Thursday, November 5, 2009

Next-Gen Gaming Desktop

By Matthew Kerridge

With the next generation of console gaming, there is also a new generation in desktop gaming, and with it a myriad of new hardware and technology that these new games require. An older PC will have almost no chance of running the newest and most resplendent of PC games, so it may be time to upgrade your old gaming desktop or purchase a new one if yours is more than a few years old.

The first consideration in either upgrading or building a new gaming desktop is of course the motherboard. This governs which processors, video cards, and memory you can use and will be the deciding factor in the overall performance of your machine. You will certainly want to use a motherboard that supports dual core processors, high speed RAM, and PCI-Express video cards, all of which are the latest in high end home computing technology.

If you are looking to build a gaming desktop you may already know that most games require a large amount of memory to run. Not just memory on your hard disk, but the fast memory that RAM provides. You should invest in triple channel RAM in order to prevent lag as you game.

If you want to experience your games in the resplendent detail that the designers intended, then you will need a powerhouse of a video card to handle the lush character models and painstaking attention to detail in the scenery. An older AGP video card is simply not going to suffice. You will need to go with a PCI-Express model that takes advantage of the latest in graphics processing technology. They can run several times faster than AGP models, and have enough onboard memory to run any game out on the market.

All the fancy hardware in the world will not do you a lick of good if you do not have a quality CPU. This is the heart and soul of your computer and your other components can only run as fast as the CPU. Investing in a high quality dual core processor will make your computer both very fast and very upgradable as video card and RAM technology advance to catch up to the speed of high-end CPUs.

If you want to gain a little extra performance out of your processor and video card without forking over too much extra cash, you should consider overclocking your hardware. This runs them a little faster than what the manufacturer sets them at, but does increase the risk of the hardware burning out. If you are determined to overclock your hardware, the best investment you can make, and an inexpensive one at that, is a top of the line cooling system for your computer. This will keep your CPU and video card temperatures lower and help to prevent them from getting fried.

What would a gaming desktop be without an ergonomic keyboard, and fancy mouse, and a variety of other devices, like a microphone to talk to your friends or teammates online? Most peripherals of this nature are independent of the other hardware in your machine, and you only need a few free USB ports to run some truly unique gadgets that will make your gaming experience personalized and unique. - 22787

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