It’s pretty simple and maybe many of you who have already bought PC parts and other electronics have used Amazon, but it seems like many people don’t realize that many other companies are now having a hard time competing with Amazon’s prices and usually free shipping. So, that’s that.

Click here to go directly to Amazon’s computer parts section and browse around.

Most of my build’s use parts from Amazon and are organized in little Amazon boxes; you’ll see if you visit the “computer builds” section.

SSD vs HDD, if you’re upgrading, building or buying a new PC or laptop, you’re probably trying to decide what’s better, SSDs or HDDs.

First, let’s define both of them to get a better understanding of what we’re dealing with. SSD stands for solid-state drive and HDD stands for hard disk drive. Up until the last few years SSDs did not exist for the average computer user, but now they are becoming more and more available.

Hard disk drives or HDDs work almost like DVD drives because they have a disk inside of them that spins and gets information written onto it. Sometimes, you can hear your HDD spinning, this is often the loudest part of a computer. Inside these drives are a lot of moving parts, which is why sometimes these will fail if impacted.

Solid-state drives or SSDs have zero moving parts inside of them and are therefore completely silent. Also, because of their lack of moving parts they are very durable against impact.

SSD vs HDD, The Pros and Cons

SSD pros-

They’re durable against impact.

They weigh less.

They last a long time because they do not use any moving parts. Something without moving parts will obviously break down a lot less than something with moving parts.

They’re extremely fast. One will experience very fast boot up times and loading programs will be extremely fast.

They’re very quiet, in fact, they’re silent.

SSD cons-

Well, there really is only one con, they are very expensive. There’s no doubt that these are the wave of the future and will eventually replace hard disk drives, but that might be a while because per gigabyte they’re very expensive compared to HDDs.

HDD pros-

They are very cheap compared to SSD’s.

Because of their low price per gigabyte you can easily store pretty much anything you can possibly imagine on one fairly inexpensive hard disk drive.

Two or more of them can be hooked together and run in RAID mode for very fast setup.

HDD cons-

Some of them can be very noisy; the clicking noise that you hear while running your desktop or laptop is your hard drive spinning to retrieve or record information.

They’re not nearly as fast as solid-state drives.

They’re not nearly as durable as solid-state drives and are very susceptible to damage from impact.

SSD VS HDD – What Is the Conclusion?

SSD vs HDD, Which one Wins?

The only thing that should stop you from buying and SSD vs HDD is the price because solid-state drives are superior in nearly every way. If money is not an issue for you then simply buy and SSD. If money is an issue then consider your options carefully. For instance, if you’re planning on buying a laptop that you will be carrying around constantly all day long then you might want to consider putting an SSD in it because they are very durable against impact. This can save you from losing all of the information on your drive.

I should note that solid-state drives have been around since the 50s and have been used heavily by the military since the 1990s. So, the technology is quite old. This goes to show that it might be a while before solid-state drives come down in price.

Eventually we’ll all be using SSDs, but until that day many of us will still have to suffer with the good old-fashioned hard drives.

So, who wins the SSD VS HDD debate? It’s almost like asking who wins the DVD versus Blu-ray debate, the answer is in the eye of the money holder.

SSD VS HDD Price Comparisons in 2011

Just so you can get a feel of the price differences between solid-state drives and hard disk drives I will do some comparisons from Newegg.com.

The first SSD I’ll look at is from ocz – It has 200 GB of storage and is priced at $340. That seems expensive, right? 200 GB of storage is not a heck of a lot these days.

Now, just to get extreme, I’ll review another SSD from OCZ that is 960 GB. Currently, there are only two available, one is priced at $2420 the other is priced at $3200, wow!

Just for comparison, and to get extreme, let’s look at some 3 TB hard disk drives. Keep in mind that these have three times the amount of storage as the previous two solid-state drives. The first one I’m looking at is from Hitachi and is priced at $250. In fact let me just go down the list on the page and ramble off some prices of these 3 TB hard drives: $209, $184, $399, $169, and $194. So, even the best and fastest 3 TB hard drives available are nearly one 10th of the price of the solid-state drives that have three times less storage. Do you see what I mean when I say HDDs are a lot less expensive?

SSD vs HDD, or Maybe Not?

I should also note that some companies are making hybrid drives that include an SSD and HDD in one unit. The idea behind these drives is that the SSD part of it handles frequently used tasks and HDD is simply used for storage. These are still much more expensive than HDDs, but a lot less expensive than a dedicated SSD. My guess is that these will go mainstream long before SSDs do, so this might be something that you’ll eventually want to try.

In the end the SSD vs HDD debate will go on until the prices of SSDs settle down, at which point we can wave goodbye to our old friend, the HDD.

Good gaming laptops can range anywhere from $1200-$2000 so if you’re on a budget you’re probably looking to spend anywhere from $500-$1000. Honestly, at this price range you’re probably not going to be able to play the newest games at the highest graphical settings, that is, if you plan on buying a brand-new laptop. With that being said, you might be able to find a great deal on a refurbished or used budget gaming laptop that is powerful enough to play the latest games at the highest settings.

If all you’re interested in is mid range affordable gaming laptops that can play, say, World of Warcraft, then you can probably buy a five or $600 laptop that is brand-new. One situation you don’t want to find yourself in is having bought a very cheap laptop and end up not being able to play anything that you imagined that you might be able to play.

If you’re looking for a budget gaming laptop in the $300 range then you will definitely have to look for a refurbished or used laptop. This is simply the hard truth because a new laptop at this range will simply not have the CPU or video card power to play any graphically demanding game.

So, Where Can You Find a Good Budget Gaming Laptop

The first places I would go to look are: Newegg, Tiger Direct, and Amazon. Newegg and TigerDirect are the superstores of computer parts, refurbished computers, new computers and laptops. They also have other various electronics. I probably don’t need to explain what Amazon is, but in case you haven’t heard of it is the biggest online marketplace with just about anything you can imagine.

Simply go to any of these places by clicking on their links on this page and search for laptops and then sort by price. This obviously isn’t enough to simply find a budget gaming laptop, because you’re going to need to know what to look for in a gaming laptop. This brings us to the next section.

What Should You Look for in a Gaming Laptop

Dell's Alienware Laptop, Though, it is not quite a Budget Laptop

I’m going to list the features that you should look for in no particular order, just keep in mind that things like screen size and hard drive space can be left up to your preference, but read the sections anyway as you might find the information valuable.

Let’s start with screen size and resolution. I’m going to explain to you what resolution is, if you already know what it is and how it affects every game that you play then skip this part, if you don’t then read on. If you’re a gamer you’ve probably went into the video settings of many games that you’ve played and have seen an option to change the game’s resolution. This is often the most overlooked yet most important video setting that any gamer could change. You want to play all of your games at your monitor’s maximum resolution. For instance, my monitors maximum resolution is 1900 x 1200; therefore, I want to play every game at that resolution. If I don’t play games at that resolution they will not look nearly as good as they should. So, where am I going with this? Well, the higher your monitor’s maximum resolution is the harder your laptop’s video card will have to work to play a game. This is because there are more pixels for the video card to render. One could play the game at 800×600 and allow the video card to render less pixels but the graphics would simply look like crap compared to running it at the maximum resolution. So, my point is that you might have a better gaming experience on a computer with a 15.6″ screen then you would on a laptop with a 17 inch screen. This is because laptops with bigger screens often do not have a better video card to make up for the increased screen size and maximum resolution. However, it should be noted that just because a laptop has a bigger screen size does not mean it will have a higher maximum resolution, although this is often the case, so just watch for that.

Next, let’s take a look at the CPU. You will want to find a CPU with the highest gigahertz possible and the most cores possible. I would recommend at least getting a laptop with a dual core processor and it would be nice if you could find one with a quad core processor. Keep in mind that a quad core processor with lower gigahertz than a dual core processor will probably be faster than the dual core. As far as AMD or Intel goes, it’s probably not going to matter much when looking at a budget gaming laptop. Although, if you do end up spending quite a lot of laptop then keep in mind that currently, Intel CPUs do perform better.

The RAM, or random access memory, is another very important feature to look for in a budget gaming laptop. Try to find a laptop with at least 4 GB of RAM, eight would be even better. Simply keep in mind that higher is better. The best gaming laptops always have a decent amount of RAM.

Hard disk space is obviously up to user preference, just keep in mind what you want to use your laptop for and that games are currently getting bigger and bigger with some of the newer games taking up up to 30 GB of space. I would talk about solid-state drives, but our budget gaming laptop you’re probably never going to run into one.

The Most Important Thing to Look for in a Budget Gaming Laptop

All right, what is the most important thing to look for in a budget gaming laptop? If you answered “the video card” then you would be spot on. Subsequently, this will also end up being the most difficult feature to find in a budget gaming laptop. So, my recommendation is to look for this first and then the rest of the features later. What is nice about this is that laptops with a gaming video card tend to have all of these other features. This is because if they have a gaming video card it would be pointless to not have the rest on a gaming laptop.

So, What Are My Recommendations?

Honestly, I am not going to recommend anything specific, this is because you’ll probably end up buying a used or refurbished laptop and anything I recommend might be gone by the time you get to the webpage that I’ve recommended. However, as I said before I do recommend checking out either Tiger Direct, Newegg and Amazon, or all three. Go to their sites, search for laptops and then simply sort the list by price. Then look for the features I’ve mentioned above, starting with the video card.

If you can’t find a good new or refurbished budget gaming laptop at these places then might be worth checking out Dell and Dell’s gaming computers. If you’ve been a gamer for any length of time you’ve probably heard of Alienware computers, Alienware is now a part of Dell, so check them out as well.

A note about refurbished laptops- Keep in mind that refurbished laptops are often of the same quality as brand-new laptops. This is especially true when buying from places like Newegg and TigerDirect, because they are very reputable places to buy from and him actually refurbished the laptops into great quality pieces.

If you have any questions about buying a budget gaming laptop then I encourage you to leave a comment below, thanks for reading this.

Are you thinking about using dual video cards to get the most out of your gaming computer? It’s actually really easy to set up.

The two titans of the video card industry are ATI and Nvidia and they each offer their own solution to running dual or more video cards. Nvidia’s version is called SLI and ATI’s version is called crossfire.

I should note that most of what I’ve written on this page can be applied to dual video cards or more it is not necessarily limited to simply dual cards.

Dual Video Cards are Always Better, The Myth

The Symbol fo SLI Tech

Running dual video cards is becoming more and more popular in advanced gaming computers, however, it should be noted that it is always better to buy one expensive video card than buy two mediocre video cards. Where using dual video cards can make a big difference is when using two of the most advanced video cards. This can get really expensive but if you’re a hard-core gamer that must have the most advanced graphics right in front of their face then using dual video cards, or more, is a must.

Let’s look at an example: let’s say you have $300 to spend and you’re thinking about using dual video cards. It would be better to spend $300 on one video card than to spend $150 each on two different video cards. This is because one beefier video card will out perform two mediocre video cards.

So, obviously, if you’re on a budget then using dual video cards might be out of the question for you. However, if you’re one of the gamers that has to have the latest and greatest then using dual video cards is an option for you.

How to Setup Dual Video Cards

The Symbol for ATI's Dual Video Card Tech

First, I should mention that you will need a motherboard that either supports SLI, Crossfire, or both. Most motherboards only support one or the other, but some do support both. Some motherboards don’t support either of these options, so if you plan on using dual video cards in a new computer build then make sure you read the motherboard’s documentation page that it supports SLI, Crossfire or both. It is absolutely critical that you make sure to match your motherboard and your video cards or you’ll end up with a big hassle which may throw you into a nerd rage. To find out what your motherboard supports consult its manual or Google it.

Also, to use dual video cards the video cards that you select must be exactly the same. I say again, they must be identical.

When installing Nvidia’s SLI cards you put the video cards in exactly the same way you would put one video card and use the SLI bridge connector and attach that to the back of each card which attaches them together. This allows them to run in SLI mode. It should be noted that some newer cards don’t require this bridge.

You’ll then have to install Nvidia’s SLI drivers that came with your motherboard. If you can’t find these just go to Nvidia’s site to search for the proper drivers. Nvidia’s site is easy to navigate so this should be no problem.

After installing the drivers the rest is pretty self-explanatory. There’ll be a message that will pop-up in the bottom right corner of your taskbar will need to click on and inside that you’ll have an option to enable SLI technology.

It is pretty much the same process for ATI’s Crossfire technology. In fact, the process is exactly the same. Just install the cards hope them together with the bridge, turn your computer on, install the drivers and reboot the system. Usually, Crossfire will enable itself automatically when the system reboots. If not, just go to ATI’s command center in your system tray and enable the Crossfire technology.

I’m going to mention this again because I think it’s important; you’ll get better system performance with one expensive video card than two cheaper cards. Many people just rushing to getting dual or more video cards because they think it will be such a huge boost to their gaming performance when that is often not the case. I simply want people to avoid that mistake.

Well, that should be it. Thanks for reading this and hopefully you’ve learned something about dual video cards (or more).

What is the best gaming keyboard available? There are many options and if you’re a true gamer then you’re going to want a dedicated gaming keyboard. These keyboards can give you an edge in battle because of the programmable keys one can set up macros and tie them to the programmable keys. Which can be a major advantage during battle. For instance, one can set up macros that are not necessarily able to be set up a regular keyboard because the game doesn’t support that type of macro.

Some gaming keyboards feature illuminated keys which can be set up exactly how you want to make for easier viewing access during hectic gaming. Imagine you’re in the heat of battle and you need to hit that one hotkey that will snare your opponent or interrupt them, and you look down to see your red glowing hotkey right in your face, this becomes easier to hit than just another black key jumbled in with 100 other black keys. Although, as any true gamer knows one shouldn’t really have to look down at the keyboard while gaming, but the backlit programmable lighting scheme is still a nice feature for any gamer.

The more expensive gaming keyboards often feature an LCD display. These often show system information or game stats along with various other things. These are not a necessity but are enjoyed by many who have extra funds to spend. Keep in mind that gaming keyboards can be used for anything else that you do on your computer and because of the programmable keys and allowable macros you might find many other uses for your gaming keyboard’s programmable keys.

With that, let’s take a look at some of the best gaming keyboards available.

Is the Logitech G19 the Best Gaming Keyboard?

The Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

First, let’s take a look at the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard. Whether you’re a gamer or someone who just uses a computer all day long, it’s always nice to have a programmable keyword. This keyboard has 104 normal keys and is wired via USB. It also has 12 programmable keys. This keyboard has a 320 x 240 LCD display that shows system information and game stats, image slide shows, video playback and many other things. It also features a back-lit keys. One can also disable the Windows key as there is nothing more annoying than getting pushed to the desktop while playing your favorite first-person shooter.

It has two high-speed USB 2.0 ports.

It also has a detachable palm rest.

This is an expensive keyboard at around $150, but it is for serious gamers.

You can also set the color of your keys for easy hotkey access. It has 12 macro keys with three

macro pages for a total of 36 macros.

The typing is quiet and smooth on this keyword which is a plus for many people.

Buy the Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard – Check out the Product Page

The Logitech G110 , is it the Best Gaming Keyboard?

The G110

Compared to the Logitech G19 gaming keyboard, the Logitech G110 black gaming keyboard is a much cheaper option. It does not feature an LCD display which cuts down on the price and gamers might not miss it because the LCD display is not yet supported by very many games.

This keyboard also features 12 programmable G keys and illuminated characters the user can select back-lighting options to get a look that feels right. This keyboard also features a detachable palm rest.

It has two high-speed USB ports for things like a wired mouse and a headset.

Another another feature this keyboard has in common with the G 19 is that it allows you to disable the Windows key so that you won’t accidentally get booted to the desktop while playing a game.

All in all the G110 gaming keyboard is a great inexpensive option compared to the G19 gaming keyboard.

Buy the Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard – On Sale for $59.99

Microsoft’s Best Gaming Keyboard

The Sidewinder X4 from Microsoft

The Microsoft Sidewinder X4 keyboard is another inexpensive gaming keyboard, but with a lot of features. This does have a back-lit keyboard however you cannot assign certain colors to certain keys, but this won’t be a big deal for most gamers as one should not be looking down while playing anyway. This gaming keyboard has something called automatic profile switching, which detects what program you’ve opened and opens the correct profile.

It has six programmable macro keys that are set up in three separate banks. This means you can have 18 macros per profile. With the macro record button you can record a sequence of keystrokes and assign them to a key. This is obviously a very handy feature. Imagine playing World of Warcraft and hitting every button on your hot bar or just a series of buttons that you use quite often but the game does not allow you to make a macro for, well, with this keyboard you can make a macro for it.

This keyboard also features an advanced anti-ghosting capability that allows you to press up to 26 keys simultaneously without ghosting.

All in all this is a great keyboard but some might find the lack of fully featured backlit keys disappointing. However, if this is something that does not bother you then and is truly a great choice.

Buy the X4 from Tiger Direct – On sale for $59.99

Razor’s Mechanical Keyboard

The Razor Black Widow

The razor black widow ultimate mechanical gaming keyboard is another more expensive option but features many amazing things for gamers. The first thing one might notice while looking at the name of the keyboard is the word ”mechanical,” so what does this mean? It simply means that each key is its own mechanism this means that when you hit a key feedback is quicker than on a standard keyboard. The keys also feel Chris to the touch and very responsive. For many people these reasons alone are enough to make is the best gaming keyboard.

Again, this keyboard is fully back-lit just like almost every gaming keyboard out there.

This keyboard allows you the record macros on-the-fly while playing a game or doing anything else.

Again like almost every gaming keyboard this one allows you to disable the Windows key so you don’t accidentally kick yourself to the desktop while playing a game.

For gamers who are looking for the most responsive keyboard out there this might be it, because of its mechanical design.

It should be noted that this keyboard is limited to 10 customizable profiles, but that is more than enough for most gamers.

Buy the –  RAZER Black USB Wired BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard $129.99 from Newegg.

Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard

Merc Stealth Gaming Keyboard

The steel series Merc stealth black ergonomic gaming keyboard is a mid range keyboard that offers some great features. The best thing about this keyboard is that each key is fully customizable this means that macros can be dragged and dropped onto any key on the keyboard. This is something that most gaming keyboards do not feature and gamers might find this to be very useful. This means that you can take any macro and put anywhere on the keyword, so, the possibilities are endless as far as what you can do with this thing

This keyboard also features anti-ghosting and allows up to seven keys to be pushed simultaneously.

This keyboard is back-lit and allows three choices between purple blue and red. Who doesn’t like to see in the dark?

As you can see from the picture this keyboard has a special gaming key area to the left of where a normal keyboard would end. In this area are 34 dedicated gaming keys that some gamers might find very useful for running, walking, jumping and anything else related to movement. Or to put it more simply, a new place to put your hand instead of the normal WASD configuration.

This keyboard is specifically designed to be ergonomically correct and should be very comfortable over a long gaming experience.

All in all this is one of the best midrange keyboards available. In fact, if one can live without mechanical keys and an LCD display this might be the best gaming keyboard available.

Buy the Merc Stealth from Tiger Direct – $89.99 – Check out the Details Page!

Hopefully you’ve found these reviews and overviews helpful and will be able to choose the best gaming keyboard for your needs.

If you haven’t noticed yet, this website focuses on building computers, but what it really focuses on is building gaming computers. If you’ve hit this page you’re probably looking for one of the following:

• Gaming Computer Build Ideas - Perfect for New Builders
• Gaming PC Building Guide, With Pictures
• Gaming PC Parts List

How to Build a Gaming Computer or a Regular PC, the Differences

The overall all difference between the two is that a gaming computer uses more expensive parts than a regular PC. Not only that, but sometimes non-gaming computers don’t use on off-board graphics card, this is because motherboards often have a built in, or on-board, graphics card. If you don’t plan on doing any gaming then you can often get away with only the on-board video card. If you plan on doing any gaming, then you need to buy a separate video card that will plug into an PCI-e slot on the motherboard. Sometimes people will buy more than one video card, as well, which would obviously increase the cost even more.

Other parts that people building a gaming computer might spend more on are the CPU, RAM, hard drive, power supply, case, case cooling and pretty much everything else inside the computer. In fact, lets’s go over the parts one by one.

• CPU – The fast and more powerful a CPU is, the better games will run. This is one of the main parts that gamers should spend extra on, as it will have an effect one every game played. Non-gamers can get away with a much cheaper CPU, because nothing is as demanding on a computer as playing the newest games available.
• Hard Drive – These come in different revolutions per minute (RPM) and the faster the revolutions, the faster things will load. This means faster load time in games and everything else that is done on a computer. 10,000 RPM is the popular speed for gaming hard drives, however, 7,200 works fine, too.
• Cases – Gaming cases usually come with some sort of LED lighting and extra ports on the top and front of the case, which makes them a little more expensive than a regular case.
• RAM – Gaming computers generally can make use of more RAM. So, over a normal PC this adds to the cost.
• Power Supply – These usually need to be beefier than in a non-gaming PC because of the demand that video cards has on them. This is especially true when running with two or more video cards.

If you’re thinking of buying a cheap graphics card for your gaming computer it might be a mistake. The graphics card, or video card, is hands down the most important part of a gaming computer build. That isn’t to say you have to spend hundreds of dollars on one, but certainly this is not the area to skimp out on. If you buy a decent card now then it will probably save you a lot of frustration while trying to play newer games, down the road.

As of September, 2011, I am of the opinion that a good amount to spend on a new build or an upgrade is around $170. For this price you should be able to find something that will last for a few years. If you haven’t read it on this site already somewhere, I always recommend that one spends a lot of money on one card instead of splitting the money between two cards. So yes, I am saying that great card is better than two mediocre cards running is Crossfire or SLI.

Prices are dropping in the computer market and great laptop deals are everywhere. Here are two great places to buy laptops from that one can’t go wrong with.

• Tiger Direct – This is the Amazon of electronics, especially for anything related to computers. Tiger Direct is perhaps the best place to find laptop deals online.
• Amazon – Amazon has a huge selection of laptops at very low prices. If you have shopped online before then you probably already know about Amazon. If not, just know that it is the largest and most widely used online marketplace.

How to Find the Best Laptop Deals On Those Sites

When browsing for laptop deals one will run across three different kinds of laptops; new, refurbished and off-lease laptops.

• New laptops, of course, have never been used and are the most easily found laptops. The advantage of buying new is that you know that the laptop is going to work perfectly right out of the box and will probably last a little longer than used laptops. The disadvantage of buying new is that you’ll get less specs for the price, because you’ll pay a premium for the “new” label.
• Refurbished laptops have been used and then returned to a retailer to be re-sold. Sometimes they are returned damaged and repaired to complete working condition. They are always sold as working laptops that appear to be new, aside from the obvious signs of wear. All software and the operating system will be just as if you purchased a new laptop.
• Off-lease laptops are laptops that have been leased out for a certain period of time and then returned to the leaser for the last time. The leaser then puts the laptop up for final sale. These laptops are generally a little older than refurbished laptops because of the amount of time they were leased out for.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages and only you can make the final decision as to what is right for you. Maybe you only prefer to buy new, and that’s fine, many people do. Just keep in mind that refurbished and off-lease laptops also offer some laptop deals.

Gaming Laptop Deals

To find the best gaming laptop deals, you need to know what to look for in a gaming laptop. The most obvious things to look for are: a fast processor, a decent amount of RAM, and a current fast video card geared towards gaming. Always look for a “gaming laptop”  category at whichever site you choose to buy one from; this will help narrow down your search.

Read About Great Laptop Deals

Gaming laptops are always more expensive than non-gaming laptops; this is because to play any of the latest games at a decent frame-rate they need a video card and CPU that can handle them. Be prepared to spend around $1000 on a decent gaming laptop if you want to play the latest games at decent video settings. If you want to play them at the highest settings for any reasonable length of time (a couple years), then be prepared to spend at least $1500. Of course, I am referring to new laptops; you may be able to find a refurbished gaming laptop at a much lower price.

Specifications to Look for in the Best Laptop Deals

1. A fast CPU, you should at least be able to find a dual-core laptop at any price range, even below $300. If you plan to spend at least $700 then look for a quad-core laptop. Whether the CPU is AMD or Intel shouldn’t really matter, but keep in mind that in general, Intel currently has a slight edge on AMD in the CPU performance category.
2. A screen size and resolution that will fit your needs. Don’t settle on an 11 inch screen when you’re really looking for something with a 15.6 inch or more screen. There are always great laptop deals out there, so keep looking. Always be sure to check out the resolution of the screen as well. Just like when you shop for TVs, laptop screens have different resolutions, suchs as 720p and 1080p. The highest definition is 1080p, so if you want the best definition available, then look for that.
3. Hard drive size is another factor that is very important in any computer. Shoot for something with at least 250GB of space.

Remember there are many great laptop deals out there, so don’t settle on something you don’t quite like. As a side note, if you’re interested in learning how to build a desktop computer, click “how to build a computer.”

This article is about how to choose the best gaming monitor and a look into what the differences between regular and gaming monitors are. I will also list my top gaming monitors at the end of the post. -Updated September, 2011

How to Choose the Best Gaming Monitor

First of all, any monitor can be used to play games, but not every monitor will yield the same results. There are a few things that you need to look for in a gaming monitor.

• Response Rate
• Size and Native Resolution
• Viewing Angle

Response Rate

Click Here to Go to the Best Gaming Monitors

Response rate is considered by most to be the most important factor in choosing the best gaming monitor. This is because the response rate has to do with the speed at which pixels can change color on the screen. A slow response rate will produce a ghosting effect, which can be described as a blurring effect, while playing games. One can see how a fast response rate would be important during a competitive online game, such as a first person shooter or mmorpg.

So, what should you aim for in terms of response rate? Common rates are usually in the 8ms-2ms range. 5ms and under is considered good for gaming. Of course, aim low if possible. I usually try to buy monitors with a 2ms response rate. Honestly, monitors with a 2ms rate are so common now that it should not be a problem for you to find one, but if you can’t, you probably won’t even notice the difference between a 5ms and a 2ms rate.

Best Gaming Monitor – Size and Native Resolution

Generally, when the size of the monitor goes up, so does the native resolution. This is not always the case, such as in many laptop screens, but it usually holds true on bigger desktop monitors. Some example of native resolutions are: 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 800, 800 x 600, and 2560 x 600. It is always best to keep your monitor’s resolution at its native setting, or the picture will not be as clear as it should be. This is especially true when playing PC games. So, if your monitor’s native resolution is 1920 x 1080, then be sure to set the video settings manually to 1920 x 1080 in any PC game you play to get the best picture.

- It should also be noted that full high definition is 1080p, so look for that when buying your monitor.

Native Resolution and its Demand on the Video / Graphics Card – IMPORTANT

The size of the monitor that you buy is going to be personal preference, but keep in mind that larger monitors sometimes have a higher native resolution. The higher the native resolution, the more demanding games become on video processing power. For example, you may be able to run a game at maximum settings just fine at 800 x 600 on your 15 inch LED or LCD, but if you plan to upgrade to a 27 inch monitor with a native resolution of 2560 x 600, then be prepared to possibly upgrade your video card. Just keep in mind that the best gaming monitor is not always the biggest gaming monitor.

Viewing Angle

There is not a lot to say here as most LCDs and LEDs have decent viewing angles, and if you’re already spending the money on a sub 5ms response rate gaming monitor then it will probably also have a good viewing angle. Some monitors do have special features as far as the viewing angle goes, such as an option to select your current viewing angle for optimum performance. This is usually not a big deal though for a monitor sitting in front of you on a desk, it’s more for a wall mounted swiveling monitor. All in all, viewing angle performance does play a part in choosing the best gaming monitor, but it is nothing to spend more than a few minutes looking into.

The Best Gaming Monitor Might Include Other Features

When deciding on a monitor you may as well take a look at the details tab of the monitor and check out all of the features that are included. For example, some monitors have built in speakers, which is always a plus. Others might have viewing angle features or even a sensor that detects when you are or are not in front of it. Also, simply keep in mind that you’ll be looking at the monitor for quite some time, so buy one that you would not mind looking at for a few years.

Top Picks -

ASUS VH236H Black 23″ Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Speakers - Newegg Customer Choice Award Winner with over 800 reviews.

References:

Dell

This concludes the guide to finding the best gaming monitor. Learn how to build a computer at the homepage.

If you’re reading this you’re probably about to build a new gaming computer or you’re doing a major upgrade to your existing one; now you’re faced with the question that everyone who thinks about building a computer comes across at one point or another, “which is best, AMD or Intel for gaming?” This is an important question for a builder because after answering it you will have the foundation of your build figured out, that is, the motherboard and CPU combo.

So, Which is it, AMD or Intel for Gaming?

Well, in years long past, AMD reigned as king of the gaming computer world for a long, long, time, but that was then and times have since changed. Hang on though, this does not mean that Intel has overtaken the crown, but alas, they are now (almost) equals in the field of gaming. At least at the affordable price ranges. I’m not trying to tell you what you can and can’t afford, but in the price range of around $600 and up, Intel is actually the king of CPU benchmarks. Below that price range, AMD starts to catch up fast and things start to equal out a bit. Do I think it is ever worth it to spend more than $600 on a gaming computer CPU? No. In fact, I would never spend more than $300 on a gaming CPU, and I still consider that a little over the top. With all of this said, it is still easier to find faster Intel CPU’s simply because there are more Intel CPU’s available.

AMD or Intel, So Does it Really Matter in a Gaming Computer?

Will having a slightly faster processor make that much of a difference in your new gaming computer? Probably not. The best thing you can do to increase the performance of a gaming computer is to spend big on the video card(s). This is a little off topic, but if you’re on a budget, my best advice there is to spend big on a single card rather than buying two cheaper cards as you’ll generally be better off performance wise. Getting back on topic – It is still wise to get the most CPU for your money though, so read on.

Well, we’ve figured out that Intel does dominate at the higher price range, but then AMD pretty much catches up at the more reasonable range. So, then how do you decide between AMD or Intel for gaming? My advice is to go to an online store like Tiger Direct or Newegg and read the product reviews on CPU’s and/or motherboards (whichever you choose to start with) and pick one that you feel had the most favorable reviews at the max of your price range. This is honestly what I do every time I start on a new build and it has never failed me, in fact, I do this with every part in my new builds.

Which AMD and Intel CPU’s do I Recommend for a Gaming Computer?

Intel CPUs -

Intel Core i5-2500 3.3 GHz 6 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 CPU – This one and the i3 below it are probably the most popular gaming CPUs, at least for those on a budget. If you want to spend more, go for an i7, but you probably won’t notice the difference.

Intel Core i3-2120 Processor 3.3 GHz 3MB Cache Socket LGA1155 – This is probably the most popular gaming CPU for those on a tight budget.

AMD CPUs -

These are much cheaper compared to Intel CPUs and I’ll probably use the Six-Core version on my next personal build.

AMD FX 4100 4-Core Processor, 3.6 4 Socket AM3+ – Quad-Core – This one is priced around $100 and would work great on a low budget build.

AMD FX 6100 6-Core Processor, 3.3 6 Socket AM3+ – This is the one that I might use on an upcoming build. Will the average gamer notice a difference between this and an i5 CPU? Probably not.

AMD FX 8120 8-Core Processor 3.1 8 Socket AM3 – This one has eight cores, click the link and check it out. This is certainly a viable option on a mid-higher end build.

AMD or Intel for Gaming? Intel is faster, overall.

Or, if you feel like browsing around more, head on over to Amazon to make your own decision. As a reminder, this website’s focus is almost completely about building gaming computers. If you need a guide on how to build a computer, look here. There is also a builds list if you need help deciding on a complete working build.

Hopefully you’ve learned a little bit about the differences and similarities about deciding between AMD or Intel for gaming computer components.

References: CNN

Head to the home page to learn how to build a computer.