PC Gaming Guide Part 1 - Hardware

This post is going to cover the very basics of PC gaming. I hope it will help push some of you in the direction of PC gaming. My hope is that this guide will give you some basic insight into the PC gaming world. One of the biggest reasons PC gaming doesn't catch on as easily is because it is a more open environment. It is just as simple but it doesn't have an obvious starting point and can become infinitely more complicated. So I'm going to start with a buyers guide that is applicable to today's market and current climate. Starting with the PC itself, perhaps a bit of laptop discussion and then I'll talk about some key accessories. Then I'll outline some of the programs that are important or deemed essential to your experience as well as the advantages they provide. Hopefully when I'm done I'll have simplified the experience a bit and made it easier to get started. Please ask any questions that come up during or after reading this post, in the comments below.

Buying a PC:
Perhaps one of the most difficult points of entry into the PC gaming universe is the purchase of a gaming PC or Laptop. The number one thing you need to understand in this current market is that while a solid graphics card is important, Processor speed is without a doubt the most important thing to consider in your purchase. While in the past I would have considered spending more of my budget on a kick ass graphics card it's jsut not as important right now.

The current generation of games is far more dependent on processor speed than on your gpu, or graphics card. GPUs are far faster than games currently take advantage of. This is in stark contrast to three years ago where CPUs or processors were doing a similar job. Now that the technology and software have caught up the same will eventually happen with GPUs. However I still recommend spending more money on a processor and here is why. Processors are far more complicated to upgrade while a GPU upgrade is a simple and cost effective way to improve your performance in future generations. Having a solid CPU to build off will give you a computer that will last you a long time.

RAM?
RAM, or Random Access Memory is basically your computer's short term memory that affords it the ability to complete or do multiple tasks at once. For MMOs and lots of the newer generation of games it is very important to have a solid amount of RAM. I would recommend a minimum of 4gigs. However 6 would be preferable and if you have the extra money look to getting a full 12gigs. This is not absolutely necessary but will greatly enhance your game playing as you can have multiple tools open or several instances of the same game open.

What About Hard Drive Size?
Well this is an often debated topic. However I would recommend that you use your PC budget on other items before investing in an oversized hard drive right now. Instead you can save up for a future purchase because upgrading your hard drive is simple and easy. In fact you can always buy externals to keep you music, pictures and old saves on. Saving your HD the space and keeping your valuable data quite a bit safer from viruses and malware.

Optical What?
Optical Drive is a term that describes your CD, DVD, or BlueRay Drive. For now it's only necessary to have a DVD drive however for those of you who want longevity I strongly recommend investing in a BlueRay Drive. They aren't a lot more expensive and should PC games begin to be available on BlueRays, it's likely that this package will be easier to find in the future. The same thing happened when DVDs replaced CDs and BlueRays have a distinct size advantage that makes them a great choice for game publishers to use to save on the costs of multiple DVD boxsets.

Accessories:
Accessory purchases are often overlooked. I'm going to breakdown in simple terms the advantages that different types of accessories can bring to your gaming experience. There are four main accessories for gaming two are output and two are input devices.

Keyboard and Mouse
These are your two input devices, meaning they are devices that give a computer information. As far as gaming goes everyone is going to have their own preferences regarding these two. I am a bit of a pureist and prefer very simple solid devices. I don't like to have too many extra buttons. That's why I can't recommend one mouse or keyboard over the other.

I can however explain why someone would want a specialized device as well as talk a little bit about a Zboards. Serious gamers often get mice that have lots of extra toggle-able buttons. I would strongly recommend ones that are not too sensitive to touch. Especially if it's your first time trying one of these new mice. Often times an inexperienced user will press the buttons unintentionally and cause undesirable effects to occur. Most people who purchase fancy mice likes these don't ever even use them to their full ability. These mice are meant to be programmed so that each button performs a new and unique action. This way you can change weapons, shoot, melee, zoom, and throw grenades without ever leaving the movement buttons with your left hand. Most people program it to use voice chat but the options are limitless and if you find yourself the owner of one of these mice I encourage you to experiment. As for keyboards I would suggest comfort over all else. However there is one keyboard that takes it to new levels and that keyboard is the Zboard. A Zboard has a digital display as well as customizable decal sets for almost all games. Zboards can be customized to display health or even current dps on their display.

Monitors
Monitors are a complicated subject. In order to break these down I'll have to explain what resolution means. While there are several different factors that determine how good a monitor is such as contrast ratio, resolution is perhaps the most important and easily recognizable to the untrained eye. It's important to have a high resolution monitor to experience the highest quality of graphics. Increasing your games resolution to the highest setting will both make the game look better and effect performance. Make sure your setting matches your computers hardware.

Resolution is in simplest terms how many pixels wide and high are fit into your screen. The highest of these settings is 1920x1080. Not the last number here, 1080. Sound familiar? It should as this is the exact same resolution setting as a 1080p HD broadcast or movie. This resolution is one of just a few widescreen resolution settings that match the aspect ration of 16:9. 16:10 is another widescreen format. These monitors are often cheaper than HD monitors and still produce a fairly high resolution setting. The third and final aspect ration is 4:3 which is what a standard definition TV uses. I don't recommend these monitors as they give you less resolution and less screen real estate.

Headsets
This is both an input and output device. Headsets both receive and share information with your computer in the form of speakers and a mic. There are four types of headphones. Mono, Stereo, 5.1 Surround, and 7.1 Surround. Mono means exactly what it sounds like. It's single channel which means you are going to get the same sounds in both ears making them not ideal for gaming. Stereo means that there are two different speakers, namely left and right. These are better but also not ideal. The next is 5.1 surround. This means that there are five channels of sound and five speakers. You will need a special sound card to accurately split the sound into each channel. Although many USB sets will claim they can split the sound accurately the common belief is that they only emulate it and do so rather poorly. This has a Front L & R and Back L & R along with a subwoofer and center speaker. The final type of headset is a 7.1 surround sound headset. This has 8 speakers all of which are the same as the 5.1 set with an additional L & R side speakers. While this is the best quality with the most speakers the difference between a 7.1 and 5.1 headset is difficult to tell. While the price difference between the two is not. I strongly recommend a 5.1 over a 7.1 but if you have some cash to burn go all out.

That's the long and short of it. Next I'll tackle the software.