KillaRad Computers - Gaming PC Buyer's Guide
Updated May 3, 2008
How do you know if a "gaming PC" is any good?
With so many spec's, and changing technology all the time, how do you make the best choice in buying that new computer? Here is a brief write-up going into PC processors and graphics cards, and touching on reliability in a gaming PC, along with upgradeability.
CPU's
Intel now runs with the Core 2 brand, featuring the Core 2 Duo dual-core processor, the Core 2 Quad quad-core processor, and the Core 2 Extreme, which is the fastest, top-end quad-core processor intended for sales to gamers. You can tell the performance of an Intel CPU by its model number and the Core 2 designation. An E series processor is newer than the Pentium D, and because it is more efficient it has a lower Gigahertz speed. A 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo E6300 processor is going to be as fast as the 3.2 GHz Pentium D 940 processor sold in 2006. The first Core 2 Duo line for desktop PC's ranged from the E6300 to the E6850, a span from 1.86 GHz to 3.0 GHz. Intel later made some lower priced E4000 series Core 2 Duos available, bringing in the low end with an E6300 processor naturally operating faster than an E4300
Intel's newest Core 2 Duo CPUs for desktop PC's are the E8000 series, with an E8200 at 2.66 GHz and an E8500 at 3.16 GHz. These E8000 Core 2 Duo's feature the new SSE4 technology which promises faster video encoding for better video editing performance. The Core 2 Extreme QX9650 is a quad core 3.0 GHz processor also with SSE4 with a pricetag of over $1000 for the chip itself. The QX9770 is the best CPU on the market currently, at 3.2 GHz with a pricetag of close to $1500 for the chip itself.
AMD's latest CPU's are the Phenom brand quad-core processors, which supersede the older Athlon 64 X2 series of dual-core processors. Their top end processors are not as competitive with Intel's top end, but their mid-range and low-end models are very competitive with Intel in performance and value. Their X2 models range from the 1.9 GHz X2 3600+, which compares with a Pentium D or a new "Pentium Dual-Core" processor, to the 3.2 GHz X2 6400+ which is close in speed to the Core 2 Duo E6750. So far, overall the brand new Phenom 9850 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU is a little behind an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 at 2.4 GHz.
Reliability
Some companies will try to sell you a PC with an overclocked processor. While this may win a magazine's or a website's benchmark tests, editors don't keep the PC's they review, and they don't revisit or update product reviews. An editor would never reveal in the months or years since the original review, if problems have cropped up. An overclocked PC can break at any time. It can have a reduced reliability, such as Windows blue screen crashes. Some overclocked computers are required to be left powered on all the time, wasting electricity. What you could end up doing buying an overclocked system is paying more money for less peace of mind. You wouldn't like it if you called another company's tech support about a problem, and the first thing they instructed you to do was reduce the overclock down to zero percent. It's a perfectly sensible troubleshooting practice, but at that point of course you aren't getting what you thought you were buying. Stability and longevity are what you expect when you purchase a higher performing computer, and that's what we aim to deliver.
KillaRad Computers has partnered with both AMD and Intel, and we use components that operate as their manufacturer intended them to. While on our highest end computers we offer the choice of overclocked graphics cards, these GPU's are well tested and the cards run at manufacturer specified speeds. The cards also have a lifetime warranty through their manufacturer.
GPU's
A GPU is a graphics processing unit on a graphics card. Formerly they were just called graphics chips, but today they rival the complexity of a CPU. GPU's can be made for a variety of price points and markets. The two main brands of GPU's are GeForce by nVIDIA, and Radeon by ATI. You can tell the power of a graphics card basically by looking at the model number of its GPU, but you have to know how to read it, and you have to know how up to date it is. If a computer has a GeForce 6100 GPU, it's a GeForce 6 family, 100 level, or "entry level" graphics. A GeForce 6600 would run rings around a 6100. Also look at the suffix of a model number if it has one, such as SE, LE, GS, GT, GTS, GTX, Pro, XT, or Ultra. With an nVIDIA GeForce card, a GS will usually be weaker than a GT, with a GTS or GTX or an Ultra being progressively more fast. ATI Radeon suffixes are often in the order of GT, Pro, XT, and XTX being progressively better. The new Radeon HD 3000 series actually does away with suffixes in favor of only using model numbers. Some models of course become discontinued periodically, and performance levels can vary widely among different GPU family models.
Some of our PC's offer technology to combine multiple identical graphics cards. With nVIDIA, their technology is called S.L.I. With ATI, theirs is called CrossFire, or CrossFireX. What you could do, is buy a higher end PC with this technology either with two identical graphics cards, or a PC that has one card which is upgradeable to two. The latter allows you save money on a PC now, and potentially add a second card in the future to increase the graphics power by as much as 1.7 times, 1.8 times, or in some games actually twice the speed. Again, this delivers higher resolutions like 1080p and beyond, with increased smoothness of in-game motion, increased detail, and more realism. If you love first-person action games, these technologies come well recommended. Previously nVIDIA's SLI was superior, but now the capabilities of CrossFireX and SLI technologies are evenly matched.
At this time, the GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB and the 8800 GTS with 512MB are the leading value in nVIDIA GPU's. This is a little tricky, because the GTS comes in 320MB and 640MB versions, however the 8800 GT and the newer 8800 GTS with 512MB are newer and simply faster. The new 9800 GTX is very similar to the 8800 GTS, being only a bit faster, although it has the capability to operate not just in SLI mode, but in 3-Way SLI mode with three 9800 GTX cards on nForce 780i or 790i systems.
The high end cards in recent years have started with the _800 model number. For example a GeForce 8800 'something' supersedes the older GeForce 7 family's top end GeForce 7900 GTX. However a GeForce 7800 or 7900 something may be quite faster in many games than a GeForce 8 GPU prior to the 8800, such as an 8500 or 8600. These are what are called enthusiast-class GPU's, and they surpass the 'mainstream' or 'performance-class' GPU's.
The same goes for ATI's Radeon family. All you really need to know with ATI's latest generation Radeon HD 3800 series cards, is that the Radeon HD 3870 is their current best single GPU card. It performs close to a GeForce 9600 GT, which is to say slightly lower than a GeForce 8800 GT. Throwing around all of these model numbers can be hard to follow if you're not accustomed to shopping for graphics cards and keeping that kind of knowledge in your head. However, this allows you to understand the ranking and pricing of the spec's of gaming PC's.
The latest revolution in gaming graphics is dual GPU cards. On top of that, with systems that support dual PCI-Express x16 slots, you can run two dual GPU cards for a four GPU system. This is great for running the most graphically intense games at the highest resolutions. For example it takes a three or four GPU system to run Crysis in 1080p. If you want to gear up for the upcoming FarCry 2 which looks very promising, choosing a three or four GPU capable system would be a good investment.
nVIDIA has the new GeForce 9800 GX2, which is roughly equivalent to two 8800 GT's in SLI on one card. The GX2 can be paired with another GX2 of an identical brand and model for Quad-SLI.
ATI has the Radeon HD 3870 X2 which is two slightly faster Radeon HD 3870 chips in CrossFire mode on one card. The Radeon HD 3870 X2 can be paired with a regular 3870 card or another X2 card for a three or four GPU system. In general the Radeon HD 3870 X2 is typically not as fast as the GeForce 9800 GX2, but it comes at a competitive price of 100 some-odd less than the GeForce.
By offering enthusiast class GPU's in our Radical Value and RadBox lines, we ensure you get a high performance gaming computer, whichever one you choose. Other companies might not follow this same standard for performance, and they can do that to lure you in with a lower price with specs that are unacceptable for a "gaming PC".
What it comes down to is that the GPU affects performance in gaming more than a CPU, and buyers can easily be taken advantage of when they don't know this. Most people are more trained to buy a computer based on CPU speed, which is why this happens.
Game developers make their games so you can turn down detail levels to make the game more playable on a lower cost CPU or GPU. It's usually possible to compromise and play a game at DVD resolution instead of HD resolutions, such as 1280 by 960 or 720p or 768p or higher. Choosing a PC with a more powerful graphics card can produce a higher fidelity image by anti-aliasing, which removes the stair-step jaggies in all 3D games, also allowing smooth playing at HD resolutions.
PC games have always paved the way in electronic interactive entertainment, and computer hardware has been ever advancing in supporting game development. The direction mainstream hit games have gone in is "more realism" whether the game has new graphic effects, or new kinds of interactivity with the game world, or whether it's scripted by a professional writer. By buying a weaker computer or trying to upgrade a cheap computer, you're compromising the realism. That's why PC gamers are so fanatic about having a nice computer. With higher fidelity 3D accelerated graphics and exciting surround sound, PC games deserve to be enjoyed on a higher performance KillaRad computer.
Upgradeability
We offer a variety of models for various budgets with different options on upgradeability. If you really got into a series of games and wanted to experience the latest title with new, more realistic effects, you could choose to upgrade some of the components inside your KillaRad PC to get a comparably better experience. For example there is talk of DirectX 11 3D graphics effects being enabled some day by newer GPU's. Upgradability is standard with our PCs, unlike off-the-shelf PC's which are typically not designed to be upgraded. By selling non-upgradeable PC's or PC's with limited upgradability, the major PC companies are protecting their business, but in many cases paying a lower price limits what you'll be able to do with a major brand computer.
In conclusion, choosing a gaming PC company to go with can be tricky, but armed with knowledge of the latest CPU models, and knowing how to read a GPU model, you're prepared to shop prices, compare specs, and make the right choices. At KillaRad we select the best balances of CPU and GPU, combined with upgradeability, and the reliability that you expect to pay for. The Radical Value has limited configuration options to make it easier to buy, while the RadBox line brings out the bigger guns and better toys, including options for dual graphics cards, DVR capability, and Blu-Ray movie playback.
Other companies often fake you out by listing the maximum specs one of their systems can be configured with, next to the minimum starting price. Unlike other companies that start their systems at the bottom and get you to pay more for a better graphics card and a better GPU, KillaRad's PC's are price optimized. They often include things other companies charge extra for, like a silent heatpipe CPU cooler, a full year of anti-virus protection and a surge protector. When you line up the specs, a KillaRad PC can save you from $100 to $800 or more on comparable systems from other gaming PC companies.
