Gaming PC

The terms gaming PC and gaming computer refer to computers specifically built to play personal computer games at a higher resolution or higher graphical settings than domestic PCs. They commonly feature extravagant casings and high-end components, and are sometimes liquid cooled.

Although PC games will run on general-purpose home computers, a true "gaming computer" is specifically made to process the instructions necessary for 3-D graphics acceleration processing, physics modeling, unified pixel shading technology, dynamic geometry rendering, and enhanced sound processing and effects engines. They also include readily available external connection points for a variety of accessories such as, headphones, USB formatted devices and firewire connection points. Although gaming computers, sometimes called a "gaming rig", may be bought retail in the same manner as the common computer, they are frequently built by their creators for use in single player, or online gaming. Gaming computers are purpose-built to gain the best possible performance advantage in order to produce a computer that will out-perform the opponents computer, thereby winning the game in an online contest, or to simply enjoy the best images and effects a new computer game has to offer. [cite web|title= Falcon Northwest Co. - Gaming PC seller|url= http://www.falcon-nw.com| accessdate= 2007-11-07|publisher=Falcon Northwest Co.]

The personal computers made specifically for playing games started being popularized with the introduction of games back in the 90's such as "Doom" by id Software, made for Microsoft DOS based personal computers. These games pushed standard business and home computer hardware to their limit, and game enthusiasts began building computers with the highest performance hardware to run "Doom" at the best possible performance (measured in frames per second). Therefore, the "gaming computer" began as a modified utilitarian device for competitive events.

Games drive hardware performance trends

Since the introduction of "Doom", each new generation of games pushes the envelope of what computers can do. Game developers consciously code their software to be impressive for a year or two into the future. This creates a dilemma for both the developer and the user of the software in that the hardware available when the game is made available for sale may not run the software at its highest level of performance.

This is the reason why most mass marketed games found in retail stores have two sets of required hardware listed on the box. The first set is the "minimum hardware requirements" and the second set is the "recommended hardware requirements."

The minimum requirements are the oldest and lowest-performing hardware components that the game developer successfully operated the game software on during testing. The suggested hardware requirements are what the game developer wants the user to play the game on to get a satisfactory experience from the game; games will generally run faster and look better the higher the performance of the hardware. Thus the very high end gaming computers will be composed of the latest publicly available hardware.

History

Origin

As computer games became graphically and computationally complex in the 1990s, with games such as Quake and Tomb Raider using hardware accelerated graphics, the concept of building PCs specifically for gaming was born. As such, the power of a gaming PC's GPU has always been the top priority. [cite web |date=2006-10-19 |title=Puget Systems' Computer Building Guide |url= http://www.pugetsystems.com/gaming.php|publisher=Puget Systems |accessdate=2006-10-19] In the early and mid 90's, companies such as Voodoo PC, Falcon Northwest and Alienware, focusing entirely on gaming and high-end PCs were launched. Games like The 7th Guest and Myst [cite web |date=2006-10-19 |title=MYST Review |url= http://www.mrbillsadventureland.com/reviews/m-n/mystR/mystR.htm |accessdate=2006-10-19] helped CD-ROMs and sound cards become far more popular. In 1998, AMD incorporated the 3DNow! instruction set into their K6-2 CPU line as well as every CPU model thereafter. The technology was designed for vector processing, a frequent task in 3-D games. Intel responded with Streaming SIMD Extensions in the Pentium III, which AMD eventually also incorporated from Athlon XP onwards. However, it wasn't until the 2000s when major computer manufacturers such as Dell made any serious attempts at building gaming PCs, later purchasing Alienware, Inc in 2006 after Alienware had accumulated a whopping total of 172 million for the previous year, 2005. [cite web |date=2006-03-23 |title=Alienware Bought Out By Dell Article |url= http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2006/tc20060323_034268.htm?campaign_id=search |accessdate=2006-03-23]

Cost of gaming PCs

The purchase of a gaming PC can be quite expensive. As an example, the graphics card ATI Radeon 9700 Pro was released at US$399 in 2002. [cite web |first=Anand Lal |last=Shimpi |date=2002-08-19 |title=ATI Radeon 9700 Pro - Delivering as Promised |url=http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=1683&p=2 |publisher=AnandTech |accessdate=2006-07-11] This one part is comparable in price to a sixth and seventh generation console, and many gaming PCs support the use of multiple video cards in SLI or CrossFire, making it possible to spend even the equivalent on that of an older automobile in graphics cards alone. [cite web |first=Derek |last=Wilson |date=2006-03-09 |title=NVIDIA's Tiny 90nm G71 and G73: GeForce 7900 and 7600 Debut |url=http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2717&p=2 |publisher=AnandTech |accessdate=2006-07-11]

It should be noted, however, that those parts do not represent major sales, and are not required to play even the most graphically intense games. For example, the demanding late-2007 game Unreal Tournament 3 can achieve extremely high frame rates with the USD$250 8800 GT. [cite web |url=http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/bfg8800_GT_OC/8.html |title=BFG 8800 GT OC review? |accessdate=2007-10-27 |format=HTML |work=Neoseeker.] Manufacturers are targeting the ultra-high-end parts market, but the majority of gaming PCs use older parts such as outdated graphics cards, from older generations (such as nVidia series 7 videocards) and older CPUs (e.g., single-core CPUs) [cite web |url=http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html |title=Valve Corp.'s Hardware Survey |accessdate=2007-10-11 |format=HTML |work=Valve Corp.] , as well as any other computer peripherals, fitting the user's necessity, budget, and/or interest in final performance. The cost of the PC platform itself has dropped significantly, with even low-cost computers boasting multi-core processors, large quantities of system memory, and monitors similar in resolution to high-definition TVs. [cite web |url=http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9023906 |title=How Low Can They Go? |accessdate=2007-10-27 |format=HTML |work=TechGear.]

CPU manufacturers offer CPU models geared towards gaming and overclocking, usually priced for the top market segments. Examples can be shown such as "Pentium Extreme Edition" and Athlon FX series in 2003 [cite web |first=Anand |last=Shimpi |date=2003-09-16 |url=http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1870&p=1 |title=Intel introduces the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition |publisher=AnandTech |accessdate=2006-07-22] by Intel and AMD respectively. Similar to the ultra-high end graphics cards, these CPUs are not commonly used, and in many cases will not provide a large performance benefit in games. [cite web |url=http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=868&model2=873&chart=424 |title=CPU Charts. |accessdate=2007-10-27 |format=HTML |work=Tom's Hardware.] To reduce final cost, users can build gaming PCs using cheaper (but still effective) parts, sometimes overclocking low-to-mid-range parts to higher frequencies in order to match or exceed the performance of top-of-the-line parts. Gaming PCs can also be upgraded, funds from the old parts subsidizing the purchase of newer, faster ones. [cite web |url=http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/$500_gaming_pc_upgrade/ |title=The $500 Gaming PC Upgrade. |accessdate=2007-10-27 |format=HTML |work=Firing Squad.]

Hardware description

Graphics

Gaming PCs use hardware accelerated graphics cards which offer high-end rasterisation-based rendering/image quality. The graphics card is the most important part determining the capabilities of a gaming PC. [cite web |date=2008-05-15 |url=http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-upgrade,1928-20.html |title=GPU vs. CPU Upgrade: Extensive Tests |publisher=Tom's Hardware |accessdate=2008-05-26] Memory capacity on 3-D cards is usually at least 256 MB to 1 GB. The amount of video RAM is only important while gaming in higher resolution, as it does not directly affect performance. The type of memory used however is an important factor. Modern graphics cards use the PCI-E expansion slot. Two or more graphics cards can be used simultaneously on mainboards supporting SLI or ATI CrossFire technology, for nVidia and ATI based cards respectively. Both technologies allow for two graphics cards of the same model to be used in unison to process and render an image. [cite web |first=Scott |last=Wasson |date=2006-06-05 |url=http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q2/geforce-7950-gx2/index.x?pg=1 |title=GeForce 7950 GX2 explained |publisher=Tech Report |accessdate=2006-07-22]

Display

While the superiority between LCD screens and CRT monitors is still debated, it is clear that a fast response time and high refresh rate is desired in order to display smooth motion. A framerate of 30 frames per second (fps) is the minimum for smooth motion in a video game. As games approach 60 fps and beyond, the difference becomes less apparent. Apart from the primary display, some gamers choose to use a secondary display as well. These may include a second screen or an LCD display located on the keyboard or by itself.

Audio

Gaming PCs are usually equipped with a dedicated sound card and speakers in a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound configuration. The speaker setup or a set of quality headphones is required to enjoy the advanced sound found in most modern computer games. [cite web |date=2003-11-10 |url=http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/games/expert/speakersystems.mspx |title=Hear It All with Surround Sound |publisher=Microsoft |accessdate=2006-07-11] Sound cards have hardware accelerated technologies, such as EAX. An example is Sound Blaster X-Fi, which the Fatal1ty editions have 64 MB of onboard RAM (unmatched for a sound card) and has gaming PCs as main target demographic with its dedicated "gaming mode". [cite web |url=http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=14000#1 |title=Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty |publisher=Creative Labs |accessdate=2006-07-11]

Physics

While physics cards are now available, compatibility and performance increases are still debated. Some people have experienced performance downgrades in GRAW, cite web |first=Derek |last=Wilson |date=2006-03-05 |url=http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2751&p=4 |title=Exclusive: ASUS Debuts AGEIA PhysX Hardware |publisher=AnandTech |accessdate=2006-07-11] one of few games currently available that take advantage of additional physics hardware. Graphics card manufacturers plan on including PPUs on their chipsets and also adding a slot for a third graphics card (in addition to the usual 2 slots for SLI or Crossfire setups) to act as a PPU. [cite web |first=Brent |last=Justice |date=2006-03-20 |url=http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTAwNSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA= |title=nVIDIA SLI Physics Tech Preview |publisher= [HardOCP| [H] ard|OCP] |accessdate=2006-07-11] At the moment, the cards are expensive and neither widely used nor widely supported in games. Recently Nvidia cards support the physics calculations that dedicated physics cards were made for.

CPU

The CPU is mainly responsible for computing physics, AI and central game processes. Modern gaming PCs use high-end Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core 2 Quad, Phenom, AMD Athlon 64 X2 and Intel Pentium Dual-Core (with the latter used in budget solutions) CPUs. With the rise of multi-threaded games, multi-processor and multi-core setups will become more imperative than ever, but as of today the individual core speed is still more important then the number of cores, as the majority of current gaming software was solely written to operate on a single core. Furthermore, an ample amount of L2 Cache within the CPU, generally more than 2 MB, is recommended to reap the benefits of even faster game performance. In addition, a gaming processor should be capable of running at least the SSE3 instruction set extension, which is available in all modern CPUs. [cite web |first=Michael |last=Wall |url=http://developer.amd.com/assets/AMD_GDC_2006_talk.pdf |title=Optimizing Games for AMD Athlon 64 processors in 2006 and beyond |publisher=Advanced Micro Devices |accessdate=2006-07-24]

Memory

Memory, or RAM, acts as a cache for non-graphical resources that games use. Gaming PCs typically have the fastest available RAM modules, with heat sinks to dissipate heat created by the high data transfer rate between the RAM and the motherboard. The fast RAM found in gaming PCs has the benefit of increased performance by having lower latency than regular RAM. cite web |first=John |last=Woram |date=2005-10-06 |url=http://www.cnet.com.au/desktops/pcs/0,39029439,40057380,00.htm#5 |title=CNET on gaming RAM |publisher=CNET |accessdate=2006-07-22] RAM capacity is also an issue with gaming PCs, and usually at least 1 GB of memory is used, most however use 2 GB and more, even as much as 8 GB. Such extreme amounts are, however, hardly ever needed.

Storage

In gaming PCs, fast hard drives are very desirable. Having a faster hard drive will result in lower loading times in games. For this reason, some gaming PCs use certain RAID setups to lower latency and increase throughput to mass storage. [cite web |url=http://www.alienware.co.uk/Configurator_Pages/Details_Pages/Static_Pages/why_harddrive.aspx |title=Why upgrade your hard drive? |publisher=Alienware |accessdate=2006-07-23] Since the space taken up by games is nominal compared to the total availability on modern hard drives, speed is preferred over capacity.

Networking

While typical computers, including high-end systems, tend to use wireless connections to connect to other computers as well as a router, gaming PCs often use ethernet cables for the fastest and most reliable connection possible. [cite web |first=Bradley |last=Mitchell |url=http://compnetworking.about.com/cs/homenetworking/a/homewiredless.htm |title=Wireless vs Wired LANs |publisher=About |accessdate=2006-07-11] Also, some companies sell dedicated network cards to reduce lag and increase the performance of multiplayer. A dial-up Internet connection is not an acceptable solution due to the very high latency (~400ms is common).

Interfaces

There are many hardware interfaces designed specifically for gaming and while sometimes used with less powerful PCs, they are most often observed with gaming PCs. Such interfaces include keyboards and mice built for gaming (these typically include additional keys or buttons for game-related functions as well as LCD-screens, higher sensitivity (mouse), better aderency (keyboard/mouse) and less/more friction depending on the user's needs [cite web |url=http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2288,CONTENTID=10717 |title=Logitech G15 gaming keyboard |publisher=Logitech |accessdate=2006-07-23] ), joysticks, gamepads, steering wheels, PC-compatible airplane gauges and panels, [cite web |url=http://www.therealcockpit.com/index.php |title=The Real Cockpit |publisher=TRC Development |accessdate=2006-07-23] etc. It should be noted that touch screens are rarely used for PC gaming at this point."Haptic feedback" commonly known as "force feedback", allows for greater immersion into the games played. While there are no keyboards that support haptic feedback, some mice and most forms of game controllers do.

Cases

Cases of gaming computers are often subject to case modding. Modding usually includes clear sides to reveal the internal components, which may be adorned with LEDs, images on the graphics cards or power supply units. In addition to aesthetics, gaming cases are also designed for function; the case must be able to provide cooling for high-end, possibly overclocked components, and have room for expansion and customization.

Performance and benchmarks

As a general guideline, a gaming PC must achieve high scores on 3D benchmarks such as 3DMark when it is first built or upgraded. Gamers who know how to overclock sometimes do so to prolong the usefulness of their hardware. The highest results are always and by far achieved by overclocking. [cite web |url=http://www.futuremark.com/community/halloffame/ |title=3D Mark hall of fame |publisher=Futuremark |accessdate=2006-07-12]

Outside benchmarks and in "real world" testing, the performance of a gaming PC can be measured by two metrics - framerate and visual quality.

The framerate is measured in frames per second (frame/s), which refers to the number of times the video card refreshes the image shown on screen. Generally, frame rates of above 30 are desirable in high performance games, though the fastest gaming PCs can often achieve much higher framerates while maintaining visual quality.

Visual quality refers to the visual quality of the rendered image. Higher settings and resolution have a negative effect on the framerate. A key feature of the gaming PC is that it should be able to maintain high values of both framerate and visual quality simultaneously.

Overclocking

Apart from hardware enthusiasts, overclocking is used in gaming PCs to achieve higher framerates than the parts in the PC would render using stock clockspeeds. Overclocking is such a big part in gaming PC culture that some PC gaming magazines such as GameStar [Issues August 2005 and September 2005 of GameStar featured multi-page guides on overclocking] occasionally publish guides on how to overclock the latest CPUs, GPUs, and motherboards. In order to achieve the highest overclocks, more advanced cooling methods must be employed, such as water cooling.

Pre-built gaming PCs were rarely overclocked, but a trend has emerged with the Dell XPS 600 Renegade and several other companies including Velocity Micro, Vigor Gaming, CustomGamerPC / ACS, War Machine, Overdrive PC, Alienware, Falcon Northwest, and Voodoo PC now offering overclocked and warrantied machines.

There are many hazards when overclocking a computer. When a CPU (Central Processing Unit) is overclocked it will generally run hotter than normal, the additional heat can sometimes stress components to the point of failure. In response to this problem, heatsink manufacturers have implemented innovative solutions in air-cooling primarily based on the incorporation of heatpipe technologies coupled with large-finned tower heatsinks. Alternatively many gaming PCs utilize Watercooling as a means of dissipating additional heat from overclocked components.

Watercooling is able to provide dissipation that is superior to air-cooled heatsinks. The watercooling system can be configured to be either far superior to air-cooling but at the cost of being as noisy, or even more noisy than high-end air cooling (due to large, fast, loud fans used on the radiator); or it can be configured to be about as effective, or even a bit more effective than high-end air-cooling, but far less noisy (usually by utilizing large radiators coupled with slow and quiet 120 mm fans, and quiet, yet powerful pumps.)

Prebuilt gaming PCs

While many "hardcore" gamers build their gaming PCs themselves, people with little or no experience in computer hardware prefer to go with prebuilt or custom-built gaming PCs. These PCs are almost always more expensive than building one's own. Different companies offer varying degrees of customization, some almost as much as building it oneself. There are also drawbacks to building one's own computer, which is why these companies do so well. Building a computer means being responsible for taking care of any problems that may arise, instead of using a technical support hotline. Customer support is a major reason why even extreme gaming enthusiast look to a manufacture for their custom PC build.

Gaming laptops

Gaming laptops are the mobile equivalent of gaming PCs and are usually more expensive than their PC counterparts. Currently, some feature inbuilt graphics processors, which tend to use a lot of battery power and create heat, so one concern among GPU manufacturers is to reduce power usage (and therefore heat). These GPUs are roughly equivalent to the desktop graphics cards that share similar names. One recent development by NVIDIA is SLI for laptops.

Portable gaming desktops

Recently, there has been a trend in the gaming PC industry to create small form factor desktops that are easy to transport. Several major companies, including Falcon Northwest and Alienware, now offer such PCs. One company, [http://www.lanslidepcs.com/ Lanslide Gaming PCs] , is specifically devoted to creating portable gaming PCs for LAN party enthusiasts and has a patent pending on a backpack to aid in the transport of their computers. The backpack is able to carry and protect all of the peripherals needed for a desktop computer, including a mouse, keyboard, headset, cables, and up to a 19" widescreen monitor.

Gaming PC manufactures (A–Z)

* [http://www.abs.com/ ABS]
* [http://www.alienware.com Alienware (Dell)]
* [http://www.avadirect.com AVA Direct]
* [https://www.customgamerpc.com CustomGamerPC.com / ACS]
* [http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/ CyberpowerPC]
* [http://www.digitalstormonline.com/ DigitalStorm]
* [http://www.falcon-nw.com Falcon Northwest]
* [http://www.hp.com/blackbird/ HP Blackbird]
* [http://www.ibuypower.com/mall/lobby.htm iBuyPower]
* [http://kc-computers.com/ KC Computers]
* [http://www.lanslidepcs.com/ Lanslide Gaming PCs]
* [http://www.maingear.com MainGear]
* [http://www.nsysonline.co.uk NSYSonline]
* [http://www.polywell.com/us/index.asp Polywell]
* [http://www.pugetsystems.com/ Puget Custom Computers]
* [http://www.rockdirect.com/ Rock]
* [https://www.yagear.com/store/pc/home.asp Yagear]
* [http://www.velocitymicro.com/ Velocity Micro]
* [http://vigorgaming.com/ Vigor]
* [http://www.voodoopc.com VoodooPC (HP)]
* [http://www.xicomputer.com/ Xi Computer]

ee also

* Overclocking
* Computer and video games

Indianapolis Computer Technologieshttp://www.ictindy.com

References

28. http://www.fastboxgaming.com