Crucial components of PC

	Motherboard
	Processor
	RAM
	Hard disk drive
	Optical Drive
	Graphics
	Sound Card
	Internet
	Operating System
	Case
	PSU

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This guide is designed to acquaint yourself with the technology and components that are used inside our PCs. Below you will find an explanation of the purpose of every component and how it can benefit the performance of a PC.

We will be begin by examining the various crucial components that make up a desktop computer:

Motherboard

This is the main board inside the PC where all the other components are connected to. Choose a motherboard that has plenty of slots if you are considering adding RAM or cards later on. Click here to see the intel motherboards available when customising your PC, depending on the PC model you have chosen. Lower-end Budget PC models will not have high-end motherboards as an option, so you should look at a PC model in the range above.
Many motherboards are supplied with a built-in graphics card, and they feature a PCI-Express connection if you wish to upgrade. The standard built-in graphics card would be very basic, hence many high-end motherboards are supplied without built-in graphics as it is expected for a dedicated graphics card to be fitted.

Chipset - Controls the interaction a group of integrated circuits. The chipset has a major impact on the performance of the PC and the features of the motherboard. Currently the Intel D945G are used for our entry level PCs. We use the Intel Q35 for our Vpro enabled PCs & D965G for our mid-range PCs. Our gaming systems use the Nvidia SLI680 use top-of-the-range models with extreme performance in mind.

All of our motherboards come with at least the following as standard:

PCI-Express 16x slot
PCI slots
S-ATA2 connections
Ethernet connection
Audio connections
USB connections
PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections

Processor (otherwise known as CPU)

The processor is the beating heart of a PC, it is responsible for carrying out all the calculations. We offer PCs built on Intel processors only. We offer a full range of models which cater for the novice user, business & home users, going up to full-blown gaming models with Dual-Core and even Quad-Core models available. Unlike other components (such as memory), upgrading a processor at a later stage can be difficult and expensive, consider specifying a CPU that exceeds your requirements slightly, as this will make your PC more "future-proof".

Dual core - A CPU that features 2x processing cores residing on one chip, allowing professional and multimedia users to perform two demanding tasks simultaneously.


CPU frequency - The frequency of the CPU, usually measured in Ghz, shows the speed of the internal core of the CPU. This isn't the main performance indicator, you should also look at the cache and the amount of cores the CPU has.

Cache - Used by the central processing unit of a computer to reduce the average time to access memory. The cache is a smaller, faster memory which stores copies of the data from the most frequently used main memory locations.

Click here to see the entire range of Intel processors available.

RAM

Is the place in a computer where the operating system, application programs, and data in current use are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. RAM is much faster to read from and write to than the other kinds of storage in a computer: the hard disk, floppy disk, and CD-ROM. However, the data in RAM stays there only as long as your computer is running. When you turn the computer off, RAM loses its data.

The minimum amount of RAM required to run Windows XP smoothly is 512MB, but 1GB is recommended to avoid performance bottlenecks. The new Vista Operating System requires at least 1 GB if you turn on the 3D "Aero" features. If the PC has onboard video this will use up some of the system RAM, and it would be advisable to specify 2 GB of RAM if using Vista. If you regularly use demanding software, such as video editing or playing 3D games it is recommended that you specify 4 GB.

most of our Intel motherboard based systems feature 4 memory slots, allowing up to 4/8 GB of RAM to be fitted. It is a good idea to specify a higher-spec motherboard when configuring the PC or choosing a PC in the next category up.

DDR2 - Is the next evolutionary step in the DDR infrastructure and has additional features built into it to allow for increased system performance. We only use DDR2 RAM in our PCs

Dual Channel - Motherboard technology used to increase memory performance, by using two channels to load data into memory. The memory controller utilizes two 64 bit data channels, resulting in a total of 128 bits, effectively doubling the bandwidth to memory. In order to achieve this, the DDR2 memory modules must be installed into matching memory slots, which are usually colour coded on the motherboard.


Hard disk drive

Stores all the computer's information and retains the information when the computer is turned off. A fast hard drive is needed to supply the CPU with data as fast as it needs it. Hard drive sizes are typically measured in GigaBytes. The larger the number, the more applications and games you can have installed. We recommend specifying at least a 250 GB hard drive to make sure you don't run out of storage space in the future.


S-ATA2 - All our hard drives are S-ATA2, this is the latest high-speed type of hard drive that can transfer data at a blistering rate of 300Mb/s.

It is a good idea to specify a 2nd hard drive, so that all the files and data can be stored on the main hard drive and install the Operating System on to the 2nd hard drive. In case there is a problem with the Operating System and it needs to be re-installed, you would not lose your data as it would be stored on a separate hard drive.

If you specify 2x S-ATA hard drives of the same size they can be set up in RAID 0 or RAID 1 array, which can improve performance or data protection.

RAID 0 (Striping) - Enhances performance in either a request rate intensive or transfer rate intensive environment. However, this RAID array can increase the chances of data loss, as in the event of one hard drive failing you would not be able to access data from either drive.

RAID 1 (Shadowing/Mirroring) - This RAID array constantly mirrors the contents of one hard drive on the 2nd hard drive. In the event of a hard drive failure an exact copy of all the data will be available on the 2nd hard drive. You would be able to carry on working and you would not lose any data. The only downside is that the second hard drive is used to mirror the other hard drive, which means the total storage space equates to the size of one hard drive, and not the two added together.


Optical drive

There are a variety of optical drives, some capable of just reading CDs/DVDs, others capable of reading and writing to CDs/DVDs. The speed of the drive is an important factor as well the formats it supports.
New high definition optical storage available in the form of Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats are not yet supplied by us due to the extremely high price and limited availability of proper video decoders for movie playback.

We currently only supply:

DVDRW - All our DVD burners will record both the DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW format, and can support the dual-layered or double layer media, which offers up to 8.5GB of storage space. A DVDRW drive is also capable of reading and writing to CDs.

 

Graphics card

If you are a keen gamer you will appreciate the dramatic difference a good graphics card can make to the performance of a game. The purpose of a graphics card is to render 3D frames and improve video and multimedia performance. It is a good idea to specify a graphics card if you are running Windows Vista, as the new Operating System features a 3D interface which will hamper performance if only the built-in video is used.

The latest type of graphics card fits into a 16x PCI-Express slot. All our motherboards support 16x PCI-Express graphics cards, and we only offer this type of graphics card. The old-fashioned AGP graphics cards have been slowly superseded over the last couple of years by the new PCI-E format.

If you are looking for a high-performance graphics cards, the rule of thumb is that the more money you spend the more performance you will get. You shouldn't base your decision purely on the amount of memory the graphics card features, the actual gaming performance will be dictated mainly by the number of pixel piplines and memory clock speed.

Onboard video - Many motherboards are supplied with a built-in graphics card, and they feature a PCI-Express connection if you wish to upgrade. The standard built-in graphics card would be very basic, hence many high-end motherboards are supplied without built-in graphics as it expected for a decent graphics card to be fitted.

DVI & VGA - The DVI port provides a pure digital video signal to a digital flat-panel display or projector. An adaptor can be used to convert from DVI to VGA. VGA is an analogue video connection that connects the monitor to the PC. All our monitors and graphics cards feature both VGA and DVI connections. If no graphics card is specified, the onboard video is usually only VGA.

AGP - An old-fashioned graphics card interface that runs at a speed of 8x.

PCI-Express - The latest graphics card interface that runs at speeds of 16x. It is supported by all our motherboards, and the new graphics cards rolled out are all PCI-Express.

DirectX - Allows programs to interface with and use built in high speed 3D graphic routines on graphic cards for faster processing. The latest version is DirectX 10.0, which is currently only supported by the high-performance NVidia 8-series graphics cards.

S-Video - A type of connection that can greatly improve the picture when connecting a TV to a PC.

Pixel pipelines - part of a graphics card that transfers pixel information. The more pixel pipelines, the faster the video card can process pixels.

SLI - a technology from Nvidia that allows 2x PCI-E graphics cards in the same computer system to be linked, thus sharing the load of the image being created and improving performance. Cards in SLI allow up to 4x monitors to be connected simultaneously as every card features 2x video output connections.

32x SLI - Some motherboards support dual PCI Express x16 slots running at full speed, compared to normal SLI technology which splits up the bandwidth into a speed of 8x per slot. This liberates graphics cards from the narrow bandwidth platform and increases performance.


 

Sound card

The standard sound card is rather basic, and if you have a good speaker system you should consider opting for a higher-spec sound card to create realistic gaming and acoustic effects and detailed surround sound. A sound card is a PCI card that is fitted inside the PC with audio jacks at the back.

Onboard sound - Every PC features at least a 5.1 sound card that is built-in to the motherboard..

Maximum Sample Rate - The higher the sampling rate, the closer the digital file will be to the original analogue source and the better the quality.

3.1 speaker system - A surround sound system that features 3x speakers and 1x subwoofer

5.1 speaker system - A surround sound system that features 5x speakers and 1x subwoofer

7.1 speaker system - A surround sound system that features 7x speakers and 1x subwoofer


Internet

Ethernet connection - Every PC comes with at least a 10/100 Ethernet connection. This allows you to connect your broadband router/modem to the PC and access broadband internet.

Wireless internet - To create a wireless home/office network you need a wireless router/modem, this would spread a wireless signal round the house/office. To access the internet you would need a wireless USB dongle, that connects to a USB slot in the back of the PC.

Dialup internet - If you are using the old-fashioned dialup internet make sure you specify a 56k modem as our PCs do not support dialup internet as standard.


Operating System

This is the main piece of software that controls the components of a computer system and facilitates the operation of applications. The latest Operating System is Windows Vista, there are several versions of this OS and it is very demanding on the PC and requires pretty high-end specification. For full details on Windows Vista - Click here.



 

Case (Chassis)

This the chassis that holds all the components inside the PC. Our standard case is of very high quality, with excellent packaging to protect during transportation. The gaming range of cases available for the Extreme range are made of extremely sturdy 0.8mm steel or aluminium. They also feature excellent ventilation, with a host of internal case fans and a very spacious layout.

USB ports - All our cases feature at least 2x front (or top) USB connections, allowing you to connect a USB device directly to the case, rather than connecting it to the back of the PC.

PSU (Power Supply Unit)

The PSU is the box at the back of the PC where the power cable is connected to, it is a vital component that feeds the power to the rest of the components. If you are specifying a high-spec PC with a powerful graphics card and CPU we recommend you opt for a high-end PSU, around the 600W+ region. If you are after a basic run-off-the-mill PC the standard 350W PSU is sufficiently powerful and is very quiet.
 

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