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Tips for buying a Computer.
How Much Memory (RAM) Do I Need?
The more applications you run
simultaneously, the more RAM you'll need. Too little memory can slow down a fast
processor. 32MB is an entry-level for today's applications, and 64MB is
certainly suggested. However, in the last couple of months Memory prices have
risen from as low as Rs. 50 per MB to Rs.
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Is There A Difference Between A Business PC And A Home PC?
The average home user who needs a
general-purpose PC to surf the net and run a couple of applications differs
little from the average office worker. Where they may offer is in the use of
Entertainment trappings like speakers and high end CD-ROM drives (for gaming)
that a business user would find superfluous. That said, if the PC is strictly
for business, motherboard-based sound and graphics components are less important
because there's little need to keep up with ever-more powerful games.
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What Graphics Card Should I Choose?
Do you mostly run common business
applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases? You then don't
require a high-end graphics card (ie. with more than 4MB VRAM (Video RAM). Do
you like playing games? If you want more realistic game play, then you'll need a
card with a minimum 16BM VRAM. 4MB is considered entry-level nowadays, and most
desktops will offer 8MB cards. Abroad, the entry-level is shifting from 16 to 32
MB, so for you 16MB is required. You also need to check if your card supports
3D, as most games now use Direct3D features. Most cards from Asus (300ZX,
V3400TNT, V3800 TVR Deluxe), ATI Range (Fury), Creative (Riva, TNT), Matrox,
etc. support them. Heavy games should also look for OpenGL standards (a
collection of Graphics functions and instructions that can be used for rendering
real-time 2D & 3D graphics on the screen), which support higher fps rates.
Video-Capturing & Editing Software, Vr Glasses and a few game titles are
some of the extras you could get with your card, depending on the features.
Presently, it may cost you an extra Rs. 14,000 to get a 16MB card in lieu
of 4MB.
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What Should Be The Capacity Of My Hard Disk Drive?
IDE vs. SCSI: IDE
drives are the most common of the two. They plug directly into the connectors on
the system's motherboard and require no additional controllers. They also cost
the least per megabyte.
SCSI drives cost more on a per-megabyte basis and require the added cost of a
controller card, but offer certain advantages like attaching more devices.
Though they are ideal in corporate use, they perform better.
ATA and Ultra ATA/66: Most users do not require the existing
performance in either type of drive in everyday applications, so one can ignore
this as marketing jargon 4.3 0r 8 or 10GB: With today's applications being space
hungry, it's always better to go for a larger capacity drive. Though 4.3GB is
considered entry-level, the standard is moving up to 8GB. If your work involves
heavy graphics or video editing, consider an even bigger drive.
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What Should Be The Speed Of My CD Drive (or should I go for a DVD)?
CD or DVD: While the DVD Drive is far
superior to a CD Drive, the lack of software means you won's miss much if you
skip it today. However, if you do decide to go for a DVD, ensure your graphics
card supports MPEG-2 for improved video, else get a card if your system is
slower than 400MHz, though this may not be possible in all cases. What about CDR
/ RW? If you have important data to backup regularly, the CD-R
(write-once CD) or CD-RW (re-writable CD) is always useful. Most standard CD-ROM
and DVD-ROM drives can read the media while audio and video CDs can also play.
As a backup media the disks have a lower out-of-pocket cost as compared to a Zip
/ Jazz cartridge. (See Storage Media for more information).
Speed: 32x is the entry-level for CD-ROM drives. The number
before the "x" refers to the maximum speed of the drive, not the speed
across the entire disc. It has nothing to do with video playback, since video
plays at a fixed rate and most multimedia titles work equally well with
different speeds. Avid gamers who install a lot of titles onto their hard drives
or pull large images off the drives (such as detailed satellite imagery for a
flight simulator) may benefit from higher speed drives, but most users shouldn't
worry much whether the drive says 32x or 40x.
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Which CPU (Processor) should I Choose?
Speed:
There's not that much difference between a Pentium II and a K6-2 and Pentium III
and K6-3. Most people tend to go with an Intel processor, as they have a track
record. Even on our site we have classified the K6 chip meant for techies.
Cache: A
cache captures recent screens you may have visited, saving time whenever you
want to return to those screens. All Celerons have an in-built Cache of 128KB
running at full speed. All Pentiums have a 526KB Cache running at half speed
(effectively 256KB), and all K6 machines have it running at 256KB.
Technology:
If you want to delay obsolescence for as long as possible, opt for a 450MHz or
faster Pentium III or the 400MHz or faster K6-III, both include SIMD
(single-instruction multiple data) for speeding up 3-D games and Web downloads.
Intel calls it's implementation SSE; AMD 3DNow. As a result, software developers
must developer specifically for each of the instruction set. The Pentium III has
the edge on scientific programs, however, because of it's more powerful x87
floating-point unit, which requires no extra programming to use.
Value: The
400MHz and faster Intel Celerons and the K6-2 350MHz and above are among the
best CPU values today. There's almost no difference between the older Pentium II
and the Celeron; in fact, the Celeron merely includes 128K of on-chip cache
running at full processor speed rather than 512K of off-chip cache running at
half speed. Performace tends to be about the same on everyday applications.
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Will Any Sound Card Do?
Sound Card
Unless you're using your PC for music recording or home theater, sound cards are
pretty much commodities. In general a card that supports wavetable MIDI (like
the PCI card) is preferable to the one that supports only FM (ISA Card). The PCI
card is almost standard nowadays.
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