What’s Needed For A Gaming PC?

Many people want to build a Gaming PC, but don’t know where to start.  That can be a big problem for some.  Especially if you don’t know much about PCs that are built for Gaming.  What’s in them and what part should you get?

The “Motherboard” is perhaps the most important part of any PC.  It’s what determines what your PC can use as far as parts and it’s updatability.  Depending on what you want to do with a Motherboard determines what kind you’ll want.

Another thing you’ll want to look for when comparing Motherboards.  Now, a lot of Gamers go for AMD Processors.  The claim is that AMD is actually better for Gaming than Intel.  If that’s the case, then why are so many Games developed on Intel processors?  Intel still has the fastest processors.

GIGABYTE GA-Z68P-DS3 LGA 1155

The above motherboard is a great over all motherboard.  Especially for starting out in the gaming department.  It supports up to 32gb of Ram and will also support the Core i5 and Core i7 processors.  Off to a great start.

When it comes to Processors, you might want to splurge a little in this department.  You certainly don’t want a weak processor.  That’s the main backbone of your PC, other than the Ram.  When looking at Processors, it’s a good idea to take a look at the over all reviews of a product.  This particular processor has a 5 Egg review at New Egg, out of 138 reviews.  That makes this a great no brainer choice.

Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155

With a power surge of 3.1ghz and a 3.4ghz Turbo Boost, this processor will handle pretty much anything you throw at it.  Except for maybe a Rock.

When it comes to Processors and Motherboards, it’s very important that you match up the sockets.  For example, if you look at the caption, the Motherboard and Processor both have “LGA 1155” sockets.  Keep that in mind.

In today’s market of gaming, I recommend at least 4 gig of Ram.  Ram is what relays the processes back and forth between the Processor, Graphics Card, and Motherboard.  If you have a slow computer, chances are, you don’t have enough Ram.  That 4 gig of Ram, is the “Bare Minimum.”  If this was me, I’d put in 8 gig of Ram.

Patriot Viper Xtreme 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

To me, the Patriot Viper Xtreme series is a winner here.  At a mere #27.99 each, you can’t go wrong.  Snap two of these in your PC and you’ll be, “Shooting first and taking names later” in no time flat.  On top of that, it’s only 8gig of Ram, which leaves room for upgrades in the future.  Want to double that to 16gig?  No problem.  Snap a couple more of these in and you’re good to go.

The Video, or Graphics Card is another area that you might want to splurge in a little bit.  When you’re playing games, if you get into an intense fire fight, certain graphics cards might not be able to handle them.  For a Gaming Rig on a Budget, I recommend the following graphics card.

MSI R6850 Cyclone PE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

This 1GB graphics card houses a 256 bit interface with GDDR5 Ram.  The Core clock runs at 775mhz, and the Memory Clock runs at 1000mhz.  With 960 Stream Processing Units, this bad boy will make sure you get through that Fire fight and live to tell the tale.

Now you’ll need a Power Supply to power it all, once you get it all hooked up.  New Egg actually has a feature that lets you see how much wattage you need in a Power Supply.  They recommend at least 460w for this particular setup.  I how ever, will be recommending a slightly bigger Power Supply.  We want to be able to upgrade after all.

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W

With a 5 Egg rating from New Egg, this 650w Power Supply will work just fine.  It’ll get you enough juice to the Motherboard, Ram, Graphics Card, and Processor.  You won’t have to worry about a shortage here.  This also leaves room in case you do decide to add that extra 8 gig of Ram.  You might also decide to add an extra Graphics Card.  This will allow for those changes to happen.  You can even install an extra Hard Drive with no problem.

The Hard Drive is where you’ll be storing your OS and Gaming data on.  If you want it fast, you need a faster Hard Drive.  I recommend the Corsair Nova 2 Series Solid State Drives.  It’s a small drive, but it’s fast.  It’ll cut down on booting time and add a faster frame rate.

Corsair Nova Series 2 CSSD-V60GB2 2.5" 60GB SSD

We can’t forget to get a case to house it in.  There are many cases out there for you to get that will cut your budget a little and help you save money.  If you want to make a statement though.  I recommend getting something flashy.  Gamers love their cases.  We have to build a machine to match that attitude.

NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

This bad boy is sure to make any gamer proud and make your friends jealous.  With 5 External 5.25″ drive bays, you’ll have plenty of room to install an extra DVD Burner if you wish, or even a Temperature control unit.  The 7 Internal 3.25″ drive bays will give plenty of room and air for those Hard Dives.

One of the last things you’ll need is a DVD Burner to install all those games you’re going to get.  One might argue that DVD Burners are all the same, and in reality, that’s pretty much true.  It doesn’t matter if you get a $60 or a $20 DVD Burner.  What matters is that they work.

ASUS 24X DVD Burner

This ASUS DVD Burner, will make sure your games are installed and you’re able to play them when the time comes.  The best part is, it’s only $20.

So far, all of this still cost less than $900.  The price so far is $877.92.  Throw in Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.  The 64 bit version, and that only bumps it up to $907.91.  Then, all you’ll need is a Monitor.  You can pick those up at any computer store or Best Buy for $99 or less.  Even if it cost you $99, that’s still only $1,007.9 and you’ll have a gaming rig that cost much less than the $3-$4,000 rigs that the big time gamers buy.  At the same time, you’ll be able to keep up with them and you’ll have a nice looking Rig too.

Notice: I’m in no way affiliated with New Egg.  That just happens to be my preferred place to shop online.  You could also visit.

Tiger Direct

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Biggest Reasons Why Americans Are Overweight!

Americans are said to be the most over weight, but many have a hard time figuring out why.  Why is it that many Americans are starting to be overweight and in worse health than the previous generation?  I think I have the answer.

Reason 1

Exercise….
Many Americans nowadays aren’t getting enough exercise.  That’s right, something as simple as exercise can have a big impact on our daily lives.  In the movie WALL-E, the people roamed around on hover chairs.  Who needs a wheel chair right?  Especially when the machine will do all the work for you.

Is that the kind of life style we want?  To be subjects who are limited in our mobility based on some machine?  Right now many kids are experiencing this because of Parents not letting their kids play in the park.  Instead, they’ll let them play Video Games all day and do nothing.

Now, before you go bashing Video games and start blaming the games themselves, maybe you should take a closer look a parenting.  I play Video Games myself, but that doesnt’ mean that Nerds can’t be fit.  I in fact have started a Cardio Routine, which will eventually turn into running, which in turn will turn into a Marathon.

I have goals, kids nowadays, don’t.  That’s partly because parents let their kids spend too much time playing Video Games as apposed to….well, playing.

Reason 2

Over Indulging…..
Many restaurants have started (in the last decade)  increasing portion sizes.  Now, they even go as far as encourage you to get a large or (in some cases) super-size.  In this case, bigger isn’t always better.  Tell me something.

Do you feel better now that you’re bigger?  Again, bigger isn’t always better.  My parents often times make two meals out of one meal when they go out to eat.  Why?  Many of these meals are filled with Calories.  Many of them over 1,000 calories.  That’s half a days Calories for most.

Still think Bigger is Better?

Reason 3

Quality of Food
Our food quality has reduced in the last 10-20 years drastically.  Farmers are basically killing the land that they farm one with all the chemicals that they spray on plants.  Therefore, we’re forced to look for alternatives: plants that are bug resistant, plants that yield more, and even plants that grow better in certain climates.

When you start tampering with plants: spraying chemicals, changing DNA strands, making them more volatile, something has to give.  So, where do we suffer?  In Nutritional Value.  I can’t stress this enough….

Life is too precious to tamper with.  By tampering with those plants, they’re tampering with our health.  Empty calories adds to our over all weight.  Really.  What else is our body going to use useless calories for?

So, my question for you today is, did this inspire you?  If so, what are your plans for taking action?

Heaven Is A Place On Earth

This classic song makes me want to dance.  One of the best all time classics, Heaven is a place on Earth, is an all round great song.  Just listen to the lyrics.  You’ll be glad you did.  Life is too short not to enjoy.  Get rid of the drama and bring on the music.  This Earth is what you make it.  Life is what you make it.  So, make it heaven.