Discovering Bottlenecks in PCs Built for Gaming?

QMan asks: "I, like many others here at Slashdot, am an avid gamer. Recently, I've been thinking about upgrading my gaming PC, but with all the mish mash of components in the box, I don't really know which components are slowing down the rest, and would be an ideal candidate for replacement. I'm looking for advice on how to discover the inherent bottlenecks in my system, whether they be from my video card, RAM, CPU, or other components. I've tried various benchmarking utilities, but they generally give an overall performance rating, but not much info on which device(s) had the most impact in limiting that rating. I'd imagine many of you out there have encountered the same problem, and might have ideas on where to start."

I need advice on this too!

[Anonymous Coward]

My 386sx 16 is just not not enough to handle Falcon 4.0! The box specs IBM PC compatible, 286 min, 640k and an Ad Lib sound card ... and I am at least 1.5 those specs. I mean WTF man??!!

Lights

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you should add flashing lights. Maybe one of those fishtank windows. Don't forget to paint your case and don't buy a power supply unless it's painted black.

Be sure all the fans you buy have LEDs in them, and your front panel should be covered by a motorized door that you can open by remote control.

Then you will have a "gaming rig" instead of just some workstation with a video card in it.

My biggest bottleneck...

[__aaclcg7560]

My credit card doesn't have an unlimited limit and I'm penalized if I don't pay it back. Whatever happened to God Mode in real life?

God Mode

[TubeSteak]

Whatever happened to God Mode in real life?

It's called Cocaine, but the effects are temporary and the come down is a bitch.

Re:OS? Hardware?

[Anonymous Coward]

For example, if you were running Windows 2000 or greater,

I have a Mac. That counts as "or greater", right?