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Buying
and Performance Advice For Desktop Systems
Below
are some tips and general bits of information we’ve gathered
for those of you who want to acquire buying knowledge for what to
look for in a PC and things to possibly steer away.
Before you buy a new computer, we suggest you know what your primary
uses for it will be, and then map out what it should include.
In addition, we don’t recommend buying the fastest processor
available. You can save quite an important amount of money going
with a slightly older and slower processor, and you won’t
typically notice a dramatic difference in performance. Sharp differences
could be obviously noticed between a 1GHz machine and a 500MHz system,
but there usually isn’t a huge difference between a machine
running at 900MHz and a comparable system with a 750MHz processor.Conversely,
a significant difference between comparable systems using different
amounts of RAM could be always seen. For example, a machine with
128MB of RAM almost always easily surpasses a comparable system
with 64MB of RAM. There may not be an easier way to improve your
PC’s performance than increasing the RAM. After doing so,
a good indicator that performance has improved is the ability to
simultaneously run more applications more smoothly.Also, there are
different types of RAM, and they are priced differently. Most systems
ship with SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), but there’s also
RDRAM (Rambus RAM) and DDR SDRAM (double-data-rate SDRAM). RDRAM
and DDR SDRAM are considered faster memory types, but both are generally
more expensive and can drive up the system’s price, especially
in the case of RDRAM.A noticeable leap in performance with systems
using RDRAM over comparable machines using SDRAM is usually observed.
However, the price is more expensive. In some industry circles,
RDRAM isn’t considered dramatically better than cheaper DDR
SDRAM.In general, it’s preferable that a system have at least
one open PCI card slot and one open drive bay for expansion, even
if you think you’ll never use them. As fast as technology
develops, evolves, and advances, you might have to make upgrades
to keep your system viable. The amount of expansion ability you
need depends on what type of user you are. Dell and Micron generally
make the best systems for expansion because both companies produce
systems with spacious interiors that are easy to access and work
on. Even their low-end systems usually have roomy interiors that
make reaching a RAM slot, drive bay, and card slot with two hands
easy, even for novices.If you’re working on the interior,
disconnect the power and modem connection and ground yourself by
touching a metal edge. Some systems require moving cords, wires,
and ribbons out of the way to reach a card slot. Others require
disconnecting and moving the power supply aside, which is more involved.
Better systems available recently have sliding tabs that release
the drives without the need of tools.Ventilation is something you
should also inspect and maintain. There are systems that have a
fan or funnel built directly on the processor to cool it and additional
fans at the front and back to cool the motherboard and the rest
of the interior. Typically, air is pulled through vents and blown
across the motherboard by the fans. Air is usually drawn out of
the system with a fan by the power supply. Dust will collect at
this area and should be periodically cleaned (after unplugging the
system). Also, consider replacing the primary fan about every six
months.
Storage and drives are other areas where you can benefit from expanding.
Entry-level systems now include hard drives as large as 20GB or
more, and some low-end systems we’ve seen offer both DVD-ROM
and CD-RW drives. Bumping storage space up an extra 5GB to 10GB
isn’t terribly expensive but can be extremely useful if there
will be multiple users, such as children or teenagers installing
games and downloading MP3 files. We suggest keeping your hard drive
as free as possible of MP3 files and digital images, because they
can be difficult to organize and they exhaust space quickly.Some
points you have to know about systems are really a matter of common
sense and good judgment, yet they often get overlooked. For example,
systems with built-in speakers nearly always produce horrible audio
but many users assume any set of speakers will output decent sound.
Many low-end systems use audio and video that’s integrated
into the motherboard instead of using a separate soundcard and graphics
accelerator card inserted in an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)
slot. Such systems typically use small amounts of video memory that
is usually shared with the system’s overall memory. For example,
a system may have 8MB of video memory, but that 8MB is taken from
the system’s overall 64MB of RAM. You’ll see a big drop
off in quality while gaming and watching DVD movies.In general,
integrated video is fine for running basic home office applications
or Internet tasks. In addition, we’ve seen good improvements
in performance with the introduction of Intel’s 815E chipset
used with Pentium III and Celeron processors. The chipset has specific
designs geared to video performance and it uses integrated video;
however, it also lets users install a separate graphics accelerator
card. In our tests, systems with the 815E chipset have outperformed
other chipsets geared to integrated video. Currently, Dell’s
Dimension 4100 uses the 815E chipset and is the best performing
system we’ve seen in its price range. Beyond chipsets, some
manufactures use configurations unique to their machines. For example,
many HP systems we’ve tested split the sound card in two by
putting the audio input, output, and microphone ports on one card
and the joystick and speaker out jack on the modem. The configuration
doesn’t hurt performance but makes upgrading the soundcard
more difficult.If you have trouble with a particular peripheral’s
performance, don’t automatically assume it’s the peripheral.
It could be the system. Install the peripheral on another computer.
If it fails, the problem is probably the peripheral. If not, it’s
probably the system. Also, check for loose cables and cards before
assuming the computer is faltering.It’s also good to check
a supplier’s technical support system before buying. We use
tech support often and run into a lot that is bad. Actually call
the tech support a couple of times to determine the delays you can
expect to encounter. Also, examine the company’s online support
and availability of upgrades and drivers, and determine what the
policy is for getting software support.
Overall, there’s a lot to consider when buying a computer
and much more to keep track of after you begin to put it to use.
Much of what we’ve learned about systems has been through
trial and error and repetition. The more you use your system, the
more ways you’ll find for improving performance and keeping
things running smoothly.
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