How to Choose a CPU by Gary Hendricks
So how do you make sense of all the CPUs out there? Well, let's start by splitting them into four broad categories: Obsolete Processors Budget Processors Mid-Range Processors High-End Processors Obsolete Processors These would refer to those processors which were around 5 or more years ago. ... While you're not going to get super-duper performance for more CPU intensive activities like gaming and video editing, the speed provided by these CPUs will be more than enough for general applications.

Choosing The Right Motherboard - A Buyers Guide by Harry Love
When it comes to choosing the right Motherboard, you may want to start out by finding out exactly what a Motherboard is and what it is for. A motherboard is the main part of your computer, if you have ever opened up your tower or brain, as I like to call it. ... When you go to pick out the motherboard, make sure you choose one that is compatible with the hardware you already own, such as your hard drive, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive, processor, audio video cards, or any other external or internal ports.

Hardware Inside Xbox3 Reviewed and Explained by Aaron Brooks
Gaming has reached new levels with newer and meaner machines coming into the market. The Xbox 360, PSP3, and Wii are all set to fulfill gaming dreams. What makes a console powerful and state-of-art is its hardware. The Xbox 360 has a 20GB hard drive; wireless controllers; headset; DVD remote;... The system has a 3.2 GHz tri-core PowerPC based CPU and a 500 MHZ GPU. ... The system offers downloads, communications, and excellent gaming opportunities. ... The sound files are encoded and an MPEG-2 decoder is included in the DVD video playback.

Computer Memory - How Much Is Enough? by Michael Russell
How much memory should you have in your personal computer? How much is enough? How much is too much? How much is too little? These are not easy questions to answer. The truth is, memory requirements to run basic programs over the last 20 years have gone up exponentially. ... The early Dungeons and Dragons video games, which were some of the most popular of the time, required between 4 and 16 meg of RAM to run depending on the game itself. ... Many computers would need 64 meg just to load the operating system itself.

Guns Don't Kill People - Videogames Do! by Daniel Robson
“Ban these evil games”, “Videogame violence corrupting our nation’s youth”, “video games stole my husband”. It seems everyday that the media are making more and more claims about the evils of videogames. But are these claims based on fact, or is it merely that there is a juicy new scapegoat out... This system is designed to prevent games from falling into the hands of minors, and yet often when a child is refused a game by the management the parent, even after the rating system has been explained to them, buys the game anyway.

A Look at the Sony PlayStation 3 by Ron Swerdfiger
At the recent E3 gaming Convention, Sony gave the world a first look at the new Playstation 3, Sony’s contribution to the next generation gaming consoles. Much like the news surrounding the Nintendo Revolution, the Playstation 3 has been immersed in mystery and controversy for the last several... (Cell- base processing) Memory 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz System Bandwidth Main RAM 25.6GB/s VRAM 22.4GB/s RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read) SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read) System Floating Point Performance 2 TFLOPS Storage Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x...

A Guide To Choosing The Best Desktop Computer System by Gary Hendricks
This article will run through each of these factors to help you avoid the many pitfalls that one may stumble across when purchasing a PC. Some sample desktop computer systems Intended Usage What do you intend to use the computer for? This is one of the key considerations when purchasing that... Make sure the system has a physical video card with at least AGP 8X and 256 MB of video memory. ... Operating System Operating System The majority of computer systems these days ship with Windows XP Home Edition, which is suitable for home users.

Tips on Understanding the Benefits of a Download Manager by Paul W Wilson
A download manager facilitates downloading of files from the Internet. Designed with specific purposes in mind, a manager can: • Automatically dial up an Internet provider at night, when rates are low and download files. The manager will disconnect the dial up when the downloading is... • A download manager permits viewing of partially downloaded video files. ... Find out what integrates well with your system. ... Commonly used managers are: Offline Explorer, Nici, GoZilla, WellGet, Download Accelerator Plus, and Mozilla Firefox.

How To Properly Install A New Video Card by Otis Cooper
Your video card is one of those components in your computer you want to both learn as much about it as possible and to learn how to remove the old one and install a new card quickly.Playing those awesome games will be that much more enjoyable with one of those muscle bound video cards boosting... The operating system should detect the new video card and install the device driver software that will allow the card to talk to the computer.A cdrom should have come with the new card with the device drivers and other useful software.

Buying / Selecting Computer Components by Jason Barrett
This is the step takes the most time and consideration. Which parts do I buy? Which are best? There are many good places to buy computer parts. You can go to a computer retail store in your area. Although they often provide good warranties, you will pay a little more than you would in other... AGP is a special video slot, so buy a video card with an AGP form, Also check your motherboard has an AGP slot. ... Video Card - There are loads of different video cards on the market, when selecting consider these points.