PC Gaming Tech in General
Someone teach me how to post Links in the best , I gotta get this post more organized Note: This post is meant to discuss gaming questions in general commonly asked in the forums, so I decided to make a big post about it so that it might help us in the future. So if you can please vote the topic up so others can see it later in time. Thanks.
PC Hardware for Gaming:
One of the commonly most asked questions in this forum currently is about the video games so Im going to first branch my topic on that first.
Video Cards -First off, I would like to state that there are many video companies out there. Many are dying and 2 remain strong to fight off each other. These two companies are ATI Corp. »
www.ati.com and NVIDIA Corp. »
www.nvidia.com both of these companies have great cards out there right now but Nvidia has the advantage to this date. Its most famous card is the Nvidia Geforce 4 Ti 4600. Heres a list of their products from best to worst for gaming excluding business but keep in mind its worst is still quite good!
~Added 3 sections by Scavio and Karnog
Geforce 4 TI 4600
Geforce 4 Ti 4400
Geforce 3 Ti 500
Geforce 3 Ti 200
Geforce 3
Geforce 4 MX 440
Geforce 2 Ti200
Geforce 4 MX 220
Geforce 2 Ultra
Geforce 2 Pro
Geforce 2 GTS
Geforce 2 MX 200
Geforce 2 MX (older model)
Geforce 256
TNT 2 Mach 64
TNT
As you can see, it has gone a long way from its early beginnings.
ATI Corporations Line Up of Video Cards
Radeon 8500
Radeon 7500
Radeon 7200
Radeon 7000
Radeon (original)
Rage 128 Pro
Rage 128
Rage Pro
Ati Corp has really proven itself over the past couple of months with the release of the new Radeons which are relatively cheap and quite good.
For those wondering which card is better, to be honest the Geforce 3 Ti 500 is still by far the best but then again its the most expensive. The Radeon 8500 then comes second in power. Then the Geforce 3 Ti 200 and Radeon 7500 are tied in power to power. Note from the numbers do not judge that since 200 * 2.5 = 500 that the Geforce 3 Ti 500 is 2.5 times more powerful, thats just advertising ploy.
Expect high FPS (Frames per second) if you are using the Geforce 3-4 or the new Radeons (if they have 8500, 7500, 7200, 7000). Video quality is determined partially by FPS, but high fps does not necessarily mean everything. Instead, thanks to the metioning of Scavio
quote:
For instance, Quake 3 at 1600x1200 with 4xAA on playing at 50 fps has much better video quality then 640x480 at 250 fps.
Sometimes some games may look horrible but that can be due to the fact the game makers didnt spend much time on the game. A good example of this would be game comparison between Max Payne and CounterStrike: Half Life. Compared between the two graphics quality will be different between each other and the FPS will be also being different. Max Payne gives low fps mid 50s with a Geforce 3 while its graphics are beyond amazing. In CounterStrike
well, you get my point =) dont get me wrong though I love Counterstrike with all my heart
DDRIf you can get a Video Card with DDR, get it. DDR is Double Data Rate in other words its memory responds faster 2x fast. See double? Duh. Most Geforce 3 automatically has DDR but look for it on the box. Some many not, if they dont look, for a card that does. It improves it much better! Youll see higher FPS and greater performance for your card. DDR is more expensive but is worth it.
MemorySome cards may say 32mb or 64mb or even 16mb or 8 mb (shudders). The more mb the better. What this is the amount of colors it can display. Again the more the merrier because youll have a much more interactive gaming experience if you get a 64mb instead of the 32mb.
Video DriversATI and Nvidia have now same plans on having video drivers. Usually these new upgraded Video Drivers are much better than before making the card better by using new software to tell how the card to operate causing higher fps and creating better graphics. So if you have an Nvidia or Ati cards and havent updated, I suggest you do so because chances are that youll like the new changes made by the software.
Overclocking of Video CardsTo overclock to a video card means to add more electricity causing the card to operate faster creating faster graphics, a better card and something more bang for the buck? Too good to be true? It is. Once you overclock or try and fail miserably the warranty that you had for the video card is void. So if you kill your card by add 20% more electricity than your neighborhood uses in a week then dont expect that Nvidia will take the card and give you a new one. I dont recommend overclocking cards since it is a risk, and if you have a Geforce 3 I highly dont recommend it because you already have the power most games need today. But since youre so stubborn and still want to overclock your card heres some links that you could use
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www.hardocp.com/articles ··· ideo/oc/Again I highly disapprove of it and I am not responsible for whatever youre mind tells you to do. As Snake Eyes once said A mind is a horrible thing to waste the same goes for video cards. A Geforce 4 is a horrible thing to waste . Then again if you overclock correctly your card wont be wasted and you can brag to all your friends. Your choice.
There are somethings that are incorrect in this paragraph, Im remembering when I did it on my BIOS, I thought it was acturally just adding a couple of more voltages, instead according to Scavio Im going to quote it since its easier and wont feel like Im taking his/her credit.
quote:
In Overclocking you are you are increasing the core/memory speed to increase throughput.
PCI and AGP. The difference between the two? Better. AGP was a slot specifically designed for new 3d cards as the only thing an AGP can support is a video card. A PCI is a different slot designed to fit almost any computer hardware stick in peripheral. As you may have guessed the P stands for Peripheral. AGP was designed after the PCI and because of that getting a video card with AGP performance is better than a card with PCI Performance. You cannot place a AGP card in a PCI card and vice versa.
2x or 4x? Whats the difference between the two? The difference is minimal, as like a CD drive, more X is better. But dont get me wrong though, 4x doesnt mean its 2 times better than a 2x. In fact many say that a 4x and a 2x has almost unnoticeable effects between the two, but quote me as this by CutandWaste
quote:
My cat glares at my LCD screen more on 4x than it glares at it on 2x
. Back to topic
, in case youre wondering how to change the 2x and 4x you can usually do it in BIOS. Many times people complain that when their computer is having problems changing their video card speed from 4x to 2x sometimes seems to help, then again this isnt the cure for everything.
New Section
CPUs (Central Processing Units) ~Mistake Corrected By Karnog
CPU, the main brain of your computer. If you have an excellent graphics card and a crappy CPU then youre graphics wont go far. So lets read some stuff about CPU. A CPU is the stuff made by Intel and AMD. Since CPUs are so cheap right now I recommend getting something that isnt Celeron and instead go for a Pentium 4 or an Althon XP.
Again there are 2 companies out there, AMD and Intel. Comp gurus like me can argue AMD that their CPUS are better (and cheaper) which is a good bang for the buck. A CPU can affect upon your computer by making everything run faster and better and less chances of freezing up your computer. I current recommend 1ghz if youre an avid gamer and hate long loading screens. Many games currently dont need this much speed but trust me youll like it when you get it. Again, you can overclock a CPU heres a link, Im not going to give you a warning again because I already did »
www.tweak3d.netMany games such as Max Payne will require a decent computer though, the better gaming experience you want, the more you pay unlike RAM, which were going to next.
RAM (Random Access Memory)One word. Cheap. Today you can get some cheap RAM for a really good bang for the buck (I love that phrase dont I?) Go to your local Best Buy or Frys or just online to get a good stick of 256 MB RAM. Games are needing more and more RAM these days so you should buy RAM since its cheaper than a CPU Upgrade.
Skrote says expensive brands such as higher quality brands Crucial etc tend to be better and are more stable. I agree with his opinion half and half, because if I were to compare, a 512 mb stick from Crucial is 2-3x the cost of a noname brand. It really depends on the budjet, but more RAM is just better
DIMM and DDR TechnologyWhat this is the average technology everyones RAM uses except for that rich man who bought his comp with DDR. The difference? DDR is 2x faster than DIMM. Why doesnt everyone have DDR? DDR is a relatively new technology but its only con is that it costs more than average DIMM. If you bought your comp in the past 2 years you definitely have DIMM unless you upgraded your motherboard. (Well get into that later)
Memory Limits ( )Sad, but true there are a such thing as a memory limit. Depending on the year on your comp your motherboard will be limited to a certain limit of RAM. To check the limit rate, go to »
www.kingston.com and find your computer out of the models, or you can always call your maker of your computer and find out. If you stick too much RAM in your comp than it can support it just wont work. If you made your comp by yourself you can always look in the manual of your motherboard and in that section should be RAM limits. New motherboards currently have a limit of 1.5 GB of RAM which is great but again this is for new motherboards.
Monitors One of the most important things, dont we stare this at least 3/24 hours of the day? Still a monitor is usually mistaken as one of the lesser important things. A monitor is what youre looking at while your reading it so make sure you treat it properly, in other words stick place your oily hands or your friends oily hands on the monitor. Try to get a 15 + because this will greatly help. Even though it may take extra space youll be happy over the advancement.
Resolution in GamingA important thing about monitors is resolution support which is good because it can change the size of the everything you see on the computer. I recommend 800 by 600 or 1024 by 740 if your monitor can support it. Bigger is better but there comes to a point a certain resolution you just cant read the text. Your choice. For Half Life its much better for a resolution 800 by 600 up.
LCDEvery time you go the computer superstore you might see those really cool monitors that are flat and straight and take so little space? Oh cmon admit it, youre the person that gets the fat slimy fingerprints on it! Well guess what, I have one, and my greasy fingerprints are on it unfortunately. Anyways, an LCD is great because it takes few space and if you buy a good brand its good for gaming. Note I mean something in the 500+ dollar ranges but if you can only support a cheap LCD then instead go for a regular monitor at 21. It will definitely be better for gaming. Of course, a regular monitor with High Contrast, Antiglare Coating, FST, CRT will be better than a LCD but itll take much more desk space. I find its much better to game with free space and not crowded but youll never truly notice a monitor difference IMHO instead, a better video card will be much better cash spent.
Sound Cards I cant say much about this since Im the only darn fool using Onboard Audio but Ill tell you what I have learned from it. According to LasrX, a great sound card to use is the SB Gamer Prodigy. I cant describe it any better than this man here Tekton
quote:
As soon as you connect the four speakers and subwoofer to the card (minimum amount of audio hardware needed!),fire-up Unreal Tournament,skip the intro ,get in a game: And hear the sound traveling around you,when your steps splash in audible puddles, while somewhere in the background,eerie music paints the foreboding dread and the whistling of the rocket behind you, ends just in time, to hear the blast and your death-throe reverberating cry,you will congratulate yourself for the sound (pun intended!)decision to get "Audigy".
The card is around 99 dollars if you buy it retail and it also includes 2 free full version games of Dues Ex: Game of the Year and Giants Citizen Kabuto. Pretty good, dont ya think? You may be using sound card or onboard audio by determining if it says so when you bought your computer. Companies tend to brag about if theyre computer has a sound card. So if you dont remember any bragging you dont have a sound card and are using onboard audio like me.
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www.bestbuy.com/Detail.a ··· 11083316 Speakers After you get a new sound card, you might want to get some new speakers. Im asking a lot aint I? Dont use those cruddy speakers given to you with this name called Infinity on them *cough cough IBM Aptiva cough cough* These speakers literally suck. Period. Find something on a site that has a subwoofer, then with 4 speakers. These 4 speakers should be placed in the 4 corners of your room. Now, why would you want some speakers like that? If you play online, by staying in one spot, youll hear your enemy. If you bought nice enough ones, and you arent deaf, youll have a good chance of listening where your enemy is coming out of it. So jump out shoot him and youve already got a head start in this game
. If you really want an advantage and dont want to guess get some good headphones designed for this and use that, even better I hear. Anything over 100 dollars is a really good deal.
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www.bestbuy.com/Detail.a ··· 11120379Is a nice pack of speakers, anyone wish to donate to me? They are a bit expensive but with price comes quality!
Internet Connection Real men play on 56k. Sure, famous quote there but then again I am the killer of a real man, with a 2:1 ratio on CS and 8:1 on newbie servers hah! Smart men play on Broadband. DSLreports. DSL. Digital SL. Digital Subscriber L. Digital Subscriber Lines. Am I getting you 56k readers sad yet
. Just kidding with ya. In case you play multiplayer games like [DSLR]CS and [DSLR]UT, who play Counterstrike and Unreal Tournament youll notice a good many of them play on Broadband. A Broadband Connection which generally costs more such as around 50 dollars a month or up, is great for multiplayer gaming. Ping is generally like response time, at the point it takes you to aim and fire depending on your ping, adding your latency = Response time to make contact with your enemy or teammate (If youre a teammate killer). Of course if your enemy has a lower ping, and he shoots you first and kills you, well you cant fire back can you? Also HPB (Heavy Ping Bastards) namely 56kers when walking is like being drunk. You see one thing then one second later of not moving, youll suddenly have moved 10 feet. For a LPB (Low Ping Bastard) its like walking, well not drunk. Walk one second and youll move to the point nice and smoothly. If youre already thinking wow with a HPB I have a large advantage since the enemy cant see me! Wrong, the enemy sees you stuttering to your destination and will shoot you down before you see him. Get cable or DSL and face him and destroy your enemy. Natural Selection is it not? Those best fit to survive
. Have a problem with your ISP? Go to the ISP forum that DSLR also has
Heres a good link for your Internet Connection Info
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/allreviews You can see some reviews that you might want etc.
Mouse and Keyboard Heck, I even have a section on this
. Want better gaming; get an optical mouse and a wireless keyboard. Why this helps, Ill tell you why, with an optical mouse you can get it as dirty as you want and you wont mind because the laser wont be affected. With wireless ability in heavy action games youll have much more room space to move around with, unfortunately for every good thing, there is bad. Want to know what it is? The fact that the signals from your mouse may often get lost result in choppiness in your gaming, so in other words, dont use wireless.
Thats a shame but its life. Wireless keyboard, with this, you can move around as much as possible after playing in a clan match for a long time, youll find yourself much more comfortable with the mouse in a different position than before. Besides, with a wireless keyboard they look much much cooler.
Regarding Mouse:
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what kinda mouse do u game with!!!»
What mouse do you use? Mouse Pad Depending on your choice, if you have an Optical, well then good for you, youve just saved your own ass 10 dollars from Best Buy/CompUSA/Fries. Anyways, it doesnt really matter what mouse pad as much of the gamers of the DSLR Forum seem to see. Anyways heres a link for what they use.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,2893249~root=pcgames~mode=flatFrequently Asked Questions on DSLR Gaming TechQ: What is the Most Stable NVIDIA Drivers?A: NVIDIA Det 4, 22.80 Last Ive heard. You can grab them at
http://www.templintech.com/templinweb/FILES.HTMLQ: Good 3d Mark Score?A: 7000+ Plus. This really means you have a good computer, good RAM, good video card. Heres a link to a fight in higher 3d Mark Scores.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,2295734~root=gamers~mode=flatYou can get the program at
http://gamershq.madonion.com/download/I recommend you try it and see how great/crappy that computer is
Q: I'm having Lag Issues On My GamingA: Chances are, since I already metioned above that there is something wrong with your line. Some say is HAS to be but they're wrong, there is a chance it's your registry settings, check this
http://www.dslreports.com/linequality and post it in a new post, then in the new post also have the results of
http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks and
http://www.dslreports.com/stest From that will the help start, it'll be much easier to determine the problem from that.
Q:Best Operating System for Gaming?A: Right now, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion) it's WinXp. It's stable, runs most like 97% I heard once (can't prove numbers) Win98 games. It's also much more stable and faster. So grab your closest Windows XP today
(I sound like a Microsoft Rep.
Hehe ~Question Asked goes to Skrote
)
Q: Having Lag/Choke Problems in HL/CS A: Due to an excellent post by XyLon69 and instead of posting entirely of what they said into here, here's a link to the post
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,2907929~root=gamers~mode=flat It should kill some lag problems, but you might also want to tweak your connection using this calculator
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/677and DR.TCP
http://www.dslreports.com/front/drtcp.htmlNote every problem in the next month at the Gaming Forum will be recorded and I will add to this to attempt to fix it, I will update this post as means so. If you want me to add a new section please tell me and I'll do so ASAP.
[text was edited by author 2002-03-31 22:58:19]