This week on TechStuff, Chris and I hit two topics that are somewhat related: gaming PCs and early adopters. If you’ve ever shopped around for a gaming PC you know they tend to be fast, expensive and obsolete before you can get them out of the box. Game developers seem to push computers to their limits with each new title that hits store shelves. If you’re serious about computer gaming, you need to resign yourself to the fact that you’ll be upgrading your machine on a pretty regular basis.
The elements that are the most important for any gaming computer are the CPU, the RAM and the video cards. Everything else is icing on the cake. Whether you buy a customized gaming rig from a well-known manufacturer or decide to take the do-it-yourself route, you should concentrate on those three elements first. Don’t forget that gaming rigs also generate a lot of heat and heat isn’t good for electronics. Either make sure your PC can circulate air efficiently or look into an alternative cooling system like a water-cooled PC.
One group of people who might not shy away from the rapid development and high cost of gaming PCs are early adopters. This is a segment of the population that tends to purchase and try out technology soon after it debuts. Think back to the first time you saw someone wearing a Bluetooth headset. You probably thought it looked odd — you may have even made a few cyborg jokes. But now, Bluetooth headsets are fairly common. We should thank early adopters for showing us it doesn’t matter if you look like a goofy robot if you can hear your calls clearly.
The early adopter story doesn’t always have a happy ending. As an early adopter, you run the risk of embracing a technology that just doesn’t take off. Then you’re stuck with an unsupported, potentially useless piece of hardware. Remember HD-DVD sets? I was convinced the HD-DVD format would win over Blu-ray because they were cheaper and had been on the market longer. But in the end, Blu-ray survived and HD-DVD folded. All the early adopters who bought HD-DVD sets have to come to terms with the fact they won’t be able to play the latest films using HD-DVD. But don’t worry — most of them probably adopted Blu-ray too.
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Filed under: TechStuff Tagged: Blu-ray, early adopters, gaming PCs, HD DVD
