Computer Hardware and Operation - Essay Example

? Computer Hardware and Operation Introduction Computer hardware and operation play a very important role in the daily functioning of modern day business enterprises. With the help of right kind of hardware systems (including printers, servers, mother board, and memory), it can facilitate an organization to meet the varying business needs. In this era where booming technologies are running the business world, the application of advanced hardware has become a necessity for the global corporations. In relation to the provided scenario, it has been determined that a company has made a purchase of a number of personal computer equipment at a random basis. This has created a difficulty to maintain the entire system which has brought about the need to properly configure the system based on user requirements. Responsively, it has been observed that in order to ensure that different users derive utmost usability from the usage of their system, a categorization has been made which includes configurations required for standard users, power user and elite user. The standard users would perform basic administrative related tasks such as spreadsheets, word processing along with internet. Conversely, power user would perform engineering and information technology (IT) related tasks. Entailing a moderate budget of $1400 for each system, these systems would require features such as high quality graphics along with sound, greater proportion of memory and storage. Similarly, the system of elite user to be used by the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) would be arranged in such a manner which would ensure latest features and top ranked quality. With these background considerations, the paper intends to provide reasoned justifications for the selection of a few of the major components for these users including case, power supply, processor, mother board, memory, storage (magnetic and optical) and monitor. The key aspect of the paper is to detail feasible budgeted configuration plans for each of the users so that their needs are satisfied. Reason for Selecting Each of the Major Components for Different Types of Users Case. Computer case which also termed as system unit or base unit is one of the major components of a computer system. Cases are usually manufactured by steel or aluminum. In addition, case at times is manufactured with plastic and even wood as well. Cases come in different sizes. The size of the case is majorly dependent on the motherboard. For instance, a case prepared for an ATX motherboard along with power supply may assume a number of external forms. Various kinds of cases that are available in the market include vertical tower, flat desktop and pizza box. Responsively, it is observed that business organizations often depend on the desktop cases and mini-tower cases. Computer cases layout is designed with sheet metal which consumes the power supply. Moreover, the rear board is constructed with billet peripheral connectors which protect the expansion slots and motherboard. Cases usually possess power switch, reset button and LEDs to help show the power status and activity of the network. In recent scenarios, the most popular cases in the consumer market include ATX (PCGuide, 2001). In relation to the provided scenario, it can be affirmed that there would be a requirement of a diverse set of cases for different user configurations i.e. elite, standard and power. For standard configurations, there would be a prospective purchase of 12 systems wherein the budgeted value of each system has been assigned at $750. Considering these factors, the suggested computer case will be Full Tower ATX Gaming Case. The price of this case is US$8 for each piece, featuring advanced cooling system and convenient install procedure which would fulfill the requirement of the standard users. Furthermore, for power users, the recommended case will be ATX Computer Case/Cabinet black with silver and the price will be US$10.15 for each piece. This case renders side panel window facility. Conversely, for elite system configuration, the price of the suggested case would range between US $120-190 with three year international warranty (Alibaba, 2013). The elite configuration system would require a high-end computer case as the CFO has categorically presented his desire for obtaining a system which is a status symbol. Power Supply. Power supply unit (PSU) is a key component within a computer system which helps to convert mains AC to low-voltage controlled DC power for the inside constituents of a computer. In the present day context, personal computers usually use switched-mode power supply (SMPS). A few of the power supply units have automatic manual sector for input voltage as well as certain power supply units have automatic adapt technic for supplying the voltage. Most of the modern computers and hardware users’ focus on ensuring the use of high quality power supply devices which helps them to largely reduce problems such as disruption of work due to system failure. Technological system based devices such as computer consume +5VSB power supply. Contextually, it can be said that for standard configuration users, the power supply / AC adapter is mandatory. On the other hand, any kind of DC- DC and AC-DC kind of power supply would be needed for the power user as well as elite system configuration. The main reason behind choosing these kinds of power supply configurations for any kind of system is that they help the system to convert and supply power of 115V to 230V receptacles. Moreover, the system normally receives double voltage which benefits power supply and helps the user to prevent any unwanted incidents. It is necessary for any kind of configuration system to select higher capacity power supply. The higher capacity power supply renders faster processor functioning capability and good cooling system. In relation to the case scenario, it can be suggested that for the standard configuration, the power supply should be DX-400WPS by Intel. It provides 400 Watt power supply with one year warranty. The power consumption of this power supply unit is very low which is very much beneficial for the standard users. Conversely, for the power users, the power supply unit would be DX-520WPS by Intel. It provides maximum 520 Watt power supply along with 1 year warranty term. In addition, it also offers 4+4-pin +12V CPU connector. This is very much helpful for the IT professional and engineers as well. Similarly, for the elite system configuration, the power supply should be CMPSU-850TXV2. This power supply unit offers 5 years of warranty period with active power factor connector (Pearson Education, 2013). Mother Board. Mother Board is the prime circuit board for the computer as well as any kind of stretchy system. For choosing the mother board of any kind of related system configuration, it needs to consist of the following steps. Firstly, there is a need to select a good microprocessor; and consequently reject the mother board systems which do not support CPU. Moreover, there is a need to eliminate the mother board which does not provide case system and to select the mother board which is user friendly. In relation to the designated scenario, it can be said that for standard users, the mother board should be Intel BOXDQ45EK, which is less expensive than certain other mother boards. The memory of this mother board is 4GB which essentially fulfills the needs of standard configuration users. On the other hand, for power user configuration, the mother board should be SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIE-O ATX. This is because it provides up to 32 GB memory and Intel 82574L chipset which can help the IT professional and engineer to fulfill their all kind of activities. These activities include the use of excellent sound and graphics which can be conveniently achieved with this configuration. For Chief Financial Officer (CFO) i.e. elite user, it can be suggested that CROSSHAIRVFORMULA-Z mother board is the best for him. This motherboard can fulfill all the requirement of the CFO, with 32 GB system memory (ASUS, n.d.). Processor. Processor is the one of the prime constituents for any kind of system configuration in computer. Processors are essentially used for resolving the calculation of mathematical data very easily. Processors also facilitate to run various kinds of required software in a system through input/output configurations. In relation to the provided scenario, it can be suggested for the standard configuration users that the processor should be AMD Turin Dual-Core ZM-80. On the other hand, for the power user configuration, the processor should be Dual-Core AMD Opteron 2220, it facilitates the IT/ Engineer professionals to execute fast graphics related activities with 10 common single CPU. Apart from this, the processor gives multiple processing structures. On the other hand, for the elite system configuration, the required processor is AMD - 3.60 GHz Processor, which would be very much beneficial for the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). This processing system provides 2000 MHz hyper transport speed and AM3+ socket processor which help the Chief Financial Officer to solve his financial related problems (AMD, n.d.). Memory. For ensuring smooth functioning of various installed programs on a computer system, Random Access Memory (RAM) plays a vital role. For improving the speed of a computer, properly configured and installed RAM can facilitate a long way. For standard configuration system, RAM should be Synchronous Dynamic RAM. On the other hand, for the power users, the RAM should be Double Data Rate SDRAM. This RAM gives enough memory space for data storage and it is very much beneficial for the IT/ Engineers as they would require greater access to memory. On the other hand, for elite user configuration, the memory used should be HP Low Power kit memory, which gives 32 GB memory space (Altera. 2013). Storage (Magnetic and Optical). In terms of storage device, there is a need of two main categories of storage devices i.e. primary optical storage device and secondary optical storage device. For all kind of system configurations, storage is a vital facet. Storage devices hold data in the time when a computer turned off. The principle use of storage device is to store the data. Storage devices mainly entail diskette drives, tape drives and hard drives. In the related scenario, the storage device of the three related categories of configuration will be same i.e. each will require hard drives (AMD, n.d.). Monitor. Monitor is determined as electronic visual display. For the standard user configuration, the monitor should be CRT based monitor and the size of the monitor should be 19 inches. Similarly, the size of the monitor of the power user should be 19 inches as well but it should be LCD monitor. Apart from these, the version of the monitor for the elite configuration user should be LED and the size should be 21 inches (AMD, n.d.). Itemized Cost List Particulars Standard Configuration (Per System) Power User Configuration (Per System) Elite Configuration (Per System) Case $58 (Rose will REDBONE U3 Mid-Tower) with Keyboard and Mouse (Price would approximately $50) $10.15 $190 Power Supply $50 (Antec VP-450 450W PSU) $60 $75 Mother Board $95 (ASRock Z77 Pro3 Z77 Motherboard) $160 $240 Processor $70 (Intel Pentium G860 3.0 GHz Sandy Bridge CPU) $180 [With In-Build Graphics Card] $250 Memory $56 [G.Skill Ares Series 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit (2 x 4 GB)] $275 1500 Storage (magnetic and optical) $110 (Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM HDD) $199 $350 Monitor $150 $250 $550 Total $589 $1134.15 $3155 Source: (Bestofmedia Group, 2013) Conclusion This paper has focused on rendering an evaluation plan related to various types of system configurations. These configurations have been prepared based on a specified budget amount and consumer requirements. From the evaluation, it has been determined that power supply, processor and memory are amid the key components of a computer system. The specifications of these components vary according to the degree of complexity of the software and constituents used by the consumers. References ASUS. (n.d.). Upgraded 990fx motherboard with exclusive rog gaming audio and networking technologies. Retrieved from http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULAZ/ Altera. (2013). internal memory (ram and rom). Retrieved from http://www.altera.com/literature/ug/ug_ram_rom.pdf Alibaba. (2013). computer case. Retrieved from http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/147837122/computer_case.html AMD. (n.d.). AMD Phenom™ ii processor model number and feature comparisons. Retrieved from http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/phenom-ii/Pages/phenom-ii-model-number-comparison.aspx Bestofmedia Group. (2013). Buyers guide: budget Intel-based gaming pc configuration. Retrieved from http://www.tomshardware.com/system-configuration-recommendation-54.html PCGuide. (2001). system case styles and sizes. Retrieved from http://www.pcguide.com/ref/case/styles.htm Pearson Education. (2013). Comptia a+ cert guide: power supplies and system cooling. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1945640 Read More