Gaming Rigs Reloaded

It's that time. I've been getting a lot of questions about hardware for gaming PCs, so this post is long overdue. Want to build a new PC? Read on:

Bargain Gaming Rig

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition - $83
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $30
OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $95 (after $20 rebate)
SAPPHIRE 100245HDMI Radeon HD 4850 512MB - $90 (after $15 rebate)
ASRock M3A770DE AM3 - $60
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB - $110
Antec Three Hundred Illusion - $60
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W - $55 (after $25 rebate)
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+-RW - $20

Discount: $63 ($20 DVD/PSU Combo, $20 HD Promo, $15 Case Combo, $8 PSU Promo)
Shipping: $24
Total: $564

The first thing you should note is that the processor is dual-core, but motherboard has the ACC feature which may allow you to unlock one or two more cores.  This is not a guarantee, and success will depend on why the two extra cores were disabled in the first place.  You have no way of knowing if this will work until you actually try it, but people generally seem to have good results.  Regardless, modern games still show little benefit from using more than two cores when played with reasonable detail.  For a total of $143 for this motherboard and CPU, you really can't go wrong either way.  Note that the motherboard does not support firewire, so you'll have to pay a little more if you want it.

There's not much to say about the RAM or heatsink.  Decent latency and plenty of cooling.  DDR2 prices are right up there with DDR3, so might as well stick with the newer stuff unless you find an unbeatable deal.

Video cards are still pretty expensive right now, but the Radeon HD 4850 seems to be one of the few exceptions.  There are still plenty of these cards to go around, so the price has remained stable.  It will run Starcraft II smoothly at great detail, so it's the ideal selection to hold you over until we see how the competition with newer cards plays out.

The hard drive has a nice $20 off promo code until 5/10, it has a 1TB of space, and it's a top performer among non-SSD drives.  You could save around $35 by going with something smaller and slower, but this great value makes it a tough decision.  Note that it supports SATA III even though the motherboard only supports SATA II.  However, I'm not sure you can notice the difference between the two unless you use a SSD.

The Antec 300 Illusion also has a $15 off promo until 5/10.  The case is nothing spectacular, but it is tried and true with excellent cooling.

The OCZ power supply is modular, meaning you can detach the cables you don't use.  It has an $8 off promo until 5/11 and a combo that basically gives you a free DVD burner.  If you desire, you can save an additional $9.50 by getting the 500W version, which should be plenty to power all the items listed here.

Practical Power Rig

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition - $83
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $30
OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $95 (after $20 rebate)
ASUS EAH5850 DirectCU TOP/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 - $340
ASRock M3A770DE AM3 - $60
OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB - $139 (after $10 rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB - $80
NZXT Hades Crafted Series HADE-001BK - $60 (after $20 rebate)
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W - $55 (after $25 rebate)
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+-RW - $20

Discount: $68 ($30 GPU/RAM Combo, $20 DVD/PSU Combo, $10 HD Promo, $8 PSU Promo)
Shipping: $14
Total: $908

Here we have the addition of a Radeon HD 5850, which will basically play any modern game smoothly at its highest settings.  This isn't the cheapest one you can find, but the $30 combo with the RAM makes it a reasonable deal.

You'll notice that this build uses a 60GB SSD.  The OCZ Vertex is a good performer with TRIM support (just make sure you're using the latest firmware) to prevent performance degredation.  If you use it to hold your operating system plus a handful of your most used games/applications, you will eliminate a lot of waiting from boot and loading times.  Store everything else on the Caviar Green, which is inexpensive, cool, quiet, and has plenty of space.  If you're interested, it utilizes the new large sector technology you may have heard about, but that'll make little difference when compared to the Vertex.  The Green also has a $10 off promo until 5/9.

I actually had the pleasure of recently building a machine with the NXZT Hades.  It has three temperature probes that display the results on the top of the front panel, and they're quite accurate.  There are two voltage knobs inside the front panel that allow you to regulate the speeds of all the fans if you connect them properly.  There are several other features I really like about this case, and it's amazing that the price is so low.

You might have some trouble with the large side fan getting in the way of your CPU cooler.  I used a Xigmatek S1283 without the fan attached, and there was only a little room to spare.  I moved the Xigmatek fan to the rear spot on the case and put the rear 120mm fan on the front top spot, which worked out very well.

This build is more expensive, but you will absolutely notice the performance difference.

Overkill Rig

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz - $200
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $30
OCZ AMD Black Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $95 (after $20 rebate)
Galaxy 70XKH3HS8GUX GeForce GTX 470 - $350
ASUS P7P55-M LGA 1156 Intel P55 - $108
OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB - $139 (after $10 rebate)
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB - $80
NZXT Hades Crafted Series HADE-001BK - $60 (after $20 rebate)
Thermaltake TR2 TRX-750M 750W - $75 (after $20 rebate)
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+-RW - $20

Discount: $80 ($60 GPU/PSU Combo, $10 CPU/MB Combo, $10 HD Promo)
Shipping: $12
Total: $1,099

If you're not an AMD fan, feel free to give this machine a try.  The processor is one of the best gaming processors available today, and the motherboard supports firewire.  However, these advantages will cost you about $155, and you may not even notice the difference in performance for most games.

The video card/power supply combo of $60 off is an amazing deal.  There are actually several flavors of GTX 470 with the same price and combo, so feel free to take your pick.  The 470 will perform a little better than the 5850 in most games, but you'll want to consult benchmarks for the ones you play.

That's it.  Many of these parts can (and probably should) be mixed and matched to suit your price/performance needs.  Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or via e-mail.  Even though I haven't tested most of this hardware myself, I always choose parts that get at least 4/5 "eggs" on Newegg (unless there is a very good reason to pick something else), and I check the reviews for other information like component noise.  You can be relatively confident that these components will be quiet, efficient, and reliable.

The Golden Bridge

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (Scipio, for short) is considered to be among the greatest generals in the history of the world. About 200 years before Christ, he ended the greatest threat to ever face the Roman Republic by defeating Hannibal of Carthage in Hannibal's own land without any military or financial aid from Rome.

Scipio is credited with being the first recorded man to promote the use of what is sometimes called the golden bridge. According to Vegetius:

"Most people ignorant of military matters believe the victory will be more complete if they surround the enemy in a confined place or with large numbers of soldiers, so that they can find no way of escape. But trapped men draw extra courage from desperation, and when there is no hope, fear takes up arms. Men who know without a doubt that they are going to die and will gladly die in good company.
For this reason, Scipio's axiom has won good praise, when he said that a way should be built for the enemy to flee by. For when an escape-route is revealed, the minds of all are united on turning their backs, and they are slaughtered unavenged, like cattle. Nor is there any danger for the pursuers once the defeated have turned round the arms with which they could have defended themselves. In this tactic, the greater the numbers, the more easily is a mass cut down. For there is no need of numbers in a case where the soldiers' minds, once terrified, wish to avoid not just the enemy's weapons but his face. Whereas trapped men, though few in number and weak in strength, for this very fact are a match for their enemies, because desperate men know they can have no other recourse. 'The only hope of safety for the defeated is to expect no safety.'"
- Vegetius, Epitoma Rei Militaris III, xxi

The golden bridge is the perceived route of escape. It gives people a reason to stop fighting and try taking the easy way out. What they don't realize is that it's actually a trap that ensures their defeat more easily and soundly than fighting to the last man.

If you corner the bear, you get mauled. If you let it run, you get a free shot at its back.

Now, I'm going to throw a thought out there, and I'm sure it's not going to be very popular. Here goes:

In the United States of America, the vote is your golden bridge.

That's not to say that you shouldn't vote. Every American citizen ought to diligently consider exercising this freedom. The key is to not let it fool you into ignoring the deeds that can actually bring about change for the better. As to what those other deeds are, I'll leave that for you to dwell on.

We must not get caught up in the mindset that situations will improve if we just get enough of the right politicians in office. Ain't. Gonna. Happen. Digging up dirt on this politician or campaigning for that poitician are only ways of treating the symptoms of a system that is broken at its core, and those who are truly in control want you to believe that you're really making a difference if you just do these things. As you run across the golden bridge they have set up for you, your back is exposed and they don't have to worry about defending themselves.

Let's be honest. Your right to vote has driven you to complacency. You have used it as an excuse to throw up your hands and say, "I did my part."

If you're one of the sorry creatures that gets upset or depressed when an election doesn't go your way, if you place all your hopes for the future of this country on what the polls are telling you about the next election, you are the problem. Your favorite party isn't going to fix what is actually broken. It isn't driven by moral obligation or patriotic duty, and it's certainly not driven by you. The fact that you and the rest of this country don't recognize the golden bridge for what it is ensures the fate of this land just as the fleeing soldier ensures the victory of his attacker.

Gmail is my E-mail

In the past few months, I have witnessed the rapid spread of a terrible disease.  This disease is not physically harmful, but, let me tell you, it aggravates the snot out of me.  It affects users of the internet, and here are the symptoms:

1) The victims are unhappy with their e-mail services and/or e-mail clients.
2) They are unwilling to fix the problem.

Now, there's a good chance you're rolling your eyes right now and thinking, "There he goes again.  He's writing this just for me because we've been over this a million times."  Well, you're wrong.  I am not writing this "just" for anybody.  I personally know a large number of people infected by this virus.  In recent months, the victim count has grown at a disturbing rate.  You are not alone.

So now you're probably thinking, "Yeah, yeah.  I know you're going to tell me to switch to Gmail again."  Not exactly.  You don't have to "switch" to anything.  More specifically, you can enjoy the benefits of a better e-mail solution while retaining your current e-mail addresses.  To find out how, read this quick tutorial:

Manage All Your Email Accounts with Gmail

As the link explains, you can use Gmail to manage all your e-mail addresses without your contacts ever knowing you are using Gmail!  You can even import all your old e-mail into Gmail.  It's super-duper easy; I promise.

Of course, you're probably thinking, "Okay, I understand the 'how,' but not the 'why.'"  Why would anybody want to use Gmail?

Reason #1: Gmail's web interface is the best e-mail client in existence.

Forget Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple Mail.  The best software for managing your e-mail doesn't need to be installed on your computer.  All you need is a web browser!  Gmail's web interface has so many great features and options that I can hardly begin to describe them all.  (Of course, the default settings are great too, just in case you don't like to tinker.)

Gmail has an excellent labeling system that is a huge improvement over the typical "folder" systems other clients use.  It also has a robust filter system for automatically managing your e-mail as it arrives.  The search function is fast and effective; I never have trouble finding old messages.  You can also enable hotkeys if you're not a fan of clicking on everything.

Gmail Labs allows you to turn on extra features, including multiple inboxes, forgotten attachment detector, undo send option, and much more.  In addition, there are many browser extensions that you can use to change the way your web browser handles Gmail.

Most importantly, you can access the Gmail web interface wherever you go.  You don't need to install anything!  However, if you're still attached to your current e-mail client, Gmail's service still works fine with the aforementioned e-mail software as well as others.

Reason #2: Gmail (Google) accounts contain many other useful tools.

Your Google account will also come with an awesome calendar that supports all the main features people need in a calendaring system.  These include recurring appointments, meeting invitations that work even with people who don't use Gmail, task management, and more.  Easily access it all from your web browser.

Other features include Google Talk for chat (IM, voice, and video), Picasa Web Albums for photo management, Google Reader for managing RSS feeds and non-RSS web articles,  Google Docs for an online Office suite (yes, it supports common Microsoft Office formats), Blogger for... well... blogging, Google Voice, and much, much more.

Reason #3: There is no better junk filter.

The spam filter is regularly praised by IT experts as being the best of its kind.  I have been using Gmail since it was in its invite-only beta stage years ago, and I think I've only ever had two false positives and maybe five spam messages that didn't get automatically filtered.

Reason #4: Gmail is reliable.

I've never been unable to access my e-mail.  Ever.

If you are concerned about losing your mail, you can back it up automatically using an online service called Backupify.  You can also use it to back up accounts for Facebook, Twitter, and others.  Backupify accounts are available for free until February 15th, so don't wait!

Reason #5: Gmail has a bright future.

Gmail is under very active development; it is constantly being improved.  It integrates well with the latest technology - new browsers with massive plugin support, mobile devices, and various "Web 2.0" applications.  You can be confident that your Gmail account will keep up with whatever the IT industry dreams up next.

I could go on about why I use Gmail, but I'm sure you get the picture.  If you have any questions about Gmail, be sure to drop me a message or leave a comment.  If you already use Gmail, check out this recent article for some advice on getting the most out of your e-mail experience:

Become a Gmail Master Redux

Google also has a list of useful Gmail tips.