Category Archives: Gaming PCs
Xbox Games For Online Gaming That Mom And Dad Should Know About
Xbox Games For Online Gaming That Mom And Dad Should Know About
If your kid has an Xbox and they play online you will often here them either yelling at the TV or talking to you about how awesome it is. You will often see your kid wanting to play role playing games or shooting games because they like the action and shooting. If you love to play Halo then you will love to play that type of game online. Your kid probably already plays it and that’s what he has been trying to tell you forever.
If you have a computer and an internet connection you can play any online game as long as you have a subscription so you can make an account. I play Counterstrike and I love it. You just get online and start playing with your friends from the game. You will make friends fast online if you play a decent amount. The more you play the better you will get. Most kids that play computer games on the internet play the most insane hours that you will ever hear. Kids somehow find a way to play more then 50 hours a week. It is in the stats on Counterstrike if you were to look.
The other type of activities that you might find your students or kids playing is the flash games on the internet. While at school I used to play the flash games after I did my work because I had a computer class and I had computers in some of my other classes. We would get online and look for some that were fun until school was out and we could go get on the real servers and play real online games.
If you have an Xbox or a Sony Play Station then you probably already know about online gaming. All you do is sign up for the service and you play the types that are online enabled. Most online games are like Gears of War and Halo 3. You can also find shooter types like Call of Duty I think they actually just came out with a new Call of Duty called Modern Warfare. I heard it was a good one but I am not sure if it is online enabled. Although I am pretty sure that you play it on the net because most of these games you can play online. They are pretty fun you usually just go out and start shooting up the other team. There are role playing games and such like that but they don’t tend to make them for internet play although they do have a few of them I think like Final Fantasy and games like those. I am not really into the whole anime theme like the fable games and stuff; online gaming is for shooters in my opinion.
Technology Bites Man Again
Technology Bites Man Again
If entrepreneurs didn’t know by now that Technology was taking over the business world, now it’s encroaching on the gambling casinos. We can’t even escape it on our trips to Las Vegas.
RADIO-FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION is headed for Vegas. Casino chips embedded with RFID tags and are being tested at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and will be displayed this month at the new .7 billion Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino.
The chips will each be given a unique player code to track behavior and possibly get more revenue out of high rollers. It’s estimated that this could be a 0 million business by the year 2010.
There are two Vegas based companies that own the casino-RFID game: Progressive Gaming International and Shuffle Master.
Progressive’s TableLink, which reads RFID chips using table-embedded antennas and records the wagers on a dealer’s PC, is the system of choice at the two casinos. Progressive and Shuffle Master have also developed optical card shoes, which holds decks and scan cards as they’re dealt. Shuffle Master’s Intelligent Shoe is already getting rave reviews in Australia and Asia.
The cost of outfitting a table with the chips and antennas costs a casino about ,000, but analysts predict that Progressive will score bigger bucks from the per day per table it charges for its system.
One RFID chip costs a casino 40 cents more than a standard chip, but that margin will drop to about 10 cents in the coming months.
This is certainly a “technology leap” from the “eye in the sky” that we all knew about in the casinos, but I don’t think that even George Orwell would have thought of these chips.
Those of us who used the games in Vegas casinos to escape our computers and software programs, seem destined to be followed by technology no matter where we go.
Somehow Radio-Frequency Identification in poker/gaming chips just doesn’t seem to be what a good poker player expects. Oh well, technology marches on…and on….and on.
Choosing The Right Graphics Card – A Buyers Guide
Choosing The Right Graphics Card – A Buyers Guide
Graphics Cards – Finding the One That Fits Your Needs
If you are a serious gamer or graphics designer, you know how important having a good video or graphics card is. For those that don’t know, your video card or graphics card is what renders the images to your computer. If you are upgrading or building your own computer, considering what your graphics needs are going to be will definitely determine the type of card you get. Graphic cards come in a variety of ranges from the normal every day graphic cards used for rendering basic windows applications, movies and the internet to cards that can make the most out of the biggest and most graphic intensive games out there.
Often times, the software program you are considering will tell you the type of graphics cards which work best with it. You also want to consider having a graphics card that is going to be able to adjust and handle newer games and better graphics as they come along. Graphics cards can be rather expensive depending on what you are looking at. Especially for gaming computers, you don’t want to have to continually purchase new cards every time a new game you want to play comes out.
Some of the more intensive graphics cards also come with their own cooling systems. Usually, the cooling system consists of an onboard fan attached to the card used to keep the card processing at the appropriate temperature. Just like with any other computer part, a graphics card can overheat if it is attempting to process data quickly. Having a cooling system on board will make sure that your card stays in top performance. Many of the better graphics cards also come with their own on board memory so they don’t take away from the computers ram. There are some memory cards that can come with as much ram as some computers.
The chip is also an important consideration there are two main companies that produce the chips necessary for graphics cards that is NVIDIA and ATI.
Choosing the graphics card that is right for you can be a daunting task for someone that doesn’t know much about computers or graphics cards. The best places to look are review sites or check with your local computer stores and see what they recommend for the type of work you are going to be doing with your computers. If you are a serious gamer, remember to pay attention to your chip, the onboard memory and whether or not your graphics card has an onboard cooling system. Also remember to make sure that the graphics card you pick is compatible with your computer and operating system.
Now that you have the basics on choosing your next or first graphics card , you might want to check out some of these top manufacturers MSI, SPARKLE and POWERCOLOR.
You Don’t Have To Be Rich To Be A PC Gamer
You Don’t Have To Be Rich To Be A PC Gamer
There is a common misconception that you have to take out a second mortgage on your house if you want to get a computer that will run all of the latest and greatest games. I don’t know who started the rumor that you need to spend 00 to get a gaming computer. The truth is, if you are smart about it, you can easily afford to get a high-end gaming computer. Here are a few simple rules to follow to put a gaming computer within reach.
Rule 1. Never buy the newest technology.
I know we all want to be the guy or girl with the newest toy, but you will never be able to keep up with technology. That top-of-the-line graphics card that came out today will be old news in just a couple of months and a new one will be released that is “so much better”. Guess what happens to the price of the new graphics card you just broke the bank on? It dropped by about 50%. If you would have just been patient you could have purchased it for a fraction of the cost.
Rule 2. You only have to keep up with the software.
Rule 2 closely correlates to Rule 1. It usually takes software companies two years, give or take, to develop a new game. During this time there are new technology breakthroughs. If they went back and re-engineered the game every time a new processor or a new graphics card came out, the game would never be released. Another important factor is that they want the game to be available to the largest number of consumers. For this reason they do their best to make sure the game can be played on a wide variety of systems. Check out the system requirements for some of the more popular games. A 1.8GHz processor and a Direct X 9 compatible graphics card will run just about everything out there. Granted you might have to turn some of the settings down but it will run it.
Once you reach a certain point the added performance of the new technology is noticeable. For example, the Athlon 64 chip has been out for more than a year, yet there are very few applications that require a 64 bit processor. If you check out benchmarks on the new PCI Express graphics cards you will see that they are running games at 300+ frames per second. When you watch a movie it runs at roughly 60 frames per second. A game will still run relatively smoothly at 20 frames per second. Basically anything over 60 frames per second likely will not be perceived while playing the game. You will only see the difference in your benchmark programs.
Rule 3. Build Your Own Computer
This is important for two reasons. First, you can be assured of better quality components when you pick everything out on your own. When you buy an off-the-shelf system, chances are you are getting a big name CPU and everything else is most likely generic. Do you know what motherboard, power supply, or type of RAM you are getting? This of course, is my personal opinion, I’m not saying every manufacturer builds sub standard machines, but from experience I’ve had greater longevity from the computers I’ve built myself. I’ve also noticed that you will often get little system memory, unless you pay a great deal more for it. You will often get 256MB of RAM with these base system. Windows XP will run, but likely with problems, on 256MB of RAM. It seems to be the most stable with 512MB or more. Other areas they cut costs is by using integrated graphics chips. This saves them having to put in a graphics card, but you will pay the price for it when you try to play a game.
The second reason to build your own computer is that you can cut your costs by stealing parts from your old computer. You can save hundreds of dollars by reusing the drives, case, monitor, keyboard and mouse. Plus, you don’t have to worry about calling a technician to install RAM or a new graphics card because you’ll already know how to do it.
How Much Can You Build A Computer For?
I just checked out some pricing and you can build a very nice midrange gaming computer for around 0-0 using an AMD Athlon 64 3000+. If you can steal a DVD drive from your old computer and maybe the case, you can bring the cost down even more. You can build a high-end machine for under 00. The internet is full of useful websites about how to build computers. Look around and you’ll find all the information you need. There are several books published about the topic as well. If you follow these simple rules and do a little research you can enjoy all of the best computer games even if you are on a shoestring budget.
How the Mini-ITX Form Factor Is Changing How Your Computer Looks
How the Mini-ITX Form Factor Is Changing How Your Computer Looks
Until just recently, consumers have been forced into buying desktop computers that have very little variation from model to model. I’ll be the first to admit that some of the better manufacturers are doing a great job of making the boring old “box” look very nice, but there are not many of them. Typically these “out of the ordinary” computers systems are reserved for hi-end gaming machines that start around ,000.00. Why don’t we have computers that don’t look like computers? Wouldn’t it be great to have a computer that fit into your home without looking like a computer, or better yet one that you don’t have to hide under a desk or in cabinet? The answer to that question is simple. Size. The sizes of the components that are in a desktop computer are just too big to allow for any alternatives to the “box”. That is until now……
Over the past few years a new size mainboard has been on the rise in the computer industry. The Mini-ITX form factor motherboard is just 6 inches square. Just for reference, a dollar bill is about 6 inches long. That is amazing! The Mini-ITX mainboards began utilizing the VIA processors. For most home users, this processor just wouldn’t cut it against a Pentium-based system. The industry obviously became aware of this bottleneck and soon began producing the Mini-ITX mainboards that support the Intel Pentium 4 processors.
At 6 inches square, the possibilities for new and unusual spins on the old “box” are being realized worldwide. One of the main uses for these mainboards is in car computers. That’s right; computer systems that mount inside of automobiles are already being manufactured and sold. Most utilize touch screen technology for ease of use (because you would have a hard time with a mouse in your car!).
You can also find a desktop computer that will actually fit in the palm of your hand! This particular model can be found at www.cappucinopc.com. This site is what sparked my interest in this relatively new technology.
After pondering the possibilities, my two neighbors and I decided to create our own “out of the ordinary” desktop computer. After about a year and endless tests and designing, we now have the “Compucar”. The Compucar is a desktop computer that looks like a car. We utilize a Mini-ITX mainboard and a patented chassis design to create something you can only find in O’Fallon Missouri. We are currently found on the web at www.compucarllc.com. This started out as a challenge to create something different utilizing new and emerging technology and ended up becoming a very unique business venture.
I believe that over the next few years, you will begin to see very “different” looking desktop computers. I just wonder how long it will take the big companies to start becoming a bit more creative.