Building a Custom Gaming PC

When it comes to video games, I have always considered myself a console gamer. I loved the PlayStation 2 and was blown away by the Xbox 360 but I never really got into PC gaming. Now a friend of mine had always told me of the superiority of PC gaming and to be honest it never really interested me. But then I started getting into a lot more. I have always loved real-time strategy games (RTS) like Age of Empires and the Total War series but maxed out graphics was never within my reach and performance issues were constant.

That, coupled with the release of StarCraft 2 and the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, was what really got the ball rolling for me on building my own custom gaming PC. Now sure, you can go online to Alienware or head on over to your local tech shop and buy a powerful gaming PC but I would only recommend that if you insist on emptying your bank account in one fell swoop. My method not only got me a gaming PC that can max out nearly any game on the market but also saved me a lot of time and money.

So let's start off with the basic components and pieces you will need to make your PC gaming dreams come true. Your basic pieces consist of a motherboard, hard drive, graphics card, RAM, power supply, disk drive, processor, tower, monitor(s), keyboard, mouse and speakers. Now knowing what to get and what makes a good deal is tough if you do not know the lingo of the computer world, so if you do not know what is good, it isn't hard to find with a quick Google search.

So let's break down my computer. We will start off with my power supply, the life force of the computer. My computer is powered by a Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W power supply which I purchased off of Newegg.com for $99.99. This power supply currently has an average 5 star review (out of 5) from 184 reviews.

Next up is the hard drive. I have a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue hard drive that has 7200 RPM, 32MB cache and Satat 3.0Gb/s. This 1TB drive only cost me $64.99 from Newegg as well where it has an average 4 star review based on 364 reviews. A drive like this is perfect to store as many games on as you want.

I'm running 8GB (4 x 2GB) of 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM with four sticks of Corsair XMS3 RAM. Once again yet another great purchase from Newegg. This ran me $89.99 and is a perfect match for Core i5 or Core i7 processors.

Speaking of processors, I am running a used Core i7 first generation processor. Now this is where you may get hit with an added cost. Since the release of Intel's second generation processors, it is extremely hard to find the processor I am using. Newegg has a slew of new ones running anywhere from $280 to $350, but if you can find an old version somewhere that is in good condition, then I would highly recommend getting it.

For my motherboard I went with the Asus Sabertooth X58 LGA. This board is really slick and supports Core i7, Quad-GPU SLI and Quad-GPU CrossFireX and USB 3.0. It has seven USB ports total and was only $199.99 on Newegg.

For my disk drive I went with a Lite-On 24X DVD+R drive. It can burn and write CDs and DVDs and even came with Nero in case I decide to make my own movies and edit the menus or tweak other settings. This is your standard disk drive and can be found on Newegg for $17.99.

Now if you are going to game on a PC, you need maxed out graphics. There is really no sense in building a gaming rig if you are going to skimp on the graphics. I chose to go with the XFX HD-487A-ZWFC card from Radeon. This card has it all, like PCI Express 2.0 x16, 750MHz clock speed, 800 Stream processing units, 900MHz effective memory clock, 1GB memory size, DirectX 10.1, two DVI slots and a max resolution of 2550x1600. This card can max out any game you want with the exception of something like Crysis. I got this card on Newegg as well for $154.99.

That takes care of the insides and now we are on to the outside. All of that power is housed inside the Antec Nine Hundred Two tower. This is a medium-sized case with a bottom mounted power supply, side panel window, three external 5.25" drive bays, six internal 3.5" drive bays, an internal bottom-mounted 2.5" SSD drive, two USB 2.0 front ports, one USB 3.0 front port and audio in and out. The case itself glows blue and has a very quiet fan. You can pick this up on Newegg for $119.99, but I have seen it cheaper at places like BestBuy and other computer stores.

I am writing this review on two 23-inch emachine wide LCD flat panel monitors. They both have a 16:9 aspect ratio, full 1080p HD (1920x1080), on-screen display controls and a 5ms response time. All the function buttons are on the bottom of the display right under the emachine logo and are very easy to get to. They look great and have a very crisp picture. I was running StarCraft 2 earlier on max settings and the picture was very very good. I got these as a part of a Black Friday deal at Microcenter for $118.00 each. The catch was a limit one per household so I hope you have a good friend that is willing to go out with you. Average price is about $140 and higher.

I have Logitech speakers, the Logitech X-530 to be precise. They offer 5.1 surround sound with a bass speaker. So far, they are working perfectly and offer excellent sound quality and let's just say that Dead Space is pretty scary with surround sound.

I went for consistency with my peripherals. My mouse,keyboard and headset are all made by Razer. My mouse is the Razer DeathAdder gaming mouse which has 3500dpi. My keyboard is the Razer Lycossa gaming keyboard which features blue illuminated keys, WASD cluster lighting and a touch panel in the top right. Finally, my headphones are the Razer Carcharias gaming headset which has a noise filtering microphone as well as an inline remote. The mouse, keyboard and headset can all be found on Newegg for $49.99, $79.99 and $79.99 respectively.

I like how my mouse, keyboard, headset and tower all glow blue together. For me it makes everything flow together nicely and match perfectly so everything looks nice together. So let's do a quick run down on every piece and how much this will cost you in total:

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $69.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $64.99

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M4A1333C9 - $95.99

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $199.99

XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $154.99

LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - $17.99

Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600 - $299.99

Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $69.99

eMachines E233Hbd Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 80000:1(1000:1) - 2 at $118.00 ($236.00)

Logitech X-530 70 Watts 5.1 Speaker - $69.99

RAZER DeathAdder Precision Optical Gaming Mouse - 3.5G Infrared Sensor - $49.99

RAZER Lycosa Black USB Wired Game Keyboard - $79.99

RAZER Carcharias 3.5mm Connector Circumaural Professional Gaming Headset - $79.99

That brings our grand total to $1,587.89 which is not bad considering some of the base Alienware computers are around that price and that is without a monitor, peripherals or sound. Now mine was slightly less than that. I didn't have to buy a brand new $300 Core i7 and my speakers, keyboard, mouse and headset were gifts which knocks off nearly $280 right there. If you pick your pieces right and buy in increments, you will definitely have no problem affording a high powered gaming rig like mine. I am thoroughly impressed by all my components and could not be happier with my computer's performance and style.

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Does DPI Mean Anything in Gaming Mice

One of the many ways gamers judge the quality of their mice is by comparing the DPI, or dots per inch that the mouse is capable of reading. DPI is used as a measure of sensitivity for the mouse, or how little the mouse needs to be moved to generate a corresponding movement in your virtual world such as the ironsights of your gun in a first person shooter or the cursor in a strategy game. A higher number means the mouse can read that many more "dots" inside of a single square inch. Many gamers see a high number and think they have a top tier mouse, but do these numbers actually mean anything in terms of actual performance? SteelSeries says no.

"The industry has been highly successful in establishing this number as something highly important, when in reality it doesn't really mean all that much" says Kim Rom, CMO of SteelSeries. "Technology has progressed to a level where you can move your mouse, say, one inch on your desk, and your cursor will move 2 or 3 times your screen length. That sounds impressive for sure, but where is the real value in that? [DPI] doesn't make you more precise or accurate; I would argue that it does exactly the opposite. A higher DPI in a mouse doesn't offer a lot of value, and it is not a benchmark for how precise or awesome the mouse is. It's simply a measure of sensitivity."

Rom's argument is a relatively simple one. Take a look at professional players who are in the running for serious cash money. People with something something real on the line and who create a science out of their equipment configurations and settings for maximum performance. "Ninety percent of the expert gamers out there will be using a DPI value between 800 to 1600," says Rom. "If you paid some serious money for your gaming mouse, check out its stats: it's likely it can do some multiple of 1600 at maximum sensitivity." He also goes on to add that "We are hardware purists—we believe in function first, technology second." Rom believes the industry has successfully established the sensitivity of a mouse as the most important feature of the product. However, he looks forward to a day when mice sales aren't driven by having a larger number on the box.

Countering SteelSeries claims about the effectiveness of DPI, Razer fires back stating that DPI in a gaming mouse does matter. As gamers continue to adopt larger monitors and more powerful video cards, it only makes sense that a high-DPI mouse would have increased demand. "There are also more high-sense gamers around now, corresponding to the much larger screens and much higher resolutions available," argues Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff, president of Razer. "Many of the features Razer pioneered are being used in all gaming mice in the industry today, just as you will find high precision DPI metrics being used by pretty much all gaming mice out there."

Krakoff continues. "I think gamers care about DPI and I do think the term makes sense for today’s mice. We pioneered this industry back in 1999 when we came out with the first gaming mouse offering 2000 DPI—at that time gamers were told by our competitors that 800 DPI was enough. Now people are saying 1600 DPI is enough, just like there were “purists” who believed in silent movies, black and white TV or perhaps film rather than digital cameras." Of course, Krakoff doesn't believe that ultra-high DPI mice are for everyone, as all gamers have a unique style of play and one size does not fit all. Instead he is a firm believer in choice and recognizes that gamers will need mice on both sides of the spectrum.

Regardless of your take on whether DPI truly matters or not, realize that both Razer and SteelSeries make a wide variety of mice and both companies offer products that let you change DPI on the fly. The most important aspect of finding a great gaming mouse is finding one that conforms to your style of play. Beware though, high quality gaming mice don't come cheap regardless of DPI.

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Razer Breaks Out Two Xbox 360 Peripherals

Anybody who seriously games in the PC community has undoubtedly heard of a little company called Razer. Razer has been one of the leading manufacturers in gaming peripherals for PC gamers for a while and it seems that now they want to throw their hat into the console gaming ring as they have just announced two new gaming peripherals designed solely for the Xbox 360.

Razer has received approval from the big wigs over at Microsoft to create the Razer Onza Professional Gaming Controller. Razer's signature style consists of creating peripherals aimed at improving the gamers experience overall by incorporating a series of special features into their devices. The Onza is unique because of it's features. The tension on the two analog sticks can be adjusted allowing for an exact comfort level specific to the gamer. The Onza also has a MFB, or Multi-function button. The MFB can be mapped to act any of the action buttons, the analog stick buttons or even an auto-fire button by simply sliding the selector switch on the bottom of the controller. But despite its features Razer also likes style. The Onza is solid black with the Razer logo on the left side of the controller. The 360 dashboard/power button lights up green as does the d-pad buttons. But probably the coolest part is that the seems of the controller also illuminate the traditional Xbox green for a truly unique look. The only problems some gamers may have with the Onza is that the controller is wired which has its pros and cons. The pros are that it drastically saves you in batteries and provides lag-free gaming. The cons are that it is 2010 and nobody really wants a wired controller anymore. No word on when this device will hit store shelves but we do have a price. The Razer Onza Professional Gaming Controller will run you $44.99.

The other peripheral coming out of Razer is the Razer Chimaera Professional Gaming Headset. Razer designed this headset to deliver sharp sound quality that can optimize any gaming experience. The headset offers a 5.1 channel Virtual Surround Sound system that offers spectacular sound quality. Most all games out there are created with 5.1 surround sound yet most gaming headsets are only equipped to offer stereo-grade sound. The Chimaera also includes a Daisy-Chain cable system. This allows multiple base stations to connect to create a direct, private communication channel. The Chimaera was also created with a circumaural design that gives the gamer optimum noise isolation allowing for extended hours of gameplay comfortably without any outside distractions. The only problems I could see with this product is that it is also wired and from the picture it only appears that the microphone is restricted to the left side of the headset which could annoy some gamers, like myself, who are more comfortable with the mic on the right side. Razer is still working for approval from Microsoft on this product and no release date has been set. If it is able to be released however, you can pick it up for a price of $129.99.

Razer is always looking at ways to improve your gaming experience and many people are excited that the company is branching out into console gaming. With their first two console products looking pretty good already, we can only expect great things from Razer in the future. Let's just hope that they realize us gamers desire and demand WIRELESS peripherals.

Source: Razer

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