Specifying the Components to Build a PC - Essay Example

Specifying the components to build a PC Contents Sr. # Contents Detail Pg Introduction 3 2. Problem ment 3 3. Budget 4 4. Budget Justification 5 5. Component Justification 6 6. Justification of Specification 7 7. Component Information 9 8. References 11 Specifying the components to build a PC Deliverable A (Introduction) Buying a computer is a difficult task because there are a variety of components present in the market. So it is difficult to decide the most suitable components that meet your needs. There are also issues related to the manufacturers and models of components that are compatible to each other. For example: although the DDR RAM (Double Data Rate Random Access Memory) is faster than the SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory) but you have to be well aware of the motherboards that are compatible with DDR RAM and others that support SDRAM. You cannot buy a DDR RAM for a motherboard that is compatible with SDRAM and vice versa. Same is the case with other components. In this paper, we will take a look at the important issues that are to be kept under consideration when assembling or buying a computer. Problem Statement Let us consider that we want to buy a computer for our personal use. A personal computer (PC) does not need to have very high performance and costly components. The main components that should be the better ones are the processor and the RAM. Because these two components, if are of best capabilities, ensure the working performance of the whole system. A personal computer should be optimized for multimedia, gaming and application programs like word processors, spreadsheet programs, etc. It should be capable of running programs in parallel as most people like to listen to their favorite music while typing an email to one the best friends, etc. Computer games often contain a lot of transitional effects and animations, so LCD supportive to high resolutions will be a good choice. Deliverable B (Budget) Budget is always the most important consideration in buying a computer. Always define a proper budget range in which you can easily afford to buy the computer. This will help you to decide the components that will be suitable to purchase within your budget range. After the budget is decided, make a list of the components that you want to be attached to your machine. In our scenario, let us consider that we have $800 budget in total. We will try to get the best possible components within this budget. Now we have to decide the components that are required for our computer. First we have to make a list of those components that are a must for the computer to work. These components are as follows: Sr. # Component Names Budget 1. Motherboard $40 - $50 2. Processor $40 - $100 3. RAM $40 - $60 4. Hard Disk $90 - $100 5. Keyboard & Mouse $20 - $50 6. Monitor/LCD $200 - $300 7. CD Drive $20 - $30 8. Floppy Drive Maximum $10 9. Power Supply $40 – $50 10. Casing $40 - $50 This is a list of all those components that are necessary for every personal computer to work properly. The system will have built-in VGA, sound card and an internal speaker. Now, we will try to take a look at these components in detail and try to get the best suited components within our budget and as per our requirements. Deliverable C (Budget Justification) If we look at the quotation given in the above section, it looks very valid and much compatible to the budget and required design of a personal computer. The components mentioned are enough to build a perfect personal computer. We have no need to purchase or install any extra expensive components. The design decision is pretty sensible as no extra component is being used and the design is very much within the affordable budget. The main thing is to buy the most suitable possible components in an affordable price. The components like Processor and RAM are to be spent a little more than the other components because as described earlier, they ensure the speed and efficiency of a computer system. As a personal computer should be optimized for gaming, multimedia, animations and graphics, so more budget is kept for a good LCD monitor. The other components are quoted very affordable. No expensive component is being bought without justification. The motherboard being purchased will have a built-in VGA and Sound Card and the system will have built-in speakers. So these extra components are not needed to be purchased. This proves that the design is sensible and very much affordable within the given budget range. Deliverable D (Component Justification) All the components mentioned above are very much essential for a personal computer to work properly. The motherboard, processor, RAM, hard disk, keyboard & mouse, monitor and casing are the components without which a computer system is of no use. I think the two components that are the CD-Drive and the Floppy drive need some justification. The CD-Drive is very important for a computer system because almost 90% of the software coming in the market is on CDs. So to get the required software installed on the computer, CD drive is of utmost importance. Some manufacturers ship driver software on floppy, especially the drivers related to the critical system components like RAID controllers. A RAID controller is installed when a system is initializing to copy necessary files for a Windows installation. At that time, no other storage device can be used to install the RAID controller, else than floppy. So a floppy drive is also important to install such system drivers. As described earlier, the system will have a built-in VGA, sound card and speaker. There is no need to buy these components separately. This will save some amount in the budget which is added to the amount for the LCD monitor for better gaming and multimedia. A personal computer need not have a very expensive processor like Intel Centrino or Intel Xeon. An Intel Pentium 4 processor will do the job for a personal computer. So again no need to spend extra money to buy very expensive processors like of Xeon family, etc. A lot of information can be found on the internet describing the suitable processors for personal use. Deliverable E (Justification of Specification) Shopping List: After a thorough research and analysis, the list of items and their prices is as follows: Sr. # Component Price 1 Intel D945PAW motherboard $ 44.00 2 Intel Pentium 4 processor 2.60 GHz $ 47.00 3 Kingston 1 GB DDR2 RAM 4 Samsung SyncMaster 226BW LCD Monitor $ 270.00 5 Microsoft (BX200004) Keyboard and Mouse $ 29.00 6 Sony CRX230E CD-RW Burner $ 27.00 7 Dell 250 Watt ATX Power Supply $ 48.00 8 Sony Internal Floppy Drive $ 4.00 9 Tide by Platinum Systems $ 41.00 The shopping list shown above is a very sensible one. It costs the buyer ----- in total. The components shown in the list are compatible to each other and the system will show a good performance and speed as per specification. The two main components, Processor and RAM, are 2.60GHz and 1 GB respectively. The processor is based on the Hyper-Threading technology which will support running multiple programs in parallel. The DDR2 RAM technology will provide fast memory access and high data transfer rate. With the Samsung 226BW LCD Monitor, the user will get a sensational gaming and multimedia experience. The information provided about components in the list is easily available on the internet. Different websites offer different rates for these products but I have chosen the best performance components at the most suitable prices. All the components are products of some very well established companies like Intel, Kingston, Dell and Samsung. All these vendors have some very good repute in the whole world and provide the best quality brands. Some quality information about each component mentioned in the list can be found on their vendor sites and a lot of other sites on the internet. I have searched a lot of independent information about each component and then decided to go for them. The web sites containing detailed purchasing information about each component are listed in the references section of this document. Deliverable F (Components Information) The web pages containing the price and detailed specifications of the components listed above are recently updated. I have done a lot of internet research and tried to find the best and updated information about the components. This information is merely not from just one site. It is a result of a lot of web surfing, study and my own personal experiences. All the components mentioned in the list are from the best computer component vendors in the world. These companies have their regional offices around the globe. They also have got their resellers all over the world. So, any component listed in the quotation is not difficult to find any where in the world. As for the identification of the components, there is a component serial number embossed on each component from the manufacturing company. So the component can be verified from the company’s web site by just entering the component’s serial number. They also have their vendor labels on them for easy identification. Deliverable G (Statements Explanation) There are two famous statements; I would like to discuss them one by one. The first one is “Always spend 50% of budget on processor”. As processor is the main component that is to ensure the processing speed and efficiency of a computer system, so always try to spend as much amount on processor as possible. If the processor is a good one based on the latest technologies, then the system will never drop its performance. The second statement “Don’t spend an extra £20 buying from the same manufacturer” means that try to purchase components of different manufacturers. Avoid purchasing every component of the same vendor. This will enable them to charge some extra amount with each component and you will ultimately end up paying some extra amount. References The DealTime website. http://www.dealtime.com/ The Misco website. http://www.misco.co.uk/ An article titled “Intel Compatible Motherboard Buying Guide” Read More