GR Mailbag: Mournful Mail

From: "Ashton Whinery"
Subject: WTC BOMBED!
what do you think of the world trade center and petagon 
being bombed? feel scared? concerned? what will happen 
next is what america is probably thinking.
what about you guys?

Hi Ashton,

We received a lot of mail from readers curious about our opinions regarding the recent tragedies, and we decided to just try to answer them all in one fell swoop.

Personal beliefs regarding retaliation, thoughts on war, ideas concerning safety and the sancticty of life and our general perceptions about where to go from here vary from staff member to staff member. But suffice to say that we all share one mind when we mourn for those in need.

We find the events horrific and saddening. Our deepest sympathy and prayers are with those who were lost or injured and their friends and families. There is simply no way to make sense of what happened.

And we hope to remind our fellow Americans that, in tense times such as these, awareness and unity is what is most needed, not hatred and misguided animosity.

- GR

From: "Adrien Baumann"

Subject: insomnia

how much sleep do you guys get?

Hi Adrien,

S-l-e-e-p? What the heck is that?

Oh, you mean that thing we do when we're not playing Counterstrike? Well, we all have different sleeping patterns. Brian, for instance, sleeps with his EYES OPEN. That, by the way, is not a lie. He's like a ninja or a fish or something. Freaky.

- GR

From: "Sean" 
Subject: 5th Step To Be A Gamer?
Yes there is in fact a 5th step to being a gamer.
5. Obtaining money. Being a gamer can be an expensive 
lifestyle, so you will need a way of sustaining it. Be 
it begging it off of a family member, getting an actual 
job (like flipping burgers at your local fast food place 
[Note: This may have extra benifits, they sometimes allow 
you to eat some of that greasy food, it will help in 
gaining your "roundness" already mentioned.]), or robbing 
your local bank. You must feed your hunger for new games 
(or video cards, sound cards, whole new systems..at least 
when being a PC gamer).
Sean

Hey Sean,

Good point. Without money, it's tough to get games. And without games, it's tough to be a gamer.

True, working at a fast-food joint kills two birds with one greasy stone. We also recommend working at a movie rental place that also carries games or a cheeseball mega PC chain like CompUSA for discounts on gear. However, please avoid game retail places like EB or Babbage's. You want to become a gamer, not a condescending, misinformed weenie. Hehe.

- GR

Please don't start with the hate mail, you big, lovable dorks.

From: on-Member Account
Subject: The Mighty Air Force...

You guys rock. That's all I'm gonna say. I've been 
in Air Force basic training and when I get out all this 
happens. I just wanted to say that the condolences that 
you gave on the first page were very touching. Keep on 
rocking and if I get deployed, we'll blow something up 
for you.
AB Weber, Joseph H.

At ease Cadet,

Good luck, soldier! But please don't blow anything up in our name. We have enough enemies as it is.

- GR

From: "Ryan Thompson"
Subject: previews
Hi.. I read a lot of reviews on your site about 3D cards. 
I have noticed that the main component for playing games 
is not your 3D card but your memory. Yes.. i own a 
ATI Rage 128 32 mb card. I recently upgraded my ram from 
64 to 320 mb. Quake 3 , Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex etc. 
run absolutely perfectly with my card, i tested all games 
on a Geforce 3 and the performance was absolutely the same! 
I know theres a huge difference in these two but what is 
going on? there is no game difference too.. everything 
looks same... you may think these games are old but i 
tested on Operation Flashpoint. Iam tottaly confused. If 
this outdated card is running well with games just by 
upgrading the RAM why do people buy Geforce 3 cards when 
nothing great comes out on the screen? 
Roy

Hey there Ryan,

The ATI Rage 128 card is pretty basic. Higher end (usually meaning more expensive) cards have many more features that current games take advantage of. Your card has no full-scene anti-aliasing, no bump-mapping, no 4x AGP, no T&L and it's has an incredibly slow RAMDAC.

There are a multitude of components that can affect your gaming experience. Increased RAM certainly has its merits, but other aspects of your PC do as well. A PIII 800 with 320 MB RAM will run MUCH better than with only 64 MB RAM, true, but a P120 with 320 MB RAM will run MUCH worse than a PIII 700 with 64 MB RAM. Got it?

The memory is simply helping the card process info. All you're really improving are framerates, not necessarily visual quality.

Still, game beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you think your ATI card stacks up to a GeForce 3, then you're set. However, most of us do notice differences between older cards and newer cards regardless of RAM. Additionally, some games run better with certain cards, such as Max Payne.

The Rage will do you just fine if you don't want the latest (or even last year's) features. But if you do want more functionality, you may want to look into a purchasing a Matrox or an early GeForce board.

All this info and more can be found at ATI's website.

- GR