Christmas just came and went recently and many people did not get the blu-ray player they wanted for christmas.  Many people are also asking the question, “Should i buy a blu-ray player?”  Many people are asking this question because of streamable entertainment.  Netflix is one of the services that is leading the way with streamable conent via the internet to watch movies and tv series.  Well to answer your question, YES you should buy a blu-ray player!

What many people don’t know is that the newer Blu-ray players actually come with the ability to stream movies from netflix, youtube, and have the ability to listen to music on pandora.  This is truly the best of both worlds as the blu-ray movies blow the streamable content out of the water with the high quality video and HD soundtrack.  This isn’t to say that streamable content won’t eventually get there, but for now the Blu-ray disc is the king and probably will be for the next several years.

The new LG and Samsung Blu-ray players offer the netflix capability.  Many people are also turning to the PS3 as their primary blu-ray source.  This is actually a very smart idea as the PS3 is still one of the fastest loading blu-ray disc players out there on the market today!  The greatest thing about the PS3 is that not only is it a blu-ray playing movie powerhouse, but it’s also a console which has had some very good games that have come out such as uncharted 2 and Assassins Creed 2.  The PS3 and the new Blu-ray players also provide a service called BD Live which is a fun feature to use when watching movies.  What BD live does is allow you to chat with friends and family who have BD live while watching a movie, watch extra downloadable content on the movie, and just really give you an online portal into behind the scenes information and easter eggs of the movie you are watching.

If you are still debating whether or not to buy a blu-ray player, we hope that this article has helped you to know that Blu-ray is certainly not on its way out anytime soon.  The great thing is you can combine both the disc and online streamable content into one mega player that can do it all and keep your movie theater room blasting quality movies and tv series to give enjoyment to your whole family!

When it comes to gaming nothing beats playing a game with a nice controller.  Even though consoles are known for their nice fitting controllers that feel natural in your hand, there is no reason to let the consoles have the monopoly on controllers.  Consoles are really just souped up PC systems and the controllers can be used with your PC.  In fact the best PC controllers out there are the controllers made for consoles.  The DualShock 3 SIXAXIS PS3 and XBOX 360 controller are the most well made controllers out there that really do last and can take a serious beating.  Most of the other third party pc controllers are just not as durable as what the Playstation and Microsoft have come out with.  The other really great part about using a console controller with your PC is that if you ever play your favorite PC game on the Xbox or PS3 you won’t be the odd man out that doesn’t know the controls.  How do you hook up these controllers to your PC?  We’ll tell you!

The easiest PC game controller to install is the XBOX controller as it is made by Microsoft.  Any machine with Windows XP or above are compatible with the controller.  Simply plug in the controller to the usb port and whala, you are good to go.  If you have the wireless version of the XBOX 360 controller then you will need to buy a USB thumb drive that can read the wireless signal of the controller.  These controller stations can be bought off of amazon and other gaming stores for not very much.  These adapter also let you have several controllers hooked up to your PC which can all be wireless to experience multi player gaming on the same computer.

The PS3 Controller is also fairly easy to install, but may not be as easy as the microsoft controller.  The Dual Shock 3 controllers have a USB input for you to hook up to your computer.  If you want to use the blue-tooth technology you will need to have a bluetooth receiver or buy a special receiver fom SONY.  Here are some simple steps to install a Ps3 controller.

• Download and install the SIXAXIS controller driver which can be downloaded here. sixaxis_PS3_Win32_Driver.rar
• Unpack the ps3sixaxis_en.exe file
• Plug the SIXAXIS Dual Shock 3 PS3 controller into your PC via the USB cable
• Run the ps3sixaxis_en.exe file ONE TIME
• One you have run the executable file, simply press the PS button on the SIXAXIS once if the computer does not read the controller right away.

Like we mentioned above, nothing can beat the durability and comfort of using these two controllers.  By using these controllers you will have a much more enjoyable playing experience and you will be able to switch from console platform to platform without skipping a beat.

Many gamers who like to game on the PC often will ask us what the best PC system is for game performance.  We could come right out and tell you what the most current system on the market is that has all the bells and whistles, but by the time you read this it will be obsolete.  Instead we want to talk about the main components of PC systems that matter as far as PC video games and an enjoyable gaming experience.

Video games theses days are much more entrancing than ever before and are much more movie like.  They are very beautiful looking and pay special attention to detail.  The games are in High Definition Video and support all of the latest sound formats that the movie studios use to present the feature films we pay money to see.  You can’t really fully enjoy a video game these days without a complete system to enhance all the hard work that has gone into the game.  This article is dedicated to the aspects that we believe to be pivotal when it comes to creating the perfect pc system for a hardcore PC gamer.

The first thing is the video.  Make sure you have a PC game system that has a nice video card with an HDMI output.  This will allow you to hook up your computer to an HDTV or a Large monitor that has an HDMI input to ensure maximum video resolution.  Stop playing games on a lame 19″ monitor and upgrade to something that will help you see detail and help you see the things in games you never saw before.   The beauty of the new video games is you can make an HDTV your monitor if you have an HDMI out on your video card.  A nice 32″ HDTV will only run you about $300 dollars so move on up!

 The next thing to make sure of is a nice PC sound system.  Like we mentioned earlier, PC games are usually in DTS-HD and DOLBY TRUE-HD formats so make sure you have a video card that supports these codecs.  PLEASE get rid of your two stereo speakers and upgrade to a nice 5.1 surround sound system or better yet, 7.1 surround sound.  You will be amazed at how cheap a sound system is labeled “PC sound system” instead of “Home theater.”  The speakers are just as good as a home theater system and in many cases are better, but you will save hundreds of dollars just because it is labeled a sound system for a PC environment.  You will get so much more out of your games as you will be able to hear gun shots ricocheting off of walls and the sound of footsteps coming up behind you.  Like we said, video games today are just like movies and the fun of movies is the sound.

Once you have these things down, get yourself a fast machine that is at least a dual core.  Quad cores are available and make framerates absolutely amazing.  Make sure you buy an actual CPU that has the power you need to play the newest graphic intensive games.

Next, stop using a keyboard and mouse!  Get a nice PC controller.  In some cases you can even use your PS3 or XBOX 360 controller to play your PC video games.  This is nice because if you ever switch over to a console at your friend’s house, you won’t be the odd man out as you will be comfortable on the console controller. 

As you can see there is alot of components that go into building and creating the perfect PC gaming system to play the out of this world video games that companies are making these days.  Follow these steps and you are guarenteed to have a better and more enjoyable playing experience.

In the world of PC gaming there are many changes that are taking place.  Just like the consoles, PC games are starting to come out on Blu-ray formats.  Why is this?  The real question should be why haven’t we done this sooner?  Blu-ray is at the peak of technology as far as how much data these discs can hold.  This media format allows for game developers to really make games large and pretty, with stunning environments and character models.  PC games are now moving from DVD ROM format to Blu-Ray to keep up with the consoles and deliver more breathtakingly beautiful video games to the PC platform.

The LG blu ray burner for example can connect to your computer via SATA, which is much faster than the old IDE protocol.  A regular Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB and a dual layer disc can hold up to 50 GB of information!  To put this into perspective that means you could hold 9 hours of HD video content, 23 hours of standard definition video,  or you could even fit 72 CD’s on a Blu-ray disc.  The LG blu ray burner gives you 16X speed and you can burn Blu-ray and HD DVD media formats onto a Blu-ray disc which is either single or dual layered.  This is a one burner fits all as it can do both formats and do it in a jiffy!

How expensive are Blu-ray burners? You can purchase one of these things starting at around $200 up to $700 dollars.  The higher you go in the price, the faster and the more the burner can do, but if you are looking for something to just store media, or backup your DVR than a regular $200 dollar burner will do you just fine. 

As PC games are coming out in Blu-ray format you will eventually have to get a Bu-ray player for your PC.  Since you are going to have to buy one anyway, why not get a burner that can also write Blu-rays instead of just read them.  You can use a pioneer blu ray burner for several different things.  Even laptops are coming standard with a laptop blu ray burner, so what can you do with them?  We have already gone over some simple things you can do, but backing up music can be a breeze, especially if you have a lot of music on iTunes.  One Blu-ray will most likely be more than enough to hold all of your music libraries and keep you from losing any important information.  Also if you edit video or pictures a Blu-ray burner could come in extremely handy.

To sum it all up Blu-ray players are becoming main stream so don’t just settle for one that can read a disc, but get one that can write one too as you will find there are many different situations that being able to write a Blu-ray disc will come in very handy.

Since SATA hard drives and SATA motherboard interfaces have come out since 2003, there have been a lot of changes in the computer industry.  SATA is now the standard and has completely taken over the place of all IDE cables and connections.  Even though SATA is so mainstream, most people still have no idea what it is or how it works.  We have dedicated this article to help those searching for answers to find them and also to help the PC gamer know what SATA accessories they need to improve their gaming experience. 

The nerdy explanation of what SATA does is that it is a storage-interface for connecting a host bus adapter to a mass storage device such as a hard drive or CD/DVD ROM.  This technology was designed because EIDE used huge cables and did not transfer data very fast.  The way that SATA is able to work it’ s magic is because of the SATA cable.  This cable utilizes two pairs of conductors and communicates at very high speeds.  The cable is also much smaller than the IDE cable and only has 7 wires inside of it, instead of 80 like the IDE cable had.  Because the cable is smaller it has allowed PC engineers to utilize more space on the mother board because big bulky cables are no longer in the way of everything.  Today every laptop and desktop computer completely has gotten rid of the old IDE technology and now uses the SATA technology.

There have also been advancements with the SATA technology in recent years.  Back in 2003 when this technology was brand new, the cable could throughput 1.5 Gbit/s.  Now that hard drives are using flash memory and are getting even faster, a second generation of SATA technology has been created.  The second generation SATA can transfer 3 Gbit/s which is almost twice as fast as the first generation of technology.  The neat thing is that both these generations are backward compatible with each other.  So a device made for 3 Gbit/s speed will work on a 1.5 Gbit/s SATA system, it just won’t be operating and it’s full capacity of speed.  There is even talk of a third generation of SATA which will be able to transfer at speeds up to 6 Gbit/s.

The SATA cable is one of the most visible differences of the technology versus the IDE.   The SATA cable has 3 grounds and 4 active data lines in two pairs with an 8mm wafer connector at the end.  These cables are much smaller in width and are much easier to maneuver around the computer.  These cables also reduce the risk of covering up fans and keep the computer much cooler. 

SATA can now be used externally instead of just being inside your computer.  eSATA is the external protocol for such devices as external hard drives, storage devices, and any other device which is made to support eSATA technology.  Just like inside the computer, the eSATA device much be plugged into the external SATA port with an SATA cable.  This new technology is said to replace the popular Firewire technology which was primarily used to capture video. 

If you love gaming and like fast smooth games, you should make sure you are using the latest generation of SATA technology with a hard drive that is compatible.  Remember that your games are on your hard drive, and however fast that information can be taken off the hard drive and processed, the faster your gaming experience will be.  By utilizing SATA technology and SATA cables, you can ensure that your games are being pulled off your hard drive as fast as possible!

DDR2 SDRAM is twice as fast as DDR SDRAM and has an addition I/O buffer so that the data bus can run at twice the spped of the memory clock.  This makes DDR2 SDRAM really really fast as it can do 4 data transfers per memory clock cycle.

Just like the old DDR SDRAM, DDR2 memory cells transfer data on both the rising and ending edge of the clock.  This technique of data transfer is also called “double pumping.”  The biggest difference that DDR2 offers is that the bus is clocked twice as fast as the memory cell so that four bits of data can be transferred per cycle.  Instead of changing the memory cells the DDR2 id modified to transfer data twice as fast as its predeceasing DDR SDRAM.

DDR2 RAM is much different looking than the DDR RAM.  The newer RAM chips come with heat spreading technology and are much larger than the older types of ram.  These newer chips get very hot and so these heat spreaders help to get rid of intense heat to avoid crashing or melting.  Even though these chips are bigger than the last ones, they run on less power and are actually better for you machine.

Here is a chart to help you know what kind of DDR2 SDRAM you may need for your computer.  Motherboards will typically say the model name of the DDR2 SDRAM is takes.

PRICING

DDR 2 Memory can sometimes be found for cheaper than the DDR memory.  1024 MB of PC4200 DDR2 SDRAM can be bought for about $20 dollars.  Most chips can be purchased from $20-$60 dolalrs.   The higher MHZ and size you go the higher the price will be.

If you love video games and really want a machine that cranks out the graphics and makes online play a breeze, definitely equip your computer with some DDR2 Memory.  This memory is twice as fast as DDR ram and can even be up to three times faster depending on the MHZ speed of the ram and how much space there is on the memory chips.

What is DDR SDRAM and what does it do?  Let’s first go over exactly what ddr ram is and how it works inside of your computer system.  Double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory or (DDR SDRAM) is type of memory that is used in computers as it accomplishes tasks in twice the time as the older SDRAM.  So a good way to think about DDR SDRAM is that it is double the speed of regular SDRAM.  There are two types of DDR SDRAM as there is the DDR2 SDRAM and the regular DDR SDRAM.

Your computer, depending on when it was built, may run on DDR SDRAM, but there are different speeds that work with different motherboards.  Here is a break down of the different speeds of DDR SDRAM. 

This chart above will help you tremendously as you are looking to add more RAM or find the type of ram your computer takes.  Most of the time the motherboard will tell you the Module name like PC-2700.  This will help you to know that your machine supports DRR-333 ram which has a speed of 2700 Mega Bytes per second.

The DDR SDRAM chips can hold up to 1 gigabyte of ram.  Most motherboards have 2 or 3 DDR SDRAM slots which means that you could potentially have up to 3 GB of RAM in your PC or laptop.  RAM is very important to your machine as it is used to store temporary information.  Most of us don’t realize how much temporary information has to be put somewhere when an operating system is running.  For example, if you have Adobe Photoshop running the operating system has all the files running for the software.  If you pull up an image and start editing it, the computer really does not need to run the Adobe Photoshop files until you tell photoshop to do something.  The computer then would store these program files on your RAM.  The larger the capacity, the more your computer can temporarily hold which will make your computer seem much faster.  Machines that have fast RAM will seem lightning fast when you minimize or switch from program to program.

pc3200 DDR SDRAM sure has come down in price.  You can get a 1 GB stick of this for only $30 now.  A couple years ago this same size of DDR RAM stick would have cost $200 dollars.   Most DDR SDRAM is going from $30-$40 dollars on the market right now and are continuing to go down in price. 

If you are a video game player and love having fast smooth games, than upgrading the SDRAM on your computer is a must.  Having more RAM will improve your game play and make your games much more enjoyable and fun.  The last thing you want is your games to lag and freeze, especially when you are playing games on line that effect your rankings and scores. 

Many times a person just needs to buy some additional RAM instead of buying a whole new computer.  By getting a little extra RAM, it can sometimes make a computer that seemed slow, seem like a computer that is brand new and fast.

The main difference between a dual core and quad core is that there are two separate die chips.  In a dual core machine, the two 64 bit processors fit on the same die and share the front side bus commands and operations.  In the quad core machines there are two separate dies with 2 processors on them, packaged into a multi-chip module. 

There are many chip manufacturers that make quad core cpu computer systems.  Some of the biggest are Intel and AMD.  Intel makes the core 2 chip and now have just come out with the Core i7 which is based on Nehalem microarchitecture.   The Core i7 is made for serious hard core gaming purposes.   There is also talk of another Intel chip called the Core i5 which is the brand name for Lynnfield which is making the chip.

Many people ask us which system we would pick if we did a quad core vs dual core match up.  In some cases a dual core machine may actually be faster than a quad core.  The things to look for at the processor speeds and the front side bus speed.  If you have a dual core machine with a front side bus speed of  1600 megatransfer rate compared to a quad core machine with a 533 megatransfer rate, the dual core would be much faster feeling.  The reason for this is that the bus is literally the size of the pipe as far as how much information can be sent through it.  If the processor can do a 1600 megatransfer rate and i fyouhave a bus that is 1600 megatransfer then the second the processor thinks it is sent to the rest of the computer.  Bus speed is the key to actual computer speed. 

On a quad core pc  system the processor speeds are about 2.4 ghz.  All the processors are 64 bit X86 transfer processors with the ability to handle a huge computer work load.  What kinds of applications or situations are required to benefit the most from a quad core pc system?

• PC Gaming – If you are a hardcore gamer that loves amazing, smooth, and fast graphics, you will definitely love a quad core machine.  With a quad core machine you will be able to play graphic intensive games that won’t lag, or change frame rate. 
• Business – Not all businesses need a dual quad core machine, however; companies that design or create animation sequences will absolutely love having a quad core machine.  For anyone that has ever worked with graphics or animation, you know that the computer has to render the sequence.  The time it takes to render these finished products will greatly be reduced if you have a computer that can split the work load between four processors.  Movie studios and government companies that specialize in animation and movie sequences absolutely use quad core machines, and even link up several quad core machines to get things done much faster. 

When i was in college, i was in a computer animation course.  3d programs like Maya or 3d studio max take up insane amounts of processor usage and speed to render scenes.  To give you an idea.  A 30 second scene could sometimes take 15 hours of rendering back in the day when the Pentium 4 machines were out.  Often our school room would link up 30 computers ot render these 30 second scenes in 3 hours instead of the normal 15.  As you can see the quad core machines can really process information much faster than the machines of old.

We all agree that a laptop is a great machine and is perfect for academics and business applications and situations.  Most of us can also agree that PC’s have much better hardware meaning that they are faster, have better video cards, more hard drive space, and much more RAM.  Because of this a desktop is much more speed for the money than a laptop.  The new dual core technology is present in both laptops and PC’s but again, the processors in a PC are going to be faster than the ones found in a laptop.

Dual core processor technology has greatly improved PC and laptop speed.  There are even computers out there boasting a quad core processor technology which is lightning fast in comparison!  Computers will always continue to update and upgrade the hardware, but if you spend alot of money on a computer you are going to eat it in the long run. 

How do you get a good machine but don’t break the bank?  This is actually easy. For example, quad core machines are brand new and cost a fortune.  Because of this newer technology the dual core systems have been reduced greatly in price.  Quad core machines will not come down in price for a few years.  Go ahead and buy a dual core PC for gaming and other everyday uses and then spend money down the road on a quad core when they build machines with more than four processors in them.  This is how to get the most computer for the buck.  The reason i say this is because i bought and built all the hardware to build myself an AMD 64 bit system when 64 bit systems were brand new.  Well 3 years ago when i built this system i spent over $1,500 dollars to build it.  Now you can buy a pre-built dual core system at staples for $299 dollars.  See how much money i ate because i bought the newest state of the art system at the time?  I know it sounds weird, but staying a year or two behind the current technology will save you thousands of dollars in the long run, and the machines that are a year old still do everything you need them to do.

A lot of people wonder how much money they will have to fork out for a new dual core PC.  The answer is you can get a decent one from $200-$400 dollars that will have tons of space, nice video card, and lightning fast processor speeds.  Don’t get caught in the trap of having to have the best of the best and spending all sorts of money, unless you have the money to spend.

To sum it up a laptop is a great option for people in school, on the go, or who needs to take their business with them wherever they go.  If you like video games, and you like to play them on your computer, a dual core desktop PC should be your ultimate choice as it offers better and faster hardware, and it much more affordable.  You will save hundreds of dollars by purchasing a desktop computer and it will be much easier to upgrade specific componants than having to buy a new computer from time to time.

A dual processor system means that the computer has two separate computer processors which are often on two seperate motherboards.  Think of a dual processor system as two computers that are linked together to share some of the work load, even though they have separate operations they each have to take care of.

A dual core processor system is different.  In a dual core system there are two processors on the same board on the same die and share the same front side bus.  This means that there is one computer but two processors to share the load of the one computer.  Quad cores utilize the dual core technology but instead of using two processors, a quad core used 4 processors on the same die that share the front side bus.  Dual core technology makes a computer lightning fast as all the processors are sharing the workload for the one machine and accomplish the tasks very quickly.

Dual core processor systems are only fast if the OS and other software applications are made to work with dual core processors.  The OS must be able to multi thread, or in simple terms, be able to tell the different processors to do different things to speed up the overall speed of the computer.  Even though your operating system multi-threads to your processors, the software applications must also be made to utilize multi-threading.  If the software applications are not designed for this they may run slow on a dual core system.  Dual core systems are also 32 and 64 bit compatible.  64 bit technology is what everyone is using these days as it allows a lot more information to be processed at one time.

Which processors are popular?  The AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor and the Pentium dual core processor are the main two contenders building the fastest dual core processing chips on the market.  The reason why dual core’s even were created is that processor speed peaked in about 2004.  Ever since then computer engineers have been building computers to work with many processors to share and quickly finish the work load and commands of a computer.  Although the hardware design is flawless and is very very fast, software has yet to catch up.  Many dual core machines feel slow, but it is because the software packages and applications are not utilizing the 64 bit dual processors in the most effective way.

Windows 7 promises to utlize many processors more efficiently than the previous Windows Vista operating system.  Computers will continue to get faster and faster as operating systems and software providers utilize and multi-thread efficiently with the multi processors found in today’s machines and the machines of the future.

Gaming consoles are utilizing the multi-thread quad core technology in the PS3 and all the games and software utilize this technology to the fullest to produce the fast frame rates and stunning graphics that can be found in these consoles.  The Ps3 boasts 8 processors that slam information around it’s system with ease.  Games are continuing to improve in look and size, and still play beautifully on this machine as the hardware is made for it.

If you are a basic computer user, or a hardcore gamer or animator, a dual core processor system is the absolute best way to go.  If you can afford the quad core systems that is even faster, but once again you must remember that the software you use has to utilize the technology, or it will still feel slow.