PC Games – Fun and Enthrallment Guaranteed
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 27, 2009, 10:31 am
Adam Jaylin asked:
Video games have been the craze of the youngsters and the adults for ages. Everyone loves to play the exciting and thrilling games that offer invigorating entertainment. Throughout the day we are occupied in the hectic and relentless chores that make us feel as if we are mechanical beings devoid of any fun and enjoyment. Our strict regimes and tough schedules hardly give us any chance to get entertainment. Most of the times, we remain busy working on some or the other process which keeps us involved in complex computations and boring practices. Certainly work is of top most priority, however some amount of entertainment and relaxation is also important to keep one fresh and in good spirit. As it is rightly said that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”, it is always admirable to have enthrallment in one way or the other. PC games are an efficient means of entertainment as they have incredible graphics, great visuals and interesting moments.
We all have grown playing these enticing games. Time and again, there have been new additions and enhancements in the arena of these games. There has been immense growth in terms of technology, mechanics and the sophistication of these games. People admire them because they offer them great entertainment and real time experience. These games are created with interesting story lines and amazing characters that attract the players a lot. Everyone loves to compete with their friends and peers in these games. You can try your expertise with the wonderful high speed racing games or can challenge your friends in the fighting games. There have been innumerable series of games that have been highly popular amongst the gamers. The incredible Mario Brothers series by the Nintendo has entertained the gamers for many years.
Unlike the earlier games which were played on the arcade machines, these games are easily played on your home system and you need not buy a separate gaming console to play games. These games have grown tremendously with time and now they have advanced graphics and enhanced effects. The game play has become more interesting and lively. PC gaming has taken the form of a complete industry and now advanced technology is used to develop these games. Efficient programmers and animators invest their intellect to create games that enthrall the gamers. Now you can find PC games in a variety of genres and classifications. You can find games specially created to cater to the distinctive priorities, nature and interests of the people. You can easily get the game of your interest these days. High speed racing games like Need for Speed Pro etc are immensely popular amongst the youth.
Advanced games like Halo and Mass Effect etc are completely thrilling as they are based on the amazing science fiction plots. The incredible games like Mortal Combat give users great thrill. These fighting games are a great lure for the people who admire action and thrill. You can compete with these virtual characters that have great powers. Games like Star Wars have also gained great fame and have been well accepted by the players. Now, the games have advanced graphics and special effects. 3 dimensional graphics and real time animations make these games an amazing replica of thrill that’s close to veracity. The personal computer games are available in the form of DVDs and CDs. The gamers love to play games with great twists and turns. These days advanced games are also distributed via the internet in downloadable format.
These pc games are facilitated as a shareware which can be attained though different online delivery options like Steam and Direct 2 Drive. For playing these advanced games it is important to check the system requirements. The system configuration should meet the minimum requirements other wise the game will not run properly. Since these games involve advanced graphics and fast processing, the system should have sufficient memory and high speed processor so as to ensure that the games can be played in full swing. Slow loading and interrupted graphics spoil the impact of the game.
Cool free offers here
Video games have been the craze of the youngsters and the adults for ages. Everyone loves to play the exciting and thrilling games that offer invigorating entertainment. Throughout the day we are occupied in the hectic and relentless chores that make us feel as if we are mechanical beings devoid of any fun and enjoyment. Our strict regimes and tough schedules hardly give us any chance to get entertainment. Most of the times, we remain busy working on some or the other process which keeps us involved in complex computations and boring practices. Certainly work is of top most priority, however some amount of entertainment and relaxation is also important to keep one fresh and in good spirit. As it is rightly said that “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”, it is always admirable to have enthrallment in one way or the other. PC games are an efficient means of entertainment as they have incredible graphics, great visuals and interesting moments.
We all have grown playing these enticing games. Time and again, there have been new additions and enhancements in the arena of these games. There has been immense growth in terms of technology, mechanics and the sophistication of these games. People admire them because they offer them great entertainment and real time experience. These games are created with interesting story lines and amazing characters that attract the players a lot. Everyone loves to compete with their friends and peers in these games. You can try your expertise with the wonderful high speed racing games or can challenge your friends in the fighting games. There have been innumerable series of games that have been highly popular amongst the gamers. The incredible Mario Brothers series by the Nintendo has entertained the gamers for many years.
Unlike the earlier games which were played on the arcade machines, these games are easily played on your home system and you need not buy a separate gaming console to play games. These games have grown tremendously with time and now they have advanced graphics and enhanced effects. The game play has become more interesting and lively. PC gaming has taken the form of a complete industry and now advanced technology is used to develop these games. Efficient programmers and animators invest their intellect to create games that enthrall the gamers. Now you can find PC games in a variety of genres and classifications. You can find games specially created to cater to the distinctive priorities, nature and interests of the people. You can easily get the game of your interest these days. High speed racing games like Need for Speed Pro etc are immensely popular amongst the youth.
Advanced games like Halo and Mass Effect etc are completely thrilling as they are based on the amazing science fiction plots. The incredible games like Mortal Combat give users great thrill. These fighting games are a great lure for the people who admire action and thrill. You can compete with these virtual characters that have great powers. Games like Star Wars have also gained great fame and have been well accepted by the players. Now, the games have advanced graphics and special effects. 3 dimensional graphics and real time animations make these games an amazing replica of thrill that’s close to veracity. The personal computer games are available in the form of DVDs and CDs. The gamers love to play games with great twists and turns. These days advanced games are also distributed via the internet in downloadable format.
These pc games are facilitated as a shareware which can be attained though different online delivery options like Steam and Direct 2 Drive. For playing these advanced games it is important to check the system requirements. The system configuration should meet the minimum requirements other wise the game will not run properly. Since these games involve advanced graphics and fast processing, the system should have sufficient memory and high speed processor so as to ensure that the games can be played in full swing. Slow loading and interrupted graphics spoil the impact of the game.
Cool free offers here
Article Category: General
The Best Gaming PC
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 26, 2009, 4:46 am
John Anghelache asked:
What’s the best gaming pc around?
Good question. The answer depends on what you’re looking for. In this article we’ll assume you want a speed-demon system with high-powered graphics. Something that looks like it came from outer space. In addition, we’ll assume you want as much technological force packed into your computer without the mega price tag.
Fine. You have a few choices. For our purposes, though, we’ll limit this discussion to Alienware’s Area-51 7500. It’s a gamer’s dream come true. Why is this the best system around? Well, let’s look at a few interesting facts that make this gaming pc system “king of the hill”.
SPEED: This system is lightning fast. The Area-51 7500 comes with the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700. It’s been overclocked to 3.2 GHz core clock speed. Which means your processor’s speed is out of this world and its performance is greatly enhanced as well. The system is equipped with Quad Core processing. With four processing cores on one die application loading times are almost instant. You never have to worry about stalling, waiting and wasting time. Basically, you get four times the workload rate with split-second speed.
GRAPHICS: The Area-51 7500 is loaded with the industry’s best graphics cards. The visuals are so realistic on this gaming pc your eyes will stay glued to screen. This system comes packed with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card. This card is the world’s first DirectX 10 compliant GPU. The visual quality it produces makes you think you’re right in the middle of the action.
STORAGE SPACE: How would you like to never again worry about cramming your computer full of programs to make your gaming experience more fun? Is so, then this is the system for you. The Area-51 7500 allows for up to 4 terabytes of storage space. The massive hard drives of this system give you plenty of room and then some. You won’t experience an overload of the Area-51 7500. With the latest DDR2 memory you can run more operations faster than you ever thought possible. It will take your breath away.
PHYSICS PROCESSING UNIT: Most gaming systems come equipped with the capabilities of CPUs and GPUs. However, the Area-51 7500 goes beyond the normal. This system integrates an even more critical component to realistic gaming. Which is the AGEIA PhysX physics processing unit. It’s the first of its kind and it will revolutionize the gaming pc industry. The visual effects you will experience with this processing unit will blow you away. The dynamic motion and interaction of games is increased exponentially. Thereby greatly enhancing the realistic effects of game play.
ENHANCED DISC TECHNOLOGY: The Area-51 7500 system comes with Blu-ray disc formatting. This technology gives you the highest capacity of any consumer media you can find on the open market. You get maximum storage of up to 50 GB on a single dual layer disc. That’s right about ten times more disc storage compared to regular DVDs. Not only do you get the highest quality video but you can also back up just about any size files on a single disc.
If you want a high level gaming experience then you should look into the Area-51 7500. When it comes to speed, graphics, storage space, processing and disc technology, this system is the tops gaming pc out there. Plus, you can customize it to your specifications.
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What’s the best gaming pc around?
Good question. The answer depends on what you’re looking for. In this article we’ll assume you want a speed-demon system with high-powered graphics. Something that looks like it came from outer space. In addition, we’ll assume you want as much technological force packed into your computer without the mega price tag.
Fine. You have a few choices. For our purposes, though, we’ll limit this discussion to Alienware’s Area-51 7500. It’s a gamer’s dream come true. Why is this the best system around? Well, let’s look at a few interesting facts that make this gaming pc system “king of the hill”.
SPEED: This system is lightning fast. The Area-51 7500 comes with the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700. It’s been overclocked to 3.2 GHz core clock speed. Which means your processor’s speed is out of this world and its performance is greatly enhanced as well. The system is equipped with Quad Core processing. With four processing cores on one die application loading times are almost instant. You never have to worry about stalling, waiting and wasting time. Basically, you get four times the workload rate with split-second speed.
GRAPHICS: The Area-51 7500 is loaded with the industry’s best graphics cards. The visuals are so realistic on this gaming pc your eyes will stay glued to screen. This system comes packed with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card. This card is the world’s first DirectX 10 compliant GPU. The visual quality it produces makes you think you’re right in the middle of the action.
STORAGE SPACE: How would you like to never again worry about cramming your computer full of programs to make your gaming experience more fun? Is so, then this is the system for you. The Area-51 7500 allows for up to 4 terabytes of storage space. The massive hard drives of this system give you plenty of room and then some. You won’t experience an overload of the Area-51 7500. With the latest DDR2 memory you can run more operations faster than you ever thought possible. It will take your breath away.
PHYSICS PROCESSING UNIT: Most gaming systems come equipped with the capabilities of CPUs and GPUs. However, the Area-51 7500 goes beyond the normal. This system integrates an even more critical component to realistic gaming. Which is the AGEIA PhysX physics processing unit. It’s the first of its kind and it will revolutionize the gaming pc industry. The visual effects you will experience with this processing unit will blow you away. The dynamic motion and interaction of games is increased exponentially. Thereby greatly enhancing the realistic effects of game play.
ENHANCED DISC TECHNOLOGY: The Area-51 7500 system comes with Blu-ray disc formatting. This technology gives you the highest capacity of any consumer media you can find on the open market. You get maximum storage of up to 50 GB on a single dual layer disc. That’s right about ten times more disc storage compared to regular DVDs. Not only do you get the highest quality video but you can also back up just about any size files on a single disc.
If you want a high level gaming experience then you should look into the Area-51 7500. When it comes to speed, graphics, storage space, processing and disc technology, this system is the tops gaming pc out there. Plus, you can customize it to your specifications.
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Article Category: General
Internet Games
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 23, 2009, 12:58 am
Malcolm Ord asked:
Computer games have radically changed the way we seek entertainment. Now, with internet games, digital gaming has an all new face. With broadband connectivity and super fast computers, mobile phones and game consoles becoming the norm of the day, anyone can today play a game of chess or a round of poker, even while staying separated by half the earth.
It is such an amazing fun to be able to play any number of games of almost any type with people you are never likely to see. online games, coming in hundreds of variety amuse players and fill the pockets of several thousands of game developers. Not all games are made alike. Some games are more fun than others.
There are different genres of games, America adventure games, India epic themed games, Japan Manga games, etc attach richness to the whole scenario. Choice of a game depends on the general mental makeup of the players and the state of mind during the selection of the games.
Internet games, many of them ask you to pay a subscription fee to be able to play the games. There are also a few sites that offer games online absolutely free of cost. There are trial versions or games available at the websites that offer games on subscription. Players get an idea of the nature of the full version game. It is always advisable to play the trial version before subscribing to the full version of the game. It will be very bad, if you see the game not up to your mark, after you pay the full amount.
Online games are quite addictive. From preteens to old age people, everyone who uses internet and are stuck to internet games find themselves spending hours together at different games sites, without taking a notice at the hours that fly by. Nothing apart from the game’s progress attracts their attention, while they are in the game. It is so amazing and so enthralling for the gamers, but for onlookers it can be some crazy stuff.
Variously themed internet games to fill your hours with endless fun and excitement, all you have to do is log in to the internet and pick your game from the thousands available out there.
With almost any type of game, especially multiplayer games, you can also chat with the gamers, while playing the game. It is fun way to make new friends with similar gaming skills and interests.
War games, strategy games, close encounters, puzzle solving, speed & control games, etc come in large numbers and in infinite variety. Sometimes you may also have the problem of too much of choices available before you. Each game is good and you will be at a fix, switching to the right game. Within a single genre, there will be hundreds of gaming vying for your attention.
Subscription games are of two types. Paying a fixed amount for a month’s subscription and pay as you go games, i.e. each game you play costs you £ 1 – £ 10, depending on the type of game. If you consider betting games, the costs can go over the roof.
Online games are mainly browser-based Java-Flash games. Developers of internet games work to develop variously themed creative games that stay stable in different environments.
If you think it is time to check online for some fun, playing games alone or with someone else from another city or with some from the other side of the earth, rest assured that internet games wait for you, with unlimited fun, entertainment and time pass.
pc gaming
Computer games have radically changed the way we seek entertainment. Now, with internet games, digital gaming has an all new face. With broadband connectivity and super fast computers, mobile phones and game consoles becoming the norm of the day, anyone can today play a game of chess or a round of poker, even while staying separated by half the earth.
It is such an amazing fun to be able to play any number of games of almost any type with people you are never likely to see. online games, coming in hundreds of variety amuse players and fill the pockets of several thousands of game developers. Not all games are made alike. Some games are more fun than others.
There are different genres of games, America adventure games, India epic themed games, Japan Manga games, etc attach richness to the whole scenario. Choice of a game depends on the general mental makeup of the players and the state of mind during the selection of the games.
Internet games, many of them ask you to pay a subscription fee to be able to play the games. There are also a few sites that offer games online absolutely free of cost. There are trial versions or games available at the websites that offer games on subscription. Players get an idea of the nature of the full version game. It is always advisable to play the trial version before subscribing to the full version of the game. It will be very bad, if you see the game not up to your mark, after you pay the full amount.
Online games are quite addictive. From preteens to old age people, everyone who uses internet and are stuck to internet games find themselves spending hours together at different games sites, without taking a notice at the hours that fly by. Nothing apart from the game’s progress attracts their attention, while they are in the game. It is so amazing and so enthralling for the gamers, but for onlookers it can be some crazy stuff.
Variously themed internet games to fill your hours with endless fun and excitement, all you have to do is log in to the internet and pick your game from the thousands available out there.
With almost any type of game, especially multiplayer games, you can also chat with the gamers, while playing the game. It is fun way to make new friends with similar gaming skills and interests.
War games, strategy games, close encounters, puzzle solving, speed & control games, etc come in large numbers and in infinite variety. Sometimes you may also have the problem of too much of choices available before you. Each game is good and you will be at a fix, switching to the right game. Within a single genre, there will be hundreds of gaming vying for your attention.
Subscription games are of two types. Paying a fixed amount for a month’s subscription and pay as you go games, i.e. each game you play costs you £ 1 – £ 10, depending on the type of game. If you consider betting games, the costs can go over the roof.
Online games are mainly browser-based Java-Flash games. Developers of internet games work to develop variously themed creative games that stay stable in different environments.
If you think it is time to check online for some fun, playing games alone or with someone else from another city or with some from the other side of the earth, rest assured that internet games wait for you, with unlimited fun, entertainment and time pass.
pc gaming
Article Category: General
Emotional Mary’s Hall of Fame Frag Movie
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 20, 2009, 4:05 pm
Appleball asked:
tribute video for Left 4 Dead, but also as a top tier professional gamer in the scene. She currently holds the world record for most points in a round (10.11.2009). She was interviewed by Finnish game magazine Pelit in their June issue in 2009 where she talks about professional gaming and how girls fit in it. She was also promoting her own line of professional girl gaming merchandise at a stand in Dreamhack 2009, the largest LAN party in the world. www.cafepress.com … left dead frag movie …
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Article Category: Videos
All About Copying Video Games
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 17, 2009, 1:12 pm
Vincent Runa asked:
Copying or making backup for video games is the easiest way to protect them. If you are in search of different protecting options for your favourite games, then this is the right published content which will teach you how to save time and also lots of money. Here you can also learn how game copying might be a useful method to protect your gaming console as well, that’s because many consoles are damaged due to overuse of bad game discs. Backing up video games will allow the easiest way through which you can backup your original games CDs, copy and store them for future use in safe manner.
You may be familiar with the term, “Modulation Chip”, more popularly known in the gaming community. It is used as a connector to join gaming console to personal computer. This chip is a simple hardware installed in gaming console to support playing of copied video games, or to copy video games. This uncomplicated tricky hardware is easily available in current market or you can go to a hardware expert to install it properly.
Now, that you have the hardware to connect gaming station to PC yet it is not complete to copy video games. There is need of a specific backup software that would be necessary to copy them in a perfect manner; to generate an original like game copy and to enable your gaming console to play them without glitches. Thus the total requirements for this backup process are – you must have gaming station, backup software, blank disks, a personal computer and the games CDs that you want to copy.
You can start your work by installing the backup software in PC. After that insert the game copy which you like to create a copy of. Then the blank disk will be burned by the backup software as per instructions and your backup copy of the game would be ready. This takes much shorter time to backup or copy video games on storage media.
The backup software package thus provides all required tools to copy them on CDs and DVDs. Also it enables you to backup from variety of video games such as Playstation, Xbox, Dreamcast, or more alike. You must have computer to run this software. It uses small storage space and provides high quality spare game copies without any difference between the copied and the original. No one can distinguish between an original and a duplicate one. Many online companies offer these types of softwares at free of cost or at vary nominal subscription charges. Some of them are also available for a trial period and you are allowed to copy one or few games though these software packages before purchase them. The software comes up with all necessary instructions for easy handling and operations.
The backup video games copied can save hundreds of dollars which otherwise you would spend on getting the damaged copies. Besides, it is actually a superb way to preserve those games that you like to play often and that can be a classic collection. While you copy them, you should be aware of legal piracy rules and must have an own legal copy of game. You are allowed to create backup copies for your private-personal use only.
That’s all about the copy or backup of video games that you love and want to play, to enjoy!!!!
Cool free offers here
Copying or making backup for video games is the easiest way to protect them. If you are in search of different protecting options for your favourite games, then this is the right published content which will teach you how to save time and also lots of money. Here you can also learn how game copying might be a useful method to protect your gaming console as well, that’s because many consoles are damaged due to overuse of bad game discs. Backing up video games will allow the easiest way through which you can backup your original games CDs, copy and store them for future use in safe manner.
You may be familiar with the term, “Modulation Chip”, more popularly known in the gaming community. It is used as a connector to join gaming console to personal computer. This chip is a simple hardware installed in gaming console to support playing of copied video games, or to copy video games. This uncomplicated tricky hardware is easily available in current market or you can go to a hardware expert to install it properly.
Now, that you have the hardware to connect gaming station to PC yet it is not complete to copy video games. There is need of a specific backup software that would be necessary to copy them in a perfect manner; to generate an original like game copy and to enable your gaming console to play them without glitches. Thus the total requirements for this backup process are – you must have gaming station, backup software, blank disks, a personal computer and the games CDs that you want to copy.
You can start your work by installing the backup software in PC. After that insert the game copy which you like to create a copy of. Then the blank disk will be burned by the backup software as per instructions and your backup copy of the game would be ready. This takes much shorter time to backup or copy video games on storage media.
The backup software package thus provides all required tools to copy them on CDs and DVDs. Also it enables you to backup from variety of video games such as Playstation, Xbox, Dreamcast, or more alike. You must have computer to run this software. It uses small storage space and provides high quality spare game copies without any difference between the copied and the original. No one can distinguish between an original and a duplicate one. Many online companies offer these types of softwares at free of cost or at vary nominal subscription charges. Some of them are also available for a trial period and you are allowed to copy one or few games though these software packages before purchase them. The software comes up with all necessary instructions for easy handling and operations.
The backup video games copied can save hundreds of dollars which otherwise you would spend on getting the damaged copies. Besides, it is actually a superb way to preserve those games that you like to play often and that can be a classic collection. While you copy them, you should be aware of legal piracy rules and must have an own legal copy of game. You are allowed to create backup copies for your private-personal use only.
That’s all about the copy or backup of video games that you love and want to play, to enjoy!!!!
Cool free offers here
Article Category: General
FPS Vest to Make PC Gaming More Real?
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 15, 2009, 3:20 am
Kirk Jensen asked:
What are gaming peripherals? These are add on gear to make console and computer video gaming more accessible, more realistic and more fun. Consoles have been doing this for years, for the example the Nintendo Zapper back in the mid 80’s, the P5 virtual reality game glove or the disappointing Virtual Boy. Not all gaming peripherals have been bad take for example the widely successful games and the peripherals that went with them like Dance Dance Revolution and the Guitar Hero Series.
But consoles aren’t the only systems getting into the gaming peripheral act. Mark Ombrellaro, CEO of TN Games, has designed a new product for his company, the 3rd Space FPS Vest, a sophisticated contraption that you wear which allows you to feel the impact of your enemy’s bullets and body slams.
Ombrellaro stated “Once [games] become that real,” he says, “you know you’re going to want to interact with them and you’re going to want them to interact with you.”
The 3rd Space FPS vest, sells for $169, how it work is that it houses eight contact points that are injected with air from a separate compressor. The effects that are produced are the following: point jabs, pulses and throbs which support events in a given compatible computer video game.
Right now the most compatible game that is coded for the Vest is the company’s own Incursion and a special edition of Call of Duty 2.
The 3rd FPS Vest has software drivers that supply limited effects to games such as “Unreal Tournament 3,” “Crysis,” and “Medal of Honor: Airborne,” to name a few.
Another PC peripheral on the market is Phillips Electronics’ Philips SGC5102BD amBX 2.1 PC Gaming Speaker System Peripherals ProGamer Kit (Includes 2 free games) which takes a multi sensory approach to pull you the gamer deeper into the game. The system includes two speakers with top mounted ambient light, wall washer desk fans and a rumble wrist. This PC System sells for $300 and can be bought on Amazon.com.
Games for the amBX PC System, include Supreme Commander and Quake 4. How it works is that the effects emanate from the game: red lights flash on the speakers as your character takes damage, wind from the fans buffets your face while you run and the wall behind your monitor glows with colors tuned to the game’s environment.
People who tested the 3rd Space vest at first liked it. When first suiting up you might feel a little self-conscious one gamer tells us, “I nearly fell out of my chair after taking my first hit. The twitch in my chest was sharp and surprisingly strong.” The problem became that the sensation to gamers became more distracting and felt to much like a string of muscle spasms.
The Phillips’ amBX PC System looks brighter in the gamers eyes. The effects that enhanced gamers experiences the most where the puffs of air from the fans when a character opened a door or a slight shift in the hue of the lighting from behind the monitor to compliment the surroundings in a new game scene.
So will gaming soon become like the commercial that Playstation did for the fictional Playstation 9 to advertise the Playstation 2? Probably not, but the success of this new generation of gaming depends on the thoughtful game design as much as the new gear that comes with it. So if the game design doesn’t gel with the new gear, the gear will just be thrown out and be another piece of expensive equipment used as a massive door stop.
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What are gaming peripherals? These are add on gear to make console and computer video gaming more accessible, more realistic and more fun. Consoles have been doing this for years, for the example the Nintendo Zapper back in the mid 80’s, the P5 virtual reality game glove or the disappointing Virtual Boy. Not all gaming peripherals have been bad take for example the widely successful games and the peripherals that went with them like Dance Dance Revolution and the Guitar Hero Series.
But consoles aren’t the only systems getting into the gaming peripheral act. Mark Ombrellaro, CEO of TN Games, has designed a new product for his company, the 3rd Space FPS Vest, a sophisticated contraption that you wear which allows you to feel the impact of your enemy’s bullets and body slams.
Ombrellaro stated “Once [games] become that real,” he says, “you know you’re going to want to interact with them and you’re going to want them to interact with you.”
The 3rd Space FPS vest, sells for $169, how it work is that it houses eight contact points that are injected with air from a separate compressor. The effects that are produced are the following: point jabs, pulses and throbs which support events in a given compatible computer video game.
Right now the most compatible game that is coded for the Vest is the company’s own Incursion and a special edition of Call of Duty 2.
The 3rd FPS Vest has software drivers that supply limited effects to games such as “Unreal Tournament 3,” “Crysis,” and “Medal of Honor: Airborne,” to name a few.
Another PC peripheral on the market is Phillips Electronics’ Philips SGC5102BD amBX 2.1 PC Gaming Speaker System Peripherals ProGamer Kit (Includes 2 free games) which takes a multi sensory approach to pull you the gamer deeper into the game. The system includes two speakers with top mounted ambient light, wall washer desk fans and a rumble wrist. This PC System sells for $300 and can be bought on Amazon.com.
Games for the amBX PC System, include Supreme Commander and Quake 4. How it works is that the effects emanate from the game: red lights flash on the speakers as your character takes damage, wind from the fans buffets your face while you run and the wall behind your monitor glows with colors tuned to the game’s environment.
People who tested the 3rd Space vest at first liked it. When first suiting up you might feel a little self-conscious one gamer tells us, “I nearly fell out of my chair after taking my first hit. The twitch in my chest was sharp and surprisingly strong.” The problem became that the sensation to gamers became more distracting and felt to much like a string of muscle spasms.
The Phillips’ amBX PC System looks brighter in the gamers eyes. The effects that enhanced gamers experiences the most where the puffs of air from the fans when a character opened a door or a slight shift in the hue of the lighting from behind the monitor to compliment the surroundings in a new game scene.
So will gaming soon become like the commercial that Playstation did for the fictional Playstation 9 to advertise the Playstation 2? Probably not, but the success of this new generation of gaming depends on the thoughtful game design as much as the new gear that comes with it. So if the game design doesn’t gel with the new gear, the gear will just be thrown out and be another piece of expensive equipment used as a massive door stop.
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Article Category: General
Which RTS Gaming Platform is Best?
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 14, 2009, 12:51 pm
Keith Londrie asked:
RTS games can run on a PC or a console such as PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. If you have a PC already is it worth to go for a console? If you are about to buy a PC or a console which one will you choose?
PC and consoles have their advantages and disadvantages. You should be familiar with both to be able to make a good decision. Surely what matters the most is the games you want to play and the costs involved.
The good sides of the consoles are many. They are less expensive compared to computers, they do not require a lot of technical knowledge to operate them and install games, there is no need of an operation system (which costs money), there are no drivers to install and update.
Consoles have several disadvantages as well. First of all you will not be able to change one or a few of the console components. If something breaks or if it needs upgrade you will have to change the whole console. Moreover consoles are created for game play only. Some really have additional features but generally speaking consoles are for games while a PC can be used for various things. Finally although there are many RTS games available for console playing, there are much more available for computers. Of course you will not be interesting in playing all of the RTS games ever created however to avoid disappointment you should check if your favorite real time strategy games will run on the console you want to buy.
On the other hand computers provide a larger variety of “things” you can do. You can work; you can listen to music, watch videos, and play games of course. Another advantage of the PCs before the consoles is that their hardware can be upgraded easily and replaced easily if something breaks.
The downsides of a computer are, as mentioned their high prices. Moreover you will need at least some basic knowledge to be able to install and set up your RTS games. In many occasions it might be hard to make a game run smoothly even though your computer matches the requirements of the game.
On the other hand computer RTS games have better multiplayer features than console games. The downside is that it is hard to gather several of your friends in your living room to have a crazy RTS game session while with consoles that is much easier.
Cool free offers here
RTS games can run on a PC or a console such as PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. If you have a PC already is it worth to go for a console? If you are about to buy a PC or a console which one will you choose?
PC and consoles have their advantages and disadvantages. You should be familiar with both to be able to make a good decision. Surely what matters the most is the games you want to play and the costs involved.
The good sides of the consoles are many. They are less expensive compared to computers, they do not require a lot of technical knowledge to operate them and install games, there is no need of an operation system (which costs money), there are no drivers to install and update.
Consoles have several disadvantages as well. First of all you will not be able to change one or a few of the console components. If something breaks or if it needs upgrade you will have to change the whole console. Moreover consoles are created for game play only. Some really have additional features but generally speaking consoles are for games while a PC can be used for various things. Finally although there are many RTS games available for console playing, there are much more available for computers. Of course you will not be interesting in playing all of the RTS games ever created however to avoid disappointment you should check if your favorite real time strategy games will run on the console you want to buy.
On the other hand computers provide a larger variety of “things” you can do. You can work; you can listen to music, watch videos, and play games of course. Another advantage of the PCs before the consoles is that their hardware can be upgraded easily and replaced easily if something breaks.
The downsides of a computer are, as mentioned their high prices. Moreover you will need at least some basic knowledge to be able to install and set up your RTS games. In many occasions it might be hard to make a game run smoothly even though your computer matches the requirements of the game.
On the other hand computer RTS games have better multiplayer features than console games. The downside is that it is hard to gather several of your friends in your living room to have a crazy RTS game session while with consoles that is much easier.
Cool free offers here
Article Category: General
Use a PC Controller For Gaming
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 6, 2009, 11:39 pm
Scott Paul asked:
If you love video games and love to play them on your PC you should definitely invest in a nice controller if you don’t already have one. What controllers are the best? We would absolutely recommend using the console controllers like the Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers. If you have a puzzled look on your face don’t worry, did you know you can use these controllers with your PC? The reason we would recommend these controllers is that they are made to take some serious abuse, and not only that, if you ever play on the 360 or PS3 you will already know the controls and not be the odd man out.
The XBOX 360 controller is very easy as it is compatible with windows. Honestly all you have to do is plug in the USB version of the controller and it should just automatically work. If you want to use the wireless controllers Microsoft sells a hub station that will let the controllers work with your PC wirelessly. The PS3 controller is compatible but you may have to download the SIXAXIS drivers so it will work with the PC. The controllers have a USB hookup which will work but if you want to use it wirelessly they utilize blue tooth technology. You will have to purchase a bluetooth hub station from sony or have a computer equipped with a bluetooth capability.
By using these controllers you will find a lo of enjoyment in your PC games and be able to have a controller that will last a long long time.
pc gaming
If you love video games and love to play them on your PC you should definitely invest in a nice controller if you don’t already have one. What controllers are the best? We would absolutely recommend using the console controllers like the Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers. If you have a puzzled look on your face don’t worry, did you know you can use these controllers with your PC? The reason we would recommend these controllers is that they are made to take some serious abuse, and not only that, if you ever play on the 360 or PS3 you will already know the controls and not be the odd man out.
The XBOX 360 controller is very easy as it is compatible with windows. Honestly all you have to do is plug in the USB version of the controller and it should just automatically work. If you want to use the wireless controllers Microsoft sells a hub station that will let the controllers work with your PC wirelessly. The PS3 controller is compatible but you may have to download the SIXAXIS drivers so it will work with the PC. The controllers have a USB hookup which will work but if you want to use it wirelessly they utilize blue tooth technology. You will have to purchase a bluetooth hub station from sony or have a computer equipped with a bluetooth capability.
By using these controllers you will find a lo of enjoyment in your PC games and be able to have a controller that will last a long long time.
pc gaming
Article Category: General
How to Build Your Own PC – The Smart Way – Part 1
Written by Going Pro Gaming Posted on Jun 1, 2009, 1:10 pm
Alan M Johnson asked:
Even experienced vendors and system builders get it wrong with all the tools and support they have. Although in some ways its never been easier to build your own, there have also never been so many choices and therefore pitfalls. A modern computer is a complex system of interdependent components. The performance of all components in the system is often limited by the capability of the least common denominator. In other words, you can’t have a top performance graphics PC by installing the latest graphics card (GPU) without also having a CPU powerful enough to keep the GPU pipelines busy with work, and fast memory within which to work.
With this in mind your approach to the architecture, design and build of computers of any size needs to be the same. Carefully select individual components that you know will all compliment each other and work well together. Then thoroughly test and benchmark your designs to ensure they work as well as you expected them to. The last thing you want is an unexpected crash at a vulnerable time. I’ve taken key snippets out of our own internal build & design process and best practice documentation to help you do your own.
There’s just too much to this subject to do it justice in one article so I’ve split it into two parts which also makes it a little more digestible. In this article we will look at the heart of a PC build with:
The CPU (processor) The Memory (RAM) The Motherboard (or main board) The Power supply (PSU)
In part 2 will continue by looking at the remainder of the PC:
The Storage subsystem (hard disk or HDD) The Graphics Processor (GPU) The Case The Cooling (HSF or heatsink & fan)
Why build your own?
The benefits to you of doing it yourself are:
Pros
You know best what you want and therefore you can build it exactly the way you want it You can choose exactly the components you want and shop around for the best prices If you built it you will know how to fix it yourself and might save time in the event something goes wrong It can be fun!
Cons
If you get any component choices wrong then you might just have to settle for what you ended up with, or, sell it on at a loss You will get limited support from component retailers in the event of compatibility or stability problems between components Quality of advice on the best component selection from the retailers is highly variable, and sometimes downright dubious and self serving You are the designer, builder, installer, tester and support engineer, be ready for the possibility of some long nights and a rough ride with little support You will spend potentially a lot of time learning a lot of things you might never have wanted to know Ill just say; drivers, drivers, drivers….
You might have expected me to put price or cost on the list of Pros. I haven’t because generally it just isn’t true any more. There are plenty of machines out there built ready for you to buy that barely cost any more than it would cost if you bought the component parts yourself. If you take labour cost hours into account then it’s a no brainer, just buy it ready built.
Design…Select…Standardise…Optimise and Build…
Assuming I haven’t put you off lets get on with looking at all the component parts and the things you need to be thinking about. For some of the components a bit of history is worthwhile as believe it or not we are living today with the legacy of design and architecture decisions made twenty or more years ago.
The CPU (processor)
The CPU is probably the single most important element of the computer. Everything the computer does is touched by the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Modern processors are made up of millions of transistors networked together to perform instructions set by the operating system and software that runs on your computer. Each instruction it can execute takes a certain number of clock cycles to run through, so for example a 1GHz processor can run a thousand million cycles worth of instructions a second. That sounds a lot, but when you consider that the average application or game now contains millions upon millions of instructions you can see that the processors have their work cut out to keep up with demands. A concept known as Moore’s Law has accurately described an exponential increase in computing performance and power since the early 1970’s. You can be pretty sure that a computer on the market in three years time will be more or less twice as powerful as the equivalent today.
Traditionally therefore the way for processor manufacturers to increase performance was simply to increase the speed of the clock for the processor. That way it could execute more instructions in less time. Hence how the old Intel processors between the 1980s and just a few years ago went up from 5MHz clock speed and 20,000 transistors to the best single core Pentium at 3.8GHz and 55 million transistors in 2006. At this point Intel hit the buffers with the technology with a problem known as silicon junction leakage. Where beyond these clock speeds the semi-conductor technology we currently use simply ceases to function correctly. Primarily due to the large amount of energy leakage around the transistor junction and the heat generated in operation. Hence also why over time CPU heatsinks have got bigger and bigger, and fans more and more powerful, and noisy.
Intel tackled the issue tangentially with the idea of running multiple processors on a single silicon die with the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad technology (see picture right). As the picture above shows this deals with the workload presented by games and applications by processing it in parallel rather than having to do instructions one at a time (known as multi-threading). The multi-core processors until recently were still produced on the 65nm manufacturing process that the last Pentium was fabricated on. Then in Q1 2008 Intel started producing 45nm processors based on new Hafnium Hi-K semi-conductor technology using the same Core 2 designs, codenamed Yorkfield, which runs cooler and more efficiently than the old silicon technology. Now from, Q4 2008 we have a new processor architecture with Nehalem. It has an integrated memory controller and the FSB has gone to be replaced by a much master QPI (Quick path interconnect) and a new socket (LGA1366). By 2010 we should see a new die shrink to 32nm with the Westmere codenamed processors, after that the roadmap gets a bit more vague. See the Intel site for more information.
You need to look closely at both Intel and AMD on processor technology to careful assess how they can best deliver the highest performance computing from the technology roadmap. The new Core i7 and Yorkfield processors together with high performance cooling have raised the bar again in Intel’s favour in (this article being dated Q1 2009) by exceeding 3GHz clock speeds in a quad core machine (33%+ over performance!), and around 4GHz when overclocked. The Core i7 is a big hot CPU with more going on in it than ever before with its built in memory controller so you wont be able to take full advantage of its performance ceiling without efficient and effective cooling technology and delivery of clean stable power to the processor. Mainstream PC’s otherwise typically have a maximum factory clock speed of 3.2GHz.
The Memory
Memory can be a crucial bottleneck to potential performance and is rarely paid much attention at all by main stream system builders. Memory comes in a variety of forms and bandwidths from PC2-3200 to PC3-16000 and up. Where PC2 or PC3 indicates DDR2 or DDR3 memory respectively, and 3200 or 16000 refers to the bandwidth in MB/s. Of course it goes without saying that you should use the highest bandwidth memory you can afford whether in double bus speed DDR2 or quad bus speed DDR3 forms. If you are planning to use your self built PC for video, photography, CAD, 3D graphics or gaming the memory speed does make a difference. However there are a number of other qualities that hugely impact on memory performance and we also take these into careful consideration:
Core clock speed – the speed the memory bus runs at (adjusted for DDR2/3) Data rate (DDR, DDR2, DDR3) core memory bus speed multiplier Latency (access cycle delays) – memory can be made to run at higher clock speeds but also with higher latency delays, making it on occasions actually slower than high quality memory running at lower frequencies with lower latencies. For example PC2-6400 memory at 800MHz and latencies of 4-4-3-5 will generally perform better than PC2-8500 at 1066MHz and latencies of 5-5-5-15
A lot of manufacturers currently ship PC’s with memory of PC2-5300 (667MHz) specification with average latencies in standard packages. That’s usually because they have a heap of it in a warehouse to shift. The minimum specification memory you should use is PC2-8500 (1066MHz). With low latencies in an enhanced package for better cooling it can even outperform even some of the faster DDR3 memory. The highest specification memory available often runs ahead of being specified in terms of JDEC standards. If you want to be future proof you should consider some mid range DDR3 memory (say 1600MHz C8).
Clearly you need to make sure you’ve got enough as well. For dual channel boards the minimum to consider ought to be 2GB – 4GB and for triple channel boards (DDR3 only) . Bearing in mind if you are stuck with a 32-bit OS (Windows) you have a practical limit of around 3GB anyway, for 64-bit fill your boots.
The Motherboard (main board)
Critical to good performance between the components of a PC is the motherboard on which it is all installed and interconnected. The motherboard chipset (usually either nVidia or Intel based, known as Northbridge and Southbridge) hosts all the vital interfaces such as the PCI bus (PCIe 2.0, for the graphics and sound cards), the network (USB2, Firewire IEEE1394, WiFi and Ethernet), the storage (IDE, SATA-II, RAID), BIOS configuration, bus clock management, memory controller, hardware management and monitoring, power supply regulation to the CPU and memory. The motherboard chipset dictates which CPU’s it supports, the maximum FSB (front side bus) speed supported, the range of CPU’s supported (by socket such as Intel LGA775, or AMD). Intel’s Nehalem and X58 Chipset has changed all this now that the memory controller has moved off the motherboard and inside the CPU. This unlocks a phenomenal amount of additional memory bandwidth.
A sophisticated BIOS is important to allow fine enough control and monitoring of system components for the high degree of performance tuning required. Due to the compatibility and support dependencies most manufacturers tend to choose fairly mature motherboards and chipsets, perhaps a year or two old. You could choose the low risk approach and do the same thing, or, go high risk and try the bleeding edge technology. Whatever you decide make sure it’s a board that has a reputation for being overclock friendly if that’s what you want to do (you will need flexible Base Clock speeds for Core i7). Make sure it supports the latest CPU’s, high bandwidth storage and PCI bus, highly flexible BIOS and preferably DDR3 high speed memory. However a good DDR2 board is now excellent value for money and can match some DDR3.
Pay careful attention to the PCI express lanes. Every Intel chipset has a set number of total lanes that can be allocated across all the PCIe slots the board designers have chosen to give you. The more lanes a given slot has the faster it can run as they move data to and form the card in parallel. I’ve listed below some of the current main chipsets and how many lanes they provide:
P45 – 16 lanes (2 of PCIe x8) P55 – 16 lanes (2 of PCIe x8) X48 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16) X38 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16) X58 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, or 4 of PCIe x8) nVidia 680 – 46 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x8, 6 of PCIe x1) nVidia 750 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x 16) nVidia 780 – 48 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x16 (1.0)) nVidia 790 – 48 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x16 (1.0))
If you’re hoping for a smoking big SLI setup you will need as many x16 lane PCIe slots as you can get. At the least aim for a board with 2 PCIe x16 slots then you have an upgrade path if you need it.
The Power supply (PSU)
One of the side effects of delivering more and more power form your PC is that it requires more and more electrical current to function. The power supply is not only critical for the delivery of power, but also the smooth, stable and reliable delivery of power at the instant it is required, transient power. The ATX standard 2.3 dictates what the power supply should be able tot deliver. Its surprising how many big manufacturers commonly used power supplies would fail this basic test. Many mainstream power supplies are also woefully inadequate at 300-400W. When you consider the CPU can draw over 100W, each high power graphics card up to 200W, the multitude of fans and disk drives, PCI adapters, attached USB devices and perhaps a water cooling system. It’s to see how you can soon hit the magic 1kW (1000W) power requirement. It’s surprising just how much power a modern PC with powerful graphics, CPU and storage actually requires.
To give yourself a bit of upgradability headroom you want to be buying 600-800W or more and exceed the ATX standard requirements. Most modern switch mode power supplies are multi-rail as it’s an easier and cheaper design to use. However a single rail at over 100A of current gives your build more flexibility, otherwise you have to be careful which rails you use for what as they all have individual current limits. Not to compromise on noise you should prefer to use power supplies with large 120-140mm fans to increase air flow, and reduce air speed in turn reducing cooling noise.
pc gaming
Even experienced vendors and system builders get it wrong with all the tools and support they have. Although in some ways its never been easier to build your own, there have also never been so many choices and therefore pitfalls. A modern computer is a complex system of interdependent components. The performance of all components in the system is often limited by the capability of the least common denominator. In other words, you can’t have a top performance graphics PC by installing the latest graphics card (GPU) without also having a CPU powerful enough to keep the GPU pipelines busy with work, and fast memory within which to work.
With this in mind your approach to the architecture, design and build of computers of any size needs to be the same. Carefully select individual components that you know will all compliment each other and work well together. Then thoroughly test and benchmark your designs to ensure they work as well as you expected them to. The last thing you want is an unexpected crash at a vulnerable time. I’ve taken key snippets out of our own internal build & design process and best practice documentation to help you do your own.
There’s just too much to this subject to do it justice in one article so I’ve split it into two parts which also makes it a little more digestible. In this article we will look at the heart of a PC build with:
The CPU (processor) The Memory (RAM) The Motherboard (or main board) The Power supply (PSU)
In part 2 will continue by looking at the remainder of the PC:
The Storage subsystem (hard disk or HDD) The Graphics Processor (GPU) The Case The Cooling (HSF or heatsink & fan)
Why build your own?
The benefits to you of doing it yourself are:
Pros
You know best what you want and therefore you can build it exactly the way you want it You can choose exactly the components you want and shop around for the best prices If you built it you will know how to fix it yourself and might save time in the event something goes wrong It can be fun!
Cons
If you get any component choices wrong then you might just have to settle for what you ended up with, or, sell it on at a loss You will get limited support from component retailers in the event of compatibility or stability problems between components Quality of advice on the best component selection from the retailers is highly variable, and sometimes downright dubious and self serving You are the designer, builder, installer, tester and support engineer, be ready for the possibility of some long nights and a rough ride with little support You will spend potentially a lot of time learning a lot of things you might never have wanted to know Ill just say; drivers, drivers, drivers….
You might have expected me to put price or cost on the list of Pros. I haven’t because generally it just isn’t true any more. There are plenty of machines out there built ready for you to buy that barely cost any more than it would cost if you bought the component parts yourself. If you take labour cost hours into account then it’s a no brainer, just buy it ready built.
Design…Select…Standardise…Optimise and Build…
Assuming I haven’t put you off lets get on with looking at all the component parts and the things you need to be thinking about. For some of the components a bit of history is worthwhile as believe it or not we are living today with the legacy of design and architecture decisions made twenty or more years ago.
The CPU (processor)
The CPU is probably the single most important element of the computer. Everything the computer does is touched by the CPU (Central Processing Unit). Modern processors are made up of millions of transistors networked together to perform instructions set by the operating system and software that runs on your computer. Each instruction it can execute takes a certain number of clock cycles to run through, so for example a 1GHz processor can run a thousand million cycles worth of instructions a second. That sounds a lot, but when you consider that the average application or game now contains millions upon millions of instructions you can see that the processors have their work cut out to keep up with demands. A concept known as Moore’s Law has accurately described an exponential increase in computing performance and power since the early 1970’s. You can be pretty sure that a computer on the market in three years time will be more or less twice as powerful as the equivalent today.
Traditionally therefore the way for processor manufacturers to increase performance was simply to increase the speed of the clock for the processor. That way it could execute more instructions in less time. Hence how the old Intel processors between the 1980s and just a few years ago went up from 5MHz clock speed and 20,000 transistors to the best single core Pentium at 3.8GHz and 55 million transistors in 2006. At this point Intel hit the buffers with the technology with a problem known as silicon junction leakage. Where beyond these clock speeds the semi-conductor technology we currently use simply ceases to function correctly. Primarily due to the large amount of energy leakage around the transistor junction and the heat generated in operation. Hence also why over time CPU heatsinks have got bigger and bigger, and fans more and more powerful, and noisy.
Intel tackled the issue tangentially with the idea of running multiple processors on a single silicon die with the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad technology (see picture right). As the picture above shows this deals with the workload presented by games and applications by processing it in parallel rather than having to do instructions one at a time (known as multi-threading). The multi-core processors until recently were still produced on the 65nm manufacturing process that the last Pentium was fabricated on. Then in Q1 2008 Intel started producing 45nm processors based on new Hafnium Hi-K semi-conductor technology using the same Core 2 designs, codenamed Yorkfield, which runs cooler and more efficiently than the old silicon technology. Now from, Q4 2008 we have a new processor architecture with Nehalem. It has an integrated memory controller and the FSB has gone to be replaced by a much master QPI (Quick path interconnect) and a new socket (LGA1366). By 2010 we should see a new die shrink to 32nm with the Westmere codenamed processors, after that the roadmap gets a bit more vague. See the Intel site for more information.
You need to look closely at both Intel and AMD on processor technology to careful assess how they can best deliver the highest performance computing from the technology roadmap. The new Core i7 and Yorkfield processors together with high performance cooling have raised the bar again in Intel’s favour in (this article being dated Q1 2009) by exceeding 3GHz clock speeds in a quad core machine (33%+ over performance!), and around 4GHz when overclocked. The Core i7 is a big hot CPU with more going on in it than ever before with its built in memory controller so you wont be able to take full advantage of its performance ceiling without efficient and effective cooling technology and delivery of clean stable power to the processor. Mainstream PC’s otherwise typically have a maximum factory clock speed of 3.2GHz.
The Memory
Memory can be a crucial bottleneck to potential performance and is rarely paid much attention at all by main stream system builders. Memory comes in a variety of forms and bandwidths from PC2-3200 to PC3-16000 and up. Where PC2 or PC3 indicates DDR2 or DDR3 memory respectively, and 3200 or 16000 refers to the bandwidth in MB/s. Of course it goes without saying that you should use the highest bandwidth memory you can afford whether in double bus speed DDR2 or quad bus speed DDR3 forms. If you are planning to use your self built PC for video, photography, CAD, 3D graphics or gaming the memory speed does make a difference. However there are a number of other qualities that hugely impact on memory performance and we also take these into careful consideration:
Core clock speed – the speed the memory bus runs at (adjusted for DDR2/3) Data rate (DDR, DDR2, DDR3) core memory bus speed multiplier Latency (access cycle delays) – memory can be made to run at higher clock speeds but also with higher latency delays, making it on occasions actually slower than high quality memory running at lower frequencies with lower latencies. For example PC2-6400 memory at 800MHz and latencies of 4-4-3-5 will generally perform better than PC2-8500 at 1066MHz and latencies of 5-5-5-15
A lot of manufacturers currently ship PC’s with memory of PC2-5300 (667MHz) specification with average latencies in standard packages. That’s usually because they have a heap of it in a warehouse to shift. The minimum specification memory you should use is PC2-8500 (1066MHz). With low latencies in an enhanced package for better cooling it can even outperform even some of the faster DDR3 memory. The highest specification memory available often runs ahead of being specified in terms of JDEC standards. If you want to be future proof you should consider some mid range DDR3 memory (say 1600MHz C8).
Clearly you need to make sure you’ve got enough as well. For dual channel boards the minimum to consider ought to be 2GB – 4GB and for triple channel boards (DDR3 only) . Bearing in mind if you are stuck with a 32-bit OS (Windows) you have a practical limit of around 3GB anyway, for 64-bit fill your boots.
The Motherboard (main board)
Critical to good performance between the components of a PC is the motherboard on which it is all installed and interconnected. The motherboard chipset (usually either nVidia or Intel based, known as Northbridge and Southbridge) hosts all the vital interfaces such as the PCI bus (PCIe 2.0, for the graphics and sound cards), the network (USB2, Firewire IEEE1394, WiFi and Ethernet), the storage (IDE, SATA-II, RAID), BIOS configuration, bus clock management, memory controller, hardware management and monitoring, power supply regulation to the CPU and memory. The motherboard chipset dictates which CPU’s it supports, the maximum FSB (front side bus) speed supported, the range of CPU’s supported (by socket such as Intel LGA775, or AMD). Intel’s Nehalem and X58 Chipset has changed all this now that the memory controller has moved off the motherboard and inside the CPU. This unlocks a phenomenal amount of additional memory bandwidth.
A sophisticated BIOS is important to allow fine enough control and monitoring of system components for the high degree of performance tuning required. Due to the compatibility and support dependencies most manufacturers tend to choose fairly mature motherboards and chipsets, perhaps a year or two old. You could choose the low risk approach and do the same thing, or, go high risk and try the bleeding edge technology. Whatever you decide make sure it’s a board that has a reputation for being overclock friendly if that’s what you want to do (you will need flexible Base Clock speeds for Core i7). Make sure it supports the latest CPU’s, high bandwidth storage and PCI bus, highly flexible BIOS and preferably DDR3 high speed memory. However a good DDR2 board is now excellent value for money and can match some DDR3.
Pay careful attention to the PCI express lanes. Every Intel chipset has a set number of total lanes that can be allocated across all the PCIe slots the board designers have chosen to give you. The more lanes a given slot has the faster it can run as they move data to and form the card in parallel. I’ve listed below some of the current main chipsets and how many lanes they provide:
P45 – 16 lanes (2 of PCIe x8) P55 – 16 lanes (2 of PCIe x8) X48 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16) X38 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16) X58 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, or 4 of PCIe x8) nVidia 680 – 46 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x8, 6 of PCIe x1) nVidia 750 – 32 lanes (2 of PCIe x 16) nVidia 780 – 48 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x16 (1.0)) nVidia 790 – 48 lanes (2 of PCIe x16, 1 of PCIe x16 (1.0))
If you’re hoping for a smoking big SLI setup you will need as many x16 lane PCIe slots as you can get. At the least aim for a board with 2 PCIe x16 slots then you have an upgrade path if you need it.
The Power supply (PSU)
One of the side effects of delivering more and more power form your PC is that it requires more and more electrical current to function. The power supply is not only critical for the delivery of power, but also the smooth, stable and reliable delivery of power at the instant it is required, transient power. The ATX standard 2.3 dictates what the power supply should be able tot deliver. Its surprising how many big manufacturers commonly used power supplies would fail this basic test. Many mainstream power supplies are also woefully inadequate at 300-400W. When you consider the CPU can draw over 100W, each high power graphics card up to 200W, the multitude of fans and disk drives, PCI adapters, attached USB devices and perhaps a water cooling system. It’s to see how you can soon hit the magic 1kW (1000W) power requirement. It’s surprising just how much power a modern PC with powerful graphics, CPU and storage actually requires.
To give yourself a bit of upgradability headroom you want to be buying 600-800W or more and exceed the ATX standard requirements. Most modern switch mode power supplies are multi-rail as it’s an easier and cheaper design to use. However a single rail at over 100A of current gives your build more flexibility, otherwise you have to be careful which rails you use for what as they all have individual current limits. Not to compromise on noise you should prefer to use power supplies with large 120-140mm fans to increase air flow, and reduce air speed in turn reducing cooling noise.
pc gaming
Article Category: General
