Kyle "Mustang" Cummings
Hardware/Software:
Case: ThermalTake Tsunaumi Dream
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 3.4GHz
Video Card: SLI EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT's
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i
RAM: G.Skill 2GB DDR2 800
Hard Drive: Western Digital 74GB Raptor
Monitor: 20.1" Samsung 206bw LCD
Operating System: Windows XP

Peripherals
Mouse: Logitech G5
Keyboard: Saitek Eclipse
Mouse pad: SteelPad 5L
Headset: HD 555's w/ Icemat Mic

Software Settings
-Video Card Settings
Anti-Aliasing: Application Controlled
Anisotropic Filtering: Application Controlled
Vertical Refresh: Always Off
Digital Vibrance: Low
Gamma: 1.00
Brightness: 100%

-Mouse Settings
Drivers: Logitech Setpoint
CPL Mouse Fix: Yes
Windows Sensitivity: Default
Setpoint Settings: 2/11
Enhanced Pointer Precision: No

-Source In-game Settings
Refresh Rate: 60Hz (LCD)
Resolution: 1280x1024
Sensitivity: 1.2
Crosshair: cl_crosshairscale 1500, Green
Model Detail: High
Texture Detail: High
Shader Detail: High
Water Detail: Simple Reflections
Shadow Detail: High
Color Correction: Disabled
Antialiasing Mode: 4x
Filtering Mode: 16x
Wait For Vertical Sync: Disabled
High Dynamic Range: None
mat_dxlevel 95


The History

I've been a big gamer my whole life. Ever since I turned on the old NES and loaded up some good old Mario, I was hooked. I started out as a simple console gamer for a couple years until I got my first computer. It was an old Intel 386 clocked 33MHz (man that thing was expensive). I didn't have many games, but the ones I did play (Doom, Rise of the Triad) had me begging for more. I became an avid PC gamer over the years and gave up on consoles completely. I stuck with single player games, as I was sporting a 56k modem and quite honestly had no clue that there was even an online gaming community out there. It wasn't until Half-Life hit the shelves that I turned into a multi-player gamer. From there on I never looked back. Just like the consoles I gave up on single player gaming and put my time into jumping around and getting shot through walls by the Gauss Gun.

I was finally introduced to Counter-Strike by a couple buddies of mine. We pubbed all throughout the betas until CAL arrived and we decided to try out competitive gaming. At first I wasn't too big into it. We made a LAN team and hit up our local cyber cafe a few times a year but our extent of competitive gaming never really budged from there. It wasn't until I moved on to a different game that I truly became a competitive gamer. This small little mod for Half-Life that really got me into competitive gaming was called Natural Selection (try it out if you haven't!). Although small in comparison to Counter-Strike, Natural Selection had its fair share of top teams and players.

After a little while I created a team with some friends called "terror". To say the least we worked our butts off and rolled through other teams faster than I could roll through an All-Star at Denny's. Throughout our entire career as a team I guess you could say we won 48 games and lost only once. From there I had a few brief stints with games like Quake 4 and DoD:S until I finally came back to CS, this time choosing its newer, better looking version to play. Since then I've been working my way up to where I'm at now - one headshot at a time.

I think any professional gamer will tell you that the first step to becoming a great gamer is to have the correct setup with the correct settings. You need a setup that you feel comfortable with, and if possible something that can be easily setup in a LAN environment without infringing on your teammates' space too much. It's key to feel comfortable with your settings, as it will allow you to focus more on your game regardless of what's going on around you. You tackle this feat, as it can be tough, of finding the absolute best setup for yourself and you'll be fraggin' in no time.