tweaks posts

Ready to put the screws to all that shiny stuff and get the most out of your rig? It's time to scare away the timid, or drag them screaming into the realm of the technorati.

It's time to tweak your BIOS.

That's right, it's time to play with the Blue Screen of Life. None of that namby-pamby, "I fell on my face choking on a device driver and puked up a memory address error" Blue Screen of Death crap today. We've got Trans-Siberian Orchestra's version of Beethoven's Ninth cranked up, and it's time to soar to new heights.

Besides, cranking up clock speeds is an excellent way to keep warm in the absence of hot cocoa, egg nog, or Irish coffee (which are fattening, vile, and not allowed at the office, respectively).

FPS (as in frames per second, not first-person shooter) is a quick-and-dirty way of judging whether or not your rig has the cojones to support your chosen display resolution and eye candy predilections. Simply put, can your system churn out the graphics fast enough to keep up with the demands of the game(s) you're running?

If the answer is "yes," do you have any headroom to up the graphical ante? If the answer is "no," what are your options? Okay, options other than spending lots of money; spending money is always an option, but we do occasionally want to be practical around here.

Big Iron had the opportunity to catch up with Funcom's Jorgen Tharaldsen (JT) at Dragon*Con, and was able to ask him some questions about what's in store for the hardware freaks as far as Age of Conan is concerned. Their willingness to speak frankly about what the player base has brought up as points of concern is great to see, and the fact that they're so up-front about what they're doing to address these items is laudable.

From their July Developer's Note (for those who haven't seen it):