PC Gaming Hardware Requirements

PC Gaming Hardware Requirements
We should preface this section of the book by saying that this book is not
entitled Gaming PCs For Dummies. Thus, we’re not going to spend any time
talking about PC gaming hardware requirements in any kind of detail. Our
gamer pals will probably be aghast at our brief coverage here, but we really
just want to give you a taste of what you might want to think about if you
decide to really outfit a PC for online gaming. In fact, if you’re buying a PC for
this purpose, check out the classes of computers called gaming PCs optimized
just for this application. Throughout this chapter, we use the term
gaming PC generically to mean any PC in your home that you’re using for
gaming — not just special-purpose gaming PCs.
Your best resource, we think, is to check out an online gaming Web site that
has a team of experts who review and torture-test all the latest hardware for
a living. We like CNET’s www.gamespot.com and www.gamespy.com.
At the most basic level, you really just need any modern multimedia PC (or
Macintosh for that matter) to get started with PC gaming. Just about any PC
or Mac purchased since 2002 or so will have a fast processor and a decent
graphics or video card. (You’ll hear both terms used.) If you start getting into
online gaming, start thinking about upgrading your PC with high-end gaming
hardware or even consider building a dedicated gaming machine. Some of the
key hardware components to keep in mind are the following:
Fast processor: A lot of the hard work in gaming is done by the video
card, but a fast Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon (or PowerPC G4, for Macs) central
processing unit (CPU) is always a nice thing to have.
Powerful video card: The latest cards from ATI and nVIDIA
(www.nvidia.com) contain incredibly sophisticated computer chips
that are dedicated to cranking out the video part of your games. If you
get to the point where you know what frames per second (fps) is all
about and you start worrying that yours are too low, it’s time to start
investigating faster video cards.
We’re big fans of the ATI (www.ati.com) All-In-Wonder 9700 PRO, but
then, we’re suckers for fast hardware that can crank out the polygons
(the building blocks of your game video) at mind-boggling speeds.
Fancy gaming controllers: Many games can be played by using a standard
mouse and keyboard, but you might want to look into some cool
specialized game controllers that connect through your PC’s Universal
Serial Bus (USB) ports. For example, you can get a joystick for flying
games or a steering wheel for driving games. Check out Creative
Technologies (www.creative.com) for some cool options.
Quality sound card: Many games include a Surround sound soundtrack,
just like DVDs provide in your home theater. If you’ve got the appropriate
number of speakers and the right sound card, you’ll hear the bad guys
creeping up behind you before you see them on the screen. Très fun.