Tip of the week (SPG)  

June 15, 2008 Not everyone needs a quad-core CPU right now, especially gamers! Looking for the most powerful system build to ensure WOW, or the new Age of Conan game runs smoothly? Don't consider the CPU at too high of a priority. As with most gaming rigs, the GPU is the most important factor. Dual-core CPUs, either AMD's Phenom's or Intel's Penryn C2Ds will do just fine. Quad-core's "may" be useful for MMO and other games in 2009 or beyond...

June 8, 2008 When selecting a computer case there are three primary things to consider:

1) How large and heavy do you want it to be? Select a full-tower for space, but select aluminum material if you don't want it to be too heavy!
2) Don't need a power supply? Some cases automatically come with them!
3) Enjoy peace and quiet? Purchase a case with as many 120mm fans as possible.

May 25, 2008: When purchasing several components for a new computer system ensure that each component is certified to work with the others. For example, certain motherboards are sensitive to the speed and configuration of inserted memory modules. Start with matching up the motherboard, memory, and CPU. The motherboard should also have a slot to accommodate your selected video card. After selecting your other components, choose an adequate sized case and a PSU powerful enough to power everything. Our recommendations here are in relative harmony for this.

May 18, 2008: Periodically check your hard drive space on all partitions to ensure there is at least a couple of gigabytes unused. This allows the drives to "breath" when performing swapping and defragging tasks. Ensure at least 15% of a drive's space is unused when defragging as well, otherwise defragging will take significantly longer to complete.