Authored by Kumara Velu in Computer Hardware
Published on 02-11-2009
When choosing a computer for gaming, you should focus on the processor speed, the RAM capacity and the graphics card. If you understand how these three components are crucial to enhancing your gaming experience, you can successfully start building your own gaming machine.
If you’re building a gaming machine from scratch, consider acquiring the fastest processor your budget would allow – a duo core processor would usually do fine. If your processor is not fast enough, you may experience lags when you’re playing complex games.
As for RAM, it hardly needs mentioning. A minimum of 2GB should put you on the safe zone. But then you’ll have to check out the system requirements of your favourite game packages to determine if you need anything extra.
You can’t just buy a low-end VGA card to enjoy a unique gaming experience. You would need the best graphic acceleration available to suit your budget and gaming needs. Don’t also forget your sound card. You would have to cross the entry-level threshold for this as well.
If you’re not sure about building a gaming PC, you could opt for a pre-configured PC that could do the job equally well for you.
Alienware Area 51 7500
A unit that could suit your needs is the Alienware Area 51 7500. For processor speed you get a cool Intel Core 2 Duo (E8400) running at 3GHz. This should take care of the most CPU-intensive of games.
As for RAM you’ll have more than enough with 4GB of it. The motherboard comes with four slots for RAM and each slot comes filled with 1GB RAM. With this much of RAM available, you may want to try your luck multi-tasking. One thing is certain – 4GB of RAM means you’re building a gaming machine for the future.
You also get a dual (two graphics-processing chips) 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 9 card to handle fast-paced games with excellent 3-D support and lag-free performance. To complete a unique gaming experience, the sound card supports high definition 7.1 surround sound. So, get ready to rev up your speakers.
Gateway FX 540S
If your budget doesn’t allow you to consider Alienware, then you could look at Gateway’s FX 540S. It comes with Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600, running at 2.4 GHz. That should be enough for you to play such demanding games as World of Warcraft and Lineage, among others. RAM comes at 3GB which should allow you to multi-task depending on the type of game you run.
Graphics will certainly impress with NVIDIA’s GeForce 8600GS with GPU RAM of 256 MB with Dual DVI out and TV output. Also thrown in are a card reader, DVD burner and ten USB ports. There are also three Firewire ports in case you need to hook up your digital video camera or external hard drives.
