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Building a dedicated game server is easy. You just need to gather the necessary resources and a little hands-on session to get everything going.

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Windows Vista is coming! If your current system is not a Windows Vista capable computer, it?s time you start to prepare for it.

Windows Vista is a total makeover from its predecessor, Windows XP. It contains new features, better security architecture and an improved user interface. On hardware side, it is much more demanding. The same old system that runs Windows XP well can no longer be used for Windows Vista.

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With the introduction of DDR2 RAM, there are always questions hovering in the mind "Should I upgrade my memory to DDR2? Is it better?" Hopefully this article will shed some light to your queries and help you make a better decision.

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I have compiled some basic computer troubleshooting tips for you. If you have any queries or problems that need us to troubleshoot for you, feel free to contact us.

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It is cool to see hot babes running around, but it will be a disaster if you have a hot computer running on your desk. After investing all your pocket money on your ideal gaming computer, the last thing that you want to see is all your gaming hardware burning up in flames.

Overheating is the most common problem faced by gamers. A gaming computer running graphics intensive 3D games for 5-8 hours continuously can generate heat with temperature high enough to boil water. If no proper cooling is done to dissipate the heat, chances are that your gaming computer will get damages beyond repair very soon.

First line of defence – Cool Your CPU

With the enormous amount of calcuation that it has to do every microsecond, it is no surprise that the CPU is the most likely candidate to get overheated. In fact, it is also the computer part that generated the most heat.

A CPU heatsink with fan

The way to cool your CPU is to use a heatsink. The heatsink is a big solid piece of metal that is attached to the surface of the CPU (see left diagram). It has large parallel fins lining on its surface to conduct heat away from the CPU. Heatsink is usually made of aluminium material due to its high thermal conductivity and inexpensive price.

The heatsink is usually included in the package when you buy a boxed CPU. For OEM CPU, you have to get the heatsink separately. Conventionally, all the fins on the heatsink are lined in a single direction. The problem with this design is that air can only move through the fins in a single direction, creating a problem of air flow within the computer case. A newer design which has multiple threads running on the fins surface has greatly improved the efficiency of the heatsink.

Placing the heatsink

When placing the heatsink, it is important to seat it properly on the CPU. Any misplacement or gaps between the CPU and heatsink allow the CPU to be overheated. To further improve the thermal conductivity, some gamers insert a thin copper heat spreader between the CPU and the heatsink. Though it is not a ‘must-have’ component, it does help in dissipating the heat away.

Applying the thermal grease

Another important item is the thermal grease (some call it the thermal paste). Due to its high thermal conductivity and low resistance, thermal grease is essential to proper CPU cooling. It is a must to apply thermal grease on the surface of the CPU before seating the heatsink on it. Without the thermal grease, even the best heatsink will fail to work properly. For maximum efficiency, the thermal grease must be applied in a very thin and even film. Care must also be taken not to apply too much on the CPU as it can hinder the performance of the heatsink.

Function of the CPU cooling fan?

Heatsink can only transfer heat from the CPU to its metal fins. To dissipate the heat away from its metal surface, it needs a continuous stream of moving air to carry the heat away. This is where the CPU cooling fan comes into play. Attached to the top of the heatsink, the CPU cooling fan sucks the hot air out from the heatsink and blows a constant stream of cool air to the fins. Internally controlled by the motherboard, the fan can increase its speed when the CPU temperature gets too high.

Different type of CPU has different mounting configuration for its cooling fan. Therefore, when choosing a CPU cooling fan, ensure that it is compatible with the CPU in your computer.

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It is very easy to install a graphics card, all it needs is only 15 mins of your time and you can get your gaming computer booting up with the new graphics card.

AGP slot was the standard for graphics card interface with the motherboard. As technology advances, the newer PCI-Express has taken over and many graphics card nowadays use PCI-E slot as its interface with the motherboard.

Before you can install the graphics card, you need to identify which type of slot does your graphics card uses. If you are not sure which slot does your graphics card use, check out the user manual that comes with the graphics card.

(Click the image to enlarge)

Once you are ready to install your graphics card, follow these four steps…

Step 1: Uninstall the current graphics card drivers

Before you install your new card, you have to uninstall your current card driver. This is because the current driver might not be compatible with the new graphics card and it might result in hardware conflict.

On your Windows desktop, click ‘Start’ -> ‘Control Panel’. In the new window that pops up, search for the ‘System’ icon and double click on it. Look for the ‘hardware’ tab. Click on the ‘Device Manager’. This will pop up a new window showing your entire hardware configuration. Your graphics card should be listed under the ‘Display Adapter’ heading. Double-click the name of your graphics card. In the next window, go to ‘Driver’ tab and right below, there is an ‘Uninstall’ button. Click the Uninstall button. Once it is done, close all the windows and shut down your computer.

Step 2: Remove old graphics card

Now, unplug the power socket from the wall and remove the casing of your computer. Locate the AGP slot (short brown color slot above the rows of long white PCI slot) with your old graphics card. To prevent static charge from damaging your computer parts, touch a metal part of the case to ground yourself. Remove the screw on the back plate of the graphics card and unplug the graphics card from the slot.

Step 3: Install new card.

Align the new card correctly with the AGP slot (align with the PCI-e slot if your graphics card is of the PCI express type). Applying even forces on both end of the card, slowly push the new graphics card into the slot. Secure it to the back plate with a screw.

Step 4: Install new drivers.

Plug in all cables and boot up your Windows. Your operating system should now automatically recognize the new hardware and walk you through the installation wizard. Most of the time, you will need to insert the driver CD that come with the graphics card into the CD-ROM. Locate the ’setup.exe’ file in the driver CD and double click on it. It will then walk you through the installation process. If your graphics card is not the latest model, then most probably there is a newer version of the driver on the Internet. Check out the manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers. Install it. Once done, reboot your PC.

Now, you’re ready to start gaming.

If you are looking for ways to reduce your computer temperature, liquid cooling system might be the solution that you are looking for. As technology advances, computer parts are made to run faster (especially CPU and GPU), drawing more power and thus dissipating a much higher amount of heat. If you are still using the conventional CPU fan, chances are your system will be very noisy due to the heavy workload the fan has to bear to dissipate the heat. Various solutions have been invented to deal with this issue; one of them is liquid cooling.

What is Liquid Cooling?

Liquid cooling works just like a refrigerator. It circulates a liquid through the computer parts. Heat transfers from the hot components to the liquid. The hot liquid then flows out to the radiator where it is cooled down. It is then pumped back to the system to start the whole process again.

Why choose Liquid Cooling?

The most significant advantage of liquid cooling is its ability to bring down the temperature drastically. It is much more efficient and durable than the conventional fan. During overclocking, the heat generated by the CPU tends to be exponentially proportional to the overclocked speed. To maintain its functionality within the manufacturer?s specification, there is a need to reduce the temperature significantly. Most overclockers employ liquid cooling to achieve the cooling effect.

Another benefit is the silent operation of the system. Unlike conventional fan, liquid cooling does not generate noise at all. In fact, it acts as a noise insulator. You sure have a piece of mind when using the liquid cooling system.

What makes up a liquid cooling system?

Generally, a liquid cooling system consists of a water block that is attached to the CPU, a liquid pump to transport water, liquid tank to hold the coolant, pipe and a radiator with fan. There is a wide range of liquid cooling system in the market. Some contain sophisticated components such as temperature sensor and illuminated pipes to light up the case.

Disadvantages of Liquid Cooling System

Though it is a great heat dissipation device, it is not meant for novice or beginner. Technical skill is required to install the system and some people might find it too troublesome to go through the finer detail of installing it.

In addition, liquid cooling system takes up a big space in the computer case. There are quite a number of components in the liquid cooling system and they take up lot of space. In some cases, the liquid cooling system has to be placed outside of the case due to insufficient space inside the case. This is unsightly and may seem messy.

Also, a liquid cooling system does not come cheap, ranging from $70 to $250. This might be a deterrent to a lot of people, especially for those who are budget constrained.

Conclusion

In general, a liquid cooling system is a useful device to help you dissipate heat and reduce temperature efficiently. However, most computer systems are still operating within the reasonable temperature range and there is no need for such an extreme device. If you are overclocking your system, or building an extreme computer that requires plenty of power, then the liquid cooling system is definitely the one to go for.

Overclocking is the best way to get a significant boost in the speed of your system at no cost at all.

But what exactly is ‘overclocking’?

It is the process of forcing the processor to run at a higher clock rate than its specification. The processor is made to run at certain frequencies (clock rates). The higher the frequency, the more calculations it can compute. Instead of buying a 3GHz processor, you can now make a 2GHz processor runs at 3GHz. In this case, you can save the time, effort and money needed to upgrade your system.

PC enthusiasts usually overclock their computer to increase the performance. Some of these enthusiasts purchase low-end computer components so they can overclock to achieve the performance of a high-end system. However, if all you do on your computer is word processing, email and simple tasks, overclocking will not give you a noticeable performance boost. For gamers and those who are doing computationally heavy tasks, overclocking is the best way to transform your system from a Daihatsu to a Ferrari.

There are some risks involved in overclocking. Firstly, you will be voiding your warranty. This is logical as you are making the chips run at a higher speed than its specification and there is a possibility that it could break. Though the risk of the chip breaking is small, the manufacturer will not want to cover this risk. In addition, the manufacturer disapproves of any overclocking act as it means there is a lesser demand for the higher speed processors which could bring them a much higher profit. If the processor breaks, the whole system might be destroyed. Therefore, overclock at your own risk.

The main components used for overclocking are the processor and video card. The two things to consider when overclocking a component are the power supplied to the component and its cooling ability.

When overclocking, be sure to match the proper amount of power for its new speed. Providing too much power could permanently damage a component. You have to find a balance.

It is necessary to supply the proper amount of power to the component for its new speed. However, providing too much power could permanently damage the component. You have to find the balance.

With the increase in speed, the heat generated will also increase. If too much heat is introduced to the system, it might destroy the functionality of the components, and in extreme cases, even cause them to catch fire. Therefore, sufficient cooling is paramount to a successful overclock. Some of the cooling agents used are forced convection (a fan blowing across a surface), Liquid Cooling (liquid coolant carrying waste heat to a radiator, similar to an automobile engine), liquid nitrogen, dry ice, phase change cooling (as used in refrigerators), and submersion (placing the entire computer in an inert fluid).

To overclock the processor, there are two settings that you must be aware of:

• the multiplier
• the Front Side Bus (FSB).

These two settings, when multiplied together, produce the frequency at which the CPU operates – for example, with a multiplier of 11 and a FSB of 200MHz, the CPU is running at 2.2GHz. By adjusting the multiplier value (usually an integer), higher speed can be achieved. It is advisable to do this by small increments at a time. A sudden increase will cause the system to be unstable and might lead to its destruction. Bit by bit, you can push the system to its extreme. Remember to increase its voltage as you do this. To test the performance of the overclocked processor, you can use free software such as Super-PI, Prime95, SiSoftware Sandra and Memtest86

For gaming purposes, overclocking the video card usually gives a better result than overclocking a processor. The largest performance boost usually come from overclocking the video card memory chips. So if you’re trying to keep the heat down and only want to overclock the essentials, this is what you’ll want to look at.

One application you can use to overclock the video card is PowerStrip (available from http://www.entechtaiwan.com). After installation, you can select ‘Performance Profiles’ and then ‘Configure’ from the menu. This is where you can see the Engine clock and Memory clock. Slowly increase the Engine clock in 5MHz increments and run the benchmark application. When you start to see a peculiar shape, this is its fastest possible speed. Move the slider back to its previous successful overclock and that is the core frequency. Repeat the same step with the memory clock. When this is done, your video card will be overclocked to its maximum. Before you run the application, remember to provide enough cooling agent to the video card as the overclocking process will bring up its temperature a few notches.

With the extra speed boosts, you will definitely be able to do much more things with your system. Hopefully this article has provided you with an insight into the overclocking world. Welcome to the overclocking community and all the best to your overclocking endeavours.

My PC is slow, what should I do?

No matter how good your system is, there will come a time when you will face the slow PC performance syndrome. This is a universal problem every user is sure to come across.

So when do you consider your PC slow?

The answer is simply when:

• you discover that the booting up time takes longer than usual
• your PC hangs frequently
• it takes a long time to start an application
• game play is sluggish

What is the cause for this?

Well, it can be due to either a hardware or software issue.

A lack of memory RAM is often the main cause if it is a hardware cause. As technology advances, more and more programs with heavy bandwidths are being developed. An old system with only 64MB of memory RAM will surely pant when running these heavy-duty programs. Check out your motherboard’s maximum memory support and upgrade the RAM to the maximum. This will see an improvement. If your memory RAM is already at its maximum, then maybe it is time to change the motherboard.

Other than the RAM, the CPU is also another culprit for the slow PC performance. Similar to the RAM, an old CPU will not be sufficient to support new and complex applications. It might be easy to think that changing the CPU will help. However, changing the CPU is not as easy as changing the RAM. Most of the time, the old motherboard will not be able to support the latest CPU in the market. If you are seriously considering changing the CPU, then it might be better to upgrade the whole system.

The data storage on the hard drive is based on sector allocation. Over time, due to frequent installation and un-installation of programs, the data sectors will be scattered all around in the hard drive, making data retrieval difficult. This in turn adds to the loading time. The hard drive fragmentation percentage refers to the percentage of the scattering of the data sector. The higher the percentage, the slower the PC performance. Performance can be improved by doing a defragmentation. This will arrange the sector clusters in retrieving order and also move seldom used or unused data to a remote sector.

Running of background processes and programs will also slow down your PC’s performance. Most of the time, these background activities occur without your knowledge and it is always the main cause for PC hanging. To eliminate this, press “ctrl + alt + del” to access the Window Task Manager. Click on the PROCESSES tab. This window will slow all the background processes. Select the application that you don’t need and click “End Process”. Do this with care as shutting down important applications will cause your PC to hang and all your unsaved data to be lost. Next, the right bottom panel of the window task bar shows the program running in the background. Right click on the icon and shut down the unused programs to free up the bandwidth.

These few tips should be sufficient to improve your PC performance. If the above techniques don’t work, then you might have to consider reformatting your PC or upgrading to a new system.

Sometimes, it is more worthwhile to build your own gaming computer.

There are several advantages:

Firstly, building your own computer allows you to have more flexibility and control. By buying a fully assembled PC off the shelf, you are changing your needs to suit the PC, whereas when you build your own computer, you are customizing the computer to suit your needs. Which one do you prefer?

Secondly, it is much cheaper to build your own computer. There is no mark up, no labour cost, no service charge, no delivery fee etc. Check out the comparison table below:

* Parts specification and price taken from a commercial retailer website
** All price quoted are from TigerDirect.com

For the comparison table above, I have chosen parts that are either similar or better than the commercial gaming system, and the total cost is only about two thirds of that.

Convinced that it is worthwhile building your own gaming computer?