Here's a short guide I put together on buying
PC's. I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies or unclear passages, I'll try to update this every now and again. Post and comments and questions you have and I'll get back to you. If a
mod would sticky this that would be nice
Some basic terms:
Monitor: Fancy name for a
PC screen
FPS: Frames Per Second. In a game this is how many images are shown every second - slow fps gives you a choppy image.
KB (Kilobyte), MB (Megabyte), GB (Gigabyte), TB (Terabyte): Units of measurement of storage capacity. Each is 1,024 of the latter.
Mhz (Megahertz), Ghz (Gigahertz): Units of measurement of frequency. 1GHz = 1,000 Mhz.
What PC’s Are Made Of
There are several parts to a
PC, and you’ll want to know what each one does so that you know what you’re getting. Note that in a desktop these are each separate objects that you can mix and match as you will, while laptops tend to be more all-in-one machines.
Processor
Otherwise known as the CPU, this is the brains of the system which performs the calculations. There are three things you should look at when deciding which processor is better than another:
- Core Number: How many “brains” there are in the processor. This can be single core, dual-core or quad-core.
- Processor Speed: How fast it thinks. Typical speeds range from 2-3GHz, but some small laptops run under 2GHz and gaming desktops can run past 3GHz and even 4GHz.
- Model: Different models will be designed differently and have different features. For example, a Phenom II is faster than an “equal” Athlon, while an i7 is better than an i5, which is better than a Core 2 Duo. However an Athlon with a higher speed might beat a slower Phenom, so you have to be careful.[1][2]
Motherboard
This is the massive chip that all the other parts fit in - for the moment that’s all you need to know
RAM
RAM is a very fast storage that’s used to automatically store files you need a lot (the photo or video you’re working on, the textures in the game you’re playing, etc.). Having more RAM will speed up your
PC to a certain extent (it’s possible to have to much though, see “How Much Ram Do I Need?”).
Graphics Card
The much misunderstood graphics card serves two purposes. Firstly, and above all, it’s the part that figures out what to show on the screen - without a graphics card you can’t plug a monitor into your
PC, which would make it pretty useless. Secondly graphics cards usually have a special type of processor (named GPU) that’s specially designed for rendering games in real time.
There are two types of graphics cards - a
PC with “integrated” graphics has the graphics built into the motherboard, while better
PC’s have a separate graphics
card, which is preferable.
Storage
PC’s generally use hard drives for storage (bet you knew that already!) ranging in size from 2TB monsters to the ancient 5GB drivers of old. You can always add several more later on.
CD, DVD, Blu-Ray drives
You know what it does. Speeds vary, but they’re usually pretty similar.
Internet
Usually not a separate “part”, but just thought I’d mention that there are two types of internet, cabled internet using Ethernet or LAN cables, and wireless internet. Make sure your
PC supports the one you want to use.
Common PC Questions
Here’s a collection of commonly-asked questions.
How Much Storage Space Do I Need?
It’s tempting to go insane with storage space, getting oodles of gigabytes “just in case”. However you’ll only ever use so much. I’d advise you to look at your CD collection. How many CD’s do you have? Multiply that by 0.04 and you’ll get roughly the storage space needed to store them in MP3 form. Not much now, is it?
How Much RAM Do I Need?
….not as much as you’d think. Gaming with insufficient RAM will dramatically lower your minimum fps, so you’ll definitely want over 1GB for that. However there’s such thing as too much. 3GB is sort of the upper maximum - above this you won’t see a performance increase, unless you’re doing seriously long video work.
[3][4]
DDR2 Or DDR3?
As you look at RAM you'll come across the terms DDR2 and DDR3. They refer two two different types of RAM. The best DDR3 RAM is roughly twice as fast as the best DDR2 RAM - however unless you have an extremely powerful computer you won't notice the difference much. Buying DDR3 will make more sense in the future, but for the moment don't worry about it.
Single Core? Dual-core? Quad-core? Help!
Single core processors are outdated, so you should only be looking at dual-core or quad-core processors. A lot of
PC’s nowadays offer quad-core processors, which cost almost twice as much as the dual-core variety, but 4 > 2 so it must be good right?
Not really. You see while quad-core processors are far more powerful than dual-cores, many programs aren’t written to take advantage of the extra cores. While this 2GHz quad is technically 50% more powerful than that 2.6GHz dual, games only typically use 2 cores, so your 2GHz quad is acting more (although not quite) like a 2GHz dual.
[5]
Quad-core (and Tri-core) processors
are faster than dual-cores when playing games (I suspect this is because they let your game have two cores to themselves and shift everything else over to the extra core, giving you a little performance boost). They’re just not good enough to warrant their purchase for that purpose - your money is better spent elsewhere. However where Quads really shine is in “creative” computing: - music producing, image editing, video editing, and so forth. So if you want a design powerhouse, you may want to consider a shiny new quad-core.
Do I Need A Big Shiny Graphics Card?
Short answer: for gaming, yes, otherwise, no.
There’s a myth in the computer art world that, in order to watch HD videos, edit images and such you need a high-spec card. You don’t! So long as you can hook your monitor up to it (with a HD-capable lead, of course) then your graphics card is doing the best it can do. I won’t comment on 3D modelling and design, although I suspect that
would take advantage of a decent card. I’ll come back to graphics cards and art in the “Multimedia
PC’s” section.
If you’re gaming, then your graphics card is one of the most important parts of the
PC. Again, I’ll discuss that further in the “Gaming
PC’s” section.
Desktop Or Laptop?
Desktops: cheaper, top-range desktops are better than top-range laptops, very easy to upgrade, bigger monitor.
Laptop: more portable, takes up less space.
I’m Looking For A Desktop. Which Should I Prioritise - Processor, Graphics Or RAM?
My personal view is that you should always prioritise the processor. The reason for this is that should you later on need more performance, you can always upgrade both your RAM and Graphics card in an hour or so, and only spend €300 for a very good combination. However if you want to upgrade your processor more likely than not you’ll have to get a new motherboard too, and to install the lot you’ll have to strip down your
PC and reassemble it. Also it’ll cost around €200-300, which for just a processor change is a bit much.
Guide To Buying Computers
In this section I lay out what you’ll need in the two types of
PC’s most commonly asked about in the technology forums, as well as a more multimedia-focused
PC.
Work PC
“I’m going to college soon, and I need a new PC for internet, MSN, etc.”
Firstly, get a laptop - they’re much more portable than desktops. You’ll come across two types - full-size notebooks and miniature “netbooks”. I’d at least take a look at the notebooks, they’re a bit too small for some but extremely easy to fit in your bag and perfect for when you want to check your email in a Parisian café, or your local equivalent. However small screens and keyboards are a turn-off for some.
Secondly, realize that you don’t need a powerful a
PC. In fact something basic will be alright. 1GB RAM has become the minimum since Windows Vista was introduced, and it’s rare to find a
PC with less than the minimum 1GHz. While people often talk about “fast”
PC’s, a basic
PC is going to be fast enough for what you need.
Some things to look out for:
- Make sure you have enough USB ports for everything you want to plug into the laptop!
- If you’ll be using wireless internet, make sure the laptop has a wireless (“WLAN”) card in it.
- In-built webcams are handy, but not necessary - a decent external webcam will usually have better image quality anyway.
- If you’re ever planning on using a separate screen or a projector, make sure it has a VGA or D-SUB port that you can hook it up with (otherwise usually you can convince someone else to bring along - and show off - their laptop).
- If you want to watch movies on your PC, get a large (but not too large) screen with decent picture quality.
Gaming PC
“I’m looking for a PC that will play x, x and x.”
Gaming
PC’s are feats of technology, yet can be expensive. Firstly, if you possibly can, get a desktop. It’s much cheaper to start off with, and you save even more money down the road as you can upgrade your
PC instead of buying a new one.
The most important thing in a gaming
PC is to make sure that your components are roughly equally powerful. There’s no point matching a 3GHz processor with a 3-year old graphics card - similarly if you don’t have enough RAM you’ll end up starving your other components.
As a guide to what you’ll need, take a look at the minimum specifications of some games you want to play, and try to get a
PC that beats that. As I explained before you’ll want a much better processor and graphics card and a bit more RAM. As an example a good gaming system nowadays would have :
- 2.3GHz+ Dual-core Processor
- 2GB+ RAM
- NVidia 8800 or ATI 3870 or higher (never get anything from Intel)
Remember that a better system will not only improve your gaming experience now, but will also lengthen the time before your next upgrade/replacement.
Also, on monitors: big monitors are a plus, 20”+ monitors aren’t uncommon.
Multimedia PC
”I need a good PC for video editing/music production/my game design course”
My advice here is similar to in the gaming
PC section, but not quite. You want a high-performance
PC but your priorities are different. The processor is the most important component, followed by monitor choice, hard drive space and RAM.
- Go quad-core if you can.
- Get a laptop if you want. Macbooks are perfect for the job, if you can afford them!
- Skimp on the graphics card if you need to.. It’s not that important for what you’ll be using the PC for.
- Try out several monitors in the store, you’ll need one that you like.
- If you’re using one, get the biggest graphics tablet you can afford! (Unless you like digital sketching by the seaside, in which case an A5 or A4 tablet should do).
- Don’t go for Macs just because they’re seen as “creative” PC’s. I learnt that the reason musicians use Macs is that they crash less often and they recover quicker after a crash - they’re not actually “better” than Windows.
- And above all don’t forget that it’s the creator and not the tool that makes a great work of art
Reference
[1]
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...5,2410-10.html
[2]
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...n-ii-x2_8.html
[3]
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram,1190-6.html
[4]
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...de,2264-3.html
[5]
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...u,2280-10.html