Best Computer for Gaming

It seemed like just yesterday that you pulled that shiny computer out of the box. You hooked up the cords, pushed the power button and everything happened so suddenly. That new system was blazing fast!  Now, just a short time later, it takes an eternity to boot up. Running multiple programs at the same time?  Better go get something to eat, because it is going to be awhile before you can actually load something. If this has happened to your machine, here’s a few things to consider.

First, and most importantly, get a good virus a scanner. Nothing slows down a system like a virus. Also, if you have scanning software, make sure it is up to date. New viruses hit the Internet every day. Make sure you are protected. Once your computer is clean, make sure you are virus savvy. Know what kind of sites are riddled with malware. Be careful what you download. If you get an email from the head of the FBI, it probably is a fake unless he is your golf buddy.

Another consideration is how much software is running in the background on your system. How you check it depends on your operating system. Regardless of your system though is the drag on processing power that unnecessary software puts on your system. Check and make sure that your system is only running software you need. Many programs will load when a system boots and run unseen until you load them. This makes the program appear to open faster, but in reality just bogs down the processor. Find what makes these programs load up and make them wait their turn. If you don’t tell a program to run, that program should not be running and slowing your system down in the process.

Checking your registry and disk fragmentation are also important. A messy hard drive is like a messy desk. If your computer is searching for files all over the place and trying to use bad file extensions, it is like you futilely searching for that stapler under the mounds of paper on your desk only to find hours later that someone borrowed it yesterday. To avoid this, make sure your computer is tuned up. There are many programs out there that can do this, both free and at a cost. Some of the hard drive maintenance you can do yourself. Check your browser’s cache. If they are taking up half your drive, get rid of them. Set the limit on how much space your cache can use. Clean up your files too. Also, check your temporary files. The should be just that- temporary. If you have files lingering from the stone ages, consider deleting them. The fewer places your computer has to dig, the faster it can go.

If you are overburdening your computer, that will also drag performance way down. If you are trying to run a new CAD program on your college computer and you graduated last millennium, it may be time for a hardware upgrade. Sometimes you need new memory, and sometimes a new computer is the best way to speed things up.  Whatever the problem, you do not have to tolerate a slow system. Just follow a few quick tips and your computer will be that sleek machine that you fell in love with at the first power up. 

Top 10 MMORPG Games

As a gamer, it’s always satisfying but bittersweet when you reach the end credits of a game. Sure, you’ve accomplished something, but unless you’re playing a game with some seriously branching plotlines and replay value, that experience is over. However, with all the MMORPGs on the market today, you’ll never again have to say goodbye to your favorite game. Here are, in my opinion, the top 10 MMORPG games.

1. World of Warcraft – The reigning champion. With the base game and the three expansions released so far, World of Warcraft has earned itself the largest player base out of all the current MMORPGs on the market. However, numbers alone aren’t the sole reason its at the top of this list. Of all the MMORPGs currently on the market, World of Warcraft simply has the greatest mass appeal.

2. Star Wars: The Old Republic – The new kid on the block, this Bioware RPG has sky-rocketed to the top of many lists within days of its release (or even before, thanks to advance play via the beta). With full voice acting for most of the plot, an original story set in the Star Wars universe, and Bioware’s signature RPG system, Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t just an MMORPG, it’s an essential gaming experience.

3. City of Heroes – If you’re more interesting in donning tights and a cape rather than chainmail or body armor, this game is for you. This long running game now includes City of Villains, its sequel/sister game, allowing players much more freedom in their play style. You can choose your origin, powers, name, and even a secret identity. In addition, the game will be switching over to a free to play model sometime in the future.

4. Eve Online – If you find most space-based games to be too narrow in focus, Eve Online is the game for you. This is one of the most realistic simulators of interstellar conflict currently available in MMORPG form. If you don’t play well with others, well, MMORPGs might not be for you, but Eve Online especially puts the emphasize on multiplayer.

5. Rift – Rift is quite similar to World of Warcraft in gameplay, but both deserve to be one of the top 10 MMORPG games. While the storyline isn’t quite as deep as World of Warcraft, constant content updates promise that Trion Worlds won’t be asking that subscribers shell out for a large content expansion any time soon. If you’re looking for a game world that is ever evolving, Rift might be for you.

6. The Lord of the Rings Online – For the fantasy nerd inside all of us, The Lord of the Rings Online brings J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth to life. This game is free to play and takes place during the Lord of the Rings books. With two films based off the Hobbit coming soon to theaters, this game is one of the best ways to tide over even the biggest Lord of the Rings fan.

7. Age of Conan – While Arnie isn’t involved, this game based loosely off of Robert E Howard’s barbarian warrior touts a massive world with an epic storyline. With real time combat, a huge game world, and a free to play version that allows you to try before you buy, the only thing this game is missing is more non-combat based play options.

8. Guild Wars 2 – If this is anything like the original Guild Wars, it will soon be a bit closer to the top of this list. With a persistent game world where your actions actually have a lasting effect on the game, Guild Wars 2 will allow you to make your mark as an adventurer. However, it is currently only playable in a closed beta, so until its public release, it will remain towards the bottom. Still, this is a game to look out for later this year.

9. TERA Online - While this game is currently in a closed beta, it has made a big enough splash on the net to make it onto my list of top 10 MMORPG games. Featuring a combat system that utilizes the Unreal 3 engine, no more will combat be point-click-wait-while-your-character-does-all-the-work. Console players will feel right at home with this real-time combat system.

10. Maple Story – Some might say this doesn’t really belong on a list of top 10 MMORPG games, but I would disagree. It is widely played and unique among MMORPGs as being one of the few side-scrolling games. It gives players a unique MMO experience for free.

In the current climate of Run and gun shooters in the gaming world, a cooperative constructionist videogame like Minecraft is a fresh addition to the game arena. Minecraft is often called a sandbox game because many gamers can work together to build their own artifical constructions or create robots and whatever else you can think of. All minecraft adventure map is created by the users and then shared by other users on the web. These minecraft maps are often posted to websites and via Youtube videos.

Minecraft world designers are proud of their maps and invite other players to download their maps and to share their self created minecraft adventure maps. Some Minecraft maps are simple and some are more complex. Part of minecraft involves the mining of materials such as stone and coal to build your own homes and create your own world. From these basic items you can craft other more complex items. With a crafting table you can, by arranging the objects in certain ways, create more complecated tools like axes, armor, weapons and helmets. You can craft heaps different types of things.

 While Minecraft is not a game of warfare, there are parts that involve action since players must defend themselves from mobs including creepers and skeletons. For protection, they utilize simple weapons such as bows and swords which can be built from diamond, iron or stone.Items that are rare (diamond for example) do more damage and last longer than other similar items (eg wood) These violent mobs are spawned after dark to literally undermine your work or destroy what you have created. These enemies are designed to make the game more exciting.

Parents often approve of Minecraft and similar cooperative and constructionist games because this genre of video games do not encourage the violent mentality as in first person shooter video games. Instead, games like this encourage users to develop virtual communities and friendships as well as cool Minecraft maps. 

Artcle from http://minecraft-adventure-maps.com  

With so many new computer games coming out on the market it makes choosing a laptop or desktop a much more important decision for people who are planning on spending a lot of time gaming on the machine.

There are a huge variety in machines so it is important to get some additional information before you rush into a decision on which is the best computer for gaming.

If you are looking for the best computer for gaming you will most likely want to choose a desktop model. Desktop models give you much more performance for the price as they can accommodate larger pieces of hardware than a laptop.

When the hardware is shrunk down for a laptop it becomes much more expensive and is often not quite as good as the desktop counterparts. A desktop can be constantly modified and upgraded with new components as they are released, making a desktop the way to go if you are looking for a gaming computer.

When you are looking for the best computer for gaming, make sure to pay special attention to the requirements of the games you plan on installing on your machine and make sure that the computer is powerful enough to run the graphics.

Check the box for these requirements before you purchase any new software.

Antec LanBoy Air New Modular, Open-air Chassis

Antec´s Got another winer her

Despite its fairly standard mid-tower dimensions (8.7 inches wide, 20.4 inches high, and 19.3 inches deep ) The LanBoy Air is like no other case on the market.

It´s far more like a cross between an Ikea end table along with a Lego set, if a lego set required a screwdriver.

Its motherboard tray is not only removable and separate from the back panel, but it can switch places with the PSU bracket, in case you decide you want your PSU at the top of the case as opposed to the botom.

Feel like swapping the location of the two three-speed front fans with the three optical drive trays? Go for it (it is possible to even alternate them if you want).The difficult drive mounts are additional like hammocks, complete with bungie cords, and can be oriented any way you like, though we´d suggest removing them prior to you move the machine for any reason. This flexibility enables the use of the longest graphics cards you may come across. And the floor of the challenging drive well consists of mounts for two 2.5 inches drives.

The LanBoy Air´s five 12cm fans all direct air inward, creating positive air pressure that exits by way of the mesh wherever a fan is not located. Default fans contain two three-speed front fans, two 2-speed side-panel fans in front of the graphics cards, and 1 2-speed rear fan, though you can add an additional 10 fans at your leisure.

There´s barely any room above the motherboard tray at all no room to route the 8 pin ATX power cable, and none to add any fants to the inside topo if you’re utilizing a skyscraper-style cooler.

Though Antec boasts 10 additional fan mounts, rolling with the full complement of fans is overkill, in our view.

Antec´s all-intake scheme leaves no obvios orientation for the skyscraper-style coolers which are today´s leaders, but ( a lot to our surprise ) the LanBoy Air in its default configuration truly performed the most effective in a cooling challenge.

The two side-fans blowing directly on the GPU certainly seemed to assist, and the all-in positive air-pressure approach actuall worked far better than much more conventional airflow schemes.

List Price $200 Buy on Amazon $189.99 Antec LanBoy Air Modular Case Free Shiping!!

Ok, here we go! I am doing a how to video on installing the Koolance GTX480 waterblock onto an EVGA GTX480. I think this is going to be awesome for anyone out there that has wanted to do this before, but was unsure. Also, for those of you that are experts, it’s fun to watch me play with all the cool hardware! Also, I am learning more and more about Sony Vegas, I am now cutting videos, speeding up stuff as appropriate and adding audio tracks. Cool! Thanks Harald! The videos are in 4 parts as follows: Part 2: Tools, I/O Bracket & Screw Removal Part 3: Stock Heatsink Removal & Graphics Card Prep Part 4: I/O Bracket Installation & Waterblock Prep Part 5: Apply Thermal Grease, Mount Waterblock & Finish (Part 1 was the Unboxing video) Please comment and subscribe!!! Thanks to everyone! Enjoy!