This is just one of the many manufactures of this product, please feel free to scour the web to find other manufactures/products. They do not sponsor me in any way, this is merely my opinion in the matter. They have been around for awhile now, and have many of their products in the machines you can find in the store, and the community has made such a "dent" in the mainstream that they now offer custom boards stricly for the purpose of gaming. This is a really great idea for someone, who has number one the funds, and also if somone doesn't know to much about the hardware. Overall I feel like it takes away from the modification of the computer. Click logo to learn more about the company!

Mother boards are at the bottom of the case and supplies power, and communication to the other hardware. The mother board is then based on a socket, which is usually a PGA or pin grid array or new from Intel™, a LGA, or land grid array. Some common sockets are 478, 754, 939, and Socket AM2 for the newest Athlon Processors. For anyone shopping for a mother board, shop according to what CPU you have in mind. This is key because the mother board should match the CPU. Chipsets are also very important in this issue, because not only must the CPU fit into the socket provided; the CPU must interact with a specific chipset as well. Memory is very imporant as well since this controls how fast the computer can access, and readily hold the data. I hope you have the idea? More memory equals more speed, that's why many of these new games have such high requirments!

This is the ASUS M2nSLImother-board. It has an AM2/AM2+ socket meaning you can fit AMD Sempron, Athlon 64/Fx, Athlon 64 dual-core or even Phenom™ 64 processors! It even supports ECC, non-ECC, and unbuffered memory.

Mother Boards

Processors

There have been many types of microprocessors introduced to us throughout the past three decades. The way of the world seems to keep pushing limits in the "silicon" region then soon most machines will come stock with at least a 64 bit processor. The microprocessor is essentially the brain or heart of the PC. It basically is a single engine put onto a single chip, or piece of silicon. They have been around since 1974, and have grown amazingly into the 21st Century.

There are many manufactures and models, but I've chose to focus this matter for the sake of the actual topic of the magazine. This being said 64 bit processors offer more data transfers; therefore, allowing for higher input/output speeds to hard-drives, video-cards, and other hardware. Now with more demanding requirments you will now see mostly duo-core processors, or now thanks to AMD™ the Phenom series quad-core processors. They offer more bandwith, less latency, and even less power consumption through their Athlon, Athlon duo-core, and Phenom quad-core processors! I might add that the Athlon 64 offers a higher bus-speed, than Pentium™dual-core. Remeber to check that your mother board offers the required sockets!

This is the Athlon™ 64 bit processor. It was the first Windows® compatible 64 bit processor, and I what I currently own. It offers amazing results when it comes to multi-tasking!

This is the Athlon™ dual-core processor. Basically more is better, so now two 64 bit proccessors will offer you more time from not waiting on load times!

This is the Phenom™ quad-core, this is the first type, and the wave of the future! Expect nothing but the best in graphics, and multi-tasking.

Video Cards

Video Cards are much like mother-boards, and are there to strictly do the extreme calculations that hi-definition video and graphics render. It contains a GPU, which does all of the above mentioned. Memory, a BIOS, and even has a fan since the GPU produces quiet a bit of heat. Gaming has proven that more is better, so you guessed it the principals are basicly the same, more is better. There are several different brands of cards, out there. The two leading manufactures of these cards are ATI™ and Nvidia™. They have been innovating the market, since the begining of graphics; still there are many other great manufactures to choose from. If you really want to push the limits then one can try SLI or Scalable Link Interface, which allows the user to put two or more video cards in one system. This does require a mother-board and video cards that supports SLI, however. If you don't plan to be doing much gaming then a 64 bit processor, and a mid-end graphics card will do the trick. Another tip is to get a mother-board with a PCI-Express slot, for even great data transfers than an AGP slot.

This is the Radeon HD 2600 Pro. I really take kindly to this card because for the price you get quiet a deal. It contains HDMI for hooking up to your favorite Flat screen! It even contains 256mb of DDR2 memory with an interface of PCI-e for even faster transfers!

This is the Nvidia™ GeForce 8600 Gt, it contains 512 mb of DDR2 memory, a PCI-e interface, SLI ready, with S-video, and even HD-TV outputs as well!

Motherboards | Processors| Videocards

This is the hardware section of the site. This is where you can get an internal look at the behind the scenes of a game! Also I will try to provide some great indepth information in what to look for when choosing one of the hardware requirments above! I wish I could have added more hardware, and hopefully that will come into play. Remember these are all my opinions stated. Enjoy your stay!