MONITORS
(1) I spent some time looking for future monitors for myself. I think this one was 22'' or so but 1080p 1920x1080 (16:9). I learned that LCD monitors look best displayed at their native resolutions. On the 17 inch CRT I'm using now, if I try to change my resolution from 1024x768 to 1280x1024, everything including my desktop and text on firefox ect. is so tiny and unreadable. This worried me that having an LCD at 1920x1080 would be even smaller and make looking at the desktop and web browser impossible. Maybe a bigger monitor fixes that problem. Some other problems though are I'm not sure how many games, especially MMORPG even offer 1920x1080 resolutions. So if I did buy that monitor and ended up having to lower the resolution on every game I play, I heard it would look fuzzy and bad. I have no idea and will probably have to later research what the max resolutions are of the games I play. Also, what would happen if I played a game that could run in high res, only not a widescreen res but 4:3? Would this inevitably make the game look ugly? I'm just trying to decide which sized WS-LCD and with which native resolution I'm best off getting to play my games in max resolution. I never tried this, but would watching a DVD on the computer look different when the monitor is at a low resolution like 800x600, than when it's at it's max? Or does watching a full screen video automatically set it to max?
(2) My friend told me that instead of buying a $250 monitor, he's going to buy a $500 HDTV and just hook it up to his PC and play his First person shooters and WoW on that. I don't know much obviously, but just from the sounds of it I feel like that's a bad idea. For one, when hooked up to an HDTV, doesn't your computers desktop appear as a small box inside of the TV with most of it being a black border? And then to make that full screen, he could have to stretch all those pixels right? If you hooked it up to a 720 or 1080p HDTV, say 40inch, what's the highest resolution you'd even be able to set it too?
CPU and Graphics
(1) Someone with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+ 2.80 GHz was asking if he should buy the GTX295 and the first reply he got was "That CPU is going to bottleneck that card a fair bit." What knowledge does it take to be able to look at these 2 pieces of hardware and be able to automatically know whether or not they would run good together? I would love to be able to know how to choose which CPUs can handle which video cards .
(2) I was at my friends house playing a pretty old MMO, Flyff, on his computer and noticed something that's had me thinking for weeks. His system consists of an Nvidia 7900 GS AGP x4, Some Celeron single core 2.5Ghz, and 2gigs of RAM. Now running Flyff at 1024x768 with lowest graphics settings played perfectly. On my older computer with onboard Intel graphics I'm able to play Flyff on max settings so I figured a 7900 GS could handle it no problem. Setting everything to max (Still at 1024x768 though) and the game ran so laggy. How can I tell what the cause of this is? I really don't think I can blame the graphics card, but since the processor ran the game fine with low graphics settings, can I really blame the CPU? Does higher graphics only put more work on the graphics card or does it also put more work on the CPU? My instinct tells me a Celeron 2.5ghz would bottleneck the 7900, but I lack the knowledge and experience to know why.
(3) I do a lot of forum reading on many different hardware sites. I read way too many posts asking "Which CPU should I buy so I can play "X" game?" Then the person will get some replies suggesting different chips saying "It's so fast" or "a much faster CPU than the XXX so get this one." I never run into any posts that get into the details I'm looking for. If I can play World of Warcraft (as an example) with a single core 2.5 processor, how much better performance can I expect when playing with a 2.0/2.5/3.0 dual core or quad core processor? Most people will just post "A lot better" but I'm always looking for a more detailed answer to better understand what roles a CPU has when gaming. I also look at benchmarks but I don't get how it helps knowing that one chip scores a 1200 while another scores a 3500. The benchmark list does let me see which chips perform better overall though which I guess helps. When I shop for a processor I would like to know what kind of gaming frame rate I can expect out of it. I then find people who say that your CPU doesn't even matter in gaming as long as you have lots of RAM and a good graphics card. -___-
(4) On one of my computers, the onboard graphics chip always read 100-something MBs VRAM in DXDIAG. One day a game I was playing no longer worked as I would BSOD when trying to log in. I then downloaded a graphics driver from MajorGeek.com which fixed the BSOD problem, but now in DXDIAG it's telling me I have 230mb of VRAM. How could updating my driver have given more 100mb or so of VRAM? And does this 230mb VRAM automatically deduct from my measly 1GB system memory since it's shared?
(5) I'm not sure how to compare the FSB on Intel processors to AMDs confusing Hyper Transport speeds, if I chose to go with Intel I'd have a 1,333Mhz CPU and MoBo with 800mhz DDR2 RAM, where with AMD I'd have a 2000mhz CPU, 2600mhz MoBo, and still 800mhz RAM. Do I even have to really worry about the difference between FSB and Hyper Transport? Sure AMDs have higher frequencies, but in use does it even make a noticeable difference? Or atleast to someone who would mostly be gaming on the PC? It seems like the 800mhz RAM would hold back the 2600mhz+ speeds anyways.
Downloading and Streaming
(1) I've spent so many hours pondering about the downloading process and what your hardware does. When you download anything, does the data go to your modem first, then through the router, to your computers RAM, and then your CPU moves it from RAM to harddrive? Or does your RAM and CPU sit back while it goes straight from Router to harddrive?
(2) Is there a difference in hardware usage when streaming video from Youtube then when streaming live video from a webcam or a website that streams live? Please explain what the process is and how the hardware is used? My moms always watching live video talk shows online, and someone my dad knows they are surprised my mom is able to do that with a Celeron D and 533mhz DDR RAM. I figured you can stream video from youtube on any old computer since I've done it with 100mhz RAM and a Celeron 733mhz CPU, but I never thought about live streaming. I mean, why is my dads friend who supposedly knows a lot about computers so surprised that a Single Core 2.8ghz, 1.5GB of 533mhz RAM Compaq Presario desktop can stream live video? x.x
Harddrive
(1) Would having a harddrive with more space, like 500gb, cause longer loading times in games than if the game was installed on an 80gb harddrive? Or if so, even a noticeable difference? One day I planned on just filling up a 500gig with installed games. I'm also wondering since I see 1.5TB harddrives are getting affordable now.
(2) When you play a game, and see a loading screen anywhere, is that when the harddrive is loading all the maps data into your systems memory so that the CPU can then just quickly receive data whenever needed from the memory and never have to wait on the harddrive? Does the CPU then forward this data to the graphics card, or does that do it's own work buy receiving it from the memory also? *Trying to understand how a computer operates when playing a game*
Drivers
(1) My Dad is buying a new laptop next week. I always read "Go to the manufactures website and download the latest graphics, network, and sound drivers." I'm wondering if it is necessary though to download the latest motherboard chipset drivers for his laptop since I don't hear much talk about it? And if that chipset driver would also cover his network card? (Don't know what the inside of a laptop is like) No uninstalling drivers before hand is necessary I hope right? I've never actually uninstalled one before on any of my computers.
(1) I spent some time looking for future monitors for myself. I think this one was 22'' or so but 1080p 1920x1080 (16:9). I learned that LCD monitors look best displayed at their native resolutions. On the 17 inch CRT I'm using now, if I try to change my resolution from 1024x768 to 1280x1024, everything including my desktop and text on firefox ect. is so tiny and unreadable. This worried me that having an LCD at 1920x1080 would be even smaller and make looking at the desktop and web browser impossible. Maybe a bigger monitor fixes that problem. Some other problems though are I'm not sure how many games, especially MMORPG even offer 1920x1080 resolutions. So if I did buy that monitor and ended up having to lower the resolution on every game I play, I heard it would look fuzzy and bad. I have no idea and will probably have to later research what the max resolutions are of the games I play. Also, what would happen if I played a game that could run in high res, only not a widescreen res but 4:3? Would this inevitably make the game look ugly? I'm just trying to decide which sized WS-LCD and with which native resolution I'm best off getting to play my games in max resolution. I never tried this, but would watching a DVD on the computer look different when the monitor is at a low resolution like 800x600, than when it's at it's max? Or does watching a full screen video automatically set it to max?
(2) My friend told me that instead of buying a $250 monitor, he's going to buy a $500 HDTV and just hook it up to his PC and play his First person shooters and WoW on that. I don't know much obviously, but just from the sounds of it I feel like that's a bad idea. For one, when hooked up to an HDTV, doesn't your computers desktop appear as a small box inside of the TV with most of it being a black border? And then to make that full screen, he could have to stretch all those pixels right? If you hooked it up to a 720 or 1080p HDTV, say 40inch, what's the highest resolution you'd even be able to set it too?
CPU and Graphics
(1) Someone with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5600+ 2.80 GHz was asking if he should buy the GTX295 and the first reply he got was "That CPU is going to bottleneck that card a fair bit." What knowledge does it take to be able to look at these 2 pieces of hardware and be able to automatically know whether or not they would run good together? I would love to be able to know how to choose which CPUs can handle which video cards .
(2) I was at my friends house playing a pretty old MMO, Flyff, on his computer and noticed something that's had me thinking for weeks. His system consists of an Nvidia 7900 GS AGP x4, Some Celeron single core 2.5Ghz, and 2gigs of RAM. Now running Flyff at 1024x768 with lowest graphics settings played perfectly. On my older computer with onboard Intel graphics I'm able to play Flyff on max settings so I figured a 7900 GS could handle it no problem. Setting everything to max (Still at 1024x768 though) and the game ran so laggy. How can I tell what the cause of this is? I really don't think I can blame the graphics card, but since the processor ran the game fine with low graphics settings, can I really blame the CPU? Does higher graphics only put more work on the graphics card or does it also put more work on the CPU? My instinct tells me a Celeron 2.5ghz would bottleneck the 7900, but I lack the knowledge and experience to know why.
(3) I do a lot of forum reading on many different hardware sites. I read way too many posts asking "Which CPU should I buy so I can play "X" game?" Then the person will get some replies suggesting different chips saying "It's so fast" or "a much faster CPU than the XXX so get this one." I never run into any posts that get into the details I'm looking for. If I can play World of Warcraft (as an example) with a single core 2.5 processor, how much better performance can I expect when playing with a 2.0/2.5/3.0 dual core or quad core processor? Most people will just post "A lot better" but I'm always looking for a more detailed answer to better understand what roles a CPU has when gaming. I also look at benchmarks but I don't get how it helps knowing that one chip scores a 1200 while another scores a 3500. The benchmark list does let me see which chips perform better overall though which I guess helps. When I shop for a processor I would like to know what kind of gaming frame rate I can expect out of it. I then find people who say that your CPU doesn't even matter in gaming as long as you have lots of RAM and a good graphics card. -___-
(4) On one of my computers, the onboard graphics chip always read 100-something MBs VRAM in DXDIAG. One day a game I was playing no longer worked as I would BSOD when trying to log in. I then downloaded a graphics driver from MajorGeek.com which fixed the BSOD problem, but now in DXDIAG it's telling me I have 230mb of VRAM. How could updating my driver have given more 100mb or so of VRAM? And does this 230mb VRAM automatically deduct from my measly 1GB system memory since it's shared?
(5) I'm not sure how to compare the FSB on Intel processors to AMDs confusing Hyper Transport speeds, if I chose to go with Intel I'd have a 1,333Mhz CPU and MoBo with 800mhz DDR2 RAM, where with AMD I'd have a 2000mhz CPU, 2600mhz MoBo, and still 800mhz RAM. Do I even have to really worry about the difference between FSB and Hyper Transport? Sure AMDs have higher frequencies, but in use does it even make a noticeable difference? Or atleast to someone who would mostly be gaming on the PC? It seems like the 800mhz RAM would hold back the 2600mhz+ speeds anyways.
Downloading and Streaming
(1) I've spent so many hours pondering about the downloading process and what your hardware does. When you download anything, does the data go to your modem first, then through the router, to your computers RAM, and then your CPU moves it from RAM to harddrive? Or does your RAM and CPU sit back while it goes straight from Router to harddrive?
(2) Is there a difference in hardware usage when streaming video from Youtube then when streaming live video from a webcam or a website that streams live? Please explain what the process is and how the hardware is used? My moms always watching live video talk shows online, and someone my dad knows they are surprised my mom is able to do that with a Celeron D and 533mhz DDR RAM. I figured you can stream video from youtube on any old computer since I've done it with 100mhz RAM and a Celeron 733mhz CPU, but I never thought about live streaming. I mean, why is my dads friend who supposedly knows a lot about computers so surprised that a Single Core 2.8ghz, 1.5GB of 533mhz RAM Compaq Presario desktop can stream live video? x.x
Harddrive
(1) Would having a harddrive with more space, like 500gb, cause longer loading times in games than if the game was installed on an 80gb harddrive? Or if so, even a noticeable difference? One day I planned on just filling up a 500gig with installed games. I'm also wondering since I see 1.5TB harddrives are getting affordable now.
(2) When you play a game, and see a loading screen anywhere, is that when the harddrive is loading all the maps data into your systems memory so that the CPU can then just quickly receive data whenever needed from the memory and never have to wait on the harddrive? Does the CPU then forward this data to the graphics card, or does that do it's own work buy receiving it from the memory also? *Trying to understand how a computer operates when playing a game*
Drivers
(1) My Dad is buying a new laptop next week. I always read "Go to the manufactures website and download the latest graphics, network, and sound drivers." I'm wondering if it is necessary though to download the latest motherboard chipset drivers for his laptop since I don't hear much talk about it? And if that chipset driver would also cover his network card? (Don't know what the inside of a laptop is like) No uninstalling drivers before hand is necessary I hope right? I've never actually uninstalled one before on any of my computers.