Intel Chips, Dell Dips and Sony Clips into the Gamers Market

Last year 145 million gamers in the US spent $7-billion dollars on games and accessories. This year major manufacturers and retailers such as Dell, Intel, and Sony are making even bigger waves in this burgeoning industry. Here we uncover some of the Best Stuff.

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
Intel just announced three Intel Pentium 4 processors supporting Hyper-Threading (HT) Technology and a trio of chipsets for faster and more feature-rich PCs. The new Intel Pentium 4 processors -- 2.80C, and 2.60C, and 2.40C GHz -- come with HT Technology and an advanced 800 MHz system bus that allows information to flow to and from the processor more quickly.

Home users will benefit from these new HT Technology-enabled PCs, allowing them to do more at the same time without sacrificing performance. For instance, record live TV (Personal Video Recorder) while gaming, or play a game while encoding the latest music in the background. www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading

Dell Dimension XPS
Dell's new Dimension XPS PC is geared toward the gaming crowd. The Dimension XPS features a standard 460-watt power supply, Creative Audigy 2 sound card, 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 and 9800 Pro graphics cards, support for the latest Intel processors, and Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration.

It also offers up to three 5.25-inch drive bays, and up to three internal 3.5-inch bays. The XPS system features two 1394 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports. It is also the first Dimension to have a front-accessible 1394 port.

For $2,199, the Dimension XPS features a 3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology and 800MHz front side bus, 256MB DDR400 SDRAM memory, Radeon 9800 graphics card, Creative Audigy 2 sound card, a 60GB hard drive, a 16x DVD drive, a 19-inch (18-inch viewable) monitor, and Windows XP Home, one year limited warranty plus one year at-home service, and dedicated Dimension XPS technical phone support. www.dell.com

CLIÉ Game Controller
Turn your CLIÉ handheld into a game device! The PEGA-GC10 comes complete with the standard gamepad layout for easy game control and maneuvers. The full version of the popular game COLUMNS by SEGA is included along with other exciting trial game versions. Compatible with: PEG-NR70V, NR70, T665C, T615C, T415, SJ30, SJ20, SL10, TG50, SJ22. $30. www.sony.com