What to Look For In a Computer this Holiday Season
With the Holiday season gearing up, many people–and especially gamers–are looking to either upgrade their existing computer or purchase a brand new one. Here at GamesFirst!, we have tried and tested a lot of the hardware on the current market and have come up with some guidelines for buying a gaming machine. So without further ado, here’s what to look for when you’re looking for a new computer.
The Case
The first and most basic part of your computer is the case. Now, I know many will say that any case with a good power supply will work, but even in this area there are some things to consider. I strongly recommend an ATX form factor case. ATX is a new standard, in which the cables and mouse that formerly plugged into the motherboard are now integrated right on the board, which clears up the motherboard and saves some space. But the main reason I recommend ATX is that most ATX motherboards have 1 extra slot (usually PCI) which can be extremely nice when deciding to upgrade.
The Motherboard
The next piece of hardware to consider is the motherboard. This year there two different board types I’d recommend choosing from. The first motherboard is a 440 BX chipset based board that runs both Celeron and Pentium 2 processors. When buying a BX board, make sure that it has the number of slots you want in the right areas (many BX boards have only 2 ISA slots). Also, if you are considering a Celeron processor, make sure the brand of BX motherboard you buy supports Celeron. Personally, I recommend a SOYO SY-6BA+(ATX) or SY-6BB (AT) I have had excellent luck with these boards and both of them allow overclocking.
The second type of motherboard I’d suggest you take a look at are the Super Socket 7 motherboards designed for AMD K6-2 Processors. Again, make sure the board supports the type of cards you want to install in your system. Super 7 K-6 boards support AGP, but if you are buying a video card make sure that it is compatible with the K-6 motherboard. For this type of board, I recommend the SOYO SY-5EMA (ATX) and SOYO SY-5EH (AT). Remember, K6 motherboards and Pentium 2/Celeron motherboards are not cross-compatible–so if you want to eventually go Pentium 2, a BX based board and Celeron processor may be worth the extra investment.
Memory
For memory this holiday season, I recommend a quality brand of 100Mhz SDRAM and a minimum of 64 Megs–and a strong recommendation of 128 Megs. The reason I recommend 128 is that many new games on the market, especially First Person Shooters, almost demand 128 Megs of RAM. The extra memory is even more important if you have an AGP video card, because the card will use system memory for textures. 100Mhz SDRAM is also compatible with 66Mhz bus speeds, so you don’t have to worry about backward compatibility.
The Processor
The next component to consider is the processor. When choosing a processor, remember that downgrading other components of your system to get the fastest processor available is a very poor decision. Your processor only determines, on the average, about 25% of your overall system speed. So if your computer is lacking in other areas–such as RAM, hard drive, or video–the overall system speed will be slower that that of a well-balanced system of the same price.
Right now, I highly recommend either a Pentium 2 or Celeron processor. I have nothing against AMD’s K6-2, it’s just that presently the 3D NOW! instructions on the K6 are not supported by every game developer. Add to this that the sheer number crunching capability of a Intel processor still beats the K6, and I’ll take the Intel Pentium 2 / Celeron for now. But If you’re dead-set against the Intel processor, make sure to purchase a K6-2 and not just a plain K6. Likewise, if you decide to buy a Celeron processor, make sure that it is a second generation 300A or 333 Celeron with 128K of cache. Early Celeron processors had no on-board cache, which makes them very slow in comparison with the Celeron ‘A’ class processors.
The Video Card
One of the most important choices you must make when purchasing a gaming machine is which video card to get. This season, three chipsets stand out–the RIVA TNT, Matrox G200, and 3Dfx Voodoo 2. AGP has now become a widely accepted standard so I highly recommend a AGP based accelerator.
As my first choice, I would recommend a video card based on the RIVA TNT chipset. This chipset supports all of the features for 3-D gaming you could want, with high resolutions and blazingly fast speeds. The one and only drawback of the TNT-based video cards is the lack of Glide support, which is a minor concern at most. The TNT accelerator I have dealt with the most is the Diamond Viper 550, and I highly recommend this card. The Viper 550 also has great driver support and a good price.
If you decide that the TNT-based accelerators are little high priced, the Matrox G200 accelerator is a good choice for a mid-range card. The G200 chipset supports all the features of the TNT chipset and has a little better image quality, but it is much slower than the TNT based cards.
If you are going for the extremely high-end gaming machine, I recommend Dual Voodoo 2 based boards in SLI. This configuration requires a 2-D card be paired with the Voodoo 2’s, so make sure that you add in the extra cost for the 2-D card if you decide to go this route. A Matrox G-200 is a good card to pair with 2 Voodoo 2’s, but your cost for video cards alone would be pushing $450-500. That’s a lot of money for a video subsystem, but remember, you get what you pay for.
The Hard Drive
The next major component to consider in your computer is a hard drive. This is one of the most confusing areas of computers because there are so many types of drive to choose from, but I think there are only two types of drive to seriously consider: an Ultra-DMA hard drive or an Ultra-Wide SCSI hard drive. The Ultra-DMA drives available generally run about one-half the cost of a SCSI interface drive and perform very well, but SCSI have with several advantages. The first major advantage of SCSI hard drives is that you can chain up to 15 Ultra-Wide drives on one SCSI card in comparison to four on IDE drives. The second advantage of SCSI drives is that they require less CPU overhead, which translates into more processing power for games and other tasks. When you buy a drive, pay close attention to what your needs are for your personal use. If you are looking for just a gaming machine, SCSI hard drives are not necessary and only add to the cost. However, you are looking for maximum expandability with the downside of increased cost, a SCSI hard drive is an excellent investment to make.
The Sound Card
For any avid gamer, soundcards are an area where you must make a wise choice to get the best gaming experience. This holiday season there are two cards that I’d recommend: the Soundblaster LIVE!, and the Turtle Beach Montego/Sonic Impact S90 (basically the same card made by different companies). After reviewing the Soundblaster LIVE!, I highly recommend this card as my top choice, though the Turtle Beach Montego/Sonic Impact S90 is also a very good choice for a soundcard if you are on a limited budget. The Aureal based cards perform well in 2 Speaker mode but lack outputs for four speakers. The LIVE! does cost more, but has more options for wavetable effects and has both 2/4 speaker support. And though I’ve heard good things about the Diamond MX300 soundcard, Diamond hasn’t sent us a review card yet, so it’s impossible for me compare this card to the others and give it a fair review.
The Monitor
The last major component you are going to have to consider when buying a computer this season is a monitor. After closely inspecting the monitors I have seen, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to shop for a monitor is to go look at them on display. I highly recommend at least a 17 inch monitor if you can afford it, because there is less strain on you eyes after staring countless hours at the computer screen. The brands I have had the best luck with are MAG, Princeton Graphics, and ViewSonic. Just remember to find one with a 3-year warranty.
All the components I have left out I’ll just leave to your personal preference. There are a lot of CD-ROM’s, Mice, keyboards, 56K Modems, and network cards out there, and most of them perform about the same. Just remember to get a 24 to 32 speed CD drive and make sure that your modem supports the correct standards for your Internet provider.
Here’s an example of a good solid gaming system for under $2,500
SOYO 6BA+ Motherboard
5 Bay ATX Mini Tower
Celeron 333 Processor
128 Meg 100Mhz DIMM
Diamond Viper 550 AGP Video Card
Soundblaster Live! Value Soundcard
Cambridge Soundworks Speakers
56K Modem/Fax (V.90 as long as your provider supports it)
17 inch MAG or ViewSonic Trinitron Monitor
104 Key Keyboard
32X CD-ROM
10.0 Gig UDMA Hard drive
Microsoft Intellimouse
Zip Drive
Surge Protector w/Phone protection
Windows 98