What Is The Best Value Computer You Can Buy?: Part 4
Continuing with the series of posts of the best value components you can buy for your computer, this section is all about RAM. RAM is a component of the PC which is essential to performance and depending on a number of factors, the ideal amount of RAM can differ from person to person. RAM also has one wonderful quality, it is dirt cheap! This gives you little excuse for skimping on it but there is a point where you will be spending a significant amount of money for very little gain in performance.
Upcoming technology in computers : CPU
In the fast moving world of technology, it can become impossible to keep up with the ever changing landscape. This is why I have introduced this new series of posts to give you guys an idea of what is upcoming in the world of computers and whether it is worth the wait or better to just buy what is currently on offer. New technology also leads to price drops in the older (but not outdated) technology. For example, when Sandy Bridge processors from Intel came out, they offered a large jump in processing power as well as efficiency but laptops with the older generation of i5 and i7 could be found for $500-700, a far cry from the $1700 they were available for 6 months before. If you're willing to buy slightly older technology, the newer components can lead to massive savings for you especially as manufacturers and shops try to clear out their stocks. So what's new in the world of CPUs?
SSDs: Should you or Shouldn’t you?
With more and more manufacturers updating their products to include SSDs you might be wondering if it is time to make the move.
SSD stands for solid state disk. It is essentially the same as a hard drive except instead of using magnetic storage and moving parts, it uses flash memory which has no moving parts. Less moving parts means less mechanical components to fail as well as significantly faster read and write speeds. This makes SSDs highly shock proof since there is nothing mechanical to break inside. Although SSDs have been out for quite a while, for the most part they have been eye-wateringly expensive and, depending on how you look at it, they still can be. The reason for the high price is that flash memory is quite expensive but is slowly becoming cheaper. This is why RAM is coming in large quantities on computers now. 5 years ago it would have cost a lot of money to have 12GB of RAM, today it is considerably less and fast becoming the norm. As time goes on, capacities such as 128GB and 256GB will come down in price which should allow SSDs to replace the hard drive.
The Perfect Laptop – Impossible
Recently, I had to come up with the task of choosing a new laptop to buy. It seems like an easy task until you actually try it. Everywhere you go, every brand, every model - nothing is perfect! You start off with a good idea of what type of laptop you want, the amount of power, the battery life and you find that this laptop you've been picturing in your head simply doesn't exist.
Personally, I wanted a laptop which had a decent graphics card, at least an i5 processor and an anti glare screen for around $1700. The problem being that no one who wanted an anti glare screen had any need for a powerful laptop so you either had to go for an under powered laptop with the screen you want or a laptop with all the power you could need but a screen you can never see unless you close all the curtains and turn off the lights. Anything which looked to be perfect ended up costing around $3000 because it had all these other features which i had no need for.
I'm sure other people have had similar dilemmas when trying to buy a computer, there is nothing which quite fits everything you require for. This means that your purchase ends up being a series of trade offs. For me, I valued power so I got something which was not very expensive, had heaps of grunt and had a full HD screen (still glary). It seemed like an almost perfect laptop, until when I brought it home. I realised it only had a 1.5 hour battery life!
The Trouble With A Cheap Case
Many people are tempted, when building their own computer, to dedicate the majority of their budget to get the best performing components they can afford. This leads to parts like the case which are deemed as unimportant to get very little of the budget. You may be tempted to go to your local computer shop and see a whole bunch of cases around the $120 mark but see one no-name brand case which looks pretty cool and is only $80. STOP!
Before buying this case, have a look at it. What does it feel like? Do the parts seem cheap? Do the different panels fit on properly? Some cheap cases can be an absolute bargain, getting good quality at a low price but there are some fancy cheap cases which may come with LCD screens and cool LEDs but there are areas where there have been cut backs. For example, if the case comes with a fan, this could be the cheapest and noisiest fan available. Sure you could always invest in a better fan, but what if you end up with a more serious problem than that?
An issue you will probably not even consider is the wiring inside the case. The wire which connects the power switches to the motherboard and the card reader to the USB slot. Recently, a firend wanted me to build him a computer. He decided to buy the parts himself and asked me to assemble it. The parts he bought were quite good but he decided get a cheaper case. Once the computer was built, we tested it out and checked everything was working. It was working okay but we could smell something coming from the computer. It got worse when the computer stayed on for longer. We searched around but couldn't see any smoke. Eventually after about half an hour, we took of the front panel and saw that the wire leading from the power switch to the motherboard was smoking. The casing had melted and the nearby wires were also getting affected.
The reason for the smoke was dodgy wiring. The case manufacturer had tried to combine two wires into one and they ended up shorting. This is a problem which you would not expect in a case and if left unnoticed, could cause a fire and ruin the computer and potentially burn down a house. The fact is that with well known manufacturers, you can trust their products and you know there is a degree of quality to them. Cheaper cases often don't have the same quality and this can lead to big problems down the track.
So next time you are building a computer for yourself or someone else and think of skimping on the case, think again.
What do Different Fabrication Processes Mean?
Today I thought I would talk about the advantages which smaller fabrication processes offer. All of the next gen chips are made on smaller and smaller processes. Intel has recently announced their 32nm fabrication process for the next generation processors. Nvidia has started manufacturing their latest GPUs on 55nm processes. So what does all this mean?
Smaller fabrication processes not only benefit the manufacturer but also the end user. They run much cooler and are more power efficient than older processes. If this isn't enough, even the costs come down significantly. An example of this is Intel's Wolfdale. Previously, an all round processsor would have been 2.4GHz and cost around $300. Intel released a 3.0GHz processor for $250 which was not only faster but it could be overclocked like no other processor and still run relatively cool. An Intel E8400 at 3.0GHz could be overclocked to 3.6GHz with no problems whereas previous Intel processors struggled to make such a speed jump without extra cooling.
This means that a 32nm processor will outshine a 45nm processor in everything. Speed, overclocking ability and cooling. Not only this but it will mean that not only gamers will have access to incredibly fast processors due to their affordable price. Anyone will be able to get a processor with a speed greater than 3.0GHz. The effect on Video Cards will be similar. Discrete graphics cards will not be limited to just users needing high performance. Not only this, but it adds the potential to easily build powerful graphics chips into motherboards as cooling will be less of a problem and it will take up less space. Currently Nvidia's latest graphics card, the GTX 295 is fast but it runs incredibly hot. It is impossible to run it in triple SLI with only air cooling. Part of the problem is the 65nm chip. This needs more power and runs very hot. In the future Graphics card manufacturers can fit similar performance in a smaller more accessible package. A smaller process also means more can be crammed onto the chip. As you can see from the above image, Intel is able to fit a graphics chip and memory controller into the processor now as well!
This is what these smaller fabrication processes mean. The advantages they give us are huge. Computers could be put in places you never thought possible. IBM is experimenting with chips right now using structures similar to DNA. This allows manufacturing processes as small as 22nm.
IBM uses DNA structure for Next-Gen Microchips
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp is looking to the building blocks of our bodies -- DNA -- to be the structure of next-generation microchips.
As chipmakers compete to develop ever-smaller chips at cheaper prices, designers are struggling to cut costs.
Artificial DNA nanostructures, or "DNA origami" may provide a cheap framework on which to build tiny microchips, according to a paper published on Sunday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
Microchips are used in computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.
"This is the first demonstration of using biological molecules to help with processing in the semiconductor industry," IBM research manager Spike Narayan said in an interview with Reuters.
"Basically, this is telling us that biological structures like DNA actually offer some very reproducible, repetitive kinds of patterns that we can actually leverage in semiconductor processes," he said.
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Sony unleashes new PSP!
The new, slimmer and lighter PSP
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp unveiled on Tuesday a smaller, lighter PlayStation handled game device called the PSP Go, in a race to catch rival Nintendo in an intensely competitive mobile games arena.
Hours before, Nintendo said it sold more than 15 million units of its blockbuster "Wii Fit" fitness game, and plans an update -- the Wii Fit Plus -- later this year.
Sales of the Wii have dwarfed those of more technically souped-up and pricier rival consoles from Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp, by broadening its audience beyond hard-core video gamers.
On the second day of E3, the largest U.S. video games conference, Sony and Nintendo vied for the spotlight, a day after rival console-maker Microsoft charmed audiences with its "Natal": groundbreaking technology utilizing full-body motion-capture for gamers.
It was the first full day of the show, which is expected to draw some 40,000 game enthusiasts.
Many cheered and whooped at the press event at mere glimpses of new versions of popular games like "God of War" and "Super Mario Bros.," or at the mention of secretive ones like "Agent," which is being developed for the PS3 by the creators of "Grand Theft Auto."
Sony's PSP Go goes on sale October 1 in North America and Europe for about $249, before hitting stores in Japan November 1. It will be half the size of Sony's current PSP 3000 and 40 percent lighter, executives said.
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