Buying Guide for Computer Hardware
The average time during which the desktop personal computer shows good performance is roughly from two to five years. It usually depends on the type of computer system, advances in hardware and our need of software. Over the years, the computer system works slowly and has less space to save your files.
The use of the computer decreases the memory of the computer with the adding of your data and programs on it. Adding of new programs demands more memory and speed. To meet the demand and increase your computer speed, buying a new personal computer is not the only option. You can also update computer parts on your present computer and rebuild your own system which can be as efficient as a new one.
Whatever you plan, assembling a new brand system or upgrading the current system, these guidelines will help you to understand which hardware components will work and give you a fast and efficient computer system.
Motherboards
The motherboard is the primary component of your computer. The motherboard acts as a hub and connects all required components of the computer. The motherboard is the board with circuits connected to processor chips, expansion cards, memory slots, socket for video cards and sound cards etc. The mother board is characterized as form factor, chipset, type of processor socket and input-output connectors. A motherboard comes with various interfaces to connect optical drives, hard drives and power supply.
Some parts on the motherboard are integrated through circuits as chipset, CMOS clock and battery, BIOS and system bus and expansion bus.
Form Factor
Different dimensions and geometrical arrangements of motherboards are built so that they can be used in different brands of cases. Some standard developed are named as ATX, BTX and ITX. ATX is further categorized as ATX standard, ATX micro, Flex-ATX and mini-ATX. You will have to match the motherboard with the case of your brand so that the motherboard fits in the case.
Expansion Slots
Expansion slots are the compartments in the motherboard in which the expansion cards are inserted. The expansion cards increase the performance of the computer and come with added advantages. The popular hardware component used in computer is PCI-express slots, but some cards also use ISA slots, VLB slots, PCI slots, AGP slots and AMR slots.
Hard Drive Ports
Your old port may be IDE and you may need to change it to SATA on the motherboard. Every slot allows you to add on a hard drive. SATA I and SATA II are also some hard drive ports available.
Processors
Central processing unit (CPU) is also called as the processor. It is the component of computer hardware which carries out instructions of the program. The processor works in a sequence with other components to regulate the performance of your computer. Upgrading your CPU will surely increase the performance of your computer by making it faster.
Multi-Core CPUs
Multi-core processors are the processors in which two or more processors are attached to increase the performance of the computer. It is the latest hardware in computers which is not only used for application domains for general purposes but also in specialized purposes such as embedded, network, digital signal processing and graphics domains.
Computer Memory
Random access memory (RAM) is used to define the computer memory. The RAM is used by the computer to perform functions, run applications and store data that can be accessed at any sequence.
The motherboard holds the computer hardware plates till 8GB or higher. Computer hardware memory has to equalize with the other memory that is already present on the computer. Hence appropriate pairing of RAM is essential.
The most outstanding solution is buying the computer hardware memory together.
Hard Drive Speed
Every hard drive has its own spinning RPM. You can access the information on the computer speedily if your hard drive spins fast. Hard drives usually having a speed of 7200 RPM to 10,000 RPM are considered to accelerate the computer performance.
Video Cards
A video card is used to process graphics, movies and video games. PCI-Express (or PCI-E) is the present standard for video cards. AGP or regular PCI video cards can also be used in some computers.
Updated on : 14 June 2011 12:58 PM
