ok for gaming .. if your an extremest like me ..(been online gaming for over 9 years) ...
CPU... AMD 64 bit amd 53fx series,
Main board... Azus, MSI are top line boards,,, soyo? i had 2 burn out in 6 mos.. i stay clear of them my self ....
HDD... any ultra 320 scsi . try to get a lower seek time (seek time includes head settling time)3.2 ms is about the fastest you will find. try to stay away from 33 66 or 100 ata hdds they are slower and are all but phased out ...133 ultra ata is the slowest i would try to run ..
Video card.... nividia fx5950 ultra 256 meg is the minimum i would go with ..me id go with a nividia 6800 ultra..it smokes ...but the price is hefty ...
Power supply .. 400 watts or better ..the more power the better.. as new hardware devices come out . they require more power .. it is better to have ample power to meet all the hardwares needs ..ive seen many smokin pcs that only ran fair because of inadequate power ...or just wouldnt run at all after hooking up that new toy...
Monitor.. while clairity is a must. remember performance is a gamers quest.. rise and fall times are the main #''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s you need to watch ...
Sound card ...while sound cards dont really impact a pc''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s gaming performance, it is nice to have good sound.
besides it helps if you can hear the enemy snecking up behind you
ON Board Video and Sound ... stay away from these .. you can buy a main board with them but dont use onboard sound or video. onboard sound and video share your pc''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s ram and cpu, taking away from its performance... sound and video CARDS have built in ram and GPU''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s(graphics processing units),Spu''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s(Sound processing units)*for the lack of a better word*...these cards add to the pcs performance, not detract from it .
Case.. not much to say here .. but make sure it has plenty of fans. heat is a pc''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s worst enemy (well that and kids with sodas).. a pc that is under cooled will eat up hardware fast as heck. 8 out of 10 pc''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s i see in my shop heat is the main factor for hardware failure..
a word of advise.....Clean .. clean .. clean .. open case and blow out all fans and power supply and heat sinks. i get some in that havent been blown out since they were bought... the dust and dirt traps heat and jams fans (can you say bye bye cpu?) ....... a sugestion....look for case with removeable air filters... i added filters to the intake fans on my pc. it helped keep the dust out of the fans, and off the components... try liquid cooled case if available... ( man im glad i didnt have much to say on this subject)
OS.. 2000 pro/XP. either will work fine.. xp has a little better networking capabilities but is more the resource hog ... i will post a link to a site describeing what services you can disable to free up resources.on both XP and 200 pro..
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