Computer General

Computer General

This is the place where everyone can get their mouth drooling over computers. This section will cover anything and everything you need to know about your computer, from CPUs to Peripherals if you are planning on buying/upgrading a computer. This also includes a section on tweaking your PC to its fullest.

CPUS More Junk In the Trunk.

What sounds good a 60MHz processor or 500MHz. Well stupid question gets smart answer. Second of all you are probally wondering why i even mentioned those low numbers. Well some computer user say that 60MHz is enough for a computer user. Okay maybe back in the early 90's. These same computer users said the same thing for 1GHz and 3GHz. So whats the whole point of a CPU? Well "Clock Speed" or how fast it works but its not that important. Some games today can work with a 1,000MHz less processor and have much more power than one of the higher processors. So for example the AMD Athlon 64 FX is the best CPU to have for gaming, but the Intel Pentium 4 is no useless crap. When it comes to MP3 encoding apps the P4 has the king's throne. So if you use "scientific" applications that are floating-point intensive go AMD. On the other hand go P4 if you edit video with the latest version of Adobe Premiere or are a Photoshop user. 

Zine Recomendations: For Games: AMD Athlon 64 FX For the Average Joe: Intel Pentium 4

Motherboards The Mother of all Motherboards.

Big boys don't need their mother. Thats true and its not. Motherboards are the equivalent of Grand Central Station. The main source. Well a mother board can be replaced. But is it a wise choice to replace your motherboard? Motherboards determin all future upgrading options, limit how much performance you'll ever extract from your rig, and is the number one factor in your system's overall level of stability. The "core-logic chipset" is what keeps your computer running. One controls half the board while the other the remaining half but both work together to establish a bond. They control anything thats "onboard" or on the motherboard such as a LAN port, modem, audio and so on. So you want to buy a new mother board. Well heres the low down on mother boards for the year 2005. We are right in the middle of a jump to an entirely new memory technology(DDR2), a new peripheral bus(PCI-Express), and the new Intel Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon 64 FX CPUs. At the end of this year the new motherboard formfactor(BTX) will be out and will be one of the best motherboards for a good year or two. 

Zine Recomendations: Buy now or later: Buy after the release of the new motherboard and the prices of the old ones will drop like rocks.

RAM One thing you can't live without.

RAM is what computer users want to switch every second like "love" gloves. Well dont get your hopes up for too much switching. The recently new DDR(Double Data Rate) memory is far the most popular. Some computer users may use single rate memory but for power users dual-channel is the only way to go. Don't be alarmed when DDR2 becomes standard in every machine.

Zine Recomendations: DDR2 is the best RAM invented!(so far)It's perfect for your average HBH member. **Video Cards **For the EXTREME gamer.

This is the part that every video gamer has been waiting for. Well its a simple subject to get through. There used to be two types of cards in computers. 2D cards were for desktop work and 3D cards were for games. Well today videocards do everything in "one sexy silicon package". With everyday video games become more life-like more enhanced that video cards must be updated frequently. The video card market is owned currently by two companies. ATI and nVidia. Though nVidia has held the best records in the past 24 months ATI has caught up with amazing results. Both with two new creations out- ATI's Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition and the nVidia's GeForce 6800 Ultra are just about evenly matched in performance and price. That being said these both can support games such as Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 to their fullest extent. Video cards are expensive though and they might need to be replaced every year depending on the next generations of games that follow.

Zine Recomendations: For performance reasons: Both Radeon and GeForce are even Price: GeForce is $399 and the Radeon $499

**Hard & Optical Drives **Boost up the computer speed.

Hard drives are one of the most important things to have that are fast. Just as the video card is important to gaming the hard drive is important to commands you want your computer to do. Such as opening folders. The better the hard drive the faster the folder will open. The new hard drives with Serial ATA(Serial Adv. Tech. Attachment) is the new fast way to connect hard drives. Instead of 40 pins its 7.The first generation has just come out and it started at 150MB/s while the previous 40 pin only worked at 100MB/s. New optical drives may be coming out soon. As of right now you probally know that most Cd-Rom, DVD-Rom, and all other types of optical drives use red laser technology. Well thats great for 4.7GB per layer of the disc. Yeah i said layers of the disc because know technology has come out with Dual-Layer discs. Why do you ask? Well instead of 4.7GB you get a amount of 8.5GB. Well all that is fancy and all until next year when blue laser comes out. Blue laser will boost the dual layer discs to a total of 27GB. Now theres something to think about.

Zine Recomendations: Just sit back and wait the long wait for blue laser discs. We sure are.

Peripherals These here are men tools.

**Mice:** Well this is the one tool you use the most. So why not have comdort. Get the new Air Flo from Nyko. This mouse will blow cool air into your palm and prevent you from the sweating at only $39.99. Youv'e seen laser mice right. Well that is just a slang term for optical light. Now the new Logitech MX1000 does use a laser and it makes it twice as sensitive at $79.99. 
**Gamepads & Joysticks:** For the gamer with sweaty hands Air Flow PC is the way to go with this analog gamepad for $24.99. Gamepads have gone wireless. The best wireless gamepad to get is the COrdless RumblePad 2 for up to 100 hours of battery life starting at $39.99. If you are going for fun joystick action games have fun with the X52 Flight Control System Joystick. This is a two piece set with a advanced joystick and a throttle control joystick starting at $129.99. Too much joystick for your game. Then get the all-around Cyborg Evo joystick for any type of game for $39.99.
**Keyboards:** Do you stay up in the dark and spend time with your computer with no light in your room at all. Then try out the new Eluminx Keyboard that has clear keys that light up completely for that dark room for $79.95. If your a hardcore gamer then get the ZBoard. This boards keys can be removed and you can put custom keys in its place for your custom game as easy as one, two, three for only $49.99. Need a keyboard for gaming and work? Then get the PC gaming Saitek keyboard. This baby is the best with a backlight for every key and an attached cusion. If thats not all it comes with an extra 9-key number pad that is seperate from the keyboard for commands in cames that can have up to 27 shortcuts. This baby is only $59.99.

Zine Recomendations: Mouse:Logitech MX150 at $49.99 Gamepad & Joystick: Cordless Rumblepad 2 and the Sidewinder Keyboard: Without a doubt the PC Gaming Keyboard from Saitek

In the CPUs section, you typed "evenb" rather than "even." Might want to fix that little typo.

Also, it's Recommendations. Seeing as that's a major word in this article, that needs fixed.

WOW. dam thats professional. Also, INCLUDE PICTURES!!!!! We have to literally cover this zine with images.. just like a standard magazine you get!!!

But that article is brillant, nice work hack4u. Also if you want me to write a gaming article on the new BF2 game, then i will.