Before we start, here are a few terms you may need to know:

Mb/Gb: measures of storage; in this order, a megabyte (1,000 kilobytes) and a gigabyte (1,000 megabytes).
RAM: Random Access Memory. The temporary storage location for a computer.
Hard disk: the drive that stores your files.
Processor: the "heart" of the computer. Data that is pumped into it is routed to wherever in the computer it is needed. (Please note that I will not be recommending any AMD processors in my article, below; this is because, in my experience, they are unreliable.)
Ghz: measure of processor frequency; higher means faster (well, there is some debate on that, but it is generally accepted that a higher number is faster).

Also note that I may recommend values with a "~" in between them. For anything with that value, the lower end is better suited for your need and less costly; the higher value will work better and last longer, but will be more expensive.

Can you give me a basic rundown?

There are way too many factors for getting a new PC to just give a basic rundown. However, I can at least tell you this much about PC's: if you don't know much about PC's, go with a manufacturer's PC's. I recommend Gateway highest out of all of them; I have good experiences with their tech support and with the performances of their PC's. Hewlett-Packard (HP) is also a very reliable PC manufacturer. The worst choice would be Dell. Their computers are built sloppily and their tech support is more likely to not assist you in a moment of need.

However, if you're technically proficient, you should try to build your own PC. I'm going to cover that in a later article posted here. But the advantage to that is that your PC's performance is going to be much better due to the missing manufacturer crapware that negatively affects the performance.

Or, there's a third option, for those who want to do a little more work: contact a local PC builder. I'm one in my area; PC builders get parts from wholesalers, meaning that the parts are cheap. They don't install crapware on your PC. And most importantly, they won't overcharge you for a good PC.

What specifications do I need for a sturdy at-home PC?

I would recommend something that's not high in specifications, if you're not going to be using it for very intensive applications (running Internet Explorer or checking your e-mail, and maybe typing up word documents, for example; the occasional online game works as well in this package). Here's a sample build:

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core, 2.0~2.4ghz.
RAM: DDR2, 1~2gb.
Hard Disk: 80~100gb, any speed.
Graphics Card: go with an onboard card, don't buy a separate adapter.
Sound Card: go with an onboard card, don't buy a separate adapter.
CD/DVD Drive: just get a CD writer/DVD reader. You'll be able to make your own CD's and watch DVD movies on your PC.

How about a PC for business use?

I'd recommend to follow almost the exact specifications as above, but go with Windows Vista Business instead of Home Premium, and maybe to get a hard disk that is slightly larger (120~150gb) so that you can hold more files.

I need a PC that can handle home media. It's not quite a gaming PC.

This would be a good thing for those who use digital media quite a bit. To complete the package, I'd recommend (if you don't already have one) a TV that has a DVI (white; its shape is like a rounded parallelogram) or S-Video (black, round, small) on the back of it so that you can watch movies on your TV that are on your computer.

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 1.8~2.4ghz, or for better performance, Intel Core 2 Quad at 2.33ghz.
RAM: 2~4gb, PC6400 (if you don't know what that is, then don't worry).
Hard Disk: 120~200gb (more towards the 200 if you want to store movies on your PC), at a speed of 7200RPM.
Graphics Card: any card that has a DVI port or S-Video port in back so that you can use your PC and TV in conjunction.
Sound Card: you don't necessarily need a separate sound card, but for best sound quality, get a Turtle Beach Riviera (uses the PCI standard port), which can handle surround sound.
CD/DVD Drive: go with a CD writer/DVD reader for writing CD's and reading DVD's on your computer, or get a CD/DVD burner if you want to be able to make your own DVD's.

I need a low-level gaming PC...it doesn't have to handle multiple games at once.

You might need to learn your terms better. Gaming PC's require some special specifications for the equipment used. I can try to define them better, but in reality, you may want to use Wikipedia or a Google search to figure out better what you need.
The term I'll introduce here is latency. Latency is the time between when data is received and when it is written to the memory. Latency configurations usually look like this: X-X-X-XX (where each X is a number). Lower numbers are better when dealing with latency.

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.66~3.0ghz for standard performance, Intel Core 2 Quad 2.44~2.8ghz for improved performance, or Intel Core 2 Extreme (Dual or Quad) at 2.93ghz.
RAM: 4gb of PC6400 or above at a latency of 5-5-5-18 or better (lower).
Hard Disk: 250~500gb at a speed of 7200 or 10,000 RPM.
Graphics Card: an EVGA GeForce 9500 GT, which supports 512mb of onboard memory (so that your standard RAM isn't touched by the graphics card, for better performance) or better.
Sound Card: anything goes, unless you have a surround sound configuration, in which case I recommend a Turtle Beach Riviera (for good performance, up to 6 channels of sound) or a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE (for best performance; it supports up to 7.1 channels of surround sound, and is actually quite inexpensive). Do not, however, just go with whatever is built into your motherboard.
Multimedia: CD/DVD burner, hands down. Unless you want to watch Blu-Ray movies or play Blu-Ray games on your PC, in which case I'd recommend a Blu-Ray reader (which is very expensive, so watch out).

I'm a gamer that needs it all. I mean, ALL. What are the specs I need?

Despite being a geek, I'm no gamer. Well, maybe on occasionally, but no WoW or any of that. I really wouldn't know. But I can put together a PC with all the best parts. Note that this will be, hands down, EXPENSIVE. So if the regular gaming PC I've specified above cuts it, take that. If not, then read on.

Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate.
Processor: for great performance, a Core 2 Extreme Quad at 3.2ghz or for ultimate performance, a Core i7 or Core i7 Extreme Edition at 2.66~3.2ghz.
RAM: 8gb of DDR3, between PC12800 and PC15000, with latencies close to or lower than 7-7-7-24.
Hard Disk: 1tb (that's a terabyte, or 1,000 gigabytes), at a speed of 10,00RPM.
Graphics Card: actually, you'll want a two-pack of cards for best performance. My recommendation would be the PNY XLR8 GeForce 9800 GTX, which has 1 GB of GDDR3 memory between two cards. It can be found at TigerDirect.
Sound Card: see what I said in the last computer category for sound cards.
Multimedia: CD/DVD burner, Blu-Ray reader.

Final thoughts.

Finding a computer with these exact specs is a hard job. You'll need to call around to a lot of manufacturers and ask each for a custom PC; many of them can't customize to exactly what you need. Especially when we're talking about gaming PC's (unless you call Alienware, but they'll charge you thousands for a PC as good as the last one I describe).

For gamers, you'd more than likely want to build your own computer, both for cheapness and so that you get EXACTLY what you need from a PC. Not to mention that processors in manufactured PC's won't overclock (getting your processor to operate at a higher frequency than the default, which also helps gamers a lot).

In the near future, I'll be writing a guide to building your own PC. It's a lot simpler than you'd expect, actually. But for now, enjoy your new PC. I hope it works the way you want.

Know your budget

When building your own computer, you should know how much you are willing to spend on parts. You generally will have to invest about $1000 in US Dollars to build a good rig, but in the end, it should be worth it. This cost should encompass the price of all the components that you are going to buy, and you should set aside a good margin to compensate for shipping and tax costs. Since you are building your own computer, you will have to buy the monitor separately as well, so make you you take that into account. A good flatscreen monitor these days goes for about $200, so you should calculate the costs of all the components you are going to buy before ordering.

Make sure everything is compatible

You can't put a square peg into a round hole. The same goes for computer parts. Before you buy your parts, make sure they will all work with each other. A motherboard is built for certain types of processors, so make sure that you have that kind of processor. A case is built to a certain size standard, and you must select a motherboard that complies with those size standards. You should make sure you have the correct slots for all your hardware, and I find that it often helps to make a chart of all your parts, and where everything goes. If you are uncertain, contact the distributor of your parts for more information.

Most hardware should be compatible with each other, but you should check whether your processor is manufactured by AMD or Intel. This will dictate the motherboard that you are using. As of the present, Intel's chips are generally ahead in performance, power draw, and are cheaper as well. However, the industry may shift, and you should take this into account in your decisions.

Make sure you have everything

This goes without saying. Every computer needs the following:

Case

Yes, case. Make sure the size of the case is compatible with your motherboard, whether it be ATX, Micro ATX, or some other size.

Power Supply

Every computer needs electricity. This electricity is regulated by a power supply. You will generally want about 800 watts, more if you are running more powerful hardware.

Motherboard

The motherboard is where you connect all your components. Sometimes they come with an integrated video card, and most come with integrated network and sound.

Processor

CPUs come in various archietectures, and you should make sure that the pins on the CPU fit the holes on the motherboard. Clock speed (eg. 2.4 GHz) is not so much the factor in performance anymore as the number of cores.

Hard Drive

These come in both magnetic and solid state. The hard drive holds all the information on the computer.

RAM

Memory is important when running applications. You will generally want at least 2 GB or more of RAM.

GFX Card/Video Card

You need a graphics card to display video, and although some motherboards come with integrated graphics, for gaming you will always want at least a midrange discreet graphics card.

Operating System

Windows Vista is pretty much the only choice that you've got when building a PC. For now, go with 32-bit versions. In this case I would recommend either Ultimate or Home Premium.

Order your parts

The next to last step is to obtaining all your parts. You can generally find almost everything you need at stores like Best Buy, but sometimes you can get better deals online. Online stores such as NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com) have a wide selection of parts, though if you do use them, you should take into account added shipping costs. Sometimes the price margin between going to a store near you and shopping online is offset by these shipping costs, so you should always do the math.

Put them together

For this you will need a screwdriver, and an anti-static bracelet is a good idea as well. The below is just a quick overview, and if you have not done this before, you may want to watch some video tutorials. Youtube provides an ample amount of them.

1. Put the processor into the motherboard. Make sure to remove the protective plastic cover on the motherboard.

2. Place the motherboard in the case. Make sure that all the ports are visible from the outside of the case before screwing it into place.

3. If the power supply is not already in place, do so. Put it into the slot in the back, and screw it in.

4. Connect power cables for the CPU, and put the CPU fan into place, and connect them as well. Thermal compound is not required here, but it may help.

5. Insert any disc drives, and connect them as well.

6. Now attach your hard drives, and attach the power cables, and the SATA (data) cables.

7. Insert RAM. If you have 4 slots, you will want to insert your chips into the 1st, then 3rd, then 2nd, then 4th slots.

8. Connect video and any other add-on cards.

And you are done! Now all you need to do is power on, and install your operating system.

"That will never catch on," I told my friends and teachers. "That's just a novelty, a toy. Who would really want to create art on a computer?"

Little did I know that a little over ten years later I would be sitting in a college training to become a graphic designer. I could kick myself for not learning the computer back in high school when I had the chance. Oh sure, I had played around on a computer at home when I was a kid. Our family even owned an Apple™ knock-off called Franklin. (they went out of business years ago.) I would spend hours copying code from a magazine just to get the think to print a calendar or something similar. But, alas, no Photoshop.™ So, when I sat in that first day of design school and waited for the professor to come in and teach me about the Apple Macintosh™ I was understandably a little nervous.

But, like anything else in life, I learned that if you don't dive in head first you don't learn a whole lot. I tried my best and studied hard. There was a time when I really hated Photoshop™ because I just didn't get it. It was too complicated and the instructor seemed to talk way too fast in a language of terms that were completely foreign to me at the time such as scanning, frequency, dots per inch and resolution. This was in the mid 90's so a lot of this was new to everyone. We were learning Photoshop 3.0.™ If you are familiar with the program's history you will know that it was very primitive at this stage.

Eventually I excelled and started to enjoy creating art in Photoshop.™ One of the things that I learned quickly and really seemed to help was keyboard shortcuts. My instructor couldn't say it enough. He would say that if we didn't learn our keyboard shortcuts we would not be able to meet our deadlines and if we didn't meet deadlines we would be out of a job. Boy was he right! So, that's why I am going to stress to you that you go about learning your keyboard shortcuts. I will outline some simple ones for you and tell you some ways to learn on your own.

Most people that use the computer regularly are familiar with the basics shortcuts for a computer. But, just in case I will go over a few. Generally the first letter of a word is matched with the command key (apple) or the control key (PC). Such as command or control - P is usually print on most computers. Similarly, command or control - O is usually open. As a designer you will definitely want to familiarize yourself with the copy, cut and paste shortcuts. They should be about the same for any application. They are command or control - C for copy, command or control - V for paste and command or control - X for cut.

The industry standard design programs that I use are Adobe Photoshop™, Adobe Illustrator™ and Adobe InDesign.™ When you buy these applications they usually come with a cheat sheet with several shortcuts. I urge you to use these as much as possible if you want to be an efficient designer. You will be amazed at the time it will shave off your day and allow you to finish your jobs faster (or goof off sooner as the case may be!).

Another important factor regarding keyboard shortcuts is the placement of your hand. You should keep your fingers placed near the command or control keys so that you can place your thumb on the modifier key (the first key to be placed) and then the corresponding letter. Such as command or control - P for print. After a while of working this way you will not even notice you're doing it. You can also make use of a two-button mouse. The right button generally takes the place of the modifier and when pressed will bring up a menu of commands.

If you have been meaning to learn your keyboard shortcuts and haven't because you feel it is too time-consuming or demanding I have some suggestions. Try learning just one shortcut a day. Work all day with this one shortcut only and try to only use the shortcut for executing this particular command. Or you could try two or three a day if you are brave. Then, the next day, or in a few days, whatever you feel comfortable with - try some more. Eventually you will learn several of them and they will become second nature to you.

If for some reason your software did not come with a cheat sheet of keyboard shortcuts there are several websites that list them that you could print out or you could simply just look in the menus of the program. For example, in Photoshop™ - the keyboard shortcuts are always listed to the right of the command in the menus. Take note of these and start using them. You will see a marked improvement in your speed and you will free up more time for other things. For more information you should also visit Adobe software's website at http://www.adobe.com.

So, how do you learn to create logos that are similar and just as memorable as the ones I just mentioned? Well, one of the best ways is to look at what others have created in the past. As long as you don't infringe on any copyright laws there is no harm in looking. I will get to more on that later, but first let me go over the steps I use to create a logo.

First, I meet with the company owner or executives and I discuss with them what it is they're looking for in a logo. This may or not be useful at times. Sometimes, in fact, it can just lead to several useless arguments over details that are really not important at all as it turns out so make sure that you, as the designer, lead the conversation from going astray. In other words, if the company insists that the initials F.B.I. should be included somewhere in the detective agency's logo, you might want to urge them to consider some common sense about the misunderstandings this may create. As designers, the reality of the job is that from time to time we are forced to create things we don't like to please the customer, but one way to get around this is to create several of your version of the design mixed in with theirs and nine times out of then, the customer will forget all about their idea once they see yours. However, when meeting with a company regarding logo design, you should be able to learn a great deal about the company's mission and their goals for the future in this meeting. In an essence, what are the key symbols that might represent that company? Get creative here and try to think of anything that might work. Symbolism is very important in logos.

Next, start making some thumbnail sketches. I usually create about 50-60 different sketches by pencil on tracing paper and narrow it down to about 10 or 15. If you are not very artistic, you can also create these on the computer in an application such as Adobe Illustrator™ with a drawing tablet. But, you don't have to be Picasso to do these sketches, they're just rough outlines and should not be considered final pieces of artwork. If you are not very familiar with typography there are several good books on this to use as reference. It's important to keep the typography in mind when starting out. Sometimes the type alone makes the logo. For example; you might not want to have a thin font such as Times for a company called fat burgers. But, then again, sometimes it can work to be different, it just depends on whether or not it works. Remember, the goal is to stand out in a crowd.

As I mentioned earlier, you can learn a lot from the logos other designers have already created. Once you narrow down the thumbnail sketches, try obtaining a copy of a logo book such as The Big Book of Logos. There have been several different volumes of these wonderful books published in recent years and I personally own and use a few of them often. You should be able to obtain a copy of this or similar books on amazon.com or in your local public library. Your local bookstore's art section should have several good logo books as well. I find these and similar books with logos indispensable because they are a great reference to what has worked and will continue to work with logos. Some of the logos will be familiar to you, some of them not. You may or not like all of them, but they are a great place to start. Find a logo or logos that are similar to your client's business and see what the designers came up with. Does it work? Does it stand-out? What is so great about it? Can you create something similar? If you can borrow some elements of the logo without breaking any copyright laws, such as a similar typeface or a color, do it. You can also learn a lot from the style of the logo. It's important to note that this should not be considered cheating in any way and should be a good tool for getting the creative juices flowing.

Try not to over complicate things, keep it simple. The logo should be readable and recognizable. Remember that some folks may have trouble seeing small letters or light colors, for example. Avoid things like cheesy clipart, star-bursts and type effects such as shadows unless they're used in moderation. These elements also reek of inexperience. Generally, I try to not use any type effects unless it's unavoidable. Take a look at the design books mentioned earlier and you will see what I mean. If you can pull it off and it looks good that fine, but it's just a general rule. Rules are made to be broken, however, and those that do it and pull it off make the best designers. The last thing you want to do is copy the latest style just because you think that's what's necessary. Go with your gut and create something unique, your own style. Also, avoid intricate details in a logo and be bold with the lines. Your logo should stand out on a quarter-sized sticker as well as a billboard.

Next, take your final sketches and scan them into the computer. Personally, I prefer to use Adobe Photoshop™ to do the initial scan resizing and formatting, but ultimately I will put the sketches in Adobe Illustrator™ as a background layer at an opacity of about 30%. Then I will trace over the lines using the pen tool and create my type as similar to the sketch as possible. Some designers I know prefer to start out in Illustrator first and that's fine if you can work that way. You should work in the way that makes you comfortable as long as you come out with the same results.

Once I have the thumbnails in the computer and have made them into vector graphics I am then free to mess around with the various elements of the logo. I like to play around with several different colors for the type at this point. I also like to move various elements of the design around and compare. For example, if the logo contains a triangle on the right of the two lines of type to begin with, I will copy the type and move the triangle to the left, below, above or wherever and then look at different versions side-by-side. Tweak the logo, change the fonts, try different things. Sometimes by shaking it up a little bit you may come up with something brilliant. You'll know when you've found something that works.

Now that you have a good idea where you're headed with the logo and should be close to finishing, get some second opinions. Some claim that you should never look to your spouse for opinions in this matter, but I disagree. Your client is usually not a designer, so if you impress your spouse, you should impress your client too. Take your five best logos and show them to someone in the office, maybe your spouse or a friend, or a relative. Find someone who will be brutally honest. If the person has suggestions, write them down. You may not think it relative at the time, but it never hurts to make minor changes for the sake of seeing how they look. There have been many times when I thought I had the perfect logo and I showed to my wife who made a minor suggestion that just really made it even better. It's the little changes at the end that can make the difference. Use your own judgment as to whether or not the comments are important.

Now, once you think you're finished and ready to meet with your client, open the logo book and compare your final logos to the ones in the book. Do they compare? Are they just as unique? Are they memorable? Can you see your logo in that book? When you go to the client never bring just one logo. This is a mistake. You want to show them at least 3 logos to choose from because you want to give them something to compare. I also create all my logos in full color, 2 color and black and white in large, medium and small sizes.

As time goes on, you will learn to create unique logos with greater ease, but there are always those challenging cases when nothing seems to work. Always remember your basics. Try and stay on top of the latest styles and new fonts. There are several great websites that show logos as well. Once you create several memorable and outstanding logos you will be sought after for your work as a great logo designer. Word of mouth will travel fast when business owners ask around about who designed what logo and your phone will be ringing off the hook before you know it.

Problem Number 1

This problem occurs to all teens out there who want to come home and relax. All of us teens want to play video games, whether we prefer XBOX or Playstation, we'll want to play video games. A large chunk of us want to come home and play our favourite games on our computers. Now, not all of our parents want to pay 3000$ for a nice computer, so how are we supposed to play those nice games? Especially when our video cards are constantly being outdated by new, "way too expensive" ones? That's the problem, we want to play nice games, but we don't want to pay three thousand just to play them. I recently installed Far Cry 2 on my PC and the graphics card was way too old! Go figure right? Then I put in Far Cry 2 and it was as slow as a darn snail. There was a low frames per second and the graphics totally sucked. Now, as soon as I saw this, I immediately assumed it was the graphics card, and I was 101% correct. I researched my card and it was almost 6 months too old. That's fairly old for a new computer. The card to the left is 455 bucks! So my points are:

a) Why should we have to pay so much money just for a decent computer?
b) Why do video cards have to be constantly updated (It sickens most people how much money it costs to get a new one)
c) Why do new computers have old graphics cards?

When you buy a computer brand-new it would have a brand-new graphics card just as you suspected. Nowadays, there are like 50 different models being sold at once, the newest ones sold at around 200-300$! That's a lot of money and I think it is totally pathetic.

Problem Number 2

If you can't afford a very nice computer, and your parents won't buy one for you, how will you get it? We all know that money does not grow on trees and paying 5000$-10,000$ for a computer is just bogus. Most of us would never spend that much on one anyways. But why do computer brands have to have so many different models? Some models are nice, of course, but why charge 5000$ for them? Does it really cost 100$ to make a gigabyte of ram? Probably not! I have the feeling that greed has gotten to most brand names and that's why it is so much money. For all of you reading this right now, look up on Google how to make a computer from scratch. It'll make you want to join electronics class and make your own ram! It really annoys at least 50% of people the fact that a computer with the latest graphics card, latest CPU, latest motherboard, lots of ram, ETC, is at minimum 2100$. Many people are constantly looking for cheap deals, and finding them extremely disappointing. Enough said, they cost too much money.

Problem Number 3

The gaming district. I have researched tons about this specific topic and it doesn't appeal to me very much. The game district has spent too much money on games, and will continue to do so. As the games get more and more advanced the computer brand names want to meet at least the standards of the games to get a peak effect of the graphical environments and whatnot. 100% of new games will always be better than what there is to sell, require so much ram that a new computer must be made. It's crazy, and exactly like Far Cry 2, unless you have 4000$ to spare there's no point in buying the new games. Go buy a darn Xbox 360, buy the same game, and you'll only spend 300-400 dollars! A new console won't be out for another while right? Plus you can always sell it for slightly less and people will buy the console from you. But the thing is, playing an Xbox may be different for some people than playing PC. There is a wide variety of PC games for cheap whereas Xbox games are very expensive. So many people want a PC, which will always have the best graphics of all Xboxs and Playstations, and have the biggest capability of them all, but they don't want to spend so much! Why can't people see this!? I hope this helped some of you out there, knowing that you're not the only one who dreams of owning an awesome computer! Sometimes I'm happy to own a PC instead of an Xbox, since the technology is way more advanced, it is still not cost worthy to make, so why charge much? I think this question will irk us no matter who we are! Your informative--RJ

You will need two programs:

• RivaTuner: Download

• ATI Tool:Download.

It doesn't matter which card you have, the programs will work with any cards. Once you have installed the programs, run them. RivaTuner can be used to overclock and to change fan speeds, and ATI Tools can be used to overclock and test for artefacts. I personally think ATI Tools is better for overclocking, because it has an easier interface to use. You should start off with RivaTuner to change the fan speeds, because overclocking makes your graphics card run hotter than usual. So first open up RivaTuner, and under the heading "Driver Settings" click the little box next to customise.

Then Click on the first icon.

Then Click on the tab labelled "Fan."

I would recommend setting it to 60% first. Once set to 60% click "Apply." If you want RivaTuner to load the fan speeds when the computer starts up, then check the box "Apply fan settings at Windows startup," and click the "Save" button. Click OK and close RivaTuner.

Now open ATI Tools. This part can take a long time, so you need to be patient. You can see on the left of the window there are "Find Max Core" and "Find Max Mem." DO NOT CLICK ON THESE. ATI Tools pushes the card a lot, and may cause permanent damage to your graphics card. Under the columns labelled "3D perf," increase the numbers, only by five at a time. Pushing too much at a time can cause the card to overload. After increasing the clocks by 5, click on "Scan for Artifacts." This puts your card under stress so it can test if there are any flaws in the graphics.

Do it for at least 20 minutes before stopping and increasing the clock. If there are artifacts then it means the clock is too high, so you need to decrease it. Once there are artifacts found and you decreased the clock, do the artifacts scan for 30 minutes or more, in case it finds anything new. If the temperature goes too high during the scan, stop it immediately. A temperature above 80-90 degrees Celsius would be high. If the temperature is too high, increase the fan speed with RivaTuner. Once you find a stable clock, save at the top and create a profile name. You can make ATI Tools run this on startup if you want. Click on "Settings" in the bottom right corner. Click the drop-down menu, and then click on "Startup." Check the boxes "Every time ATI Tool is launched, load profile;" and "Load on Windows Startup Via." Under "Every time ATI Tool is launched, load profile," select the profile you saved earlier, and under "Load on Windows Startup Via," select "Registry Key." You have successfully overclocked your graphics card.

Since the old Pentium 3 processor arrived, cooling systems of all kinds started being invented. Before you start doing anything to your PC, let's get to know the precise definition of overclocking. "Overclocking is the process of forcing a computer component to run at a higher clock rate (the fundamental rate in cycles per second, measured in hertz, at which a computer performs its most basic operations such as adding two numbers or transferring a value from one processor register to another) than designed or designated by the manufacturer".

Now you know the definition of overclocking. You'd better get thinking whether you want to overclock your PC or not. I, from a personal point of view, like overclocking my PCs because I like the feeling of my PCs (mainly Pentium 4's, but a lot of Core 2 Quads) beating high performance PCs in terms of processor speed etc.

If you decide to continue, you must understand that you may have to spend quite a lot buying the cooling systems, as if you are only going to spend money on cheap air cooling, your overclocked PC will "overcook" instead of overclock. If you are going to want to overclock PCs like crazy maniacs like myself, I recommend liquid nitrogen, but water cooling will pass the test. If you were an Eskimo, I believe you wouldn't have any trouble finding cooling! (laffs)

Your PC's hardware may also be a problem, as some are hard to manipulate and some motherboards are just incompatible to overclocking. So your best bet for overclocking is to purchase or build a custom system.

Overall if you have a good cooling system or live in Antarctica, you have nothing to worry about.

Many would have you believe that to achieve this it costs at least £1000, probably. In reality, you can have it for far less.

In this article, I will show you components that you can install to seriously speed up your computer, for a few hundred pounds. Granted this could still be quite a bit too much for many people, so I’ll also be posting some cheaper alternatives, in case you don’t have quite as much cash as you would like.

The components

Motherboard (ASUS PSN-E SLI) =£56

This motherboard is one of the cheapest SLI motherboards available. This is important as it means that you can attach two or more graphics cards to it, which will mean you can buy one graphics card now and a second at a later date to boost the power, and to delay the time before your computer needs another upgrade. It can also take up to 8gb of ram, has support for up to a quad core, and has onboard audio which supports 5.1, meaning you won’t have to purchase a sound card, at extra cost.
If you don’t need two graphic card slots, and you aren’t planning on getting a quad core any time soon, then a motherboard that can handle a core 2 duo can be bought for around £30.

Processor (Intel Core 2 Quad, Q6600 2.4ghz) =£116

This is probably the cheapest quad core processor going, but that doesn’t mean that it lacks quality. It has four processors working together, at a decent 2.4ghz, meaning that games that are very processor dependant (such as real time strategies), will work perfectly, and documents and pictures will open very quickly. For the tech geeks, this is also a great model for over clocking, and can be over clocked to between 3ghz and 3.2ghz with a decent amount of cooling).

If you can’t afford this, or you just reckon that a quad core is a bit over the top, then a decent core 2 duo running at 2.4ghz can be picked up for about £75 and would be fine for gaming.

Corsair 2gb DDR2 667mhz PC2-5400 Memory =£29

2gb of ram isn’t a huge amount, but is more than sufficient for most games, and meets the recommended spec even for Windows Vista Ultimate. More can always be purchased at a later date, to increase the machine’s gaming power further.
If you can’t afford this a good alternative would be to buy just 1gb of ram, then add an extra 1gb at a later date, but just remember that 2gb will increase the speed of your computer by quite a considerable amount. 1gb of ram can be picked up for under £15 if you shop around.

Maxtor Stm3250310As 250gb Hard Drive =£28

 

This is a standard 250gb hard drive. It spins at a decent 7200rpm, which is a standard for most desktop hard drives. 250gb of space should be more than enough for the average gamer, and short of downloading blue-ray discs onto it you will have a hard time filling it. If you feel you can fill it though, then you could always get an extra to give you a total of half a terabyte.

Once again, if this is going to cost too much then you can pick up an 80gb or 160gb hard drive for slightly cheaper, but the savings are minimal, and the extra memory really helps with future proofing.

Nvidia 8800gt 512mb DDR3 =£95

This is by far not the best graphics card on the market, but by no means is it the worst. At just under £100 it’s pretty cheap (compared to many), but the power it packs is great. It has 512mb of DDR3 memory, which is considerably faster than its DDR2 equivalent. For maximum power you can get two of these cards, and use them in SLI to have enough graphics power to run the latest, graphics intense games such as Crysis on high detail. But by itself its more than enough to run HD movies, and do any other picture and video work you need it to do, as well as play most games recent games at a decent resolution with decent graphics, and any older games you should be able to max out with ease.

If you don’t have a £100, but still want to play older games, or newer games on low detail, then cards such as the 7600gt can be picked up for as little as £40, even cheaper if you shop around or buy them second hand.

FINAL NOTES

The total cost for the more expensive components listed is £324.
The total cost for the less expensive components listed is approximately £180.

I hope this article gives you a better idea of how you can upgrade an old computer, and turn it into a gaming pc that can run games with decent settings, for a few hundred pounds; and even less if you use cheaper alternatives.

Please remember that the components listed here are only the internal components.  A monitor, mouse, keyboard, case, speakers and power supply are not included in this: using ones from your original PC are a great way to save a lot of money, and can easily be upgraded at a later date.

If you are a graphics designer you can still find your way to design a web site without a prior knowledge of web designing.

You can work in a business centre/company as a personal assistant, and you can opt for online freelancing contract.

This program will produce the graphics designing in you.

1. Corel Draw - it's a graphics designing software that has a lot of graphics manipulations and conversions
2. Adobe PageMaker - very good for publishing letters, newspapers, magazines and writings
3. Adobe PhotoShop - a graphics program that is also good for graphics creation and manipulations
4. Ms Publisher - good for publishing any texts or writings
5. Omni page - converts scanned or images documents to text document easily
6. PDF creator - converts any document file to an adobe acrobat file
7. Microsoft Office suite - this is a series of Microsoft programs; you have to know Word, Excel, and Power Point
8. Print Artist - a graphics producing application
9. Print Shop Pro - also enables graphics manipulations extensively

You can become desktop publisher in two to three month at most.

Be creative! Be good! Be wise!

The right of Austine Oyebanji to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act of 1988.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission or approval of the Author.