Motherboard CPU RAM
Computer Systems Written Assignment. Description of a computer system
Here's a brief description of today's personal computer found in many homes. They are a standard today and this will be an overview on how the components in the computer operate, what their purposes are and how they combine to make a complete system.
There are 7 major components inside a computer. They are: Motherboard - a circuit board known as ‘the heart of the computer'. Every internal component of the computer is connected directly or indirectly to the motherboard. The CPU and memory are usually on the motherboard. Other components may be found directly on the motherboard or connected to it through a secondary connection.
CPU (Central Processing Unit) - ‘the brain of the computer'. Runs the software including the operating system and processes the data.
RAM (Random Access Memory) - The PCs primary storage that is directly accessible by the CPU and holds the data and the software that is currently in use on the computer. It is connected in the slots found on the motherboard and on most computers there are 1, 2 or 4 slots for RAM. RAM and other primary storage types are very fast, quite expensive and also volatile, losing all data in the case of a power cut. The primary storage is faster compared to mass storage devices like hard drives as there is no need for an input/output channel. Having said this, prices for computer's and their components are always dropping, and people can definitely get more for their money these days than when computers where being introduced. An user can get more RAM for less money than a few years ago.
Video Card - again connected to the motherboard with a special video card slot. It is used to create the images that appear on the monitor. Most motherboards accept either an AGP or a PCI Express video card. PCI is becoming more common and dominating AGP.
Power Supply - Supplies the power that the computer needs to run. Usually sits at the top of the case. Obviously very important to have a reliable source as if this fails, then it could cause serious damage to the computer and your data.
Hard Disk - Stores all the data. When the computer is turned on the software and data is loaded from here to the RAM when needed. Standard computer now have huge hard disk space, and as with everything, you get more for your money. A typical PC comes with around 100GB hard drive, but this can be updated and isn't that expensive. PC's can have several hundred GB's of hard drive space, but there isn't much need for a family computer.
Optical Drive - sits in the front bay of the computer. Uses a laser to read or write CDs and DVDs. A CD or DVD burner is an important part of the storage and backup of data on any computer. They are used to read and write CDs or DVDs.
Present PCs
Gaming PCs are very expensive compared to the average home PC. This is because they require more performance from every component in the PC; therefore, each component has to be of a high standard.
Building your own PC is the best way forward as you can specify what you need for your preferences. It is also more cost effective than buying a computer from the big companies as you get more for your money and again, you know exactly what is needed to get the best results. Also, gamers taking much pride in their own computers, so building your own computer is much more satisfying and gamers can boast about their customized computers. Having said this, graphics cards are still expensive and remain prices rise with every new release. But this does not concern the hardcore gamers, as these are most important parts to their system.
Upgrading the memory is one of the most cost-effective ways to supercharge a systems performance. Obviously the better each component is, the better the overall performance of the PC. But this clearly costs more money. The more RAM a computer has, the easier the computer can manage when more and more tasks are performed. Serious gamers regularly update their graphics cards for the best performance and some computers are found with 2 or even 4 video cards to enhance the gaming experience. New cards are brought out every 6 months, and although there is no need to update this regularly for the average user, hardcore gamers do this as a way to show how dedicated they are to gaming, and of course to get the latest technology and best performance out of their computers.
DDR2 SDRAM is the gamer's choice where RAM is concerned. Its benefit is the ability to run its bus at twice the speed of the memory cells it contains, thus enabling faster bus speeds and higher peak throughputs. This is achieved at the cost of higher latency. As with almost all latency: the lower the level, the better. SDRAM latency is a significant bottleneck for system performance. Latency occurs because modern CPUs are much faster than SDRAM, and when accessing memory the CPU has to wait for the memory access to complete before it can make further progress. As there are no real competitors in the market to the DDR2 memory type it is seen, as the gamer's choice. Further, with the introduction of DDR3, it is probable that DDR3 will replace the current DDR2, being capable of running its bus at four times the speed of the memory cells it contains.
A fast hard drive might not make most programs perform better, but they will certainly make programs/games load faster. Choosing the right internal mass storage is key to getting the best results from the system. Where gaming is concerned, the user will focus on the performance and therefore capacity is sacrificed. With the costs of hard drives continually lowering, RAID setups seem to be the desired choice. Basically, RAID combines multiple hard drives into a single logical unit and therefore data is read faster. Gamers with little regard to storage will go for RAID 0 as the best performance levels, and others who have data to store will go for level 1 RAID. Many of today's hard disks measure at 7,200 RPMs where the faster this rate, the faster the data can be read and some can go up to 15,000 RPMs.
The Serial ATA bus is the best option to send data to and from the hard disk. SCSI offers higher transfer rates than its rival but is more expensive and is mostly found on servers.
A system is never complete without an optical drive. Simply put, without one, games cannot be played and so are needed in any gaming machine. DVD burners are forever lowering in price, with the best options possible at speeds of 16X or higher.
Overclocking is an essential task when the user wants the most out of their PC and has become the norm for hardcore gamers. It is a process where the component is forced to run at a higher clock rate than designed by the manufacturers and therefore gives greater speed to the system. This enhances the PCs capabilities for gaming (rendering and frame rate - very important) compared to the manufacturers standard settings. Though, when over clocking, there is some risk involved so obviously the gamer must know what they are doing. As the computer is running at greater levels than intended, advanced cooling systems must be installed in the system to get the most out of the components and to keep the system running smoothly without any danger (heat, fire).
The choice between LCD screens and CRT monitors is still debated, it is clear that a fast response time and high refresh rate is desired in order to display smooth game play. CRT's are better for gaming in general because of colour, resolution, response rate etc. There can be a lot of pixilation/shadows/ghosting when playing fast paced games on LCD screens. Therefore, although some LCD monitors can be found with response rates lower than 8ms, gamers still prefer CRTs as they are more reliable and can offer better results. For all of this to function to its highest possibility, a greater power supply is needed. If a system is not powered correctly then it can cause a great deal of damage to the systems components, and if the computer is underpowered then crashes and failure to boot can occur. The graphics card will ask for the most demand of power in a gaming PC but also the CPU determines what power is the right amount. Typical rated wattages range from 200 W to 500 W. But gaming PCs are no ordinary systems. Gaming fanatics push their systems to the limits and therefore a lot of power is needed to provide each component with the right amount of power and to enable them to function properly. Their power supplies usually range from 500 W to 800 W with some even going up to the 1KW mark.
Evolution of Secondary Storage
A few years ago the 3.5" floppy was used to move data. Now, they are as good as gone. It's hard to believe that data was stored on such small capacity disks, as today, USB pens can store GB's of data, and are continually bettering.
The USB Drive is now considered the main secondary storage. Such is the success of the USB drive, it has now become popular with other media to take advantage and use it for their own purpose drive. The USB drive has proven to be much more reliable, secure, faster and has ever growing capacity compared to the old magnetic storage and the technology continue to advance.
As mentioned earlier, the USB has been taken advantage of as it is so reliable and universal. With this in mind, the portable USB HDD acts as an even bigger storage space, and is also faster. It's an external hard drive that can hold more than enough data for the average user. Capable of holding 100GB's of data, with some small enough to carry around easily, they can act as a backup system or an easy way to transfer large amount of data from place to place.
Operating System
A Windows based operating system is advised, as it is popular with game manufacturers and with consumers. There are a few available but here are the more recent: Windows XP Home Edition, Widows XP Professional Edition, Windows XP Media Centre Edition and the most recent, Windows Vista. Vista will eventually be the gamers chosen operating system, as it is the latest and therefore consists of all the modern technology. Many gamers are still using Windows XP. This is because XP is still highly reliable. New games are still compatible with this system and a lot of people prefer it to Vista. There are a few disadvantages to Vista, e.g. 2Gb of RAM needed to run the operating system. Therefore from a gaming point of view, a lot of RAM is used solely to run the system, therefore creating (at least for now) unnecessary strain on the computer, and this obviously affects the overall performance. Obviously, as technology advances, XP will be left behind just like the others, but Vista has only recently been released so this will take time.
Online Gaming
What are the hardware & software requirements to play online games?
Obviously this all depends on what sorts of games are played. If they are simple games (2D) that do not have a great demand of requirements (e.g. Pool, Chess) then a very basic PC will do. But if the games played are either new, very fast, complex, a lot of detail & graphics and so forth then obviously the better the hardware and software of the PC then the games will play smoothly giving the user a greater gaming experience, and possibly an edge on other gamers. A broadband connection is most desirable, as dial-up is slow and isn't capable of running with the latest online games. The PC should have a decent network card installed to connect to the Internet or other PCs over a LAN (local area network) e.g. a 56K PCI data/fax modem. Gaming PCs more often use Ethernet cables for the fastest and most reliable connection possible.
Recommended specifications:
Hardware: Intel Pentium IV with 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500+ MHz Windows XP 1024 MB of RAM
64 MB 3D graphics card or better Broadband connection
Software: Internet Explorer 6.0 or greater or Netscape Navigator 4.79 or greater (with Java, JavaScript, and cookies enabled) Java Virtual Machine. Or the latest version of Sun's Java.
DirectX® 9.0c or above It also helps to have a sufficient amount of free space on the hard drive to avoid memory issues, which can lead to disconnects and slowdowns during game play. And obviously, a shared connection would slow down the game play as the speed is divided, and downloading should also be stopped during game play.
Security
For online gaming a firewall should be enabled so the user can control what they assume as trusted and un-trusted zones and therefore control what they share and what they don't share to others. Also an anti-virus software program should be installed on the PC to make sure that there are no malware, viruses etc on the computer. The user is then less likely to be attacked by such things and keep gaming and overall tasks running smoothly and correctly. Much freeware security software is available like AVG, which can do a lot to protect the computer. Also, there is a vast range of software available at cost, which obviously does more to protect the computer and have more advanced settings and configurations. Norton AntiVirus editions and McAfee VirusScan are popular.
Typical Gaming PC
As stated previously, a hardcore gamer would update the components of his/her computer regularly.
Cost: around £800
Gaming Athlon 64 Base Unit
AMD AM2 Motherboard
Black and Silver Case
AMD Athlon 64 DualCore X2 6000+ Processor (64 bit)
2GB DDR2 Memory
400GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive
640M GeForce 8800GTS
DVDRW (Dual Layer)
Uprated 600W PSU
19" TFT
5.1 Speakers
Keyboard & Optical Mouse
We provide a professional essay writing service that thousands of our customers use as an effective way of improving their grades, improving their research and saving them lots of time.
