Tower or Desktop case

A desktop or tower case is required to hold all your components together. It is your personal preference on which one you decide to choose. The desktop or tower cases use to come in two form factor, AT and ATX. Nearly all the cases made nowadays are ATX as the motherboard manufacturers make majority of their motherboard in the ATX form. Most cases come with PSU (Power Supply Unit), space to mount your FDD, CD-ROM, HDD etc. The case that I would be using for the demonstration is an ATX Midi Tower case as shown below.

To decide if you need a mini, midi, or a full tower case you need to ask yourself how many hard drives, dvd-rom etc you need to fit in the case. The bigger the case, the more bays you will have for your drives and peripherals.

Processor

The processor also known as CPU (Central Processing Unit) is the brain of a computer. The faster the processor, the faster it will execute instructions and run your programs. The leading CPU manufactures are Intel and AMD. Whichever manufacturer you decide to choose you will have to make sure that you purchase a compatible motherboard.

Before buying your CPU consider what the system is going to be used for. If you are going to use your system for word-processing, browsing the web or other basic tasks, it may be sufficient for you to use an Intel Celeron or an AMD Duron processor, both of which are available at a very competitive price.

If the system is going to be used for spreadsheet, databases, graphics and playing advance games then you should consider an Intel Pentium 4 / Pentium D or an AMD Athlon 64 / Athlon 64 X2 processor. Pentium D and Athlon 64 X2 are both Dual Core. Which means they have two CPU in one Chip. They are also 64 Bit and will support the new Windows Vista Operating System. These processors are very fast and are capable of handling most of your computing needs. For building our demonstration PC we will be using an Intel Pentium III 866Mhz Socket 370 processor.

Memory

Memory is the name given to silicon chips that stores volatile computer data. Volatile means that the contents of memory will be lost if the power of the computer is switched off. Memory stores some of your operating system and application data while it is being run. The more memory you have in your system, the more application you can run simultaneously and will provide an overall better system performance.

Memory comes in many form. The older system uses SDRAM, while the current system uses DDR-SDRAM (Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory). Depending on your CPU bus, you have to use SDRAM to match your CPU bus speed. For example, PIII 750 runs at the bus speed of 100Mhz therefore you need SDRAM that run at 100MHz, known as PC100 SDRAM. However if you are going to use PIII 866 you will require PC133 SDRAM which runs at 133Mhz bus speed. You also have to make sure that your motherboard can support these speeds. New generation of memories are currently out. Intel P4 use rambus memory known as RDRAM and the new AMD processors use DDR2 SDRAM. Some of the well known memory manufactures are Crucial, Kingston and Samsung.

The following is an image of an PC133 SDRAM that will be used for our demonstration PC.

Motherboard

A motherboard is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that connects your processor, memory and all your expansion cards together to assemble a PC. Most motherboards made nowadays are ATX. An ATX motherboard has the standard I/O (Input/Output) connectors such as PS/2 ports, parallel ports, serial ports, etc, built onto the motherboard. Old AT motherboard on the other hand uses I/O cards and cables which needs to be plugged into the motherboard, which gets a bit untidy. AT motherboard requires AT keyboard and AT power supply. ATX motherboard fits into an ATX case and comes with an ATX power supply. The following is a pictures of an ATX motherboard.

Graphics Card

Graphics card provides display output to your monitor. There are many graphics card manufactures out there who release a new card into the market nearly every three to six months as it is one of the most competitive hardware market. While choosing a graphics card consider what you would be using it for. For 2D applications such as word-processing, spreadsheet etc, a basic graphics card with around 8MB or 16MB graphics memory will be sufficient for your needs. It will also allow you to run your monitor at various resolutions. However, if you require 3D functionality for running 3D applications or playing 3D games you will require a 3D graphics card with at least 128MB or even 256MB of video memory.

You can buy graphics card with a PCI , AGP or PCI-Express bus. However, most current motherboards have AGP or PCI-E slot and you should therefore use an AGP or PCI-E graphics card if your motherboard has an AGP or PCI-E slot. PCI Express graphics card offers much higher graphics bandwidth which results in higher performance. The current top end graphics card are made by Nvida (Geforce cards) and ATI (Radeon cards). The graphics card that we will use for our demonstration PC is a GEFORCE II 64MB AGP card as shown below.

Sound Card

f you require sound for your PC then you will need a sound card. As basic sound cards are very cheap it is recommended that you consider a sound card. It offers many benefits such as running multimedia applications with sound, listening to wave, midi, and MP3 music files or even play your audio CD’s. If you are thinking of playing games on your PC then having a sound card is a must. Most current motherboards also have basic built in sound. One of the most popular sound cards are the Creative’s soundblaster range. We will use a Creatives Sounblaster Live 1024 for our demonstration PC as shown below.

Modem

Modem stands for Modulator Demodulator. It converts digital signals to analogue so that it can travel via your telephone line, and vice-versa. A modem is an essential item if you are intending to connect your PC to the internet.

There are many kinds modems out there based on the Rockwell/Connexant v.90/v.92 chipset. There are two kinds of modem, software and hardware. Software modems uses your CPU resources to perform its tasks and is run on a virtual COM port. Hardware modem performs its tasks using the onboard chipset and therefore does not take up the CPU resources. It also runs on a physical COM i.e. communication port 3. Software modems, which are also known as winmodem can only run on a windows operating system, while the hardware based modem can run on other operating systems like linux. External modems are mostly hardware based and connect to the serial port. You can also get external modems that connect to the USB port, however most of these are software based.

Analogue modems are currently on the decline as they are being replaced by Digital modems which are used for high speed broadband internet. Also known as ADSL modem or ADSL routers. ADSL modems are mostly external although you can get Internal ADSL modem’s. Many people are also using Wireless ADSL routers as it offers an excellent way to share internet connections with multiple PCs. Some common ADSL Router suppliers are Netgear, Belkin and D-Link.

I have decided to use a Connexant 56K v.90 software modem for our demonstration PC as it performs quite well in terms of download.

Floppy Drive

You need a FDD to access floppy disks. Although floppy disks are limited in capacity, only 1.44 mb, every old PC is almost guaranteed to have a FDD. Floppy disk drives and now coming the end of their life span as some current PCs are built without a floppy drive. This is due to the popularity of USB Flash drives. Floppy disk is ideal for storing small files and documents, creating boot disks, and transferring small files. It really does not matter which make of FDD you purchase as they are cheap and performs the same task.

Hard Drive

Hard disk drive stores all your data including operating system, applications, user files and documents. It is a non-volatile storage, which means the contents of the HDD is not lost if the PC is switched off.

There are three different types of HDD, which are IDE/ATA, SCSI, SATA (Serial ATA). Majority of home PCs are equipped with IDE Hard drives. SCSI hard drives are mostly included in servers and powerful workstations as they offer better data transfer rate which results in better performance than the IDE drives. However modern SATA drives are not far behind SCSI drives in terms of performance with the introduction of the newer SATA 300 drives.

The price of IDE/SATA drives have fallen quite dramatically in the recent years. You can buy a very large drive for a competitive price. It is better to buy a drive which is quite large as it works out cheaper. A recommended entry level drive would be 80 GB to 120 GB. The major HDD manufacturers are IBM, Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital and Fujitsu. For our demonstration PC I have chosen use an IBM ATA100 drive as shown below.

CD/DVD Rom

Nearly all operating systems and applications software comes on CD. It is therefore essential to have a CD-ROM drive for installing your applications. Certain programs requires the CD to be in the CD-ROM drive for that program to run. For example, various encyclopedia and games. CD-ROM can also be used for playing standard audio CD’s on your PC. If you are intending to watch DVD movies on your PC then you would require a DVD-ROM which can perform all the tasks of a CD-ROM as well as play DVD movies. CD-ROM’s come in various speeds, the faster drive, the faster it will install your applications. DVD drives specifies two types of speeds, one for the software installation and other for the DVD extraction. For example a DVD drive with 16×32x specification means that it is a 16 speed DVD and 32 speed CD. Some of the CD/DVD-ROM manufacturers include Toshiba, Poineer, Hitachi, LG and Samsung.

PC Speakers

A quality sound card would not be much of a benefit without a decent pair of PC speakers. Most PC speakers are magnetically shielded so that it does not interfere with your monitor, but there are some budget speakers out there that are not shielded, so check before you buy. If you are just going to use the speakers for basic sound and music and are not one of those people who play CDs on a PC then you can get away with a budget PC speaker. However, if you play games and CD’s then you should consider a speaker system with a sub-woofer. These would produce high quality sound suitable for most tasks.

Monitor

t is important that you get a quality monitor that is comfortable to view. Monitors come is various sizes and refresh rate. 17″ monitor are becoming entry standard monitor. 15″ monitors are OK if you are running it at a low resolution and not using it for long hours. As monitor prices have dropped in the recent months it is recommended that you consider a 17″ or 19″ monitor. You can run these monitors at higher resolution and refresh rate, which means they are more comfortable to view and you can work with them for long hours. Monitors are measured diagonally. If a monitor is 17″ it does not mean that it is the actual viewable area. Some 17″ comes with a viewable area of 16″ which is good where as others can be as low as 15.6″. Monitors consist of thousands of pixels (the tiny dots you see on the screen). Smaller pixels produces high definition sharp display. Settle for something which is at least 0.25 mm dot pitch. If you purchase a 17″ monitor make sure it can handle refresh rate of at least 85 Hz at 1024 * 768 resolution. A 19″ monitor should handle at least 1280 * 1024 at 85 Hz.

Currently the most popular viewing device are TFT Flat panels. They are now more affordable than before. Most people prefer TFT Flat panels as they save lot of desk space. They are also more comfortable view

Satellite Card

Digital satellite cards (DVB-S) are designed to allow you to watch Satellite TV or get high speed broardband via Satellite. You can connect the card to a satellite dish using the standard F-socket just like a deicated satellite box. Once installed and the dish is alligned to your chosen satellite like Astra, Hotbird etc you can use a DVB software to watch your favaourate satellite channels on you PC.

There a quite a few manufacturers of satellite cards. Some of the popular brands are Hauppage, Technisat and Technotrend.

CD/DVD Writer

CD Writer / DVD Writer is a very good option for a backup device. It allows you to backup the contents of your HDD onto a CD-R, CD-RW & DVD-R disc. It also allows you to backup your existing application CD’s. As blank CD’s are very cheap, it is an affordable backup device.

Like all other PC hardware a CD/DVD Writer comes in various speed. A 32 speed drive can write a full 650MB CD in around 4 mins and a 52 speed drive can write it in around 3 mins and so on. CD-ReWritable’s are available in IDE and SCSI interface. You will require a SCSI card if choose to get a SCSI model.

CD / DVD Writer is more than just backup device, you can use it to create your own Audio CD, Photo CD, Video CD etc. You can also use your CD or DVD meida just the way you use hard drive, using the usual drag and drop file copy. Most CD/DVD writers are bundled with software which can perform all the tasks I have mentioned.

Cable TV Card

Digital Cable Card (DVB-C) allows you watch cable TV on your PC. In many countries you are given the choice of free-to-air cable TV. It offers an alternative to digital terestial TV via arial.

There are many commercial and free DVB software that allows you to watch, record, or use your PC as a PVR.

TV Card

A TV card gives you the option of watching TV on your monitor. TV cards are quite useful as it offers more than just watching TV. You can connect your VCR to the TV card so that you can watch video’s too. One of the useful things about having a TV card is that you can use it for capturing Video. Using the necessary software you can capture video in various format such AVI or MPEG files. One of the popular TV card is Haupauge WinTV PCI as shown below.

Older TV cards were all analogue device. Now you can get Digital TV cards which allows you to view Digital terrestrial TV channels. You can even get Digital Satellite and Cable TV cards.

Cable TV Card

Digital Cable Card (DVB-C) allows you watch cable TV on your PC. In many countries you are given the choice of free-to-air cable TV. It offers an alternative to digital terestial TV via arial.

There are many commercial and free DVB software that allows you to watch, record, or use your PC as a PVR.

TV Card

A TV card gives you the option of watching TV on your monitor. TV cards are quite useful as it offers more than just watching TV. You can connect your VCR to the TV card so that you can watch video’s too. One of the useful things about having a TV card is that you can use it for capturing Video. Using the necessary software you can capture video in various format such AVI or MPEG files. One of the popular TV card is Haupauge WinTV PCI as shown below.

Older TV cards were all analogue device. Now you can get Digital TV cards which allows you to view Digital terrestrial TV channels. You can even get Digital Satellite and Cable TV cards.

Blu Ray Writer

Bluray writers are the latest storage medium. It is deigned to replace DVD-Writers as it can store 25GB of data on single layer bluray disc or 50GB on a dual layer disc. Becuse bluray is new technology it is still very expensive to have mass market appeal. If you need to backup or archive huge amount of data it would make an excellent backup device.

Silverstone Raven RV01-BW Case

Cases are one of the more important components of a computer in terms of design, the type of computer you're building, cooling and what you can put in it. Case prices range from the $25 one you buy at a "Mom and Pop" computer store to cases costing hundreds of dollars you can only buy as a limited edition. Silverstone is a case manufacturer that has broken the mold with their case designs. They were founded in 2003 and have the philosophy that their expertise is delivered to all products with consistency, in response to user's needs and with maximum user satisfaction. Their Quality Policy is outstanding design, perfect quality and customer satisfaction. It was this in mind that they designed the Raven case on which this review is being written. This case has a unique look but also innovates with a new layout designed to take advantage of rising heat.

DX58SO Motherboard

UPC: 00675900971592
MPN: BOXDX58SO

Rating:

Available at 3 stores from $219.99

Where to Buy | Specifications

The Intel Desktop Board DX58SO is designed to use the Intel Core i7 processors with support for up to eight threads of raw CPU processing power, triple channel DDR3 memory and full support for ATI CrossfireX technology.

ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer Motherboar

The power of the modern computer really shines when compared to the power of a supercomputer from years ago. The Cray 2, the world's most powerful supercomputer from 1989 had a theoretical performance of 3.9 GigaFLOPS. The modern video card such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 has a theoretical computing performance of 933 GigaFLOPS, approaching the performance in computing power of the fastest supercomputer from 1996.

NVIDIA has released their Tesla supercomputer on a video card a year or so ago. With the use of CUDA and their TESLA video cards you can build a supercomputer with the right motherboard. A few months ago I reviewed the ASUS P6T6 Revolution motherboard with six PCI Express x16 slots. A short while ago I reviewed the ASRock X58 Supercomputer with four PCI Express slots that could take up to three Tesla video cards and a Quadro CX card so the idea of a supercomputer based on Intel Core i7 chipset is nothing new. Today marks the debut of ASUS's P6T7 WS Supercomputer motherboard which has no less than seven PCI Express x16 slots!