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If you are on a budget, then getting a cheap gaming computer might be one of your considerations. It is not necessary true that gaming computer costs you a bomb. You can get a cheap computer and play the most popular game in the market. Though not the best quality, you should be able to enjoy a game comfortably.

There are a few ways you can get a cheap gaming computer. The first way is to build your own gaming computer. You can customize the parts you need, source from the dealer with the lowest price and assemble on your own. So far, this method is the most recommended as there are benefits abound. The disadvantage of this is that it is not useful for novice or computer beginner. They have no knowledge of computer parts and its function, not to say assemble the parts. In addition, there is a lot of research to be done and compatibility issue to take care of. Luckily, there are a lot of forums and website (such as this one) that provide useful guide.

The next way to get a cheap gaming computer is to get a refurbished computer from the retailers. Refurbished computer are used computer that are reconditioned and certified to work. Do not come into thinking that "used" computer are spoilt computer. It is generally not true. Most of the refurbished computers have parts that are fully functional. Retailers like TigerDirect! buy back old and unwanted computer parts. They will then test the parts for functionality and compatibility. If the parts pass the test, they will clean up and recondition the parts so that it look brand new. Lastly, they assemble the parts together and test it with the Operating System. It is only after serious and repeated testing then they launch it to the store for sale. Most of the refurbished computer comes with warranty, so there is no cause for worrying.

Of course, if buying a refurbished computer or building your own is not your piece of cake, there are also dealers that sell cheap gaming computer. Dell and Gateway are the biggest suppliers for cheap gaming computer. You can easily get one for less than $1000. If you are looking at other brand of cheap gaming computer, you can check out authorized parts distributor such as TigerDirect! and Newegg
. They do carry a wide range of brand ranging from A-Z.

There are cheap computer for daily word processing usage and also cheap computer for gaming. When you are making your purchase, you have to make sure that the computer you bought supports intensive gaming. Here is a checklist for you:

When making your purchase, make sure that:

• You have a memory RAM of at least 512MB
• The graphics card memory is at least 128MB
• A motherboard that supports 6.1 Ch surround sound

With a little research, you can have your cake and eat it too. There are many ways to get a cheap gaming computer without compromising your gaming quality. On a long run, to save you the trouble of upgrading every six months, it might be advisable to invest a bit more money on a good computer.

If you’re on a budget, getting a refurbished gaming computer is a cheap and good way to own a gaming computer.

Refurbished means it is not new, but don’t go away thinking that "used" computers are inferior. You will be surprised to find that most of the refurbished computers can perform tasks as good as a new computer. In fact, more and more gamers are buying cheap refurbished computer and then reconstruct them by adding higher RAM and better graphics card. The result is: a gaming computer that performs, but at the price of peanuts.

There are several benefits in getting a refurbished gaming computer.

Price

A brand new gaming computer usually lies in the range of $1500-$4000, depending on the parts you choose. For half the price, you can easily get a refurbished computer that can perform the same tasks as the brand new one. Unless you are a technology geek who goes for the latest gadgets in the market, it makes no sense to spend the extra money on something where you can get it for less.

Parts as good as brand new

The refurbished computer you are getting comes with parts that are reconditioned and recertified, which means that they have been through a series of tests to ensure that they are working perfectly. All refurbished computers and parts also come with warranty. It is really the safest way you can get a cheap gaming computer.

Finding a refurbished gaming computer online

TigerDirect! has a Recertified Sale Center that specializes in refurbished products. Be it a motherboard, laptop, graphics card, CPU or anything, you name it, they have it. TigerDirect! is an online store that I strongly recommended. I have purchased products from them before and I am really impressed with the quality of their products and the speedy services.

My Recommend Refurbished Gaming Computer Configuration

	eMachines T5028 CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz Processor Interface: Socket LGA 775 RAM: 512MB DDR2 533 RAM Hard Drive: 160GB IDE 7200rpm hard disk GPU: ATI Radeon XPRESS 200 Integrated Graphics, 128MB shared memory Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD burner Power Supply: 300 Watts Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic Price: $269.99 (find out more)
Additional Upgrade
	Memory / RAM Kingston 512MB DDR2 533 Memory Price: $25.99 (find out more)
	Graphics Card GPU: nVidia GeForce 8600GT Video Memory: 512MB DDR2 RAM Maximum Resolution: 2560 x 1600 Interface: PCIe x 16 Connector: DVI, VGA, HDTV/S-Video Price: $124.99 (find out more)
	Power Supply Unit Ultra X-Finity 500 Watts SATA/SLi Ready Price: $39.97 (find out more)

In conclusion…

There are thousands and one ways to get a cheap computer. Getting a refurbished gaming computer is surely one of the best ways. Hopefully, this guide has helped you in making a selection.

To every gamer, owning the ultimate gaming computer is just like a dream come true. Not only can you play all type of games, you can also enjoy the realism of the graphics and sound.

So what does it take to build the ultimate gaming computer? First, you must have enough cash to spare. Next, you have to know which parts to choose, which will be covered in the next section.

CPU

The first thing to consider is definitely the CPU. The latest addition and the best of Intel CPU is the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor. According to Intel, the latest processor has a 4 MB of shared L2 cache (usually only 512K or 2MB) and up to 1066MHz FSB, a notch higher than its previous version. It also has better power efficiency and cache management system, optimized for multi-thread functions. The warning by Intel:

If you are a hard core AMD fan, do not panic, AMD has always been a strong competitor to Intel. Its Athlon 64 FX-62 CPU is the first Windows-compatible 64-bit PC processor and has the capacity to handle the most demanding application with outstanding performance. With over 100 industry accolades under its belt, what else do I have to say?

Memory

The CPU and the memory must always be hand in hand. You can’t expect a great performance from the CPU without the support of the memory RAM. Being the stabilizer of the whole system, the bigger the memory size, the better, faster and more stable computer you can get.

Though the fastest RAM speed is DDR2 1066MHz, there are not many motherboards that can support this. The recommended speed to go for is DDR2 800MHz dual channel 2GB. Most motherboards come with 4 DIMM slots; therefore you can install two sets of the dual channel RAM to bring the total memory to 4GB. Few applications can fully utilized the 4GB memory size yet, but it never hurt to have more memory space. It also means that you can save your memory upgrade cost for the next few years.

Graphics Card

Graphics technology has gone a long way since the monochrome era. The current technology is the SLI (Scalable Link Interface) or CrossFire technology, developed by nVidia and ATI respectively. Both technologies utilize dual graphics cards and the fast PCI-Express 16x slot to deliver faster and better images. For more information on graphics card, go to how to select the best gaming graphics card. To build a ultimate gaming computer, the graphics card should at least be a PCI-Express 512MB GDDR3 SLI/CrossFire ready graphics card.

Hard Drive

When building the ultimate gaming computer, it is not the size of the hard drive that counts, but its performance that really make the difference. A 200GB hard drive is usually more than enough for the storage of your games and applications. The main differences lie in the buffer and the drive interface. The buffer determines how much data can be stored for pre-fetch while the drive interface determines how fast the data can be transferred. The most suitable choice for an ultimate gaming computer is the SATA-2 16MB buffer 200GB hard drive.

Monitor

Is there a need to say about this? The obvious choice is at least a 21′ LCD monitor with 2ms response time and DVI video input. The rest is extra.

Sound Card

Yes, you really need a sound card, even though that motherboard of yours boosts a 7.1 Ch onboard sound card. If you are going after the best sound possible, there are no alternatives other than the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum PCI Sound Card. It is currently one of the best sound cards that can create 3D sound in a two-speaker or headphone setup. This is definitely the one to go for.

Speaker

How can you have a great soundcard without a great speaker? In order to match the performance of the great sound card you bought, a 5.1-channel speaker system or higher is necessary. A 5.1 channel means the right and left front satellites, right and left surround satellites, a center speaker and a subwoofer. A 6.1-channel adds a rear speaker while a 7.1-channel adds left and right rear speaker. In addition, a hardware decoding system for Dolby Digital and DTS is also essential to produce the best sound effect. A good recommendation is Logitech Z-5500 6.1 channel speaker system

Keyboard/mouse

The keyboard and mouse are the only devices that you use to input command to the system. For best gaming effect, a programmable hotkey keyboard and a sensitive, accurate mouse are required. The best in the market now is the Logitech G15 gaming keyboard that allows you to program up to 18 hotkeys and Logitech G7 laser gaming mouse that allows the user to adjust the resolution to 2000dpi.

Power Supply (PSU)

An ultimate gaming computer can easily consume 400W of power. You will need a high rating power supply to support it. PCI-Express SLI graphics card requires a different power connector. This has to be taken in account as well. Recommended: 600W SLI ready PSU with 120mm fan.

Motherboard

I have list most of the parts, what about the motherboard? It is easy, once you have gathered all the parts above, the motherboard that can supports all of these parts will be the one you go for. To summarize, your motherboard need to

• Be a socket 775 board for Intel processor or socket 939 / AM2 board for AMD processor
• Has at least 4 slots of DIMM for memory RAM. DDR2 800MHz for Intel chip and DDR 400MHz for AMD
• Support SLI or CrossFire, has at least two PCI Express 16x slot
• SATA 2 interface for hard drive

I have more or less covered the requirement to build an ultimate gaming computer. A piece of advice is that building the ultimate gaming computer can easily cost you several thousand dollars. Within a few months, all of those top of the line components will be replaced with a new range of products with even greater performance. If you are restricted by budget, do not attempt to build the ultimate gaming computer. Invest in only a few products such as the RAM and graphics card will be sufficient for you to enjoy your game. Who says gaming has to be an expensive hobby?

If you are looking for a computer monitor, this guide will be extremely useful to you. Make use of this guide to learn all the things you should pay attention to when choosing a monitor.

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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There is a variety of CD Drives in the market, namely CD drive, CDRW drive, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive, DVD+RW drive etc. It is a headache to sort out all the different brands and types in order to find the one suitable for you. This guide shows you how to choose a good CD ROM drive easily.

Media Type

Different type of ROM drive support different type of storage media. A CD-ROM can only read CD while a CDRW-ROM can read, record and rewrite data on CD. Here is a list of what type of media each ROM supports.

• CD ROM - CD reading only
• CDRW ROM - CD reading, recording and rewriting
• DVD ROM - DVD and CD reading only
• DVD+RW ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD recording and rewriting in +RW format
• DVD-RW ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD recording and rewriting in ?RW format
• DVD+RDL ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD dual layer recording of +R format

DVD+RW and DVD-RW are two different standards for DVD recording. DVD+RW allow you to add and remove data without erasing the whole disk and starting over. This means that DVD+RWs can almost be treated like removable hard disks. Conversely, DVD-RW is less flexible; the whole disk needs to be erased before new data can be added.

A DVD storage capacity is 4.7GB. Dual Layer (DL) allows user to record data on two sides of the disc, thus doubling the total capacity to 8.55GB

Choose a drive according to your need. If you wants to watch DVD movie on your pc, do not get a CD drive. I would recommend getting a combo drive that supports all the different media types. It is cheaper than getting all the different drives separately and also more convenient. The drawback for a combo drive is a slower speed.

Internal or External

Internal drives are usually cheaper than external drives. External drives connect to the computer through firewire or USB2.0 and more suitable if you need to move your data around.

Speed

The speed of the drive determines how fast it transfers data to the computer. The higher the speed, the faster the transfer. You will see various speeds on the combo drive, something like "52×32x52" The first number represents the reading speed, the second number represents the rewrite speed and the last number shows the recording speed. Choose a drive with fast speed.

Conclusion

To choose a good CD drive, you must know what you need it for. If you are using it to listen to audio CD only, it is best to get the CD ROM drive whereas if you need to copy large amount of data, get a DVD burner.

Due to its large capacity, DVD will soon replace CD as data storage device. it is recommended to get a DVD burner rather than a CD Writer so you don’t have to spend money to upgrade again in the near future.

A good sound card is necessary for a computer to play quality music. With a wide range of sound cards in the market, it is really difficult to select one that is suitable for you. The guide here will teach you what to look out for when choosing a sound card.

If you already know how to choose a good sound card, you can also check out TigerDirect! for the best deal online.

Things to look for when choosing a sound card

Before you buy a sound card, first ask yourself what do you do on your computer most of time. If you only use it for word processing, checking email, surfing internet etc? then it might not be worth it for you to get a sound card.

However, if you are an avid gamer or heavy multimedia user, then getting a good sound card is a must.

The following factors will help you differentiate between a normal sound card and a good sound card.

16 bits or 24 bits?

Sound card using 24 bits encoding and decoding will gives a better and clearer sound quality than using 16 bits. For basic user, a 16 bits sound card will be sufficient

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

The Signal to Noise Ratio measures the ratio between the noise and the sound signal produced by the sound card.

In general, the higher the SNR, the better is the sound quality.

Sampling Rate

Sampling rate determines the distortion of the digital sound signal from the original analog signal. The higher the sampling rate, the less distorted the sound signal and hence the better sound quality. The highest available sampling rate now is 96kHz and this is equivalent to dvd-audio quality. The following table below shows a guideline of the sound quality you can expect from the different sampling rate.

• 44.1 kHz - Audio CD quality. Also used in VCD, SVCD and MP3
• 48 kHz - Digital sound used for digital TV, DVD, DAT, films and professional audio
• 96 kHz - DVD-Audio, and HD-DVD (High-Definition DVD) audio tracks

Surround Sound

For gamer and heavy multimedia user, a sound card with surround sound will certainly adds to your enjoyment. Currently the sound card can support up to 7.1 channels surround sound. Before you make your purchase, make sure that it is certified by Dolby Digital, DTS, THX or EAX.

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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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A computer hard drive is a storage media where you install and store all your programs and data. Generally, the bigger the memory capacity, the more data you can store. The memory capacity is usually measured in gigabytes. Currently in the market, you can find hard drive that range from 10GB to as high as 750GB.

Over the years, hard drive technology has improved greatly. While its storage capacity has increased, other aspect such as its transfer speed, interface type, buffer etc. has also improved to a great extent. When choosing a computer hard drive, the things that you should look out for are the buffer, storage capacity, drive interface and the RPM.

Buffer

Every hard drive has a small amount of onboard memory that is known as buffer or cache. When data is received from the platters, it is stored into the buffer so that the next time you need to retrieve it, the data can be directly loaded from the buffer.

The bigger the buffer size, the faster the data can be accessed. Currently, the minimum is 8MB and several high end drives now come with 16MB buffers.

Disk Storage space

The storage space determines how much data you can store. The more the merrier. As a guideline, for normal usage, get a hard drive that is at least 10-20GB bigger than your current data size.

Drive Interface

The traditional drive interface is using the IDE cable. Its transfer speed range from 33MB/s to 133MB/s, depending on the motherboard and the hard drive bus specification.

Ideally, the higher the transfer speed, the better the computer performance. The transfer speed can be identified by the label Ultra DMA33, Ultra DMA66, Ultra DMA100, Ultra DMA133. The number on the label represents the transfer speed in MB/s.

Serial ATA (also known as SATA) is the next generation drive interface. The first version has a maximum transfer speed of 150MB/s and SATA II (second version) delivers 300 MB/s. A version set for year 2008 will deliver 600 MB/s.

SATA has several key advantages over the IDE (or Parallel ATA, PATA).

1. SATA has a faster transfer speed then IDE;
2. SATA uses very thin and small 7 pins connector that can go up to 1m in length, whereas IDE only allow the flat 40 wire connector that only limit to 46cm. This smaller cable length improves the air flow and heat dispersion inside the casing.
3. SATA has a lower power requirement (250mV) than IDE (5V);
4. SATA technology allows hot-swapping, which means drives can be removed or added while the computer is running. This is not achievable in IDE.

Most of the motherboards come with integrated SATA and IDE interface. For older system, third party SATA controllers can also be installed in any PCI slot to allow the system to connect to the SATA drive.

RPM consideration

RPM refers to the Revolution per Minute. The faster the disk rotates, the more data it can process. 5400rpm used to be the most common speed in the market today. Lately, hard drive manufacturers have started introducing 7200rpm hard drives to the market and the price is comparable to a 5400rpm hard drive.

Recommendation For a Good Gaming Computer Hard Drive

To get the best performance out of a hard drive, a good gaming computer hard drive must have

• A large storage space, of at least 80GB to store the game files.
• A large buffer, typically of 16MB to facilitate data caching during game play
• SATA 2 interface for maximum data transfer rate.
• A disk rotation speed of 7200rpm for maximum data processing rate

A good gaming computer hard drive that I love and strongly recommend is Seagate 320GB SATA-II Hard Drive hard drive. It is super quiet and works great under Window XP, Vista and Linux. The data processing speed is fast and I have no problem getting it to work in under 10 minutes.

Computer RAM (Random Access Memory) is one of the most crucial components of a computer. Its main function is to provide a temporary space for data to be stored.

When a computer first starts up, the system loads information from the storage drive into the RAM. At any point of time when the system need any information, it will access the RAM to retrieve the data it needs. Since the computer RAM processes data faster than any other storage media, the retrieval process is shorter, work gets done faster and hence the computer performs better.

All RAM are volatile, which means it cannot be used to stored permanent data. Once the power is off, all the data stored in it are lost.

Tip: If you are faced with a choice between a faster processor and a 2GB memory RAM…take the RAM.

Things to look out for when choosing a computer RAM

Memory Size

Bigger memory size means there is more space to hold the data, which of course means the system can access to more data faster. A computer with 128MB RAM upgraded to 256MB RAM will show a significant improvement in the system performance. A typical gaming computer requires at least 512MB of RAM to ensure smooth gameplay.

Types of computer RAM

SDRAM

SDRAM is the RAM of the past and has already been phased out. SDRAM is normally used in Pentium II or Pentium III system where the processing speed is much lower. It can only process data once per clock cycle. It is usually classified as PC133*, PC100* or PC66*. *The number represents the clock speed (in MHz).

*The higher the number, the faster the RAM can process the data.

DDR RAM

DDR RAM can process data twice per clock cycle (which gives its name double data). Thus, for the same memory capacity, it is actually processing two times faster than SDRAM.

The speed of the RAM can be classified as DDR200/PC1600, DDR266/PC2100, DDR333/PC2700 or DDR400/PC3200.
The first number denotes the maximum clock speed that the memory supports while the second number indicates the maximum transfer rate of the memory. The higher the number, the faster is the RAM. The fastest DDR RAM is DDR400

DDR2 RAM

The latest addition to the DDR RAM family is the DDR2 RAM. This version of RAM has 240 pins (compared to DDR RAM 184 pins) and it has a processing speed as high as 800MHz (DDR2 800/PC6400).

DDR2 RAM is not backward compatible with DDR RAM. If you are thinking of getting a DDR2 RAM, you need to have a motherboard that supports DDR2 RAM in order to use it.

Dual Channel

Many DDR and all DDR2 desktops and motherboards have a built-in feature called dual channel that allows you to utilize the bandwidth of two modules at the same time. For these systems, you need to install modules in pairs for maximum performance, so if you want to add 512MB of memory, it will be better to buy two 256MB modules, as opposed to one 512MB one.

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