Choosing the Best Monitor for Gaming

This article takes a look at the important things to consider when choosing the best monitor for gaming.

Are you looking to buy a monitor to be used for gaming? The monitor is one of the most expensive parts of a computer, so you should learn some basic information before going out and spending your money on a crappy monitor. This article will help you buy the best monitor for gaming.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is whether you want a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor or a newer LCD flat-screen monitor. CRT monitors are old and bulky, and we don't recommend them. LCD monitors are the standard these days.

LCD monitors have many advantages over the old style CRT monitors. They are slim, light and compact, and won't take up as much space on your desk. LCD screens are also easier on the eyes and use less power than CRT monitors.

Response Rate

The response rate of a monitor is perhaps one of the most important specifications you need to consider if you will be gaming. The response rate simply refers to how fast the LCD monitor updates its display. Monitors with a slower response rate will suffer what is known as 'ghosting'.

The ghosting effect will be noticeable if you play high-paced games, such as a first person shooter. It's when the previous image displayed on-screen can still be seen as a blur for a split second after the image has updated. Don't worry if that doesn't make sense to you, all you need to know is that the lower the response rate of a monitor, the less 'ghosting' you will experience.

I would recommend buying a monitor with a response rate of 8ms (8 milliseconds) or lower. The lower the better. The best monitors on the market offer very good response rates such as 4ms or even 2ms. With a monitor like this, you would completely avoid the 'ghosting' effect altogether.

What Size Monitor is Best?

Buy the biggest monitor you can afford, it's as simple as that. With a bigger screen, you will enjoy a more surreal gaming experience. Playing a high-end 3D game on a large 22" widescreen LCD monitor is a totally different experience than playing on a small 17" screen. Sizes for monitors range from 15 inches all the way up to 22 inches and above.

Read more about how to choose the best gaming monitor. Julien's website How to Build Gaming Computers will help you learn all about building a custom gaming PC.

By Julien David

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PCI-Express vs AGP: Which to Choose?

Explains what PCI-Express and AGP is, and looks at the advantages of using PCI-Express.

What is PCI-Express and AGP?

There are two ways to connect a graphics card to a motherboard, either via an AGP or PCI Express slot located on your motherboard. A motherboard only supports one of these slots, so if you're looking for a new video card make sure you're aware of whether your motherboard supports AGP, or PCI-Express.

AGP has been the standard for a long time now, but it is old technology. Its days are almost over, and it's only a matter of time until PCI-Express completely takes over and AGP is left for dead.

Advantages of PCI-Express

The benefit of PCI Express is that it can handle a greater data throughput than an AGP slot. PCI Express offers performance of up to 4 times faster than the fastest AGP slot. It's relatively new technology, and it isn't being used to its full potential yet. Although, we predict that games released in the next 1-2 years will make full use of PCI Express technology.

Another advantage of PCI Express is you can connect more than one video card to your computer for extra performance. This is impossible with AGP, since a motherboard can only ever have one AGP slot.

Should I Buy a PCI-Express or AGP Video Card?

If you're simply upgrading your gaming computer with a new video card, you should check whether your motherboard supports AGP or PCI Express, and then choose a card accordingly. Don't worry if your motherboard has an AGP slot. Even though it's not the latest technology, AGP is going to stay around for a long time. You can still find a great video card with AGP.

On the other hand, if you're building a new system from scratch, you have the choice. We recommend choosing a gaming video card with PCI Express, and a motherboard that supports it. As we said before, the games of the future will soon harness the power of this new technology, leaving AGP in the dark. So by choosing PCI Express now, it will save you the upgrade later when AGP becomes obsolete.

Another thing to keep in mind is not to confuse PCI-Express with its older cousin PCI. A long time ago you would connect your graphics card through a PCI slot on your motherboard. This is very slow compared to today's standards, and is never used anymore.

Hopefully this article has enlightened you about the issues regarding AGP and PCI-Express.

Check out Build-Gaming-Computers.com to learn all about building your own high-performance gaming computer. It includes information on choosing the best components for your gaming pc, and product reviews of the best parts.

By Julien David

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Best Video Card

If you are looking for the best video card in the market today, you have landed on the right page. Here I present the best video cards for gaming and other general purposes for your perusal.

If you are thinking of upgrading your desktop computer with a newer and more powerful video card, then there are plenty of good choices in the market. I present the best video card for the money available in the market today, to make your choice simpler. To make it easier for newbies, I have presented a short video card buying guide, before presenting reviews of the best video card made available today.

Choosing the Best Video Card

In upgrading video cards, you need to first evaluate what your expectations from the new card are. Let us explore what are the prime features that need to be checked out while buying a new video card. The most important feature of a video card is the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit), which is a special chip dedicated to graphics processing. Faster the GPU core, better is the performance of the card. Currently, nVidia and ATI offer the best graphic card processor cores in the market. Today, even video cards have two cores for processing. Opt for a super fast GPU, if you plan to run 3D gaming applications on your desktop computer.

The next most important factor, when choosing a video card is its working memory. More the working memory, faster is the processing speed of the video card and better is the graphic performance of your computer. Not just the memory size, but the memory type and the interface used by the memory also matter. Go for GDDR2, GDDR3 or GDDR4 memory type, as they offer high processing speeds.

Opt for a video card, which has a memory interface width in excess of 128 bit, for high speed functionality. Other things that you need to look out for are the kind of input/output ports that the card offers. Make sure that it has a D-Sub and DVI connection port. Lastly what matters is the kind of interface that is used to connect the card with your computer motherboard. The fastest interface offered today is PCI express, followed by AGP. Opt for PCI express (x16) card if you are into gaming. Compare video cards according to these features.

If you are into 3D gaming, see to it that the video card is built according to the latest DirectX or OpenGL standard. The best video card for gaming or best video card for WoW, could be any of the listed cards in the next section, that score high on all counts. Check out the best AGP video card on the market. Choose the best one, to reduce your future video card problems.

Decide on the video card upgrade according to what you plan to use it for. For 3D gaming and video editing applications, you will need a video card, which scores high on all the features mentioned above. I present the graphic cards that deserve to be referred to by the title of best video card in the market today.

Best Video Card in the Market

I have selected the best video cards in the market today, that range from the high end to entry level cards. The list of video cards, along with prices, presented below will make it easier for you to make a choice. They differ quite a lot in terms of price range and specifications.

• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB Video Card ($694.94)
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 Video Card ($384.70)
• MSI Nvidia Geforce GTX 480 1536MB Video Card ($470 - $590)
• XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB Video Card ($279.99)
• Radeon HD 4650 ($50)
• GeForce 9600 GT ($80)
• Radeon HD 5750 1 GB ($130)

So these are some of the candidates that deserve the title of best video card for the money. Since we are talking about the best in business here, most of them fall in the high price category. Choose one which provides you enough power to run your graphic applications and offers the best trade off in terms of features and price.

By Gray Pilgrim

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What is Computer RAM (Random Access Memory)

Random Access Memory (RAM) is a form of computer data storage. Nowadays, it has taken a form of integrated circuits that allows the stored data to be accessed randomly.

What is computer RAM? The term random in RAM refers to the fact that any piece of data can be returned in a constant time, irrespective of its physical location and whether it is related to the previous piece of data. RAM helps in accessing any byte of memory without touching preceding bytes. The word RAM is synonymous with the main memory and is reserved for computer related programs.

On the other hand, read-only memory (ROM) refers to computer memory which is used to store programs that boot the computer and perform diagnostics. Most of the computers have a small amount of ROM - around a few thousand bytes.

Random access memory is volatile, i.e. it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents and as soon as the power goes off, whatever data that was in the RAM is lost. RAM is commonly known as read/write memory and ROM as read-only memory. It is the most common type of memory found in computers and also other devices like printers.

History

During 1949 to 1952, the magnetic core memory was widely used as a writable random access memory. It was subsequently used in most computers, until the development of the static and dynamic integrated RAM circuits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Before RAM, computers used delay line memory, relays and different kinds of vacuum tube arrangements to implement main memory functions, which were a few hundreds or thousands of bits. Latches built out of vacuum tube triodes and discrete transistors were used for smaller and faster memories such as registers and random access register banks. Before integrated ROM circuits were developed, random access memory was constructed using semiconductor diode matrices which were driven by address decoders.

How does RAM Works?

Like any other memory chip, RAM is made up of millions of transistors and capacitors. A transistor and a capacitor are paired to create a memory cell, which represents a single bit of data. The capacitor holds the bit information as 0 or 1 and the transistor acts as a switch which allows the control circuitry on the memory chip to read the status of the capacitor or change its state. The capacitor is like a small bucket that stores electrons. To store 1 in the memory cell, the bucket is filled with electrons, and to store 0 it is emptied. The problem with the capacitor's bucket is that it leaks and within few milliseconds the full bucket becomes empty. Therefore, either the CPU or the memory controller has to recharge all capacitors holding 1 before they discharge. For this, the memory controller reads the memory and then writes it right back. This refresh operation occurs automatically nearly thousands of times per second.

Types of RAM

There are mainly two basic types of RAM:

• Dynamic RAM (DRAM): DRAM has to be constantly refreshed by the memory controller, as the capacitors that hold the information or data have a built-in leak, which can only be stopped by refreshing the information. This makes DRAM slower and cumbersome.
• Static RAM (SRAM): As compared to DRAM, the storage capacity of SRAM is greater, as it uses on-off switches instead of capacitors. Therefore, SRAM is more expensive, faster and can hold more information.

Both SRAM and DRAM are volatile in nature. Usually, advanced versions of the dynamic RAM are used. These include FPM (fast page mode), ECC (error correcting code), EDO (extended data output) and SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM).

Random Access Memory could be considered as an array of boxes, where each box holds a single byte of information. A computer having one megabyte of memory can hold up to one million bytes or characters of information. The speed of RAM is measured in nanoseconds (ns). Lesser the nanoseconds, faster the speed of the computer.

By Kanika Khara

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What is Virtual Memory

Virtual memory acts as a supplement to RAM and forms a part of RAM and disk. It gives the computer user a feeling that he has RAM of unlimited capacity while the application program is under the impression that it has an unfragmented working memory.

Virtual memory has become very common for most operating systems of desktop computers available. Computers these days have 64MB or 128MB of RAM space available for CPU operations. Considering the huge demands placed by computer users on the application programs, this space is not sufficient. Also users expect all these programs to run simultaneously which is not possible with the available space. Hence the need for virtual memory.

What is Virtual Memory?
Virtual memory is a technique which tricks an application program into believing that it has a contiguous address space and unlimited working memory. While the fact is the memory may be physically fragmented or extended on to disk storage. Systems that use virtual memory are capable of executing large applications at a fast rate and use real physical memory more efficiently than those without virtual memory. Virtual memory is different from the concept of memory virtualization.

Working of a Virtual Memory
Virtual memory is an intelligent method of utilizing the computer's actual memory capacity and manipulating it using a combination of the operating system and memory hardware capabilities. It acts as a temporary storage medium in which data is stored in a file format. Since the operating system acts as the determinant, it provides quick access to the data and allows smoother operating capacity. Virtual memory works with co-ordination with RAM by storing and presenting data quickly to serve the requirements of an application program. Secondary storage device like hard disk has a large storage capacity but it provides a very slow access to the data.

How Virtual Memory is Organized?
Virtual memory is organized by either paging or segmentation. Most of the systems use page tables to translate the virtual addresses seen by application programs into physical addresses used by the processor to execute instructions. Page table maintains entries for mapping a virtual address to physical address. Systems may have a single page table for the entire system or an individual page table for every application program. Thus paging can be defined as the process of moving inactive virtual memory pages to disk and restoring them to real memory upon request. There are various algorithms to select which pages should be moved to hard disk and which should be retained.

Very few systems use the concept of segmentation for implementing virtual memory. In segmentation memory is divided in variable size segments. Segment number and an offset within the segment together form a virtual address. If a processor wants a particular data item it first looks up for its segment number in a segment table to find a segment descriptor. Segment descriptor gives information whether the offset within the segment is less than the length of the segment and if it isn't an interrupt is generated to notify that the segment is found. If the processor is unable to find the segment in the main memory it generates a hardware interrupt prompting the operating system to swap in the segment. The operating system then searches for the segments that were not in use for a long time and swaps them out of main memory in order to make space for the new segments to be read in.

How to Increase Virtual Memory?
Here is a step by step instruction set to increase the virtual memory of your computer. (For Windows XP):

• Click the menu start, then click control panel
• Select performance and maintenance, under that click system
• Click settings on the advanced tab under performance
• On the advanced tab under virtual memory, click change
• Under rrive [volume label], select the drive that contains the paging file that you wish to change
• Under paging file size for selected drive, click on the check box, custom size
• You can choose the amount of memory you wish to reserve for virtual memory by entering the initial and maximum size
• Click set
• Restart the computer when prompted

If you find your computer running slow then increasing virtual memory won't help, it might be just the result of ' thrashing'. Shuffling blocks of virtual memory between real memory and disks consumes most of computer's time, thus causing thrashing. Though well-designed application programs may help to solve this problem to a certain extent, the ultimate cure is to install more real memory.

By Florentyna K

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Best Motherboard for Gaming

Are you a hardcore gamer who's completely into computer games? In that case, you would surely be interested in knowing about the best motherboard for gaming. Read on to know more...

If you happen to be an avid gamer and one who spends a number of hours playing high end computer games, then you would certainly be interested in knowing about the type of hardware that best suits your gaming requirements. Of course, if the only PC games that you play happen to be Pinball or Solitaire or Minesweeper, then even an outdated, almost ancient Intel Pentium I processor will do just fine. However, if you're an action 'n' adventure freak who's totally into the likes of Need for Speed, Warcraft, Unreal, Age of Empires, Quake, Grand Theft Auto, etc. then it would be necessary for you to have a high end computer with all the required hardware support. Therefore, on that note, let us have a look at who the candidates are for the coveted title of 'best motherboard for gaming'.

Best Motherboards for Gaming PCs

Before we have a look at some individual computer motherboards, let us first get to know the preferred criteria i.e. the hardware requirements that the best motherboard for gaming should have.

• Processor Compatibility: The CPU is the main workhorse of your computer and the component that is responsible for performing all the processing operations. A gaming PC will typically require a very fast and powerful CPU. At the same time, compatibility of the motherboard with the CPU is something that is extremely important.
• RAM Slots: Gaming PCs have high RAM requirements. The motherboard should have a minimum of 4 RAM slots and should be compatible with DDR2 RAM chips having a speed of approximately 1100 MHz.
• Graphics Card: Video memory or graphics memory is integral to high end computer games which rely heavily on graphics and visuals. Usually, regular motherboards have between 64MB to 128MB of inbuilt i.e. shared video memory. However, most high end games will require you to have a video memory capacity of 256MB to 512MB. In such situations, you would require an additional graphics card which of course, should be compatible with the motherboard.
• PCI Slots and USB Ports:These are also important aspects which play a significant role in high end gaming. The motherboard should have a sufficient number of both and an ideal minimum figure would be 6 for the USB ports and 2 for the PCI slots.

Now that we have established the main criteria for selecting the best motherboard for gaming PC, let us have a look at a few motherboard models which fit the bill. You can also read more on how to choose a motherboard.

Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H
This newest release by Gigabyte is a dream come true for hardcore gaming enthusiasts. Built to be compatible with a number of AMD processors, this motherboard has a maximum RAM capacity of up to 4GB (32-bit) and 16GB(64-bit). With 4 memory slots, 2 PCI slots, 12 USB ports and an on-board ATI Radeon HD 4200 video card to take care of the graphics department, this motherboard is definitely a must buy for gamers.

Asus M4N78 PRO
This motherboard too supports a wide range of AMD processors such as the AMD Athlon, Athlon X2, Sempron, Phenom II, Phenom X3 and Phenom X4. This motherboard too is capable of supporting a maximum of 4GB RAM (32-bit) and 16GB RAM (64-bit). It has 3 PCI slots, 12 USB ports, 2 PCI Express X1 slots and an NVIDIA GeForce 8300 chip taking care of the graphics requirements. With a price tag of under a hundred dollars, it surely is value for money!

Intel DX58SO
One of the newest releases by Intel, the DX58SO is also loaded with quite a few features that would particularly please gamers. Four DDR3 SDRAM slots are one of the first things which will catch your attention. The motherboard provides support for up to 16GB of RAM in total. Video memory is handled by two graphic cards, namely an Nvidia SLI series card and an ATI CrossFire counterpart. In addition to that, there are 12 USB ports, 6 Serial ATA 3.0 GB/s ports, 2 IEEE-1394a ports and other regular expansion slots.

Asus P7P55D
This new motherboard by Asus is meant to provide stiff competition to the likes of Intel, Gigabyte and other manufacturers. A whopping 14 USB ports means that you never have to worry about connecting a large number of peripheral devices ever again. There are four DD3 DIMM RAM slots which ensure that speed will not be an issue. Its user-friendly design is a plus point which makes sure that adding or removing hardware components is completely hassle-free.

EVGA nForce 680i SLI
This motherboard is primarily modeled on the Nvidia 680i SLI chipset and is compatible with a series of Intel processors such as the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme, Pentium EE and others. There are four DDR2 DIMM RAM slots which offer a total RAM capacity of 8GB. 10 USB ports, 2 PCI slots and fair number of other expansion slots make it a good option for the serious gamer and it can surely be considered as a good motherboard for gaming, if not a great one.

This was a short overview on gaming motherboards for desktop computers. Since each gamer's hardware and performance requirements are different from the other, labeling a particular motherboard to be the 'best motherboard for gaming' is a bit inappropriate. However, with a few ones having been shortlisted above, you can try them out and then decide which one of them happens to be the best.

By Tintin

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Best Motherboard for i7

By attaching the best motherboard for i7 in your computer you can get the best performance possible. This high end processor by Intel certainly requires the very best motherboard that money can buy.

Anyone who is interested in computer assembling will be interested in learning all about the best motherboard for i7, for a variety of purposes. This computer processor by Intel is one of the latest offerings by them, and it is especially useful for people who are interested in carrying out heavy duty gaming on their machine.

The computer motherboard is also known as the Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and this is the component that runs the entire machine. The various components of the motherboard include the computer processor, the computer memory card, the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), and many other Input/Output devices. In short, the motherboard is the hub of a computer.

Most people carry out computer buying from a computer store and get pre-assembled machines for themselves. But there are certain people who prefer to buy computer hardware from assorted sources and then assemble the machine for themselves. The information about the best motherboard for i7 is useful for those people.

More on the i7 Processor

The Core i7 brand of Intel processors are considered to be the best 64 bit processors on offer by Intel. They have been designed to service the high end of the consumer market, and they are developed with the Nehalem, Westmere and Sandy Bridge microarchitecture. This processor has found a firm spot in the business market as well, and this is also why this is a premium computer processor for your machine, and it is also an integral part of the best gaming motherboard for the money.

These processors started selling in November 2008, and the best processor available in this line is the Core i7-980X processor. This is a great processor for people who are very fond of using their desktop computer or laptop computer for gaming purposes. Most high end gaming laptops also come pre-assembled with this processor inside.

Best Motherboard for i7

All of these choices qualify as the best i7 motherboard for gaming, and even for other heavy purposes. You can improve their utility by attaching more advanced graphics cards and memory cards and other computer motherboard parts to the motherboard as well.

EVGA 170-BL-E762
Many consider this the best i7 motherboard 2010, since it is a great combination of looks and power. With this motherboard, you get 7 PCI Express card slots, support for 24GB of DDR3 RAM, 4-way NVIDIA SLI configurations, and excellent support for the best graphics card that money can buy. The only downside is that there is no SATA 6GB/s. You can also look at EVGA E758-TR and the EVGA E758-A1. Learning about the various computer motherboard types will also be extremely useful for you.

Price: $450

ASUS P6X58D
Many people also consider this to be the best motherboard for i7, because it offers everything that the above mentioned motherboard does not. With this piece from Asus you can get SATA 6GB/s and you can also get USB 3.0 support. This also supports 24GB of DDR3 RAM, but it only has 3 PCI Express card slots. You can also look out for Asus P6T Deluxe V2, Asus Rampage III extreme and Asus Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366. Asus is certainly one of the best motherboard brands around today.

Price: $350

ASRock X58 Extreme
This is not a very famous brand as far as the best motherboard 2010 choices are concerned, but this particular model certainly suits gamers all around the world. Moreover, it is cheaper in comparison with the above mentioned models. You get 24GB of DDR3 RAM, a designated ESATA port, 6 USB ports, 6 SATA ports, and most importantly, support for both NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire.

Price: $150

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5
This is a pretty advanced motherboard as well, and it is many people's motherboard of choice. It offers decent performance, though it does not have anything special and unique about it as such. It has 2 PCI Express card slots, support for 24GB of DDR3 RAM and it also supports triple channel mode. You can also check out the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R.

Price: $300

With so many great choices to pick from, it should not be a very difficult task to find the best motherboard for i7. Referring to some comparisons on AMD Phenom II vs Intel i7, Core i5 Vs Core i7 and Intel Core i3 Vs i5 Vs i7 will also be helpful for you. You can use these motherboards for a variety of purposes, and all the specifications mentioned here will also help you future-proof your machine for the next three to five years.

By Rahul Thadani

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