This Static Spot is open for sponsor

Click Here to Sponsor MCT Eric Post in Full Page

Afrikaans Afrikaans Albanian Albanian Amharic Amharic Arabic Arabic Armenian Armenian Azerbaijani Azerbaijani Basque Basque Belarusian Belarusian Bengali Bengali Bosnian Bosnian Bulgarian Bulgarian Catalan Catalan Cebuano Cebuano Chichewa Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Corsican Croatian Croatian Czech Czech Danish Danish Dutch Dutch English English Esperanto Esperanto Estonian Estonian Filipino Filipino Finnish Finnish French French Frisian Frisian Galician Galician Georgian Georgian German German Greek Greek Gujarati Gujarati Haitian Creole Haitian Creole Hausa Hausa Hawaiian Hawaiian Hebrew Hebrew Hindi Hindi Hmong Hmong Hungarian Hungarian Icelandic Icelandic Igbo Igbo Indonesian Indonesian Irish Irish Italian Italian Japanese Japanese Javanese Javanese Kannada Kannada Kazakh Kazakh Khmer Khmer Korean Korean Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kyrgyz Kyrgyz Lao Lao Latin Latin Latvian Latvian Lithuanian Lithuanian Luxembourgish Luxembourgish Macedonian Macedonian Malagasy Malagasy Malay Malay Malayalam Malayalam Maltese Maltese Maori Maori Marathi Marathi Mongolian Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Nepali Norwegian Norwegian Pashto Pashto Persian Persian Polish Polish Portuguese Portuguese Punjabi Punjabi Romanian Romanian Russian Russian Samoan Samoan Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic Serbian Serbian Sesotho Sesotho Shona Shona Sindhi Sindhi Sinhala Sinhala Slovak Slovak Slovenian Slovenian Somali Somali Spanish Spanish Sundanese Sundanese Swahili Swahili Swedish Swedish Tajik Tajik Tamil Tamil Telugu Telugu Thai Thai Turkish Turkish Ukrainian Ukrainian Urdu Urdu Uzbek Uzbek Vietnamese Vietnamese Welsh Welsh Xhosa Xhosa Yiddish Yiddish Yoruba Yoruba Zulu Zulu

 

 

Article Navigation

Back To Main Page

 

Click Here for more articles
Google
You Don't Have To Be Rich To Be A PC Gamer
by: Nathan Holsing
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 $3000 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 $600-$700 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 $1000. The internet is full of useful websites about how to build computers. Look around and you'll find all the information you need. A good place to start is http://gaming-computers.net 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.
About the author:

Nathan Holsing is the editor of http://gaming-computers.neta website that provides information regarding building computers, product reviews, and hardware buying guides.


Circulated by Article Emporium

 


©2005 - All Rights Reserved

This Static Spot is open for sponsor

Internet Tips Information

Read Articles:

Build Your Own Computer or Buy?
Computer Learning Center for Kids is ...
Looking after your Computer
The ABCs Of Computer Memory
Traditional Antivirus Programs Useles...
Data-Recovery: What You Need
Advancement in Computer Technology
Network Security 101
Are They Watching You Online?
Crash Course In Getting A #1 Google R...
Understanding the Components of a Hom...
Registry Cleaners: Why do you need one?
Spyware Programs Are Out To Get You
Access Your PC From The Road
What kind of processor do you need on...
Eliminate computer viruses forever!
How To Remove Winfixer 2005 Plus Unwa...
Getting The Most Out Of A Tablet PC
Internet Security Basics 101
Guide to buying the perfect PC
How to Avoid Getting Ripped-Off Online
Computer Network Installation
Is Spyware Slowing Your Computer Down...
Spyware and Adware – Are You Protected?
Protect Your Computer And Your Person...
All About Computer Viruses
Do you need computer training?
How Spyware Blaster Can Protect Your ...
Why Hide Your IP Address?
Wireless Networks: How Do They Work?
The Complete Guide To Spotting Comput...
Understanding Spyware
Should You Upgrade Your Hardware PC?
Are You A Spam Zombie?
Five reasons to do wireless networking.
Protect your Computer and Internet Pr...
Recent studies show that 9 out of 10 ...
Your Hard Drive is Going to Explode –...
Laptops are different from desktops i...
Malware Quiz
Be Prepared Before Buying Software
Backup -- But Where To?
OS 101: Suggestions for Choosing an O...
Heres The iPod Shuffle!
Is Your Music Player Spying On You?
You Don't Have To Be Rich To Be A PC ...
Spyware Protection - The Only Way To ...
How to reduce Computer problems?
Crouching Trojan, Hidden Malware
Learn How To TroubleShoot Keyboard Pr...
Souped Up Computer Cases
The day my computer died
Shocking Facts about Updating Your PC...
What is Preventive Maintenance Softwa...

More Article Pages 1 - 2

How SMS Works
 by: Jim Sherman

SMS, or Short Message Service, is the technology behind what we often refer to as ‘text messages’ or ‘SMSes’, as well as what allows for news alerts on cellular phones. In recent years SMS has ballooned to over a 50 billion dollar industry and is quickly taking the communications world by storm.

Short Message Service actually refers to a framework that uniquely allows computers, or in this case phones, to communicate with each other without the need of a central hub. With SMS, phones can find each other, send short packets of information back and forth, and do it all without any central computer to guide them. But because the system does not rely upon fixed lines like a land based telephone system does, the amount of information that can be sent at one time is limited in size. This depends on the language spoken, but for English letters this typically means around 150 characters (Chinese and Japanese letters are limited to 70).

Quite recently, however, new developments in the technology have allowed for even longer messages to be sent. Long or Concatenated SMS is a development that allows multiple messages to be combined to form a single message. In effect, what happens is that your phone actually sends out a few smaller messages and then the receiving phone simply compiles those messages so that for users on both ends, it appears as though the message were cohesive. While there are some limitations, the brilliance behind SMS is that because there is no need for central hubs, and thus the system can be expanded indefinitely without any concerns of it slowing down or becoming more expensive.

The most common form of SMS is ‘texting’. This usually takes place with a cellular phone in which individuals use the letters behind the number pad on their phone to spell out words and phrases and then send them out. Because many companies charge by the word, individuals have come up with a sort of ‘texting slang’ to cut down on the amount of words required to convey a particular message. For example, ‘gr8’ and ‘BTW’ mean ‘great’ and ‘by the way’. In addition, other words have just been shortened, such as ‘lata’ to mean ‘later’. Most users simply pick up the lingo through frequent use, and although some slang is widely understood and used, other shortcuts are developed within circles of friends and family.

The major advantage of SMS is its price. The price is typically $0.05 per message, a significant cut below that of traditional telephony and cell phone per-minute charges. The savings of SMS has its roots in the nature of the technology. Short Message Service, like SIP, is modeled on a peer to peer model and not a cog and wheel like traditional communication systems. This means that instead of having to route a message through a central hub, your text goes straight from you to its destination. This has radically cut down on the cost of SMS implementation and led to its overwhelming popularity throughout the world.

Short Message Service (SMS) has radically changed the face of the communications industry. While the practice has become quite common throughout the world, it has only recently become popular here in the United Stats, a growth partly predicated upon, surprisingly enough, its featured role in the show American Idol. The fact that ‘texting’ is quickly gaining both in popularity and recognition in the United States is not surprising however, due to its ability to offer users a cheap, quick, and often fun way to communicate with friends and family.


©2005 - All Rights Reserved

JV Blogs Visit free hit counter