Handcrafted PC - Glossary

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First of all let us explain that all PCs are made up of the same type of components, in other words they all have the same architecture. Furthermore as the PC is what is termed an open architecture this means that you can take components from different manufacturers and assemble them into a PC. This is exactly what PC manufacturers do. Although you may buy a PC branded "ABC" brand this does not mean the components are made by "ABC". Typically PCs are made for a specific price point, especially at the competitive low end of the market and consequently the manufacturer will shop around for the best price for each individual component. It is not unusual for the same model of PC from the same manufacturer to vary in the individual components over a period of say six months. This can make support difficult if you buy a number of PCs over time. With different components this can mean that different drivers are required to run Windows and as a result one machine may respond differently to a new version of software. At Handcrafted PC we generally build to a required level of functionality ( much like the policy adopted by Apple ) and hence we use a much more consistent set of components. We also explain what manufacturers we use for each component which means you can be confident of being able to get the right drivers.

Now let's get into each component in turn.

The Case and Power Supply (PSU)

This is one of the most expensive components of the PC. It may sound simple, surely all cases and PSUs are the same and the choice does not really matter. Well no they are not. The case determines the form factor, so one can choose from a small case that can be operated in either vertical or horizontal positions right through to a standard and fairly large tower. The case size depends on how many hard disks can be accommodated, the cooling possible ( see more about this later ), the type of optical disk that can be accommodated ( slim & slow versus standard size and fast ).

The power supply or PSU is absolutely vital to the health of your PC. Modern PCs require much more power than those from 5 to 10 years ago. An old 10 year old machine probably had a 150W PSU which would not be sufficient to operate a modern motherboard and CPU. Lack of power can result in unexpected shut downs and loss of data. We use a specially formulated calculator that works out how much power is required and then allow an extra 30% for margin and adding extra hard drives at a later date.

The Motherboard

This is the heart of your PC. It is where the CPU goes, the RAM, and to which all the other components are connected. We only use ASUS or Gigabyte motherboards. These are fully supported by the manufacturer and come with a comprehensive manual. The choice of motherboard depends on your requirements. Many users do not use their PC for highly demanding graphics such as required by gamers and video processing. For these users a motherboard with in built graphics can provide everything required and remove the need for an additional and potentially expensive graphics card. However there is an expansion slot that allows such a card to be added at a later date if required. Other choices to be made are the make of processor, AMD or Intel and whether RAID is going to be required. RAID is explained in more detail below.

The CPU

This is the brain of your PC. There are two main choices, AMD or Intel. Both make comparable products. Generally AMD are cheaper than Intel equivalents. There are two additional considerations to make, how many cores on the CPU and what speed. In the past a CPU contained one processor, now they can contain, 1,2, 3 or 4 individual processors. Each is capable of running a different part of your system at once so you can get an element of parallel processing. However in order to take advantage of these cores the software must be written in such a way to take into account this architecture. In practice older software is unlikely to do so. Then there is the clock speed of the CPU. The higher the clock speed the less time a CPU takes to execute an instruction. In pricing terms a quad core 2.3GHz processor is a similar price to a duo core 3.0Ghz processor. Generally the higher the clock speed the better. The trade off between 4 cores and lower clock speed versus higher clock speed and 2 cores depends on how you intend to use the PC. We can advise you on this once we understand how you will use the machine.

RAM Memory

The RAM fits on the motherboard. The first PC I bought in around 1987 had 4Mb of memory and ran quite quickly. Now the minimum we recommend is 1Gb for a unix based machine and 2Gb for a Windows machine. Increasing the RAM is one of the cheapest and most effective ways of speeding up your machine. Also another word of warning. RAM memory can fail, and when it does the effects are quite unpredictable. It is important to do a comprehensive test on new memory when it is installed and at periodic intervals, especially if you are experiencing random crashes. The memory check by the PC BIOS is a very quick check and does not pick up more subtle faults. We always run a comprehensive test of memory on all the PCs we sell. This can take well over an hour for a machine with 2Gb or more. Different motherboards require different sorts of memory. The most common is DDR2 which is normally what is used for the motherboards we supply.

The Hard Drive

This contains all your data and the operating system. Hard drives are very important as a failure means loss of your data. Fortunately such a failure is rare but also inevitable if you keep a PC for a long time. It is said you should expect a failure every five years or so, but in fact the Mean Time Between Failure is a far higher figure. Suffice it to say that backups are essential. The capacity of a hard disk is currently around 160Gb to 2Tb. We typically supply 320Gb or 500Gb as standard. It is good practice to use 2 drives, one for the operating system and the other for your data. This speeds up your machine.

The Optical Drive

In order to load software, burn CDs, DVDs etc you need an optical disc drive. A DVD writer that can write dual layer discs is provided as standard on all our machines. The standard drive writes at up to 20x. This is an inexpensive item and is again a cheap upgrade on older machines without a DVD writer.

Graphics Card

Generally a graphics card is only required if either the motherboard does not include graphics capability, or is insufficient for your needs. In practice unless you intend to use the PC for intense gaming or video processing a dedicated graphics card will not be required. On older machines adding a new graphics card is again a good way to upgrade your system.

RAID

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Discs : This is a very effective way of managing your data. The most common RAID configurations are RAID 0 and RAID 1. RAID 0 means you write data across 2 or more hard discs but the operating system sees it as a single disc. This speeds up data access but means if any one of the hard discs fails then all your data is lost. RAID 1 means you mirror data from one hard disc to another. In the event of a hard disc failure the data is protected as it is on the second hard disc. Modern motherboards can provide this functionality directly from the motherboard.