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Hard-Core Gamer
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You are playing the last stage of your favorite
action shooter. It took you months to get this far. You have
the enemy boss in your sites. Victory is in your hands as you
are about to introduce him to your trusty Gatlin. Just as you
are about to unleash the unmerciful fury of a fully loaded high
powered weapon, the damn PC freezes, all action is suspended
in a sudden anticlimax, leaving you wondering what the hell
is going on. With your finger still on the trigger, you
wait in anticipation for the PC to unlock, only to see the screen
go blank, here a loud beep, and watch the piece of trash you
have for a PC reboot.
The Hard-core Gamer demands a powerful PC. Performance is the
only factor and not money. There is zero tolerance for a PC
that slows down or locks up during intense game play. |
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| Processor - 700MHZ & above. |
| The Hard-core gamer will need a fast processor.
Whether its an AMD or Intel processor is up to you. They both
work well. The AMD is far cheaper but the Intel is considered
the industry standard since they were in the business much longer.
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| Memory- At least 128MB |
| The more memory the better. Unbearable lockups
and slow downs during game play in a BIG no no. In many action
games timing is everything. Any sudden slow down in action can
throw off your timing leaving you to feel the wrath of thy enemies.
More memory means smoother game play and may determine if you
beat that game or if you get wasted by the evil villains. |
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| Video Card - Any 32MB Geforce2 GTS card.
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| Video Cards equipped with nVidia's Geforce2 chip
are probably the best bet for a gaming PC. Do not settle for
a board with 8MB or 16MB of memory. Any vendor who tells you
that an 8MB card is good for Hard core 3D games is talking
CRAP!!! If you are upgrading to an AGP type video card, make
sure your motherboard has an AGP slot. Older motherboards may
only have PCI slots and not the faster AGP slot. |
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| Sound Card: |
| You can't possibly have a quality game without
quality sound. The Hard-core gamer needs a card capable of producing
surround sound. |
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| Hard drive - capacity: 20GB or more. Speed:
7200rpm or higher |
Games eat up a lot of hard drive space. Get a
larger capacity drive if you want to keep many games installed
or your PC. If you store MP3s in addition to your games, hard
drive space is going to be gone in a hurry. Some games are as
large as 2GB.
7200rpm hard drives are fast. The speed at which the plates
inside the drive spins is measured in rpms. At 7200rpms
it is recommended you buy a hard drive fan or better yet, a
fan and heat-sink combination. This will keep the drive cool
and extend its life. The standard 5400rpm drives don't require
a fan though some may argue differently. The point is, what
ever speed your drive is, a cooling fan is a good investment.
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| Monitor - Size: 19" or Larger |
| Assuming that the Hard-core gamer has money to
spend, a 19" or larger monitor will be ideal. |
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| CD-ROM - 52X or faster |
| The Hard-core gamer demands performance. Get the
fastest CD-ROM you can afford. |
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