How To Build A Gaming Computer Guide

The Complete Guide to Choose a Gaming Memory/RAM

2008-07-14T10:31:28Z

Other than the CPU and motherboard, the RAM (Random Access Memory is the next most important hardware in your system.

When a computer first boots up, the system loads data from the hard drive into the RAM. At any point of time when the CPU needs any information, it will access the RAM to retrieve the data it needs. Since the RAM transfer data at a speed faster than any other storage media (such as the hard drive, CD-ROM and floppy disk), the retrieval process is shorter, work gets done faster and hence the computer performs better.

How does the RAM affects the performance of your gaming computer?

The amount of RAM you have in your gaming computer affects the speed at which the game reacts. To process the huge amount of computation involve in a 3D game, there must be enough RAM to store all the information. For systems with a small amount of RAM, the memory space will be filled up easily and all overflow data is then written or page to the hard drive. When such situation arises, the CPU will have to travel a longer path to retrieve the data from the hard drive. This results in sluggish game performance and intermittently ‘hanging‘ of the game. To increase the performance of the game, the foolproof way is to increase the amount of RAM in the system. The more RAM you have, the better the game performance.

Understanding SLI and CrossFire

2008-07-10T07:16:05Z

Although SLI and CrossFire have been around for a few years, it is only recently that we really see great breakthrough in the technology. With the recent release of AMD/ATI spider platform and its CrossFireX technology, what seems like an expensive upgrade in the past has now become a more affordable option for gamers who are looking to boost their system graphical performance.

Understanding SLI

The term SLI was first coined by 3dfx when they released their Scan-Line Interleave technology. This technology was introduced to the consumer market in 1998 and used in the Voodoo2 line of video cards. After acquiring 3dfx, Nvidia come up with a new technology that uses the PCI-Express bus to improve graphics performance, and named it Scalable Link Interface, in short, SLI.

With the same concept as the dual core CPU, the idea behind SLI is to split the work load to smaller pieces so that different GPUs can be used to process it concurrently. In a SLI setting, two (or more) graphics cards are connected in a master-slave setting via a SLI bridge. When rendering a 3D scene, the work load is split into half and each card will be in charge of one half of the work load. When the slave card is done, it sends its output to the master card via the SLI bridge, which then combines the two results into one and sent to the output for display.

In order to use SLI on your system, you have to fulfill the following criteria:

Own a motherboard that is based on an Nvidia chipset (the only exception is the Intel Dual Socket Extreme platform which is based on the Intel D5400XS motherboard which supports both SLI and CrossFireX technologies) and have at least two PCI-Express 16x slots.
Two (or more) nVidia SLI graphics cards of the same GPU

SLI is rather strict on the type of GPU used. While you can set up SLI with two graphics cards from different manufacturers, the condition is: they must be using the same GPU (and preferably same clock speed and memory). In addition, not all Nvidia’s graphics cards are SLI-capable. While the latest release of graphics cards are all SLI-capable, only a selected few from the past series can run SLI. It is important to verify this before buying the graphics card.

Understanding PCI-Express 2.0 – Do You Really Need It?

2008-07-10T13:37:37Z

The PCI-express slot may not be a stranger to you, after all, that is the place where you insert your graphics card all the while. PCI-Express 2.0 isn’t any much different from its predecessor. In fact, if you are hoping for something totally different, then you are in for a disappointment. PCI-Express 2.0 is basically the same as PCI-Express 1.x, except for some improvement in its performance.

One year down the road after PCI-SIG announced the release of PCI-Express 2.0, we have started to see more and more PCI-Express 2.0 hardware appearing on the market. While it is still new, it is useful to understand what PCI-Express 2.0 is and how it affects you.

How PCI- Express works?

Just in case you have forgotten what PCI-Express is, it is a connection slot meant to replace both PCI and AGP slot. How PCI-Express works is based on the concept of lanes, analogous to highway lanes. The more lanes you have, the more traffic you can move. The number of lanes in a PCI-Express slot can start from 1 and a maximum of 16. The amount of traffic each lane can carry in a single direction is 250MB/s. This means that a PCI-Express 16x slot (16 lanes) has a maximum bandwidth of 250 x 16 x 2 = 8.0GB/s in dual direction. That is considered fast, compared to the previous PCI and AGP slot. Nowadays, most graphics cards are using the 16x PCI-Express to handle the heavy graphics processing and for 3D acceleration.

What has changed in PCI-Express 2.0?

In PCI-Express 2.0, the concept of lanes still exists. What has changed is that the width of the lanes has doubled. A PCI-Express 16x can now carry up to a 16 GB/s of data, up from 8GB/s in PCI-Express 1.x.

To fully utilize PCI-Express 2.0 and take advantage of the extra bandwidth, you will need both a PCI-Express 2.0 motherboard and a PCI-Express 2.0 compliant video card such as the GeForce 8800GT or the Radeon HD 4870. Luckily, PCI-Express 2.0 is designed to be both backward and forward compatible, which means that you can still use your new PCI-Express 2.0 video card on your old motherboard (or vice versa), although the speed will be restricted to the slower one.

Motherboards that support PCI-Express slot

PCI-Express 2.0 slot was first introduced with the short life Intel X38 chipset and is now being carried on by Intel’s X48, AMD’s 790/770 family and Nvidia’s nForce 7 series. Some great boards that support PCI-Express 2.0 include:

Do you really need PCI-Express 2.0?

With the extra bandwidth, one may expect a better PC and graphics performance. Sadly to say, that is not true, as yet. The situation is the same when Intel launched their quad core CPU. The technology is too fast for current applications to catch up. In the context of PCI-Express 2.0, most games are not designed to utilize the technology and even with both a PCI-Express 2.0 motherboard and graphics cards, you are not going to see huge improvement. At this point of time, it is not a ‘must-have’ feature, but if you are planning for a major upgrade of your system, then it will be worthwhile to include a PCI-Express 2.0 capable motherboard and video card in your plan.

The Importance Of A Cache

2008-07-01T05:57:18Z

If you are looking to build a fast gaming system, you have to understand the importance of a cache. Modern computers have both L1 and L2 cache and you may have seen some computers with L3 cache. So what exactly is a cache and why is it so important? Read on.

Cache is an extremely fast memory used to store instructions that are repeatedly used by the CPU. It accelerates the CPU instruction retrieval process and result in a more efficient system.

Without a cache, the CPU has to retrieve instruction directly from the RAM. Since the RAM operates at a much lower speed than the CPU (18ns to 0.3 ns), the full efficiency of the CPU is not utilized. Its productivity effectively reduced by (18/0.3=60) times. This is not acceptable.

What if we include a cache in the motherboard (known as L2 cache) that has a small memory size but run at twice the speed of the RAM? Things will start to speed up.

To fasten thing up, an even faster cache was built into the CPU. This cache is known as L1 cache. It runs at the same speed as the CPU. Now, the L1 cache caches the L2 cache which in turn caches the memory RAM. The CPU can then operate at its full speed and programs can run more efficiently.

A cache is very expensive, thus it is not advisable to include a big cache into the system. Generally the faster the CPU speed, the bigger the cache you need. A typical system has 64kb of cache. High end CPU such as Intel dual core extreme comes with 4MB cache. This also explains why the dual core CPU is so expensive.

Celeron CPUs are the budget version of Intel chip. They may have the same operating speed as a Pentium4 chip, but are priced very cheaply. The main reason for this is the size of the cache in the chip. A typical Celeron CPU has only 256kb while an Intel Pentium 4 CPU has 2MB cache. This also means that a Celeron CPU operates much slower than a Pentium 4 CPU even though they have the same operating speed.

There are many factors to take note of when building a computer and caching is one of them that cannot be left out. Hopefully this article has given you an insight about the importance of cache.

The Complete Guide To Choose a Gaming Motherboard

2008-06-29T11:58:56Z

The motherboard plays a crucial role in the whole computer system. It is the spine of the system, the part that connects all other hardware together and make sure they function as a unit. In addition, it is also the component that determine the functionality and upgradability of your computer. With such an important role that it plays, it is necessary that you choose your motherboard carefully as it is the last thing that you want it to break.

Your choice of a motherboard determines not only the type of CPU that you can use, it also determine the type of memory, graphics card and the number of devices you can connect to it. All in all, if you want to build a lasting gaming computer, you have to make sure that your motherboard is the best one around.

In this guide, we’ll help you to understand everything you need to know about motherboard and how you can go about choosing the best motherboard for your system.

Let’s get started.

How to Choose a LCD Monitor?

2008-06-25T09:01:27Z

Choosing a LCD monitor requires different knowledge from choosing a CRT monitor. They are different technology and cannot be compared in the same way. The following are the things that you should look out for when choosing a LCD monitor.

Resolution

LCD monitors work differently from its CRT counterpart. Its screen display is based on a fixed matrix of horizontal and vertical pixel. As such, LCD monitor works best only at the resolution they are designed for, which is known as the native resolution. If you change the resolution settings, the image and quality will suffer.

If you are looking for a LCD monitor, choose the one with a native resolution that suit your needs.

If you need to change your resolution regularly, getting a CRT monitor might be a better bet.

Response Time

The response time is the measurement of how fast each pixel can change color. It determines whether or not LCDs can clearly show full-motion video without smearing or ghosting.

In fast-paced games, ghosting may occur on slower monitors due to the action being faster than the monitor can keep up with. Therefore, it is more desirable for gamer to get a LCD monitor with a fast response time to prevent any ghosting effect that might occur. The price of the LCD monitor usually increases with a faster response time. Currently in the market, the fastest response time for LCD monitor is 2ms and it costs 50-70% more than the typical 8ms LCDs.

Generally, a LCD monitor with 20ms response time or less is sufficient for normal daily use and video viewing. For gamer, it is preferably to get LCD monitor with response time less than 8ms.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio measures the differences in brightness levels between the brightest white and the darkest black pixel. A good contrast ratio of 120:1 easily displays vivid colors, while ratios as high as 300:1 support superior grayscaling.

A high contrast ratio means that the image colors are more distinct and more detail can be displayed. Typically, contrast ratios range from 450:1 to 600:1. Any LCD monitor with contrast ratio less than 450:1 is not desired.

Viewing Angle

One disadvantage of LCD monitor is that it has a limited viewing angle. Viewing angle refers to the degree of angle at which you can view the screen and still see defined and accurate images. When you stand off center to view the LCD screen, it is most likely that you can only see faded images. CRT monitor do not has this problem.

Choosing a LCD monitor with greater viewing angle will be more desirable in this case.

Recommendation

For gamer who are getting, a LCD monitor, it is best to get one with 2ms response time, 1280×1024 resolution and contrast ratio 650:1 will be great. A good LCD montior I strongly recommend is Niko 1920W 19 Widescreen LCD . It has a clear and bright display and image quality is excellent. Value for money.

Niko 1920W

Display Type: TFT LCD
Screen Size: 19 inches
Pixel Pitch:0.28 mm
Display Colors: 16.2 million
Input Video Signal: 15-pin D-sub DVI-D
Speakers: 2 x 1 watt Speakers
Contrast Ratio: 700:1
Response Time: 2 ms
Horizontal Viewing Angle: 150 degrees
Vertical Viewing Angle: 140 degrees

What to look out for when choosing a CRT monitor?

Looking for a CRT monitor? Check out this guide

How to choose a computer monitor?
Can’t decide between a CRT and LCD monitor? USe this guide to understand more about computer monitor and find out how to choose the monitor best suited for you.

How to Choose a CRT Monitor?

2008-06-25T09:11:06Z

Choosing a CRT monitor is more than just choosing a big box with the biggest screen. There are far more knowledge involved. But don’t be afraid. This guide makes it simple for you to follow.

Read on to learn about the factors that determines a good CRT monitor.

Screen Type

CRT monitor comes with two different type of screen: curved and flat. Curved screen is a technology of the past. If you are concerned with comfort, flat screen monitor will be suitable for you as it has a clearer image and more comfortable for eye viewing.

Pixel Pitch

Pixel pitch (also known as dot pitch) is the distance between two like-colored pixels. It is measured in millimeters. The smaller the pixel pitch, the sharper is the image. When the pixels are farther apart, they become noticeable and make the image look grainier. On CRTs, the pixel pitch is usually less than 0.31mm. When choosing for CRTs, always go for the one with the smaller pixel pitch.

Refresh Rate

Refresh rate refers to the rate of speed at which a CRT monitor screen image refreshes itself. If the refresh rate is 72Hz, the screen will refresh itself 72 times per second. The refresh rate affects the image quality. If the CRT monitor is refreshing at a slow rate, the image will be flickering and this can be very uncomfortable to the eye.

All CRT monitors support multiple refresh rates. When choosing your CRT monitor, Always select a CRT monitor with refresh rate more than 70Hz as that is the point where most people do not perceive flicker.

Resolution

Resolution refers to the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the information on the screen.

Usually the bigger the resolution, the smaller the display font size will be. As a balance, most people set the resolution to 1024×768 where they can read comfortably without having to strain their eye over the small font.

Most of the CRT monitors allow users to change the resolution to suit their needs. Manufacturers also provide a recommended resolution for each CRT monitor they produced. It is always advisable to choose a computer monitor with recommended resolution that best support your needs.

Tip: The bigger the resolution, the slower the refresh rate will be. You cannot have a high resolution and refresh rate at the same time. There have to be a tradeoff between flicker and resolution. Recommendations for refresh rate and resolution include 1280×1024 at 85 Hertz or 1600×1200 at 75 Hertz.

Conclusion

Choosing a CRT monitor is not a difficult task. As long as you follow the pointers above, you should be able to find the CRT monitor that’s best suited for you.

For gaming, a CRT monitor with 21" flat screen, 0.25mm pixel pitch and 1600×1200 resolutions will be perfect.

Check out TigerDirect! for CRT monitor promotion

What to look out for when choosing a LCD monitor?

Looking for a LCD monitor? Check out this guide

How to Choose a Good Computer Gaming Speaker

2008-06-24T09:22:21Z

If you are an avid gamer, then getting a good computer gaming speaker is a must. One of the biggest mistakes people make when building a gaming computer is to underestimate the critical importance of sound reproduction. In this guide, we will teach you how to choose a good computer gaming speaker.

RMS Power output

RMS power refers to the average power output of the speaker over a long period of time. Generally, the higher the RMS power, the louder the speaker system. It is not worthwhile to look at the total peak power as that is not a good indication of the power output. If you are thinking of blasting your speaker away while playing your favorite game, get a computer gaming speaker with high RMS power.

Frequency Response

The effect of the speaker will depend on the range of frequency it can operate at. Our human hearing range is between 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which covered from low frequency to the high frequency. Thus, when buying a speaker, the bigger the frequency range it can operates, the better sound effect it can produce. A good 6.1 Ch surround sound speaker system usually can operate between 35 Hz to 20 kHz.

Signal to noise ratio (SNR)

Signal to noise ratio (SNR) refers to the noise interference of the input signal. The higher the SNR, the better is the sound quality. Higher SNR will be very noticeable as it cleaner with less noise during playback. For games that have a broad dynamic range (the difference between the loudest and quietest portions of the program), you have to ensure that the SNR is larger than this dynamic range, else you will experience sound clipping, distortion or even signal loss.

Number of speaker

The number of speakers in a speaker system will give a good gauge on the quality of sound it can produce. When there are more speakers, they can be tailored to fit particular sound spectrums as each component handles just part of the frequency range.

A 5.1 channel speaker system will actually consist of six components: right and left front satellites, right and left surround satellites, a center speaker and a subwoofer (for low frequency sound effects). A 6.1 channel system adds a rear center speaker and a 7.1 channel system adds left and right rear speakers. Usually, a 5.1 channel speaker system should suffice to fulfill your listening needs. However, depending on your budget and listening expectation, you might want to upgrade to a 7.1 channel system or get only a 2.1 system (stereo + subwoofer).

Surround Sound

Surround sound technology is mainly a hardware decoder that can distinguish the sound sources and frequency and output to various speaker satellites to create a surrounded environment. Many companies have created their own surround sound technology. The following are the various surround sound technology available in the market.

Dolby Digital
DTS
A3D (Aureal 3-Dimensional)
Creative Labs EAX

In general, any speakers can support any of these technologies would produce a good piece of music.

Total Harmonic Distortion (THD)

This is a measurement of the purity of the audio signal. A 0.1% THD is deemed reasonable, though a lower value would mean a better speaker. Any speaker that generate more than 1-2% THD will produce distorted sound and might be unpleasant to the ear. In generally, a computer gaming speaker with low value THD is what you should be looking for.

Magnetic shield

Your speakers will likely be in close proximity to your video monitor, so it’s essential that the cabinets be magnetically shielded; otherwise they’ll eventually damage your monitor. This is less of a concern for your subwoofer, since it will be most likely be placed on the floor.

Finally,

In generally, a good computer gaming speaker should have a high RMS power, Signal to noise ratio, low THD, support surround sound technology and a 5.1 channel system. However, there is no hard rule when it comes to choosing the speaker. Let your ears be your guide. Listen to the sound quality first before you make your purchase. Make sure that the highs are warm and crisp, the lows are present, and everything seems balanced. With a little time and effort, you should be able to choose the best computer gaming speaker of your choice.

Barebone Gaming Computer…The Best Way to Build Your Computer Effortlessly

2008-06-24T08:45:40Z

Getting a barebone gaming computer kit is the best way to build your own gaming computer effortlessly. The barebone of the computer consists of the computer case, power supply, motherboard, CPU and memory RAM. Some of them do add in hard drive or graphics card into their barebone kit.

The advantage of getting barebone gaming computer kit is abound. Firstly, the biggest challenge of compatibility issue is solved. Leave the trouble to the expert. They will provide the matching motherboard for the CPU and RAM and a power supply enough to support plenty of add on.

The next benefit is the hassle free installation. You do not have to spend much time to assemble the parts as the retailer will assemble for you before they deliver to your place. For people who do not like to do the manual work, but want controllability over the computer, then the barebone kit is the best choice.

Last but not least, barebone gaming computer kit is cheap. You can easily get a barebone kit for under $100. A great way to save your money.

Where can I get a barebone kit?

Well, most of the computer distributors provide barebone kit package. I like TigerDirect! best because of the wide range of choices that I can choose from. In addition, I am also amazed by the services they provide. I ordered a barebone kit two months ago and the delivery was done within 3 days. The barebone kit was well contained and the parts neatly assembled. I plug in my graphics card and connect to my monitor and the next moment, I am pounding my keyboard away, without any glitches. No complaints at all. I was impressed by the quality of their product and the speedy services. Strongly recommended.

Different barebone kits have different configuration. Before you make your purchase, remember to check out which parts you need to top up to make it to a working PC. Use part guide as a checklist. If necessary, I advise you to order the parts together with the barebone kit. This way, you can save up on the shipping fee.

The Complete Guide to Choose A CPU

2008-06-15T08:27:25Z

Being the brain of the computer, the CPU plays a very important role in determining the performance of the system. Unfortunately, when it comes to choosing the best CPU (especially for a gaming computer), you will probably feel like a lost sheep. With different brands, models, speeds and specifications to choose from, it can really be a difficult task to decide which CPU is the right one for you.

In this guide, we give you a complete overview of what a CPU is, what are the important factors that will affect its performance and how you should go about choosing the the CPU that is best suited to your needs.

Let get started: