I would like to call myself an intermediate gamer. An Avid gamer lives and breathes video games of all platforms night and day with out hesitation. As for me I have been exposed to the world of gaming since the age of 5. I myself have liked all platforms of gaming especially now with the advancement of technology. I would have to say that gaming has evolved into a more massive industry especially with the world internet community at our disposal. Leaving me with the simple answer that as time goes on, the strides of gaming will only develop into a more advanced, and widely used form of entertainment in this world.
Being a member of Snackbar has really tested my knowledge of gaming and the such. I have been able to expose myself to readers, gamers, and many others who have been in the industry of gaming longer than I have. After hearing certain conversations and talking to several people at The Austin Gaming Expo, I learned that my knowledge of gaming was very minimal. But I realized that most of the people that I had overheard or encountered, were people who immerse themselves in the full world of gaming, and do nothing else in life. I can honestly say that I am not that kind of person. I enjoy gaming very much, but there is a limit to my enjoyment. I think for those of you who were there can understand what I am saying.
Recently I wanted to expand my world of gaming to that of the PC world. Not that I was getting tired of gaming on consoles, I just wanted to try something new. Mind you, I have no knowledge of PC’s and what makes a good PC for gaming. I myself am a Mac user and use Macs quite frequently to edit, and simply a Mac was my very first computer. I have no opinion whatsoever on which computer is superior, it’s an endless debate. Moving on, I then proceeded to call upon my good friend Cone. Cone, I would say, has a more extensive knowledge of PC’s and the computer world than I will ever have in my life time. For example, this is an excerpt from one of our conversations that we had when I was inquiring about building a PC.
5/16/03, 4:41 PM AIM Message with Cone
Cone: What was your question?
Pretzel: Oh yeah… give me a sec… what should I buy to start off with besides my case? Wait… there is no sound card!
Cone: It’s onboard bonehead!
Pretzel: On board what?
Cone: It’s on the Motherboard.
Now by the conversation we were having, I think you can tell my knowledge of PC’s is absolutely zero. Since then, Cone and I have talked about what specs makes a top notch gaming PC for gamer as myself. Let me just add that everything that I am about to list here is based upon my need and my pocket book. If you think that the components listed here suck, then EAT ME and take it up with Cone!! I will go down the line here and do the best I can to try and list the different components that are used to make a good gaming system. Cone with his supreme skills of gaming said it’s crucial to have the right components to have a kick ass PC. Cone gave me a basic run down on the things that I need to purchase so he can assemble it. Prices changed as time progressed; therefore I was able to buy better equipment. Here was the recipe Cone cooked up for a kick ass gaming PC.
- Motherboard: Abit NF7-S
- CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
- Ram: 512MB Crucial PC2700 DDR
- Videocard: ATI RADEON 9600PRO 128M
- HD: Western Digital 120GB WD1200JB 8MB-CACHE
- CDRW: Lite On 52x24x52
- Speakers: LOGITECH Z-340 3 PC
- Router: LINKSYS BEFSR41 4 Port Router
- Power Supply: Antec True480 480 Watts
- Case: Radiation-Blue/White-Front USB Acrylic Blue Frost Face, Spider Side Window, Blue Cathode Light Kit
- Fans: Vantec 80mm Fan, Coolermaster Blue LED Fan
- Monitor: Sony E440 Black 19in CRT
- Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard
- Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer
It was maybe a few months until everything was bought and assembled. Cone being the genius that he is, tightened a few things and did a few cosmetic touch ups to the assembly. After testing the computer and running it to make sure things were operational, it was ready to go. I was eager to see what this machine could do after hearing Dr. Frankenstein (Cone) talk about how awesome the computer was. Before picking up my gaming machine, I went to the EB Games and ran to the PC section and bought BF 1942 and The Road to Rome. I am fairly new to the world of PC gaming, and to be honest with you it was quite intimidating. All my life I was used to using console controllers and now things were drastically different. So I was looking forward to learning how to use the keys and mouse at the same time to game. After installing BF 1942 and gaming for a few hours I was totally impressed with everything the computer did. The graphics were beautiful, and it was insanely fast. Using the keyboard for controlling got easier, and the PC just looks beautiful. I really got my money’s worth in this machine.
Since then I have been nothing but happy with my PC. I suggest to those of you who do not own a gaming PC to totally build one, or find someone with knowledge to build one for you. If you would like to see some pics of my PC go here. Again, I would like to thank Cone for doing a superb job on building a beautiful machine, and would also like to thank EB Games Huebner for hooking it up with BF 1942 and The Road to Rome. I am one happy gamer!! Here are the following places I purchased most of my gear from if you are interested. Pretzel out!!
