Jakalwarrior
06-04-2008, 01:13 PM
*disclaimer* If you are a computer nerf, stop reading now. It will be like reading a cat in the hat book.
*disclaimer II* I started out trying to make a simple guide but wrote a wall of text. Sorry :( I am an INTJ. Please feel free to inform me of glaring grammar errors or any factual errors. I can't really proof read on this tiny monitor I have at work.
Consoles - What are consoles?
Consoles are little computers with hardware that is made for gaming minus all of the frills that go with a computer. They have games that are made to be dummy proof. Put it in and play. They are also cheaper since they are specialized for gaming. The major downside is that their internals are not upgradeable. You buy them as a complete unit. Consoles typically come with midrange to upper-midrange hardware when they are created but they are quickly surpassed by computers. They are pretty much outdated before they come out. If you don't feel you need to be cutting edge, and have zero computer knowledge, these may be the best option for you if you wish to avoid frustration. Getting a gaming computer without overpaying is going to require some learning.
Gaming on a Computer - Important parts for gaming that you NEED to look for when buying a computer
Video Card
This part is the most important. It decides what games you can run, and how good they are going to look. The other parts of the computer mostly just need to be good enough to feed this part when you are gaming. If you are thinking of playing games on a computer you HAVE to make sure this part is up to par. Nvidia and AMD/ATI are the only companies that make video cards capable of gaming. Intel is currently spending tons of money trying to get into the game (pun intended) also, so that may change soon. Most store bought desktops come with the cheapest graphics card they could find and getting a laptop with a good video card is like pulling teeth. As a rule of thumb, if a computer has a decent video card in it, it will be advertised on it, model number included. If they only say what brand it is, it is probably a very low end model made for watching DVDs and reading your email.
What do the model numbers mean?
First Number tells you how old it is but it isn't really consistent. For instance I have an old ATI 9800, and a new 2900. They started over at 1XXX a while back. Figuring this one out is going to take a bit of common sense but in general higher numbers are newer. Naming conventions are changed often though.
Second number is the one that really matters. This one is the model. Both ATI and Nvidia stick to a bit of a convention here. 9 - 8 is top end. They usually start top end 8, then revise it later with a 9 thats a bit faster and costs more. 7 is uncommon but generally its mid-range. 6 is solid midrange gaming cards. 5 and bellow are not meant for gaming. They are rarely more than 25% as fast as a 6 series.
Other numbers other numbers after the first two are just fluff or to differentiate two very close models. XX50 might be faster than XX00 by a tiny bit. An exception is a card with "X2" after its name, the X not being a variable this time (9800GX2 and 3870 X2 are the only models currently made like this). That means that card has two video cards crammed into it. They run in a mode that allows them to combine their performance and be about 0-80% (varies by game) faster than a single card of the same type would be. These cards generally cost a lot and use a lot of power (see Power Supply section). I am going to leave SLI / Xfire and other such dual card setups out of this discussion though since I am mostly focusing on prebuilts. If you are building your own multi-card system you should already know what you are doing.
Bottom line
What I want people to understand here is that a bigger number isn't better. A 6800, can be faster than an 8400. 8400 looks like a bigger number but the 6800 is an older high end gaming card and the 8400 is a newer non gaming card.
RAM
For your gaming needs, you just need to have enough. Now days 2gb is about how much a gaming computer needs. Having more ram than you need will not make you faster, it will only mean you are prepared for future games. Ram also has different speeds ranging from 400 - 1066mhz (DDR2). DDR800 is probably the best bet for either AMD or Intel though. Faster RAM makes more difference in an AMD system than an Intel though, so dont fret too bad if your intel has something like 533 in it.
The only other important thing for ram is to run it in pairs. If you are upgrading or building, make sure you buy a matched pair and try to run exactly 2 sticks if possible, especially in an AMD system. For example, if you want 2 gigs of ram, buy a 2 gig kit that has two 1 gigabyte sticks in it.
What is this more expensive faster ram I see? If the ram is EPP or SLI certified, and you have a matching EPP or SLI enabled board, that ram will run at the rated speeds (dummy proofing they came up with to sell more). Otherwise it is ram that was hand picked and tested to run at the speeds they specify. Actually setting it to run at those speeds is entirely up to you, assuming your motherboard even allows modifications of those settings and is able to handle them. If it isn't the dummy proof kind, and you no squat about ram timings, just stay away from it. It may run at tigher (faster) latencies for you if they bothered to program them over old SPD table, but even that isnt guaranteed to happen automatically.
CPU
Your CPU, along with a little help from the speed RAM, sets the upper limit on your FPS (Smoothness). If your Video card were a car, the CPU would be the road. A really fast car does you no good on a pot-hole infested dirt road. A good video card with a slow processor would make your game jerky. It isn't quite that simple though since some games need more processing power than others. In general though, a midrange processor is enough for gaming since that will set the upper FPS limit above what the video card is capable of OR beyond what already feels smooth.
Monitor
Since this is what you are staring at and playing the game on, its obviously pretty important. Pick a monitor that has a fast enough response time so it won't ghost. Higher resolutions means games will have more detail, but that also requires more video card power to handle. High contrast ratio means that darks are darker, which can be important for games in dark settings. A low contrast ratio may mean everything just sorta blends together in a dark scene when it would look clear and range from pitch black to grayish on a better screen. A screen that has "Dynamic Contrast" is artifically inflated though. They turn down the backlight in some situations to try to get darker colors. Most people disable this annoying feature. Also worth noting is that you can use TVs as monitors. Heck, you could even get a wireless controller or mouse + keyboard so you can sit on your couch and game like a console.
Everything below this line is only for people who would be building from scratch or upgrading.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Motherboard
A motherboad is what all of your other parts plug in to, so if you are buying a new one make sure everything is supported!. You want a reliable model made from quality parts. It needs to have the right ports, enough of them, and in the right places. It also needs to fit your case!. If a motherboard meets those requirements then it is good enough for you. The very expensive models are geared towards overclockers who are going to want tons of extra bios settings and even higher quality parts that can go beyond stock specifications. If you don't overclock, you won't gain any benefit from those more expensive boards.
Power Supply
You better make sure you have enough juice for all of your parts or you may lose em! Pick a power supply with enough wattage, and enough amps on the 12 volt lines to support your entire setup. Generally 500 watts is enough with room to spare for a computer with a single video card and for a lot of dual card setups also. You need some room to spare though, power supplies aren't really made to last very long at their peak output. That is just a fancy number they slap on the box. They also get weaker as they get older or hotter so you want to always err on the side of overkill.
Another problem is that cheap power supplies are often rated much higher than they are capable of putting out. You may find a 20 dollar 500watt no name PSU (power supply) on ebay and have it blow up at 250watts.
After youve found a quality PSU make sure it has the right plugs and connections for all of your parts and you are good to go. The only other meaningful rating is the efficency. More efficency will make your electric bill lower each month ;)
Cooling, and putting it all together I will leave to you guys to research elsewhere. My goal was only to explain parts that are important when you want a computer for gaming.
*disclaimer II* I started out trying to make a simple guide but wrote a wall of text. Sorry :( I am an INTJ. Please feel free to inform me of glaring grammar errors or any factual errors. I can't really proof read on this tiny monitor I have at work.
Consoles - What are consoles?
Consoles are little computers with hardware that is made for gaming minus all of the frills that go with a computer. They have games that are made to be dummy proof. Put it in and play. They are also cheaper since they are specialized for gaming. The major downside is that their internals are not upgradeable. You buy them as a complete unit. Consoles typically come with midrange to upper-midrange hardware when they are created but they are quickly surpassed by computers. They are pretty much outdated before they come out. If you don't feel you need to be cutting edge, and have zero computer knowledge, these may be the best option for you if you wish to avoid frustration. Getting a gaming computer without overpaying is going to require some learning.
Gaming on a Computer - Important parts for gaming that you NEED to look for when buying a computer
Video Card
This part is the most important. It decides what games you can run, and how good they are going to look. The other parts of the computer mostly just need to be good enough to feed this part when you are gaming. If you are thinking of playing games on a computer you HAVE to make sure this part is up to par. Nvidia and AMD/ATI are the only companies that make video cards capable of gaming. Intel is currently spending tons of money trying to get into the game (pun intended) also, so that may change soon. Most store bought desktops come with the cheapest graphics card they could find and getting a laptop with a good video card is like pulling teeth. As a rule of thumb, if a computer has a decent video card in it, it will be advertised on it, model number included. If they only say what brand it is, it is probably a very low end model made for watching DVDs and reading your email.
What do the model numbers mean?
First Number tells you how old it is but it isn't really consistent. For instance I have an old ATI 9800, and a new 2900. They started over at 1XXX a while back. Figuring this one out is going to take a bit of common sense but in general higher numbers are newer. Naming conventions are changed often though.
Second number is the one that really matters. This one is the model. Both ATI and Nvidia stick to a bit of a convention here. 9 - 8 is top end. They usually start top end 8, then revise it later with a 9 thats a bit faster and costs more. 7 is uncommon but generally its mid-range. 6 is solid midrange gaming cards. 5 and bellow are not meant for gaming. They are rarely more than 25% as fast as a 6 series.
Other numbers other numbers after the first two are just fluff or to differentiate two very close models. XX50 might be faster than XX00 by a tiny bit. An exception is a card with "X2" after its name, the X not being a variable this time (9800GX2 and 3870 X2 are the only models currently made like this). That means that card has two video cards crammed into it. They run in a mode that allows them to combine their performance and be about 0-80% (varies by game) faster than a single card of the same type would be. These cards generally cost a lot and use a lot of power (see Power Supply section). I am going to leave SLI / Xfire and other such dual card setups out of this discussion though since I am mostly focusing on prebuilts. If you are building your own multi-card system you should already know what you are doing.
Bottom line
What I want people to understand here is that a bigger number isn't better. A 6800, can be faster than an 8400. 8400 looks like a bigger number but the 6800 is an older high end gaming card and the 8400 is a newer non gaming card.
RAM
For your gaming needs, you just need to have enough. Now days 2gb is about how much a gaming computer needs. Having more ram than you need will not make you faster, it will only mean you are prepared for future games. Ram also has different speeds ranging from 400 - 1066mhz (DDR2). DDR800 is probably the best bet for either AMD or Intel though. Faster RAM makes more difference in an AMD system than an Intel though, so dont fret too bad if your intel has something like 533 in it.
The only other important thing for ram is to run it in pairs. If you are upgrading or building, make sure you buy a matched pair and try to run exactly 2 sticks if possible, especially in an AMD system. For example, if you want 2 gigs of ram, buy a 2 gig kit that has two 1 gigabyte sticks in it.
What is this more expensive faster ram I see? If the ram is EPP or SLI certified, and you have a matching EPP or SLI enabled board, that ram will run at the rated speeds (dummy proofing they came up with to sell more). Otherwise it is ram that was hand picked and tested to run at the speeds they specify. Actually setting it to run at those speeds is entirely up to you, assuming your motherboard even allows modifications of those settings and is able to handle them. If it isn't the dummy proof kind, and you no squat about ram timings, just stay away from it. It may run at tigher (faster) latencies for you if they bothered to program them over old SPD table, but even that isnt guaranteed to happen automatically.
CPU
Your CPU, along with a little help from the speed RAM, sets the upper limit on your FPS (Smoothness). If your Video card were a car, the CPU would be the road. A really fast car does you no good on a pot-hole infested dirt road. A good video card with a slow processor would make your game jerky. It isn't quite that simple though since some games need more processing power than others. In general though, a midrange processor is enough for gaming since that will set the upper FPS limit above what the video card is capable of OR beyond what already feels smooth.
Monitor
Since this is what you are staring at and playing the game on, its obviously pretty important. Pick a monitor that has a fast enough response time so it won't ghost. Higher resolutions means games will have more detail, but that also requires more video card power to handle. High contrast ratio means that darks are darker, which can be important for games in dark settings. A low contrast ratio may mean everything just sorta blends together in a dark scene when it would look clear and range from pitch black to grayish on a better screen. A screen that has "Dynamic Contrast" is artifically inflated though. They turn down the backlight in some situations to try to get darker colors. Most people disable this annoying feature. Also worth noting is that you can use TVs as monitors. Heck, you could even get a wireless controller or mouse + keyboard so you can sit on your couch and game like a console.
Everything below this line is only for people who would be building from scratch or upgrading.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Motherboard
A motherboad is what all of your other parts plug in to, so if you are buying a new one make sure everything is supported!. You want a reliable model made from quality parts. It needs to have the right ports, enough of them, and in the right places. It also needs to fit your case!. If a motherboard meets those requirements then it is good enough for you. The very expensive models are geared towards overclockers who are going to want tons of extra bios settings and even higher quality parts that can go beyond stock specifications. If you don't overclock, you won't gain any benefit from those more expensive boards.
Power Supply
You better make sure you have enough juice for all of your parts or you may lose em! Pick a power supply with enough wattage, and enough amps on the 12 volt lines to support your entire setup. Generally 500 watts is enough with room to spare for a computer with a single video card and for a lot of dual card setups also. You need some room to spare though, power supplies aren't really made to last very long at their peak output. That is just a fancy number they slap on the box. They also get weaker as they get older or hotter so you want to always err on the side of overkill.
Another problem is that cheap power supplies are often rated much higher than they are capable of putting out. You may find a 20 dollar 500watt no name PSU (power supply) on ebay and have it blow up at 250watts.
After youve found a quality PSU make sure it has the right plugs and connections for all of your parts and you are good to go. The only other meaningful rating is the efficency. More efficency will make your electric bill lower each month ;)
Cooling, and putting it all together I will leave to you guys to research elsewhere. My goal was only to explain parts that are important when you want a computer for gaming.