Understanding SLI

The term SLI was first coined by 3dfx when they released their Scan-Line Interleave technology. This technology was introduced to the consumer market in 1998 and used in the Voodoo2 line of video cards. After acquiring 3dfx, Nvidia come up with a new technology that uses the PCI-Express bus to improve graphics performance, and named it Scalable Link Interface, in short, SLI.

With the same concept as the dual core CPU, the idea behind SLI is to split the work load to smaller pieces so that different GPUs can be used to process it concurrently. In a SLI setting, two (or more) graphics cards are connected in a master-slave setting via a SLI bridge. When rendering a 3D scene, the work load is split into half and each card will be in charge of one half of the work load. When the slave card is done, it sends its output to the master card via the SLI bridge, which then combines the two results into one and sent to the output for display.

In order to use SLI on your system, you have to fulfill the following criteria:

• Own a motherboard that is based on an Nvidia chipset (the only exception is the Intel Dual Socket Extreme platform which is based on the Intel D5400XS motherboard which supports both SLI and CrossFireX technologies) and have at least two PCI-Express 16x slots.
• Two (or more) nVidia SLI graphics cards of the same GPU

SLI is rather strict on the type of GPU used. While you can set up SLI with two graphics cards from different manufacturers, the condition is: they must be using the same GPU (and preferably same clock speed and memory). In addition, not all Nvidia’s graphics cards are SLI-capable. While the latest release of graphics cards are all SLI-capable, only a selected few from the past series can run SLI. It is important to verify this before buying the graphics card.

Choosing a LCD monitor requires different knowledge from choosing a CRT monitor. They are different technology and cannot be compared in the same way. The following are the things that you should look out for when choosing a LCD monitor.

Resolution

LCD monitors work differently from its CRT counterpart. Its screen display is based on a fixed matrix of horizontal and vertical pixel. As such, LCD monitor works best only at the resolution they are designed for, which is known as the native resolution. If you change the resolution settings, the image and quality will suffer.

If you are looking for a LCD monitor, choose the one with a native resolution that suit your needs.

If you need to change your resolution regularly, getting a CRT monitor might be a better bet.

Response Time

The response time is the measurement of how fast each pixel can change color. It determines whether or not LCDs can clearly show full-motion video without smearing or ghosting.

In fast-paced games, ghosting may occur on slower monitors due to the action being faster than the monitor can keep up with. Therefore, it is more desirable for gamer to get a LCD monitor with a fast response time to prevent any ghosting effect that might occur. The price of the LCD monitor usually increases with a faster response time. Currently in the market, the fastest response time for LCD monitor is 2ms and it costs 50-70% more than the typical 8ms LCDs.

Generally, a LCD monitor with 20ms response time or less is sufficient for normal daily use and video viewing. For gamer, it is preferably to get LCD monitor with response time less than 8ms.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio measures the differences in brightness levels between the brightest white and the darkest black pixel. A good contrast ratio of 120:1 easily displays vivid colors, while ratios as high as 300:1 support superior grayscaling.

A high contrast ratio means that the image colors are more distinct and more detail can be displayed. Typically, contrast ratios range from 450:1 to 600:1. Any LCD monitor with contrast ratio less than 450:1 is not desired.

Viewing Angle

One disadvantage of LCD monitor is that it has a limited viewing angle. Viewing angle refers to the degree of angle at which you can view the screen and still see defined and accurate images. When you stand off center to view the LCD screen, it is most likely that you can only see faded images. CRT monitor do not has this problem.

Choosing a LCD monitor with greater viewing angle will be more desirable in this case.

Recommendation

For gamer who are getting, a LCD monitor, it is best to get one with 2ms response time, 1280×1024 resolution and contrast ratio 650:1 will be great. A good LCD montior I strongly recommend is Niko 1920W 19 Widescreen LCD . It has a clear and bright display and image quality is excellent. Value for money.

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Read on to learn about the factors that determines a good CRT monitor.

Screen Type

CRT monitor comes with two different type of screen: curved and flat. Curved screen is a technology of the past. If you are concerned with comfort, flat screen monitor will be suitable for you as it has a clearer image and more comfortable for eye viewing.

Pixel Pitch

Pixel pitch (also known as dot pitch) is the distance between two like-colored pixels. It is measured in millimeters. The smaller the pixel pitch, the sharper is the image. When the pixels are farther apart, they become noticeable and make the image look grainier. On CRTs, the pixel pitch is usually less than 0.31mm. When choosing for CRTs, always go for the one with the smaller pixel pitch.

Refresh Rate

Refresh rate refers to the rate of speed at which a CRT monitor screen image refreshes itself. If the refresh rate is 72Hz, the screen will refresh itself 72 times per second. The refresh rate affects the image quality. If the CRT monitor is refreshing at a slow rate, the image will be flickering and this can be very uncomfortable to the eye.

All CRT monitors support multiple refresh rates. When choosing your CRT monitor, Always select a CRT monitor with refresh rate more than 70Hz as that is the point where most people do not perceive flicker.

Resolution

Resolution refers to the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen. The higher the resolution, the more detailed the information on the screen.

Usually the bigger the resolution, the smaller the display font size will be. As a balance, most people set the resolution to 1024×768 where they can read comfortably without having to strain their eye over the small font.

Most of the CRT monitors allow users to change the resolution to suit their needs. Manufacturers also provide a recommended resolution for each CRT monitor they produced. It is always advisable to choose a computer monitor with recommended resolution that best support your needs.

Tip: The bigger the resolution, the slower the refresh rate will be. You cannot have a high resolution and refresh rate at the same time. There have to be a tradeoff between flicker and resolution. Recommendations for refresh rate and resolution include 1280×1024 at 85 Hertz or 1600×1200 at 75 Hertz.

Conclusion

Choosing a CRT monitor is not a difficult task. As long as you follow the pointers above, you should be able to find the CRT monitor that’s best suited for you.

For gaming, a CRT monitor with 21" flat screen, 0.25mm pixel pitch and 1600×1200 resolutions will be perfect.

Check out TigerDirect! for CRT monitor promotion

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ATI Radeon X1950 XTX

The no.1 position for our graphics card review is the ATI Radeon X1900 XTX. This is a PCI-Express card with a 512MB GDDR3 memory. Supporting a maximum resolution of 2560×1600, it has scored the highest in our benchmark tests. Though the price is a bit steep, in term of performance, it is still the best buy around.

XFX GeForce 7950 GX2 Dual GPU 520M Xtreme

The no.2 position for our graphics card review is the XFX GeForce 7950 X2 Dual GPU 520M Xtreme. Designed for extreme HD Gaming, the XFX 7950 GX2 graphics card is one of the fastest in the market. Running at a video memory of 1GB GDDR3, it delivers ultra-realistic gaming experiences, at resolutions up to 2560×1600. A 512-bit memory interface and fast GDDR3 memory enable incredible smooth frame rates at maximum quality settings. This Extreme version pushes the limits to give an extra boost in performance!

EVGA GeForce 7900 GTX

This card is one of the best sellers due to its great performance. It comes with 512MB GDDR3 and produces extremely good 3D performance. In many benchmark tests, this card consistently emerges in the top three. Highly recommended.

ASUS Extreme GeForce 7800GTX

ASUS has been a leading motherboard manufacturer; however its graphics card has also captured a piece of the huge graphics industry. The card ASUS Extreme N7800GTX/2DHTV GeForce 7800GTX only has a 256MB GDDR3 memory, but surprisingly it scored well in many benchmark tests. Though not the latest card in the market, it is still one of the best performing cards around.

ATI Radeon X1800 XT

Another PCI-express card from ATI. Previously, this was the best performing card around. With the introduction of several new cards in the market, it has been pushed down to the 5th position. Nevertheless, it still scores great results in many benchmark tests.

Conclusion

Getting a good graphics card will surely improve your gaming experience. Hope this graphics card review has been useful in helping you choosing the best graphics card for your system.

On the first encounter with this graphics card, it is not hard to see that the MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E come with a extra features not found in the usual GeForce 8600GT chipset. I would think that this is a highly tweaked mainstream graphics card that can perform better than the standard GeForce 8600 GT.

The standard GeForce 8600 GT runs at 540 MHz and accesses its 256 MB GDDR3 memory at 1.4 GHz through a 128-bit interface, so it can access its memory at a maximum transfer rate of 22.4 GB/s.

The MSI NX8600GT-T2D256E OC Video Card carries a factory overclocked GPU that runs at 580 MHz and can access its memory at 1.6 GHz, thereby giving a maximum memory transfer rate of 25.6 GB/s. From the statistics alone, it is not difficult to see that this video card has its GPU running 7.40% faster than the standard GeForce 8600 GT and accesses its memory 14.28% faster than the standard model.

In addition, if you install the drivers that come with this video card you will have access to D.O.T (Dynamic Overclocking Technology), where you can overclock your video card simply checking a box on the video properties.

If you like the idea of overclocking your video card, but do not want to go through the hassle of doing the task yourself, then this graphics card is definitely a suitable choice.

Unified Shader Architecture

With the release of DirectX 10, it is no surprise that nVidia included DirectX 10 API on all its GeForce 8 chipset. Instead of using separated shader units for each kind of shader processing, the GeForce 8600GT GPU uses a unified shader architecture that incorporates all the different shader engines together into one single engine (also known as the Stream Processor) . This resulted in more flexibility and efficiency in processing vertex, pixel and geometry shaders. The advantage of this unified shader architecture is that the Stream Processor can now make to run at two to three times higher than the clock speed of the GPU. The faster the Stream Processor runs, the better the shader performance.

The MSI NX8600GT has an overclocked shader speed of 1508MHz, which is 20% faster than the usual GeForce 8600GT model that runs at 1188MHz. The speed setting is configured in the factory and anyone who installed the graphics card can enjoy the speed boost immediately without having to do the overclocking manually.

PureVideo HD

With the PureVideo HD technology found in the GeForce 8600GT core, the MSI NX8600GT can now handle the entire decoding processor of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies with video playback with resolutions up to 1920x1080p. Instead of stressing the CPU for HD video decoding, 100% of high definition video decoding can now be off loaded onto the graphics card at speeds of up to 40Mb/s. If you are running two MSI NX8600GT graphics card in SLI, it can even offload onto the two GPUs for parallel processing which will further decrease CPU load.

Though not the best card around, it is no doubt that this MSI NX8600GT graphics card is a good choice for every gamers who want a mid range video card that can delivers.

Check out MSI GeForce 8600GT NX8600GT-T2D256E OC Video Card here.

The computer monitor is where you will spend hours staring at. Choosing the right monitor will ensure that your comfort level is not compromised, especially to the eyes.

In addition, the monitor is the most expensive single component of the whole computer system. By making the right decision, you can make sure that your money is well spent.

Read on to find out what to look out for when choosing your best computer monitor. Or if you’re interested to find out the price for monitors, check out TigerDirect!.

CRT or LCD? Which is the best computer monitor?

Many people are confused whether to get a CRT or LCD monitor. Well, both have their own pros and cons and it’s hard to say which type is the best for you. However, LCD monitor, been the lighter and smaller one, has gradually become the favorite and replaced CRT monitor as the standard for display.

On the other hand, CRT monitor still has its advantages over the LCD monitor. In some occasions, it’s indeed better to use a CRT monitor than a LCD monitor. I have summed up the advantages of the CRT and LCD monitor below for your reference:

Advantages of LCD Monitor

Less power consumption – LCD monitor consume lesser power than CRT monitor, averaging about 45 watts for a 19-inch LCD display. CRT monitor requires about 100 watts.

Smaller and lighter – LCD monitor is significantly thinner, lighter and taking up less desk space than CRT monitor

Sharper images – At higher resolution, LCD monitor displays a sharper image than its CRT counterpart

Less eye strain – CRT monitor works by refreshing the screen at regular interval, this will cause strain to the eyes. LCD displays do not cause strain to the eye as much since the pixels are fixed in position and only the color change.

Advantages of CRT Monitor

Less expensive – CRT monitor cost much lesser than LCD monitor.

Better color clarity – CRT displays have historically represented colors and different gradations of color more accurately than LCD displays.

Better response to images – CRT monitors have had fewer problems with ghosting and blurring than LCD monitors

Multiple resolutions – CRT monitors work well with multiple resolutions while LCD monitors only work well with its native resolution.

More rugged – Although they are bigger and heavier than LCD displays, CRT displays are also less fragile and harder to damage.

Conclusion

If you belong to one of these groups: computer geek who go for the latest technology, have a limited desk space, have extra cash to spare, always view images in high resolution (such as gaming), then you should go for the LCD monitor. Other than that, if you are concerned with ruggedness, need to change resolution frequently and need better color clarity, it’s better to stick with the conventional CRT monitor.

Check out TigerDirect! for the best computer monitor deals.

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Choosing the best gaming graphics card is no easy task. There are so many graphics card out there, how do you know which one is the best for you?

Most of the time, people are confused over the technical jargon (such as pixel pipeline, bus interface, SLI, memory bandwidth etc.) that comes with specification. This article will explain the technical terms in the simplest way and guide you through the process of choosing the best gaming graphics card.

The role of Graphics Card

The graphics card plays an important role in gaming. For clear and sharp display of 3D images, you need to have a graphics card that has great processing power. Unless you are willing to compromise on your gaming quality, the graphics card is something that you should not scrimp on.

GPU (Graphical Processing Unit)

When choosing a gaming graphics card, the first thing to look at will be the GPU. This is the chip on the graphics card that is in charge of all the image processing. It’s the single most important component on the graphics card.

Most of the graphics cards in the market are built with nVidia or ATI’s GPU. They are the two main players and have spilt the market between themselves.

Bus Interface

Bus interface refers to the bus (or slot) that connects the graphics card to the motherboard.

There are two types of graphics card slots: AGP and PCI Express. AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is the older and slower of the two slots (AGP 8x offers maximum bandwidth of 2.1GB/s, compared to 8GB/s for a 16-lane PCI Express).

For best gaming performance, it is best to use graphics card with the PCI Express slot. The reason is simple; PCI Express is much faster than AGP.

Video Memory Size

The amount of video memory on a graphics card determines the maximum resolution the card is capable of displaying. Most of the gaming graphics cards are equipped with at least 128MB of memory while some high-end cards are offering 784MB.

Getting a graphics card with 512MB of memory is not really necessary as it is very expensive and most of the time, the utilization rate is low. Unless you are playing game such as Half-life 2, which demands a lot of processing power, else a 256MB graphics card will be sufficient to meet your gaming needs.

Memory Type

The memory on the graphics card comes in different types. DDR RAM is the most common of all. This type of memory is capable of transferring data on both the rising and falling edge of the clock signal. The later DDR2 and DDR3 version work on the same principle, but they are capable of achieving higher clock speed. The latest GDDR3 RAM is a different memory type from DDR RAM. It is a memory specifically for graphics processing and it requires less power and generates less heat than DDR RAM.

Pixel Pipeline

Graphics card creates images by processing pixels in parallel pipelines. The more pipelines it has, the faster it will be capable of rendering an image. An average graphics card should come with at least 8 pipes while the more advanced one can have up to 48 pipes.

Display Interface

This refers to the ways that the graphics card output images to the monitor. There are several connectors for connecting a display: VGA, DVI, Dual channel DVI and TV-Out/S-Video

VGA – This is the connector used to connect a CRT monitor to the graphics card. It’s meant for analog signal. This type of connector has been the standard for display video output, but it’s slowly phasing out in the market, giving way to digital connection.

DVI – The standard for connecting digital signal to a digital display, such as the LCD monitor.

Dual Channel DVI – Some graphics cards have a pair of DVI port that allows you to connect to two LCD monitors. This is useful for developers or web designers who want to have different views simultaneously.

TV-Out/S-Video – This port is meant to connect the video signal to a TV. If you own a HDTV, you can connect to it through the S-Video port. For older TV using RCA input, you will have to get an S-Video/RCA adaptor.

Choosing the best gaming graphics card

Getting a gaming graphics card is based entirely on one’s preference. It’s definitely not an easy task. A good graphics card will not come cheap. Plan your budget wisely and go for the one that you can afford.

If you are intending to get an ATI graphics card, be sure to get the Raedon X1600 series and above. If you can afford it, the Raedon X1950 series is the best.

For nVidia lovers, getting the GeForce 7 series should be the minimum. I would strongly recommend EVGA 8800 GTX 768MB PCIe. This card is one of the best sellers due to its great performance. It comes with 768MB GDDR3 and produces extremely good 3D performance. In many benchmark tests, this card consistently emerges in the top three. This card will allow you to play all type of 3D game without any glitches.

Hope that this article has given you an insight to the world of graphics card. Use this guide as a reference and you’ll be able to find the best gaming graphics card for your computer very easily.

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