Specifications

Intesity Pro was used in the Final Build and works extremely well (make sure to download updated
drivers and software from their website). The Intensity Pro does not support recording in 480p (i.e.
the highest resolution for the Wii) but the Intensity Shuttle does.
Choosing components can be daunting, as you will be submersed into seemingly arcane
acronyms, model numbers, and detailed specifications. It does get easier after you spend some
time reading through forums and magazines, and often you will see users post details of their
latest build on retail sites, which allows you to further judge the compatibility of components by
what combinations of components others have used successfully.
File Formats, File Sizes and Final Design Considerations
This configuration can record standard definition and high definition (720p) gameplay footage,
uncompressed and in AVI format. The Intensity Pro capture card provides other choices for file
formats and codecs, including compressed formats. By using any video editing or conversion
software, especially the many open source choices, you can easily encode the resulting files into a
variety of formats.
The type of file-format/codec used will depend on the reason for capturing the footage in
the first place. I capture gameplay footage for teaching and analytical reasons. I want to capture
short sequences as well as longer ones that can be screened in class as well as in labs for
individual study. But I also capture a series of levels or an entire game for research and analysis.
So, while I want decent quality video for some purposes (which translates into larger files sizes), I
also need to record and archive large mounts of footage (necessitating codecs that provide good
compression and smaller file sizes). Consequently, I record the footage and view/edit it (in order
to take screenshots or video sequences) with the compressed AVI format provided by the Intensity
Pro card and encode it into either a DivX MP4 format to compress large files and the H264 MP4
format for any video that I want to compress but still retain good video quality. For very short
sequences for which I want very good quality, I leave it in the compressed AVI format.
Component Compatibility
While many components are virtually interchangeable, there are some compatibility restrictions to
be aware of. First, the make (AMD or Intel) and model of CPU (processor) will determine the type
of motherboard and the CPU socket type that can be used. Motherboards are broadly compatible
with one or the other makes of processor while each model of processor will require one of many
different kinds of socket type (i.e. an AMD compatible motherboard might only support AMD2 or
AMD3 types of sockets).
The motherboard will be compatible with certain kinds of memory. Memory will come in
different types (i.e. DDR2 or DDR3), voltages, latency, and the number of pins. Motherboard
manufacturers will often list compatible memory on their website and, again, checking the user
comments on retail websites is also very useful in this regard. Motherboards come in different
sizes (Mini-ITX, microATX and, the largest, ATX). Larger motherboards can accommodate more
slots, ports, etc.
Cases come in all kinds of varieties but will fit with certain size(s) of motherboard. Some
cases will come with fans and/or a power supply. The power supply is a critical component so
purchasing a quality model is critical. You can purchase a regular power supply (all the internal
cables are fixed) or a modular power supply (more expensive as you only connect cables that you
need). Single rail power supplies make it so the load does not have to manually balanced.
Finally, power supplies will come in different sizes, measured in maximum watts (W)
supplied to the computer. Of course, the power supply will need to accommodate the power
requirements of all the various components, especially in terms of the processor and other energy-
hungry components like graphics cards. The final build as listed above used a mid-range
processor (80W) and used the integrated graphics on the motherboard (no separate graphics card)
and can get by with a 550W model. The Custom Build as listed in Table 1 uses a 750W power
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