How to Talk About Video and Audio Cards on a Gaming PC

If you are wondering what computer games are, you probably mean the ones that are played on personal computers like laptops and desktop computers. A computer game or video game is an interactive computer game, which usually involves interaction with an external user interface or user device, including a mouse, keyboard, joystick, or touch-screen device. Video games are usually made for particular gaming consoles, but the term “video game” may refer to any computer game, regardless of its platform. There are various genres of video games, and popular computer games include first-person shooter games (fictional games based entirely in the third person perspective), role-playing games, military simulations, racing games, and the list goes on. However, when people refer to video games, they usually mean titles produced by any one of the major computer game companies, such as Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony Computer Entertainment.

Gaming is also a service provided by the game companies themselves. Gamers pay for using their services and can either choose to play for free, which means they only use up credits that can be refilled after using up the credits or to pay per play, which means they are charged for actual game play time. In short, the player doesn’t pay for playing a particular game, but the company does. To cover costs, the company either requires users to register using their personal information (which allows them to track their “lifetime” gaming history, credit information, profile info, etc), or require users to enable certain privacy settings before beginning game play.

When privacy settings are enabled, or when personal information is collected and stored by the gaming site’s server, this information can then be sold or shared with other companies or third parties. Some personal information included in game purchases can include name, address, credit card number, and other pertinent personal information. Unfortunately, most people do not know that these personal details are being collected and sold by gaming sites. Without knowing this, some people who buy games may accidentally “unlock” someone else’s account, causing more harm than good.

So how does a gaming PC to ensure that its owners aren’t at risk of having private information used against them? For starters, gaming PCs typically have powerful processors. These processing units can process a tremendous amount of data, which means they can handle tasks much faster than a normal personal computer. The speed of your processor will determine your overall gaming experience and responsiveness.

Some personal information collection and processing functions may need to remain available to allow you to enjoy all of your in-game accomplishments. Your gaming company’s privacy controls should provide you with a way to turn off cookies, temporary internet passwords, and other “customer” information gathering features. The ability to block cookies keeps unwanted advertising from showing in your web browser as you browse the Internet, which means you’ll waste less of your valuable gaming time being distracted by ads. If you do not have cookies disabled, you will need to set up your browser to only accept cookies from trusted websites, which many gaming companies require for in-game achievements. Turning off these privacy controls can also help you save game progress files and personal information to avoid loss of these memories should your computer crash or you become a victim of identity theft.

Now that you understand how your pre-built or custom gaming computer works, you’re ready to talk about performance. Knowing what components your machine needs to operate at maximum capacity is the first step in increasing your gaming performance. Check the specifications of your video card or hard drive, and then look over the temperature and noise levels. You should be able to find a simple program like Prime95 to test your rig and give you suggestions for tweaking its various components.