| Technology moves so fast these days. By the | | | | pick up a cheap power supply for about $20 but |
| time you've bought a pc it's guaranteed that most | | | | normally with technology these days, you get |
| of the parts will be out of date within a few | | | | what you pay for. If you intend to have a top |
| months. This can also depend on where you buy | | | | notch graphics card and powerful CPU in your pc |
| your pc from as well. A lot of companies sell pc | | | | then you need a good quality power supply that is |
| packages that can seem like good value for | | | | stable and capable of powering all your pc's parts |
| money at the time. They bundle a printer, | | | | effectively. |
| scanner and other add-ons with your pc, but then | | | | The CPU (central processing unit) is the heart of |
| you find out that you're spending tons of cash on | | | | your pc. If you have a slow CPU but the best |
| ink, your pc is too generic and not good enough | | | | graphics card and motherboard then your CPU will |
| for what you want to use it for, gaming! | | | | hold back the other components in your pc. |
| If you drop by your local "best buy" or "pc world" | | | | Your computer's memory is just as important as |
| to look for a new pc to play the latest games | | | | the CPU. This will be used to store and transfer |
| then you're going to run in to problems. A lot of | | | | the data on your pc fast and if you have bad, |
| gamers these days make or at least customize | | | | slow or not enough memory then it's going to |
| their own pc's from scratch. Why? Because they | | | | slow the rest of your pc down. |
| know what's needed to run these games. | | | | The graphics card is extremely important in |
| 90% of pc's today that are sold through those | | | | today's games. If you can't render the graphics |
| types of stores in packages are aimed at the | | | | fast enough then you'll experience lag and slow |
| average "I want a pc so I can surf the net, play | | | | down in your games no matter how good the |
| music and watch dvd's" consumer. These pc's are | | | | rest of your pc is. Most "bundled" graphics cards |
| acceptable for those needs but if you want to | | | | are built on to the motherboards in packaged pc's |
| play the latest games then you haven't got a | | | | and share the actual system memory. This is |
| chance of getting them to run to their necessary | | | | BAD for gaming! |
| requirements. | | | | The sound card isn't as important as the rest of |
| Too many time's I've seen people go out and buy | | | | the components but it can help your pc perform |
| a brand new pc, try to go online and play a new | | | | better. If you have a stand alone sound card, it |
| game such as "Battlefield 2" or "Quake 4" and find | | | | takes some of the workload off of your cpu and |
| out that the game runs bad even on the lowest | | | | motherboard and a lot of today's best sound |
| settings. They then end up spending twice as | | | | cards even have their own special sound system |
| much on a pc by having to buy a new one from | | | | that is used by a lot of new games. |
| scratch or upgrade a lot of the parts because | | | | Obviously if you want to be able to play the best |
| they've made the mistake of buying an | | | | games on the market and if you play |
| "e-Machine" in the first place. | | | | competitively online then you want to be able to |
| So you have an old pc you want to upgrade so | | | | play to the best of your abilities and not have to |
| you can play the latest games. The main | | | | worry about your pc not being able to handle the |
| components you will need to look at for upgrading | | | | needs of today's games. |
| are : | | | | It can be expensive but there are easy ways for |
| Motherboard | | | | you to upgrade on a budget. Maybe if you're |
| Power supply (PSU) | | | | thinking of upgrading now then you should go |
| Processor (CPU) | | | | ahead but even starting to look for the best |
| Memory (RAM) | | | | parts to upgrade your pc can be a daunting task. |
| Graphics card | | | | Personally when I'm upgrading I never go for the |
| Sound card | | | | very top of the range. You don't have to buy the |
| I put them in this order for the below reasons | | | | best (as you know it's going to be going down in |
| although some people may disagree with me. | | | | price dramatically in the next few months) but |
| The motherboard is the main component in your | | | | you can still get some great pc hardware for |
| pc as it ties all the other components together. | | | | good prices that will run those games without any |
| You can buy the best CPU and graphics card and | | | | slowdown and still make them look and feel great |
| sound card, but if your motherboard stinks then | | | | to play. |
| they aren't going to be able to work to the best | | | | One bad link in the chain will hinder your |
| of their abilities. | | | | computer's performance. When you want to |
| The power supply is extremely important. If you | | | | upgrade or even buy a new pc you must ensure |
| can't get enough power to the rest of the parts | | | | that each part is as good as the others to get |
| in your pc then nothing will work properly and in | | | | the best performance and stability for any type |
| some case, they won't even work at all. You can | | | | of computer tasks. |