December 2, 2008

Computer Upgrades The Most Important Question

Hard Drives | Comments (0) admin @ 3:46 pm

Of every the concerns you haw hit most your computer, there is digit that overrides every of them. Can it do the jobs you requirement it to do?

If your important needs are a organisation for equalisation your checkbook, doing a lowercase word processing, and aquatics the web, then nearly whatever organisation of past oldness module do. Actually, these tasks won’t be such of a contest for it.

But let’s feature you’ve got a mini-DV camera, and poverty to essay your assistance at redaction whatever of the recording you’ve shot. When you invoke to your trusty PC, uncertainty begins to darken your mind. The exclusive distinction discover from the camera is a firewire, but there’s no firewire opening on your computer. And it seems category of andante compared to your friend’s newborn machines. Will that intend problems? What most those colossus filler recording files? Is there sufficiency expanse on the hornlike drive?

Whoa! All those questions strength hit you primed to countenance for a newborn computer. But I’d feature you crapper belike come apiece difficulty with the PC you have.

Start with the firewire port. If you hit a PCI interval open, adding a firewire bill is as ultimate as plugging digit in. There’s not such more to it than that. Speed crapper be reinforced in most computers by adding player RAM. This also is a ultimate concern of plugging module into the pertinent slot. If you requirement more hornlike intend space, you crapper intend a large drive, or meet add an player one. Installation isn’t that hard.

Now, countenance again at your PC. Can it do the jobs you requirement it to do? The ratio are it can. Perhaps with the support of an raise or digit you crapper verify yourself to a full newborn take of computing.

Michael Quarles is the communicator of Building a PC for Beginners. His website is www.monkeyseemonkeydobooks.com.

Tags: Firewire, , , , Hard Drive, RAM, upgrade

August 7, 2008

Selecting a New Motherboard A Beginner’s Guide

Motherboards | Comments (0) admin @ 5:15 pm

Are you hunting for a newborn motherboard? With so whatever models available, determining which to acquire crapper be difficult. However, if you ingest this checklist, considering apiece motherboard feature, you should be healthy to encounter digit that’s correct for you.

1. Socket type: What socket identify does your mainframe require? A 775 for Intel Pentiums? Perhaps a 939 AMD. Start to narrowing your activity with this most base criteria, matched motherboard socket to CPU.

2. Form factor: The commission has to good your case. The filler of the commission is its “form factor”. An ATX modify bourgeois housing module accept 12×9.6 progress boards. But a microATX requires boards no large than 9.6×9.6. Please state that whatever of the small boards crapper be mounted in an ATX case.

3. RAM: You’ll belike acquire a commission that uses PC3200 RAM. But be alive that whatever senior boards ease on the mart call themselves “PC3200 capable” but crapper exclusive ingest it in up to digit banks. Also, whatever boards exclusive hit digit slots, kinda than the more ordinary sort of three. If you requirement to separate 3 GB of RAM, for extremity mettlesome play, you’ll requirement a three-slot board.

4. Front Speed Bus: It’s an oversimplification to feature this sort is the pace aggregation passes finished your motherboard, but it’s a beatific sufficiency definition for our purposes. Faster is better, but ready in nous that pace is money, if you’re on a budget. The tops on AMD supported systems is a whopping 2000MHz.

5. Video and good on the motherboard: Do you poverty these digit items shapely into the board, or would you kinda acquire game and block them in? Video on the motherboard is commonly adequate, unless you’re a gamer. In that housing you’ll poverty to forgo it in souvenir of the incoming feature.

6. AGP port: Gamers, recording editors, 3-D animators, every poverty the prizewinning graphics bill they crapper get, so they order an Accelerated Graphics Port. Most every boards hit them, but attain trusty they module appendage 8X or meliorate speed, if you’ve got your hunch ordered on a rattling alacritous card.

7. PCI slots: How whatever slots module you requirement for things same modems, getting cards, and the like? Some of the microATX boards become with exclusive two, which haw be inadequate. I souvenir boards with 4 or more slots, gift plentitude of treatment capability.

8. Firewire: If you dispense and modify video, 1394 IEEE, otherwise famous as firewire, is a necessity. If a commission you’re considering doesn’t hit it, amount on using digit of your PCI slots for a card.

After you’ve absent finished these octad items, you should be substantially on the artefact to making your selection.

Michael Quarles is the communicator of Building a PC for Beginners.

Tags: 1394 IEEE, , , , , , , , , AGP, Firewire, form factor, front speed bus, PCI, RAM, socket, video
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