7/16/2008 - Frying an Egg on a GeForce 9800 GX2 Graphics Card

I don't understand the need for a dedicated gaming PC in today's gaming environment. Back when gaming consoles could only do 2-D graphics and no online connectivity, I could understand the lure of gaming on a PC that could get online and could do 3-D. But ever since the Dreamcast, all that has changed. Video game consoles now can push polygons just about as well as the latest gaming PCs. It's amazing to me how many people complained about the launch price of the Playstation 3 being $600, and yet nobody decries the cost of Alienware hardware that run into the thousands of dollars. I guess if you had an unlimited income source and wanted the absolute "best", there's something for you out there.

I have to say, though, that it never ceases to amaze me how hot the processors of these machines can get. The only thing that is generating the heat is the resistance of electrical impulses. So the faster the processor, the greater the number of electrical impulses per second, and thus the hotter the processor. How hot can the latest processors get these days? "Hot enough to fry an egg" is always a good phrase to test: