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Hardware
CPU
This is what most people consider to be the heart of your computer. The CPU
(Central Processing Unit) is a microprocessor which handles all of the instructions that
need to be executed to run your games and applications. In this section, you will
learn about how current Intel and Intel-compatible chips compare to each other in terms of
price and performance, as well as significant differences in features.
Video (2D/3D)
The video card inside your computer helps accelerate many of the basic functions of
drawing windows and text on your screen. Recently, video cards have been moving into
the realm of 3D acceleration...speeding up things like drawing polygons and generating
special effects for realistic three-dimensional environments. This section describes
much of the techonology behind your video card, gives a glossary of common terms, and
addresses the different aspects of performance that you can rate a video card by.
Audio
Here is the next part of your computer to hit another of your five senses. You
audio card generates sounds for you to hear, but it does so in a variety of many
complicated ways. This section describes the many features that go into a good sound
card as well as the common ways by which people assess the performance of a card.
Overclocking
Overclocking is the practice of running your chip at speeds faster than the speed to
which it was rated and sold as. For example, you might be able to try running a
Pentium-II 233 at 300. For many people, it means getting more performance for less
money. However, there are many risks, as well as associated precautions and
solutions, that you need to be aware of before you try to overclock your computer.
Thermal Specifications
This document addresses a very specific portion of the overclocking process...power
dissipation. Simply put, the faster you run your processor, the more heat it
generates. Too much heat can cause your processor to start behaving erratically.
In this section, you will find tables telling you how much power each processor on
the market dissipates, as well as the effectiveness of heatsinks and observations and
recommendations on how to cool your computer and your CPU.
The Perfect System
The Perfect System section is not actually my attempt to build the best computer
possible, no holds barred. Rather, I pick the parts which I think are the best
performance values and the most versatile. Basically, I try to tell you what I would
buy with my own money.
Bombercop
This is the complete run-down on the system that I own and use. The name is
explained, as are the configurations and parts of everything inside my computer.
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