Everyone's favorite FPSLabs column is back for its fifth installment. This time, we selected two community members to accompany the standard two pros. Featured in Issue #5 are Dan "mehLer" Mehler of Team Turmoil fame, Kyle "Mustang" Cummings of Pandemic.css and formerly Forbidden, Matthew "Fatal" Seaman and Chris "C-Low" Low from the FPSLabs community!

Dan "mehLer" Mehler
Hardware/Software:
Case: Random Silver Case w/ Blue Fan
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 2.4GHz
Video Card: BFG NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-e
Sound Card: SteelSound USB
Motherboard: Intel D975XBX Bad Axe
RAM: 2GB (4x512MB) PNY DDR2-667
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200 80GB UltraATA/100
Monitor: 17" Dell P780 CRT
Operating System: Windows XP Professional

Peripherals
Mouse: Logitech MX518
Keyboard: Black Dell Standard
Mouse pad: Steelpad QcK+
Headset: Steelpad 5Hv2 / Icemat Siberia
Extra: Black Mouse Bungee

Game And Software Settings
-Video Card Settings
Anti-Aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: Off
Image settings: Quality
Vertical Refresh: On
Digital Vibrance: Low
Gamma: 1.16
Brightness: 103%

-Mouse Settings
Drivers: None
CPL Mouse Fix: On
Mouse DPI: 1600
Windows Sensitivity: 3/11
Enhanced Pointer Precision: Off

-1.6 In Game Settings
Launch Options: -noforcemaccel -noforcemparms -noforcemspd -freq 100
Refresh Rate: 100Hz
Resolution: 1024x768
Sensitivity: 2
Crosshair: Small, Yellow, Non-Translucent, Non-Dynamic


The History

Up until I found Counter-Strike I was strictly a console gamer. Mario, Zelda, sports and anything else you can think of, I played it all. I started playing CS just like 99% of everyone else... through a friend. It's hard to remember when I started, but if I had to guess, I would say around Beta 7. I went to his [my friend's] house, watched him for a bit and he taught me how to buy guns, so I bought myself a SG552 on de_dust, sat all the way in the back of T tunnels and scoped, forever. I probably killed 2 people in an hour, if that.. but I loved it.

The Setup

The reason for my setup is simple, it's the only way everything fit on my small desk at home. I didn't think 6-7 years ago that I would be traveling around the world playing video games trying to win money, so simulating a LAN setup wasn't a priority. So while it is very smart to try to simulate a LAN setup in your home so you can be comfortable no matter where you play, I instead make the LAN setup simulate how I play at home. I've definitely turned some heads over the years rearranging computers and monitors at various events, and it always seems to make people laugh or smile, but it's useless to try and fix something that isn't "broken". I use the arrow keys and having my hands close to each other is comfortable to me. Plus, being able to rest my forearm on the desk to help make my aim more precise is another preference of mine.