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Our “Favorite” Games: Farmville

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One of my favorite scenes from the film, The Shawshank Redemption, is when Andy and Red share stories of the places each would visit if set free. The scene ends with Andy stating, mostly to himself, “Get busy living or get busy clicking”.

So I might be off by a word, but I have no doubt that’s what Andy would have said if he had spent the last three weeks playing Farmville. If you enjoy clicking around the screen to do everything from plowing a field to milking a cow to harvesting eggs from a chicken this is your game.

Continuing with our series of “favorite” games here at Puget Systems, I decided to jot down a few of the experiences I’ve had while perfecting my farming skills.

Navigating Windows 8 on a PC

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The new Windows interface 8 is a major point of controversy at the moment, but whether you love it or hate it, there is certainly a learning curve. Since it was largely designed with touch interfaces in mind, there are a few navigation obstacles that come up when using a keyboard and mouse. In this guide, we will go over basic keyboard/mouse navigation as well as some of the more advanced features of the Metro interface.

Our Favorite Games: Heroes of Newerth

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Heroes of Newerth (HoN) is a free-to-play Action Real-Time Strategy (ARTS)-style game loosely modeled after the classic Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III, and it’s currently one of my favorite games. ARTS games have a top-down view similar to an RTS (eg. Age of Empires, Warcraft, Starcraft) but emphasize single-unit development and de-emphasize base building. Each person starts with control of a single unit or ‘hero’, and often controls only that unit for the entirety of the game. Teams compete in 3v3 or 5v5 games usually lasting 30-60 minutes depending on game mode.

Product Review: BitFenix Prodigy

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The BitFenix Prodigy has received quite a bit of attention on the web recently, but the PC community is divided over whether or not it is actually good chassis. While it is bigger than a normal mini-ITX chassis, it offers a very wide range of cooling and hard drive customization options. In this article we will be looking at these customization options and many other features to determine if this chassis would be a good addition to our current chassis product line.

Video Card Performance: 2GB vs 4GB Memory

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Similar video cards are often available in versions with more than one memory size. The GeForce GTX 680 is an example, and comes in both 2GB and 4GB variants. With computer components more is often better, but does doubling the memory on a video card like this actually help with game performance – and if so under what circumstances? Although single monitor resolutions only go so high, multi-monitor configurations via NVIDIA Surround or AMD Eyefinity allow for much higher resolutions where larger amounts of video memory may improve performance.

Introduction to PC Wireless Networking

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Wireless networking (also known as WiFi) has greatly evolved over the last few years and as a result has become increasing complex. This article is intended to give the reader the information necessary to make informed decisions when purchasing and configuring a wireless network in order to maximize the performance, speed, and reliability of the network.

Technology Primer: Low Voltage RAM

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Voltage is not typically thought of as a key specification for RAM, but can have a significant impact on system stability as it runs much cooler than standard RAM. In this article, we will be looking at Kingston Lovo and G.Skill Sniper RAM to see how well low voltage RAM performs compared to standard RAM and if it has a measurable impact on power draw and system temperatures.

How Much Computer Do I Need?

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After driving a number of older, less reliable and unquestionably ugly cars during my years in college, I was proud to show my grandfather my nearly new burgundy Acura Integra. I began by pointing out the plush interior, sunroof, and, of course, the stereo system.

I explained how I’d spent the afternoon polishing the body, cleaning the windows and scrubbing the wheels to make them especially shiny.

My grandfather took it all in as he walked around the card. Finally, he stepped back and said, “It will get you from point A to point B just like any other car.”

Our Favorite Games: World of Tanks

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Welcome to the first in a short series of blog posts we will be doing here at Puget Systems. The theme of this series is our favorite games, and it will include posts about current and upcoming games which our employees are excited about. Hopefully our readers can learn about new games through these posts, and get a feel for the sort of system specs that run them well. First up: World of Tanks!