By Our Powers Combined: Building a Gaming PC

First, I just wanted to let you know that Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is available on the Playstation Store for just three dollars. If you've got a PSP, or better yet, a Vita, I would suggest you jump all over this deal like a starving wolf on a steak. I thought I preferred Street Fighter Alpha 2, but the high energy presentation and wider character selection of Alpha 3 is really winning me over. I already had Alpha 3 on the Game Boy Advance, and while it was an admirable effort, the PSP game is a whole lot closer to the console versions.

Okay! With that out of the way, let me tell 'ya 'bout my plans for the immediate future. I'll be flying south for the winter in a couple of months, but before that happens, I'd like to take the computer I bought from a yard sale and turn it into a high-octane gaming PC, on par with the recently released Xbox One and Playstation 4. I've already got a ton of Steam games from past Humble Indie Bundle sales, and if I can be devastatingly honest, I'm just not interested in this console generation. I suspect I'd have a lot more fun with a machine with an established library, which can be used for more than just video games.

I've done some research, and here's what I'll need to finish this project:

Phoenix image courtesy of
sandara.deviantart.com

I've got the computer, of course, and the case on the top right should arrive from TigerDirect in about a week. I would have been happy with the computer in its original case, but its size and reliance on a weak, proprietary power supply greatly limited my expansion options. The Cougar mini-tower on the top right has room for both a standard power supply and larger video cards, which will ultimately save me money and headaches in the long run. If I don't short out the motherboard or improperly connect peripherals during the case swap, anyway. (gulp)

After that, I'll need a video card and probably the maximum eight gigs of RAM this computer can handle. The memory can wait, but the video card is a must, as I'm eager to run emulators for the Saturn, Dreamcast, and Playstation 2, and there's no way that can happen without one. Folks have recommended the GeForce GTX 750 ti for its performance, price, and low power consumption, but I'll probably slum with the vanilla GTX 750 because that one's even cheaper, and the performance hit is negligible.

Once I get all the parts in place, I should be set for gaming... for a few years, at least! Wish me luck, folks.