WEBVTT - What makes a good gaming PC? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.799 text style from how stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.360 welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Pellette and 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.160 I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:25.960 across from me as always a senior writer, Jonathan Strickland 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:31.280 Jack Flack always escapes all Betty does. So what does 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:33.640 that mean? Well, it means that we're gonna go into 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:41.720 a little listener mail. This listener mail comes from James 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:44.720 from Carmel, Indiana, and James says, Hello. First of all, 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.000 I'd like to thank you for making my irritating chores 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.000 a little better. Secondly, I have a lot of free 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.320 time now that my football season is over, and was 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.319 thinking about building a low powered gaming computer. Right now, 0:00:54.320 --> 0:00:56.120 I have a Mac Mini, which is great unless you 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.240 want to play games. I was wondering if you could 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:00.360 do a podcast over how to build your own computer, 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.120 or lead me to a site that does a good 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.800 job explaining it. How stuff Works only has an article 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.679 over converting your computer to a media computer. Thank you 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.360 so much for the podcast, James. Well, James, we thought 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:12.399 we'd talked a little bit about what makes a gaming 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:19.080 computer good and uh, unfortunately part of that is is money. Um. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.959 It turns out that low powered gaming computers may not 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.360 really meet your needs if you want to play the 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.280 latest and greatest games that are on the market right now, 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.120 that's true, Um, a lot of cases you've got to 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.119 worry about. It's really a gaming computer is not significantly 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.920 different from a regular computer in that it has the 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.400 same kinds of components. But what a gaming computer has 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:46.920 that's different from your standard desktop or laptop computer is 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.320 generally high, very high end components, such as the motherboard 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:55.320 with a very high end processor, or the graphics cards 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.200 sometimes more than one graphics card, um, and and things 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.280 like that cause still a lot of money. But it 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.279 really it really depends on the games that you're trying 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.840 to play. If you're going to be, you know, working 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.440 on Beguiled for hours on end, you're probably not going 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.240 to need the same kind of processor that somebody who 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.839 plays World of Warcraft might. Yeah, and if you play 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.839 World of Warcraft, you may not need the same sort 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.040 of processor that someone who's playing a really advanced first 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:24.720 person shooter would need. These these different games have different 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.639 different requirements. So things like real time strategy games and 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.880 massively multiplayer online role playing games for the most part, 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:38.160 don't need the like cutting edge of technical specs to 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.600 be able to to run well on your machine. But 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.839 if you are someone who wants to play games like well, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:45.880 you know the upcoming Duke Nukem, which will be out 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:50.440 any day now again just like over the last twelve years. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.000 But no, seriously, Duke Nukem is supposed to come out again. Well, 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.880 if that's gonna be a typical first person shooter, it's 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.280 gonna try and take advantage of the latest and greatest 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:02.119 tech that's out there that it necessarily requires that to run, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.000 but that if you have the it'll if you have 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.639 something that's really advanced machine, it will take advantage of 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.800 that and you'll have a better experience overall as a result. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:15.359 So yeah, you need um. The three biggest components are 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.680 your CPU, your video card, and RAM. Now on top 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:21.480 of that, you're also gonna need to worry about storage 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.080 because some of these games are huge, and unless you 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:27.320 are playing some sort of streaming service where the game 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.920 is stored in the cloud somewhere, you're gonna need to 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.800 have that storage on hand. So, um, yeah, if you 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:38.560 look at the specs on on really advanced gaming PCs 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.760 that are out there being sold as gaming pecs, you're 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.240 gonna notice that that they have some wicked specs on them. 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:48.440 I mean, the CPU is gonna be really fast. And 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.119 sometimes you can even choose to have your CPU overclocked, 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.720 which means it's going to run more cycles in the 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.120 same amount of time and normally, like it would normally 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.920 run a certain number of cycles, over means use cram 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.880 more cycles into that same time period, which requires some 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:09.520 adjustment on the part of the computer owner. Actually, of course, 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.640 you can't go in and you know just a setting 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.200 a software setting in your operating system to over clock it. 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.440 You actually have to make a modification to your computer 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.160 to make that happen. Yeah, and uh, and overclocking can 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:26.799 lead to some problems. Um, the biggest usually is overheating. Actually, 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:30.680 that's a That's another component about PC gaming rigs that 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.680 we need to address and in this podcast, is that 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.920 you have to have a good cooling system. That's true, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.120 some people use a liquid cooling system rather than just 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.800 the standard fans that come with the box. Right. Yeah. 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:46.520 The three main methods that you'll probably see in most 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:51.720 gaming PCs are fans. And then heat sinks, yes, a 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.039 heat sink and thinking of that, but yeah, and and 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.080 water cooling systems or liquid cooling systems. So yeah, all 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.400 all of these are very basic ways of move heat 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.400 away from the processor because of course, as processors heat up, 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:06.440 just like any electronic element, if it gets too hot, 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.880 it's going to stop working. And that's kind of frustrating 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:11.640 when you're in the middle of a game. That's true, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.800 and I think it would be worthwhile to mention the 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.880 reason that gaming computers are so sophisticated. It's uh, and 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.360 in a lot of cases, especially with these more advanced 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.360 games and games in which there is a lot of 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.520 rapid action stuff like um, I would say, racing simulators, uh, 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:29.880 first person shooters, things like that, there's a lot of 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.640 movement on the screen. And of course, uh, at the 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.920 point we are now, these games are very very sophisticated. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.040 But the thing is the computer in order to make 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.680 this action look so uh so real and so dynamic 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.000 or unreal depending on how you look at it. Uh, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:49.040 not the game unreal, but yeah in that case too 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.080 back in the day, yea, but yeah, I mean in 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:53.960 order to do that, the computer is having to make 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.839 a lot of calculations to render that on the screen, 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:02.719 and it requires the CPU and the graphics processor to 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.960 do a lot of computation, which is why they get 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:07.760 so hot as they're doing a lot, a lot, a 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.680 whole lot of work. Um. And that's that's what makes 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:13.919 so much of the difference. And it requires the memory, 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.520 which is what Jonathan was talking about about the RAM, right, yeah, 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.760 because what the memory is letting you do is it's 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.479 s laying. It's slaying. The computer access information in an 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.400 almost instantaneous, uh fashion. I mean, it's so fast it 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.960 might as well be instantaneous to us. Now, if if 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:32.960 you didn't have a lot of RAM, that would mean 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.200 the computer would have to start to search for that 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.680 information on your hard drive. It wouldn't be stored in 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.760 that tipporary storage system for the computer, so it would 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.520 mean that it would have to slow things down in 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.680 order to search for that information. And that could even 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.120 uh cause your game to have one of those annoying 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:55.680 loading screens that all gamers absolutely hate. Um. That's something 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.400 you want to avoid, which is why you want to 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.560 have a lot of RAM. In fact, I was reading 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.480 one specification or one one article that was talking about 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:11.120 creating a a gaming PC, and they were their demands 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.960 for RAM. We're pretty darn high said that an absolute 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:20.200 minimum would be two gigabytes of RAM, and that to 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.760 be on the safe side, you should have no fewer 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:27.160 than four gigabytes. But if you have four gigabytes RAM, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.000 you have to remember that using a Windows machine. And 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:32.600 we're really talking about Windows machines here because that's what 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.920 the majority of games, that's the platform that they use. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.840 You can have really good games on other systems, including 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.960 you know, the Mac, which for a long time the 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:46.480 joke about max where that, yeah, it's a great computer 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:48.920 unless you want to play a game on it. But 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.720 that's changed significantly, but it's still true that most games, 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.120 most of the advanced games come out on PC first 0:07:56.200 --> 0:08:00.000 and sometimes exclusively. Well, if you want to have more 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.520 than around three gigabytes of RAM on a Windows based machine, 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:05.880 you're gonna need a sixty four bit version of the 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.160 Windows operating system. So we're talking, we're talking basically Vista 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.560 or Windows seven. Right, you can't you can't use you know, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.440 the operating systems simply cannot support more the older operating 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:21.040 systems versions of Windows cannot support that much RAM, so 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.120 it wouldn't do you any good to add more RAM 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.280 to it. Um. Before we get too far, you mentioned 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.080 also the fact that the reason why you need this 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:35.319 powerful computers because of the the fact that you've got 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.120 all these you know this, these dynamic graphics, and that's 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.520 the computer has to paint the picture over and over 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.439 and over again. Yes, um, and we're talking about resolutions 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:48.760 of around that's lots and lots of pixels. Yes, it is. 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.920 And so when you think about the computer has to 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.200 be able to paint each of those pixels or display 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.400 each of those pixels. And if stuff is changing really quickly, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.600 it has to be able to respond to that and 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:01.280 repaint those pixels. And the way that where the motion 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.640 is nice and smooth and it doesn't look choppy, or 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:05.880 there aren't trails everywhere unless it's part of the you know, 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.839 the game's design, and uh and so yeah, that requires 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.640 that's what where all that processing power needs to go to. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.760 So I remember back when I first had a computer 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:19.000 that you didn't have to worry about this so much. 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.480 Like the computers were increasing in power over time, Moore's 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.000 laws More's law, so we would after every couple of years, 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:28.839 you'd want to upgrade because you wouldn't be able to 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.720 run some of the latest programs. But your basic computer 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.760 graphics card and basic computer sound card was enough to 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:38.800 handle pretty much anything out there. It wasn't until the 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:45.080 first person shooters started to take off, really, the Quake generation, uh, 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.000 Doom and and Wolfenstein three D, that kind of stuff. 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.920 The the games that came before it still ran pretty 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.880 well on your basic three eight six machine. It wasn't 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:56.600 until you started getting a little further in where you 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:59.520 started need specific kinds of graphics cards in order to 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.560 render graphics that were in a game. That's about the 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.920 time I stopped playing PC games, Yeah, because it got 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:07.760 to a point where it was clear that in order 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.319 to play the latest and grades PC games, I was 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.120 going to have to be on a fairly regular upgrade 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:17.600 cycle for my machine, possibly as as frequently as every 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.959 six months, in order to be able to run the 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:25.320 the latest games. And eventually you would have to upgrade 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.520 your entire machine, not just components, because your computer would 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.800 no longer be able to support the latest cards that 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:33.040 were on the market. That's true, and I think that's 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:39.319 why so many gamers prefer the desktop computer to a laptop. UM. 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.240 Not that you can't make some of these modifications to 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:45.840 a laptop, for example adding more ram UM, but in 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.400 a desktop computer. And this really does go for for 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.680 MAX and PCs both. UM. If you have a tower 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:57.120 uh desktop computer, especially although you know some of the 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.320 other configurations also work. It depends on the MANU factor 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.280 really more than anything else. But um. For example, if 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.160 you took a one of the all in one pieces 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:10.400 where the monitor has the computer built into it, um, 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:13.600 those are generally sealed up a little more in a 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.839 in a configuration in which it's very difficult to get 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.080 in and say change out your CPU. Well yeah, especially 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:23.000 since especially since most of those machines are designed in 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.000 such a way where the components all fit very snugly 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.079 together and there's very little room. So unless you're using 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.120 a new component that's exactly the same size as the 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.120 old one, you may be stuck. You may not be 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.400 able to put it back together properly. Right. But in 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.000 some of the other, the tower configurations especially, you can 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.920 open up the box, pull out the card in question, 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.240 and replace it with another one. If you know what 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.440 you're doing. It's good to be very very careful when 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:48.960 you're doing those kinds of things, but it's a lot 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:52.560 easier to install a new card, replace your hard drive, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.319 add ram um, you know, in those in those types 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:59.920 of boxes, simply because of the way that they're built. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.640 That um. That's why if I were going to build 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.080 a gaming computer for myself, either build one or buy one, 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.600 I would prefer to get a desktop computer with a 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:12.600 very large monitor, you know, so you could see lots 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.480 and lots of action and um. You know, I would 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.120 probably prefer a Mac, but I would want to get 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.200 a Mac Pro where I could you know, upgrade it 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:22.240 in the future, because you know, the specs, the specs 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.920 shift over time, as you pointed out. As a matter 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:26.840 of fact, I think a good rule of thumb is 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:28.959 to look at the system requirements on the box of 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:33.000 the game you're playing. If you're just hitting the system requirements, 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.240 you're not going to have a particularly good experience in 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.960 my uh, in my you know, personal experience, in my 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.959 history with it. It'll run the game, but a lot 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:45.120 of times it will be jittery and laggyuch fun. You 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.840 have to turn the detail level down so that you 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.400 don't have as many polygons rendering on the screen, so 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:52.720 you can you can play the game at a smooth 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:57.000 clip without it looking really jagged. Basically, basically what he's 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:58.800 saying is the graphic you have to kind of turn 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.520 down the level of the graph fix processing so that 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.240 it doesn't fill in all the depth, the depths of 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:08.120 the shadows and highest highlights and textures, so that you 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:10.600 can still see and you can play the game. You know, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:12.760 if if the game play is more important to you 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.079 what it is to me than the graphics. I love 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.840 good graphics, but you know, if the game doesn't play 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.240 well kind of bugs me. You might as well deal 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.840 with that. We'll go watch a movie. If if the 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.240 games aren't play well, it looks pretty. It's all. It's 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:30.040 all cinematics. But well, uh, and you mentioned the possibility 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:33.760 of using more than one graphics card. That's that's a 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.640 fairly recent development with you know, back in the day, 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:38.920 it was one of those things where you would get 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.600 one graphics card and you had to choose carefully because 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.880 some games supported a certain family of graphics cards and 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:49.520 other games we're using a totally different, uh graphics model, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.120 and you might not be able to play a game 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:53.719 based upon the kind of graphics card you have in 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.600 your computer. Um, now you can use that. Well. In 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:00.240 Video and A t I have have really dominate the 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.560 market quite a bit. And of course am D purchased 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:05.760 A T I and from what I understand, they're phasing 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.520 out the A t I name, So am D then yeah, 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.959 and they each allow you to use more than one 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.040 video card if you have the right motherboard. That's something 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.200 else we should point out is that a lot of 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.000 the the components that you have in a gaming PC 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:24.040 will depend entirely upon which motherboard you have. Not all 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.240 motherboards will support all formats. In fact, your CPU will 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:30.880 really what you should do, and we'll get into this 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.920 more when you're talking about building a gaming computer is 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:38.920 pick the CPU you want first, then find the motherboard 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.480 that supports that CPU. Because you can't just you can't 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.800 just go into a computer store and buy components willy 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.120 nilly and expect them all to work when you hook 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.400 it up together. Some of them may not hook up 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.120 together at all. Best, do a little research before you 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.120 get started, or consult with an expert in the store. Right. So, 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.280 in Video and and a m D have this Uh, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:02.600 this where you can hook up more than one video 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:05.320 card at a time to your machine, which means that 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.960 the two together can process graphics much faster than a 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.520 single card could. It's kind of similar to how CPUs 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:16.400 now come. In multi coore formats, you can get dual 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.120 core or quad core or even more um for CPU 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:23.280 and each core can do some calculations. Now, in order 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.840 to take advantage of that, games have to be designed 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.760 in order to to use that. That's true. That that's 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.840 true of any software for doing video editing or graphics 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:34.040 editing of some kind. A lot of those programs are 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:39.040 designed to handle the especially the newer versions. I should 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.560 say older versions weren't necessarily but yeah, I mean, if 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.160 you're if you're operating system isn't designed to do it, 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.480 and you're the game itself isn't designed to handle running 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.400 across multiple cores, it won't be able to take advantage 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:54.360 of that. Yeah. So right now, it's not unusual to 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.760 find games that are good for dual core processors. You 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.200 can find quite a few, and there's some they're coming 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.760 out that are designed for quad core processors or two 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.720 at least two. They're optimized for that. So you know, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.520 it's always a good idea to go ahead and look 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.720 at what's what's sort of the leading edge on the 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.080 market there, because that's where everything's gonna go. It may 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:15.600 not be able to you know, you may not have 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.360 games that take advantage of it right away, but that's 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:22.240 where they're heading. So there there's no way to future 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.200 proof a gaming PC. No, no, you can't do it. 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.200 So that's one of the other things you have to 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.720 resign yourself too, is that when you build a gaming PC, 0:16:30.040 --> 0:16:32.600 it may be state of the art right now and 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:37.360 in a year it may be average. Yeah, And that's 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.040 one of the big barriers to gaming PCs in my opinion, 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.520 is because one they're expensive and too they have a 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.520 very limited shelf life as far as being the best 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.320 of the best goes. Yeah, yeah, that's true. You can 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.800 you can look online and find a number of manufacturers 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.840 of of gaming PCs and they'll have just watch the 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.880 websites and the specs will change very very quickly. Uh, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.920 you know, I don't think except for really the high 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:07.800 end graphics and video processors. Maybe music. Yeah, there's some complications. 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.560 Most most people don't really need cutting edge equipment like no, 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.680 but so I mean, if you really want the sophisticated machines, 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.000 the gaming machines are the ones I think. Yeah, and uh, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.159 when we come to sound, that's another element you for 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:24.760 modern games. You don't want anything that you don't want 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.040 a sound card that won't support at least five point 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.439 ones around sound. Yeah, you'd probably want seven point one 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.720 because there are games out there that take advantage of 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:38.200 the seven point one channel sound system. So, um, yeah, 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:40.760 we're starting to get it pretty expensive here. And let 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:44.680 me give you three different manufacturers of gaming PCs that 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.800 that are kind of typical in the in the marketplace. 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:52.000 So there's there's the CyberPower PC line. Yeah, there's the 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:58.840 Velocity Raptor line, and then there's alien where, yes, um, 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:04.119 these are manufact was known for producing high end, super fast, 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:09.600 super sophisticated gaming PCs. Yes, I went on alien Ware. 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.600 Just chose alien Ware because I'm really familiar with the 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:14.639 brand and I thought it might be interesting to just 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:19.240 see what happens if I were too heavily load down 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.320 a gaming pc kind of give it all the bells 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.840 and whistles. Okay, and we should point out to I'm 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.639 I feel compelled to point out that that that's of 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.760 the recording today, because we just finished talking about how 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.480 quickly they go out of dates. By the time this 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.160 podcast publishes, it may very well be that the state 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:37.680 of the art is not what I have listed. And 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:39.480 I'm not going to give all those specs because that 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:42.400 would just be ridiculous. It would take we need another podcast. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.280 I'll just say that I loaded it up with the 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:50.280 fastest CPU that was available, the largest hard drive, the 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:55.520 fastest optical drive which included Blu ray reading and writing UM, 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.840 the best video cards that I could get in the system. 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.920 I added a monitor, added a card that would allow 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.680 you to hook up to I think three additional displays, 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:07.920 so you could have four displays running off of this 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.600 one machine, which is kind of absolutely insane. I can 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.960 imagine having UM one display in front of you, with 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.280 two other displays flanking it, kind of in a slightly 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:22.040 tilted towards you slightly to give you kind of that 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.720 surround feeling, and then have a fourth display that just 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.480 has your regular like instant message and stuff on it 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:29.520 just in the background, you know, just if you want 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.720 to check UM or hey, put it behind you and 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:36.000 put a rear view mirror up. Anyway, so once I 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.640 added all of these things together, the price tag came 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.800 to a total of ten thousand, three hundred twenty two 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.840 dollars and ninety three cents. And that's in US dollars. 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:53.080 That's an expensive computer. Yes, it is um actually expensive 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.119 computer system because it did have lots and lots of 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:59.080 extra stuff. But yeah, we're it was by the way, 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.080 just so you know what the model was, it was 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:06.040 the Alien where area fifty one a l X then 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:11.760 with all the options, and that included a custom made 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:16.480 water cooling system and all that good stuff. So yeah, 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.360 that's expensive. Now, if you want to build your own, 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.199 you're gonna save lots of money, but it is going 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:26.920 to require research and uh and some careful shopping. Yes, 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.800 and you'll be able to find some fairly cheap parts 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.480 online as well as in various stores. Uh. I know 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.399 Tiger Direct is a good resource for things like like 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.280 motherboards and CPUs and that sort of stuff, but don't 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:45.080 think and places like that. So, like I said before, 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.200 the first thing you need to do is consider what 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.640 CPU you're going to use, because that's going to that's 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.920 gonna drive further decisions down the line. So you figure 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:56.960 out what kind of CPU. You want you know whether 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:58.879 that's going to be the fastest one on the market 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:00.440 or if it's just going to be an a nice 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.200 competitive one. Uh. Then you have to find the motherboard 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:07.040 that will or the kinds of motherboards, because it's going 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.080 to be more than one, but the motherboards that will 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.920 support that CPU. You also want to be able to 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.080 see what kind of connections you can make to that 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:18.160 motherboard because when it comes to graphics, there are two 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:23.119 different kinds of of of graphic hookups that you can 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:27.880 go into. There's pc I Express and there's a g P. Yes, 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.399 so pc I express is ah, well, you may remember 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:33.480 back in the day, pc I was the way to 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.160 hook up graphics to your computer. Remember that. Yeah, pc 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:42.040