The Computer has evolved from a big, old, dumb, box to the modern day sleek, smart and fast Pc. As a result no longer one has the *’Plane Vanilla Flavor’ *.There are a wide range flavors available to suit your taste and pocket.
In this article I’ve tried to explain the different components there working, features and pricing. Hopefully you’ll find this useful(Please do let me know your comments).
The Most important thing which we talk of when choosing a Pc is of course the CPU, The Processor
(A) The Ultimate Processor – No longer is the Intel the sole option available in the processor market. Companies like Amd are great alternatives. *
Amd’s XP 2800+ costs mere 11500 ** rupees but gives a tough challenge to Intel’s Pentium 4 2.8 GHz which costs way high. If you are a home user and money conscious then Amd is a great option. Intel’s processors are a recommending for Enterprise and people with deep pockets.
Cons - the only problem with Amd is that it’s processors get way too hot(some times 52 C, phew) but with recommended heat sink and fans the problem can be cured off.
(B) The Mother Board – After you’ve got the processor you need to place it one
Something(uumm something called common sense) and that’s when the mother board Comes in. Choosing the mother board is also very crucial, as it can bottle neck the
Performance of the processor adversely. Look for the following pionts
Does it support the Brand(Amd and Intel have different motherboards.)
Does it have USB port, if yes how many?(Min 2)
Does it have AGP port and of what speed(4x or 8x)
Does it have onboard sound and video?(Onboard Sound is common)
How many PCI slots does it have?
Are cables supplied along with it?(Usually are)
Does it have power sockets for extra fans( you need them in case of a Amd processor)
These are some on the basic things that should be present in an ideal mother board
You can ask for still more like
Bluetooth(Modern wireless technology for communication between various electronic devices. E.g. synchronizing your cell with your pc)
Fire wire(Yet another new technology)
Manuals
Kind of memory supported
(C) The Ram – After the motherboard is in place you need to find a suitable ram.
The common most and the cheapest is SDram. It somewhat absolute now(remember your mother board should support the RAM)
DDR Ram – Faster, a little pricey and getting common(replacing SDram) is a good option. A 256 mb DDR 333 Ram will cost approximately 5000 rupees.
(D) Hard disk – these have become relatively cheap these days. While choosing a hard disk look for
The Brand – Samsung and Seagate are the best.(I like Samsung but Seagate comes with a drive manager that easily formats the disc in seconds, where it takes hours to run F-disk. Unfortunately the drive manager runs only in Seagate drives)
Space – Depending upon your requirements choose from 10 – 120.( I recommend 20 – 40 GB)
RPM(Rotations per minute) – this determines the speed of the drive(The more faster the better) Standard drives have around 5000 RPM. Drives with 7000 rpm and above are costly.
Buffer Memory – The amount of information it can store. Say you run an application which needs to transfer 1 mb of data before it starts(eg: Photoshop, just an example) and the buffer memory is 2 mb then you can expect the program to run faster, because no matter what processor you’ve got, the data is stored and retrieved from hard disk.
Ideally hard disc should have minimum of 2 mb of buffer memory
(E) Graphics Card – graphics card range from 2000 to 40, 000 rupees.
You can get a simple 32mb TNT 2 for 2000 bucks but then the question arises is it good enough, Absolutely NO! Look for something with Min 64 Mb.
Radeon 9600 Pro 128 mb is available for 15000 approx(if you pockets permit).
nVidia GeForce series are another option. You can skip this if you have an onboard Vedio and are happy with it but frankly they aren’t any good for playing games.
(F) Sound card – I recommend Creative Sound blaster Live 5.1 within 5000 bucks if you are looking for something cheaper that I’d suggest you to hang with your on board Sound. Creative is the best option in sound card market and other brands aren’t worthy enough.
(G) Secondary Storage – A cd rom drive 52x can cost as low as 1000(usually within 2000) but then Cd are slowly getting absolute. Getting a CD DVD combo is a better option. I won’t recommend a CD writer combo as the performance is hampered.
(H) Floppy Drive – Well said to be absolute but trust me it’s still in use. You can get one for as low as 500 bucks its good option to have one in case the system crashes floppy drives are more easily accessible then CD rom(through MsDos, which you might be using in case system fails and many a times MS-DOS won’t even recognize the CD rom).
(I) Speakers – In case you have bought a good sound card then its good option to get some good speakers. Depending upon the number channel supported by the sound card you can get a suitable speaker. Look for speakers with woofer and sub woofer and also look at the Watts you want.
(J) Monitor – Look for size – 15’’ is common I recommend 17’’
Look for max resolution supported
The dot pitch
Features
I have not gone into details. I would like to write each review separately. It’s sad that I cannot put with pictures or any kind of graphics in my article. I haven’t written anything about Modems, keyboards, Mouse, printers and scanners etc. In case you people like my article I’ll write more in detail.
Please do let me know your comments. I welcome suggestions and critiques as well.