Are you planning on buying a new personal desktop computer system? The following points mentioned below will give you a decent idea on how to go about buying the best computer which is suited to your needs. Because of the dynamic nature of the Computer Industry these points will be updated regularly. Many links have also been given which will provide with more detailed information about the chosen topic.
Processor (CPU)
Choosing the right processors have become a bit more difficult than it was previously. Though the two main manufacturers are still AMD and Intel, it now depends on the number of cores present in the processor and the speeds of them. Processors from each company have their own performance ratings which makes their comparison even tougher. Because of the complexity it is better to click on the links below to get a detailed explanation about CPU’s based on budget and use.
Hard Drives
Hard Drives basically depend on their speed and their size. Performance and capacity of the hard drive are based on their size and speed. It is best to have a minimum of 500GB or more of space in a desktop, though the speed of these hard drives are usually around 7200RPM. It is possible to find some hard drives which clock at 10000rpm. Serial ATA is the type of the interface which is used in most of the present hard drives.
Monitors: An integral part of a computer is the monitor. Before people could choose between CRT’s and LCD’s but now LCD’s have become a standard norm and most people buy them because of their smaller size and their lesser power consumption. But the most important difference is in the costs of the LCD’s based on their size. There is only small difference between the price of a 19-inch LCD and a 22-inch one thus making the 22-ich much more value for money, though the prices of the 24-inch are dropping. These screens generally provide with picture at a 16:10 format but now some of them have perfected the 2:1 format thus making movie watching even more enjoyable.
Memory (RAM): DDR2 is the type of memory which most desktop computers use. Though DDR3 is also out, it is more expensive and not so popular yet. The amount of memory used should be at least around 2GB though the ideal amount is 4GB. The speed of the memory can also have an impact on the performance. More the speed better is the performance. Also it is more useful to buy a memory with lesser number of DIMMs because then it allows memory upgrades in the future if required.
Optical Drives (CD/DVD/Blu-ray): Almost all systems currently sold have DVD burners, even the cheaper ones. While buying DVD burners you should make sure that it supports both +R/RW and the –R/RW formats and that the speed of recorder is 16x. it is also possible to buy Dual or Double layer media support drives but then, they are less feasible due to higher media cost. Extra features such as LightScribe and Labelflash are also available which support the burning of labels directly onto the compatible discs. For people wanting to watch high definition video format, they can now buy blu-ray enabled discs.
External Connectors: Most of the upgrades and peripherals connected to computers are externally connected instead of being internally connected. When buying a computer system make sure about the number and type of external ports present. Both USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 or FireWire ports should be present on the computer. The system should have a minimum of six USB 2.0 connectors and one FireWire port. Sometimes media card readers supporting different types of flash memory cards are also present.
Video Cards: Video Card technology is a very dynamic industry which constantly changes around every 3-6 months. If you don’t involve in much graphical work then integrated graphic cards will work fine, but otherwise there is a large range of cards to choose from. Performance, amount of memory on the card, output connectors and the version of DirectX supported are some of the parameters considered before buying a card. Avid gamers should consider a Direct X 10 card with a minimum of 512MB of memory. Most of the newer systems use the PCI-Express graphics normally.