nderstanding Lag takes a lot of work. It takes dedication to games, and dedication to networking: two things that are rarely in combination. It also takes looking at REALITY! The reality check here is that for SOME people, Lag is being caused by their system being out of Spec, and they could use a serious upgrade in hardware.

What hardware? Obviously Bigfoot Networks is working on LLR technology, and it should be considered: but the SYSTEM should not be overlooked. For example, why build a Corvette, with a Pinto engine? Why build a Pinto with a Corvette engine? Same goes for PCs, why run a Dual-Core processor with a Geforce 2 GTS? Why build a system with 512MB of ram, but a Geforce 7800? In both cases, you have too little of one thing: cpu, gpu, ram…etc.

If you are a casual gamer, build a good balanced system, with plenty of Ram, good CPU, and decent GPU. If you are an elite gamer, don’t waste money on 4Gigs of Ram, when you will get a bigger performance boost by upgrading to a network card with LLR, or, perhaps getting SLI.

To stay on top of all this, if you are somewhere in the middle, stay tuned to EndLagNow.org, and read trade magazines like Maximum PC or PC Gamer. Check out cool websites like tomshardware.com and ign.com, and well, read. Asking doesn’t hurt either, that’s one of the reasons EndLagNow.org has forums. Use em’! There is a thread here right now talking about just this topic. So weigh in. Post your specs, and let’s talk about good upgrades for you.

Tyt.