying (if he's lucky and my Mum hasn't got him re-fitting the bathroom!)
They're also very reasonably priced for a 27". I was actually going to get my sister a different monitor that was £159 but then it suddenly jumped up to £216, so I had to look for alternatives and found the Benq for £165 on Amazon, which I got down to £156 with flubit. It doesn't have a height-adjustable stand, which I've got on my Dell IPS and which I'd miss but it is VESA-mountable so you can use a separate desk clamp. The buttons are on the back of the monitor, which is a bit awkward but you only really need to use them when you first tweak the settings, so it's not a big problem. I'd definitely recommend anyone to consider it. There's an in-depth review of the GW2760HS here, which is more or less the same monitor. http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_gw2760hs.htmm I think the only difference was that the original GW2760HM didn't have the flicker-free feature and the HS was an updated model with that but they've added it to the HM now, so unless you get very old stock they both should have it.
I was inspired to start this by two purchases I've made recently. The first was a new mouse. I've been using the A4Tech X-748K http://www.x7.cn/en/product.asp?id=40 which is pretty good but it only has two extra buttons on the side, which I use for SR and LR radio but I was fed up using Caps for TS3/local chat and also thought it would be nice to activate a few other things, like Numpad 0, zoom or range, with the mouse, so went looking for something with more buttons.
I settled on the X-755BK http://www.x7.cn/en/product.asp?id=51 from the same company, partly because they make very reasonably priced products but also because I thought the D-pad arrangement of the side buttons would be quite easy to use, compared to some mice which have a lot of buttons crammed together on the side and make it hard to be sure which one you're pressing. It works reasonably well, I have SR on the big red button as I use that most, the bottom button as TS3/local chat and the top button as LR. I've put the Zoom In/Out keys on the forward/aft buttons but I might change that.
There are some issues with it that make me think I might go back to my old mouse however. Firstly, it's quite a bit smaller so is less comfortable in my hand (and if anything I'd say I have smallish hands). Secondly, when trying to press the bottom button on the D-pad, because it's so low your finger is on the mouse mat and that makes it a bit tricky not to press the red button as well. If they'd made the mouse bigger, so there was room on the side to move the D-pad up a bit, this wouldn't be a problem. All the other sides are no problem, as your finger has space around it so you can make sure it's only on the button you want to press. I manage to cope OK but it does force me to be careful when pressing it, so it's a bit of a pain. The worse thing however is they moved the extra button which was between the left mouse button and scroll wheel to the left side of the left mouse button. In it's previous position, it was no problem pressing it but now it's almost impossible to press it without pressing the left mouse button as well, so it's essentially unusable.
So I've gone from three extra buttons to six, with one a bit tricky to use but not a major problem and one completely unusable. Considering that it's also less comfortable due to it being smaller, I can't really recommend this mouse.
My second purchase was the Benq GW2760HM 27" 1080p VA panel monitor http://www.benq.com/product/monitor/gw2760hm/. I actually bought this on my sister's behalf, as part of a new PC build I'm putting together for her. My Dad has the same monitor which he uses for X-Plane and I tested it side by side with his old monitor. The best thing about it is the VA panel gives much better black definition than even an IPS monitor, so for example in X-Plane flying at night on a normal TN or IPS monitor, there wouldn't be much to see in the darkness as dark buildings and the dark sky become blended in to each other. With the VA panel however, it's able to show a much greater range of blacks, so you can pick out the buildings in the darkness and see clouds illuminated by the stars and moon. With a TN/IPS panel, if you turn up the brightness/contrast in order to see the buildings and clouds, then the sky and whatever else is meant to be black ends up a medium grey, so you loose all feeling of flying at night or being in darkness.
I tested it with ArmA3 last night and it was great on the night time missions, being able to actually see the trees illuminated by the night sky, whereas on my IPS monitor it's hard to see much other than the nametags! It doesn't make everything brighter like turning up Gamma, so it's not cheaty like that, it just lets you see a bit more detail around you, as you would IRL.
It does have a slight downside, in that text (in general, not in ArmA particularly) is a bit less defined/sharp than on a TN/IPS panel. I'd say it's a worthwhile tradeoff if your main use is gaming but if you spend a lot of time reading/writing text, you might find it a bit annoying. It does have a flicker-free feature that most other monitors don't though, which is meant to reduce eyestrain and it also has a reading mode which adjusts the colour of the screen to be easier on the eye but I just use f.lux to adjust the colour depending on the time of day to make it less harsh https://justgetflux.com/ My Dad's eyesight is not that great and he hasn't complained about having any difficulty though and he spends 90% of his time using it reading/writing and only about 10% flying (if he's lucky and my Mum hasn't got him re-fitting the bathroom!)
They're also very reasonably priced for a 27". I was actually going to get my sister a different monitor that was £159 but then it suddenly jumped up to £216, so I had to look for alternatives and found the Benq for £165 on Amazon, which I got down to £156 with flubit. It doesn't have a height-adjustable stand, which I've got on my Dell IPS and which I'd miss but it is VESA-mountable so you can use a separate desk clamp. The buttons are on the back of the monitor, which is a bit awkward but you only really need to use them when you first tweak the settings, so it's not a big problem. I'd definitely recommend anyone to consider it. There's an in-depth review of the GW2760HS here, which is more or less the same monitor. http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/benq_gw2760hs.htmm I think the only difference was that the original GW2760HM didn't have the flicker-free feature and the HS was an updated model with that but they've added it to the HM now, so unless you get very old stock they both should have it.
![[Image: arma3-2015-04-04-19-39-5.jpg]](http://www.dodaj.rs/?1f/di/3BHt2UCD/arma3-2015-04-04-19-39-5.jpg)
![[Image: untitled1.png]](http://www.dodaj.rs/?1K/Xy/As5WSpz/untitled1.png)
![[Image: untitled.jpg]](http://www.dodaj.rs/?2b/3/3RZN8kQm/untitled.jpg)