Buying your Personal Computer

Making an Informed Decision

Adrian Hutton 1001507@student.tsd.ac.uk

This guide was published in 2013, and it is possible that the information stated could lose relevance over time.

This guide is intended for inexperienced Home PC users, and therefore will not contain any detailed technical terms or specifications. It will aid you with both buying a new machine as a whole, and also for replacing and upgrading individual parts. Rather than suggesting a certain machine, or certain part names that I would recommend, this guide is intended to be useful even into the distant future. So therefore I will talk about the key components and what you need to know about them to make a decision for yourself. Buying a personal computer can seem like a lengthy and difficult decision for some people, especially if you dont know all that much about them. This aim of this guide it to explain about the main key point that you (as a consumer) should know about to make an informed decision for yourself about what type of computer or components you need.

Important things to remember:

The needs of everyone that will use the computer It is important that you dont forget about other people that may need to use the PC (such as family members); they may have different needs to you and therefore require a more powerful machine. It will not last forever No matter how much money you pay for it, your PC will not be useful forever. It will become outdated and will either need upgrading or replacing. If you have no hardware trouble with your PC (which is unlikely), you can most probably expect your PC to be relevant for anywhere between 4-10 years. Will you be on the move a lot? If so, maybe you should consider purchasing a Laptop computer instead of a desktop, these sacrifice performance in favour of power saving and mobility.

Key components what you should know and why Processor

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374351,00.asp The processor is possibly the most important component inside a PC. This will have an effect on everything that you do on your computer. The choice between an Intel and AMD processor is down to preference, as they both have similar performance at every price point, apart from high performance gaming where Intels range or high performance processors are the best at the moment (07/04/2013) Number of cores

Processors are available with any number of cores from one to eight, but the most common ones are dual and quad core. I highly recommend not buying anything below a dual core even for occasional computer users, due to the huge benefits that you get from having more than one core. (Performance, responsiveness, reliability and compatibility are all increased over having a single core.) The only reason, in my opinion to choose a quad core or higher would be if you do the following things often: Graphic and photo editing You enjoy playing the latest games and want the best visuals possible You need to run a large number of applications all at once

Unless any of the above applies to you, I would suggest that a dual core will suit your needs perfectly.

Socket This is only really important if you are buying the processor separately, but each motherboard will have a certain processor socket, and you will only be able to use certain processors with them. Below are the current sockets which are widely used in computers today (correct 2013) Intels current sockets: LGA775, 1155/1156 AMDs current sockets: AM2, AM3, AM3+, FM1 The motherboard and processor socket type are always stated on the part description, so as long as you double check that they both match everything should be fine.

Clock speed This will be one of the main indicators of the processors speed, and is measured in hertz. Ten hertz would mean ten actions in one second. Today, however the figures are too high to be talked about in hertz, so we use: Megahertz = 1,000,000 Hertz Gigahertz = 1,000 Megahertz Typically, a brand new computer these days will never feature a processor clock speed of less than 1 Gigahertz, unless it is a special power saving one or for some other reason. Looking at the other end of the spectrum, you probably wont find a click speed any higher than about 3.6 Gigahertz. Just for reference, 1 Gigahertz = 1 * 1,000,000 * 1000 = 1,000,000,000 Actions per second a number that is difficult to comprehend!

Things have changed slightly recently, and the clock speed is no longer as important as it used to be, as a rule of thumb: General home use: Dont go under 1 Gigahertz Gaming or heavy multitasking etc.: Dont go under 2 Gigahertz

Motherboard
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-motherboard-guide,2546.html Unfortunately, the motherboard has become an overlooked aspect of the PC, and if you were to walk into a PC store like PC World not much information would be available about the motherboard of each machine. One of the most important things to look for in a motherboard is the brand, a good branded motherboard will usually last a lot longer than an unbranded motherboard. Good brands to consider: Intel, MSI, ASUS, ASROCK, GIGABYTE http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/246382-30-poll-motherboard-manufacturer-ctrlaltdelpc The above link shows a poll of who people think the best motherboard manufacturer is, ASUS scored the highest number of votes by a large margin with 56% of votes, and Gigabyte coming second with 29% of votes.

Important points to look out for aside from the brand The processor socket is a good indication of the age of the motherboard, look for sockets LGA775 or 1155/1156 for Intel based boards, and look for AM3+ or FM1 for AMD based boards. Is the motherboard the correct size to fit your case? Ensure the motherboard socket matches the processor that you have/wish to use (if you are buying them separately and not as a whole machine) The RAM slots should support DDR3 RAM Ensure that the motherboard has enough USB ports If you need wireless networking, does the motherboard have it built in? or will you have to buy a separate network card Does the motherboard have an Ethernet port for connecting to the internet? (It is highly unlikely that it wont) Will you be buying a separate graphics card? If so you will need to ensure the motherboard has a PCI-Express port to put it in.

Memory
http://www.ehow.com/how_2165513_choose-ram-pc.html Memory or RAM (Random access memory) is another vital part of a computer system. When the computer starts up, it takes the installed operating system (Windows for examples) from the hard drive, and loads it into the RAM for use. The amount of RAM is very important, as is the speed of it.

RAM Type There are only two types of RAM available these days: DDR2, and DDR3. DDR3 is more cost effective, and faster (the same amount of DDR3 RAM will cost less than DDR2 would, and DDR3 is still faster) There is no reason to choose to buy DDR2 RAM unless you are replacing your RAM and your motherboard only supports DDR2. (DDR2 and DDR3 are not compatible with each other)

Ram size RAM is available in sticks that slot into the motherboard easily. Each RAM stick will have a quantity of RAM on it that is measured in bytes, just like storage space on a hard drive or a memory card. Brand new RAM sticks are generally only found in DDR3 and come in sizes of 512 Megabytes up to around 4 Gigabytes per stick. For general home use 2 Gigabytes of RAM is usually plenty unless you have a resource hungry operating system such as Windows Vista (Windows 7 and 8 are less resource hungry), or if you need to run many applications simultaneously. Even though it may seem temping to get a large amount of RAM to run more applications at once, in the real world you will never need more than 8 Gigabytes, and 4 Gigabytes will be sufficient for even a performance enthusiast. RAM Speed / Latency RAM speed, like processor clock speed is measured in hertz (again with one hertz meaning one action per second) DDR3 is available in speeds from 1066 Megahertz upwards, and I would recommend opting for the 1333 Megahertz or the 1600 Megahertz frequencies. Also it is not a big problem if your motherboard doesnt quite support the speed of the RAM you purchase because it will automatically run at its maximum speed possible. Example: Your motherboard only support 1066 Megahertz RAM, but you buy RAM with a speed of 1333 Megahertz - The RAM will work, and will run at 1066 Megahertz automatically.

Hard drive
This is where all of your data, programs, operating system and media such as music and pictures are stored. There are two main types of hard drives, one is the standard spinning Hard Disk Drive, and the other is called a Solid State Drive (SSD). Solid state drives are reasonably new and in my opinion they make a huge impact on the everyday performance of a PC, some of the solid state drives are stated to be up to 7 times faster than a normal hard disk drive. The only drawback of a Solid state drive would be that they are expensive for the amount of storage they provide. If someone is using an SSD it is common that they have a small capacity one, along with a secondary hard disk drive. The SSD will be used for the operating system and commonly used programs to speed up the everyday usage, while the hard disk drive will contain only programs that arent used much, any data and media content. Just for reference: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/244565-32-poll-hard-drive-manufacturer-ctrlaltdelpc (The above link shows a poll where Western digital were voted as the best hard drive manufacturer)

Capacity Hard drive capacity is measured in Gigabytes, and one Gigabyte is equal to 1,024 Megabytes. To give you an idea of scale, an average MP3 song is usually about 3-10 Megabytes. Hard drive capacities range from anywhere up to around 3000 Gigabytes (Three Terabytes), for general home use I doubt that anyone would need more than 500 Gigabytes of hard drive space unless they have an extremely large media collection, hundreds of programs and applications or want to run multiple operating systems. I would also never recommend anybody to get a hard drive of less than 100 Gigabytes. As it is possible to have more than one hard drive, you can always add another one at a later date if you find that you run out of storage space on your existing one.

Interface and spin speed All brand new hard drives these days will be using the Serial ATA interface, which is the standard. You should avoid the IDE interface as it is outdated and many motherboards no longer even have a usable IDE port. http://hexus.net/tech/tech-explained/storage/32106-hard-drive-interfaces/

Hard drive spin speed is measured in revolutions per minute (RPM), and there is not much to about it apart from SSDs do not spin at all so they do not have a spin speed, and the common spin speeds are:

7200 RPM Generally the average hard drive found in a desktop computer 5400 RPM Generally only used in laptops, or sometimes in desktops mainly for power saving purposes http://www.computertipsfree.com/hard-drive-rotational-speed/

Physical Dimensions It is important to remember that there are two main types of hard drives when referring to their physical dimensions, there is the 3.5 inch hard drive which is used in desktop computers, and the 2.5 inch hard drive for use with laptops, but can also be used in desktops (they may need an adapter or bracket to fit properly.)

Graphics card
For most PCs this is optional as there will already be some sort of graphics processor built into either the motherboard or processor, although they are not suitable for gaming or for photo and video editing outside of extremely light use of them. Without a dedicated graphics card, your PC will be unable to play newly released games and processing effects for editing photos and videos will be a long and arduous process. But if you are uninterested in those sorts of things, then there really is no need to purchase an expensive graphics card at all.

Ive decided I want a dedicated graphics card, how do I choose between them? The graphics cards in todays market may seem to have extremely confusing names and specifications, but they best way to explain how to know where each of them fits on the scale is by analysing the price, and the name of the card.

NVidia Cards

Currently, NVidia consumer graphics cards are named GTX*** (where *** can be any three digits) The first number refers to the Generation of the card The next two numbers essentially give you an idea of where the card fits in, in terms of that generation.

Example: An NVIDIA GTX 650 will cost you around 90 (Correct 08/04/2013) An NVIDIA GTX 660 will cost you around 160 (Correct 08/04/2013) An NVIDIA GTX 670 will cost you around 300 (Correct 08/04/2013) All of these cards are in the GTX600 Generation. You can see that there is a uniform progression with the model names, and prices. Although the performance figures do not rise in the same way, unfortunately

AMD Cards The way the AMD cards are named is similar to the way NVidia name theirs: They are currently named AMD Radeon HD **** (again where the ****s refer to variable digits) The first number again refers to the generation of the card And the next three numbers are the model name of the card, inside that generation.

Example: An AMD Radeon HD 7750 will cost you around 75 (Correct 08/04/2013) An AMD Radeon HD 7850 will cost you around 150 (Correct 08/04/2013) An AMD Radeon HD 7970 will cost you around 300 (Correct 08/04/2013)

All of the above cards are In the Radeon HD 7000 series, you can see the same sort of uniform progression with model number and price, although the numbers are slightly more complicated because of the extra digit.

Making your decision

The best way to make a decision about what dedicated graphics card you want to buy is it first; decide on a price point and try not to wander too far from it. (I recommend spending at least 50+ otherwise you may not see much of an improvement over the integrated graphics.) The next step would be to have a look around at different cards that are around your chosen price point, and note down the names of them. Note that there are many different Graphics card vendors that have their own models of the cards, some of the vendors are MSI, ASUS, ACER, EVGA, XFX, Powercolor, Zotac and many, many more. And from here look up reviews for the card using a search engine like Google or Bing, and you should hopefully get reputable tech websites opinions about the cards that you have singled out. These reviews should be able to help you make up your mind about which card will be right for you.

What about the specifications? The specifications for dedicated graphics cards arent very straight forwards, a budget card can have 1GB of video RAM, while a high mid-range card may also have the same amount. This doesnt mean that both cards will be similar in performance because so many different factors come into it. The main specification to compare when looking at the specifications of graphics cards is the Clock speeds of the Memory and the GPU core. (These are both measured in Megahertz), but the amount of memory on the card is also important. (Although it is rare to find a recent card with less than 1 Gigabyte of memory, even at the budget end of the spectrum)

Other things to consider

Case and power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=192 Cases are available in many different sizes; here are some of the pros and cons of each size: Normal / Midi Cases Take the most space Will normally have the best airflow and cooling Makes upgrading easier, because everything should fit Can fit normal or smaller sized motherboards regardless

Smaller / Micro ATX Take up less space than a normal case Will only house smaller motherboard (Micro ATX) Airflow and cooling may not be as good as a normal case

Slim micro ATX Any card that is put in needs to be small, and have a special bracket that is half the length of a normal expansion card, this limits what you can use in the PC. Cooling is compromised even more Takes up less space than any other desktop case apart from Mini ITX Great for home or office PCs which do not require powerful components and therefore powerful cooling.

Mini ITX Only really useful if you really want to save space Smallest case Worst airflow and cooling Upgrading can be a huge problem due to the lack of space Due to cooling problems and lack of upgradability, PCs built inside a mini ITX case will be less powerful, and could have a shorter lifespan due to the cooling issues

The only way to find a reliable power supply that will last for as long as your computer does is to look for a good brand name. The unbranded or unknown brands malfunction more often, needing replacement, and in some cases even damaging other parts of your PC at the same time. This website has a list of recommended power supply manufacturers: http://www.10stripe.com/featured/psu/brand.php

Monitor Even though technically, this isnt really part of the PC, it can still make a large impact on the whole experience. The most common sized monitors for home use are 17, 19 and 22. The larger your screen, the easier it is to multitask as you can have more windows open at the same time. Larger screens also tend to have a higher screen resolution; which results in better picture quality.

Optical drive An optical drive will read removable media such as CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays. The type of optical drive you get will depend on whether or not you wish to use Blu-ray discs in your PC. If you do then you should opt for a Blu-Ray rewriter or a normal Blu-ray drive. If you do not wish to use Blu-ray disks, then you will want to get a standard DVD rewriter drive, which is by far the most common optical drive used in PCs these days.

Future proofing
Generally, the higher spec the components you have in your PC the longer it will last in terms of being relevant and being able to perform at a satisfactory level. (This could include staying responsive, having the correct technologies to run a certain program or application etc.) Although no matter how much money you spend because of the fast rate that PC components are advancing; you cannot guarantee that your PC will actually be future proof due to the fact that a new technology could be released 6 months down the line, just after youve purchased your computer. So in summary: It is sometimes better to spend extra money and buy a faster processor, more RAM, larger hard drive and so on in order to try and make your PC useful further into the future, but there is a chance that it may not make much of a difference to its lifespan of being useful due to new technologies being released so often.

Computer maintenance
A large part of keeping a computer working well and quickly is to maintain it accordingly; here are some of the things you should do to keep your PC in top condition and to minimize errors: Delete unused files / clean up It is always a good idea to delete any file that youre sure you wont need any more, take a look in your downloads folder (which will get full over time if you actively download things from the internet) and delete anything you dont need. This will save storage space and make everything run smoother.

Disk clean up It is a good idea to find a disk clean up utility that will clean up any files that shouldnt be present in your system.

Registry cleaner If your disk clean-up program doesnt have a registry cleaner, you should look for one as well, these will scan your registry for errors and fix them resulting in less errors and faster performance.

Defragment your hard drive DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE AN SSD As you use your hard drive, the data gets taken from the spinning disc, and its gets put back in different places this is called fragmentation. Due to the fact that an SSD doesnt have any moving parts, it doesnt suffer from fragmentation so there is no need to defragment it. Defragging your hard drive should be done every few months, and can result in faster boot times, smoother application performance and less errors.

Physical maintenance Over time, dust will inevitably build up inside your case, and cause a build-up of heat it would be beneficial for you to open up your case at least once a year and use a vacuum cleaner on it. While doing this, please take care not to touch any of the components with your hands, or knock them with the vacuum nozzle. As both of these can cause damage which could result in you needed to replace something. This will increase the lifespan of your computer, because cooler components have a longer lifespan. Also, if you have a laptop this will be a little more difficult so you may need to take it to a specialist if you suspect that dust may be clogging up the insides.

Thank you for taking time to read this guide, you should now be able to walk into a PC retailer and make an informed decision when buying. If you have any questions or feedback about this guide please Email me at: 1001507@student.tsd.ac.uk