How to Choose a Sound Card

How to Choose a Sound Card

Are you baffled by the different types of sound cards on the market? I mean, do you really need 5.1 channel surround sound? Or wavetable synthesis and EAX support? Or are you looking for a simple, basic sound card? Some PCs even come with sound cards built-in. This article will help you with your decision by elaborating on the different factors to consider when buying that new sound card. Armed with this information, you'll be able to make better purchase decisions.

Some sound cards available in the market

 

What Are Your Needs?

First thing to consider here is your intended usage of the sound card. If all you want is basic sound support and not spectacular 3D surround sound, I'd say go buy a cheap, simple card or even rely on your motherboard's on-board sound. If you want great surround sound and better speaker connectivity options, then you'll want to consider a dedicated sound card.
 

What's Your Budget?

As always, cost is an important issue to consider. A basic, no-frills sound card these days costs about $10, while the latest heavy-duty sound card with surround sound support can cost about $250. If you only need simple sound support, don't waste money buying a high-end product with features you don't need.
 

Surround Sound
A critical factor to consider is to take a look at what sound standards your sound card supports. Most high-end sound cards in the market today have EAX and 5.1 surround sound support. You can connect up to five speakers to these cards to enjoy a surreal, 3D audio effects. Some cards even starting to provide 7.1 surround sound support.
 

Special Needs

Do you have any special needs that you need to cater for? For example, if you're into professional, multi-track music recording, you'll want to get a proper multi-channel sound card. If you're into things like MIDI, you'll want a card that supports provides good MIDI support.
 

Is Your Computer Good Enough?

If you want to take advantage of the latest features in the new sound cards out there, you'll usually need to ensure you have a powerful CPU to go along with it. No point having the latest super-duper audio card if you're installing it into an old Pentium 3 computer.
 

Bundled Software

It's also useful to look at what software comes with the sound card package. Cards like the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy are wonderful because they throw in great music and audio software. This will save you money, especially if the software you've always wanted is found in the package.


Conclusion

To sum up, sound cards are an essential component in computers today - they're your gateway to experiencing true multimedia. Make sure you consider your audio needs and do some homework before buying that sound card. If you don't need certain high-end features like multi-track recording support, or hard-disk recording, then go for a lower-end card.

How to Choose a CD, DVD or Hard Drive

How to Choose

a CD, DVD or Hard Drive

There are many devices which can be used to store or write data in your computer system. The options include hard drives, USB/Firewire storage devices, CD writers and DVD writers. Hard drives are a very essential (and delicate) piece of equipment and are a standard feature on most computers. CD writers are also very common. USB/Firewire storage devices and DVD writers are currently getting more popular with consumers.

Some hard drives, CD and DVD drives available in the market
 

This article will give you some tips on selecting proper data storage devices for your PC.
 

Hard Drives

First, let's cover hard drives. We'll look at some hard drive terms like ATA and SCSI, as well as cover the factors to consider when buying a new drive.

ATA and SCSI
Let's get some terminology out of the way before we go further. In the hard drive world, there are two data access standards, ATA and SCSI (pronounced 'Scar-Zee'). The ATA standard is split further into Parallel ATA (PATA) and Serial ATA (SATA). Most of normal hard drives we're used to rely on the PATA standard. Some newer hard drives use the SATA standard.

SATA allows transfer speeds of up to 150 MBs while PATA gives up to 133 MBs. However, to use SATA, you'll need a Serial ATA controller, a SATA drive and a SATA power cable. The speed difference between PATA and SATA is also not significant unless you have a high-end SATA drive.

The SCSI standard is a very fast hard drive standard used for professional computer systems which demand extremely fast data access. SCSI drives provide an access time of about 9.5ms - which I feel is really not needed for average home use.

Disk Space vs. Price
An important factor to consider is the disk space versus price ratio. When you look at the 30 GB, 40 GB and 80 GBPATA hard drives, you'll find they are very close in price. If you don't mind paying an extra $20 or so, I'd say go for the maximum disk space you can get! If you do a lot of graphics or video editing, you may want to consider larger drives like the Seagate 160 GB hard drive. For the average home user, however, 40 GB to 80 GB of disk space is plenty.

Drive Speed
If data access speed is important to you, you can go for faster SATA drives or SCSI drives. But remember that these drives come at a price premium and may not be necessary for average home use. Another option is to use a RAID setup where multiple hard disks are used to gain drive performance and/or data integrity.
 

CD Writers

CD writers are practically standard issue on all PCs these days. Prices are ridiculously cheap, so there's no reason not to get one, unless you prefer a DVD writer.

Drive Speed
For CD writers, you should generally look for a 40X record speed or faster. If you buy anything that is slower, it will definitely waste a lot of time when you're burning CDs.

Internal or External
You can choose between an internal or external CD writer. Internal drives are best suited for desktop PCs and are the cheapest option. If you want portability and don't mind paying a little more, you can get a FireWire or USB 2.0 external CD-RW drive.
 

DVD Writers

DVD writers are the newest rage in the consumer data storage market. They let you store up to 4.7GB on a single disc several times the amount of on a CD-RW disc. So let's look at some factors to consider when purchasing a new DVD drive.

Drive Speed
One factor to consider when buying DVD writers is drive speed. Most DVD-R drives write at 8X, with some older models supporting only 4X. Personally, I don't think there is significant speed difference between a 8X and 4X drive - so don't spend extra money unnecessarily if you don't have to.

Compatibility
There is a huge range of DVD media formats out there (DVD+R, DVD-R,DVD+R DL), represented by various brands. You need to consider compatibility of your DVD writer with these DVD discs. DVD-R and DVD+R formats are both very compatible with existing DVD players and DVD-ROM drives - so try to get a player that supports those.

Internal or External
You can choose between an internal or external DVD writer. Internal drives are cheaper but it also means you need to deal with the installation hassle and non-portability. External DVD writers come with Firewire or USB 2.0 interfaces and may well be a better choice if you need to move your data around a lot.
 

Conclusion

To purchase a good storage device, be it a hard drive, CD writer or DVD writer, you need to consider what price you're willing to pay for a given set of features. In my opinion, the DVD burner is fast becoming an essential item in the average home user's PC. If you're building a new computer, you should definitely consider buying a DVD writer on top of your standard hard drive.

How to Choose a Monitor

How to Choose a Monitor 

Are you looking for a computer monitor? Monitors are your window into the computer - everything that happens in your software and applications happens via the monitor. It is hence very important to choose a good monitor to go along with your new PC. Traditionally, CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors have been used for desktop computers. However, these days, LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors are selling like hotcakes.

Some computer monitors available in the market

It's easy to see why: LCD monitors are easier on the eyes, have very crisp image quality and yes, they're sexy and cool. Laptops also use LCD screens - so we're slowly beginning to see CRT monitors being phased out.

Which type you choose depends on your requirements. If you're a graphics professional, you may prefer a CRT monitor because they are said to show more realistic colors. However, the latest high-end LCDs can also give equal color quality. If you with text most of the time, a LCD is a good choice because the various pixels that you find on a LCD will have nicely defined edges. This gives sharp and focus letters on the screen.

To help you choose a monitor that'll meet your needs, this article will step through the factors to consider when buying a LCD or CRT monitor.
 

LCD Monitors

Let's first look at the various factors you need to think about when purchasing a LCD display.

Panel Size
In an LCD monitor, the panel size reflects the viewable area you can use. Again, the measurement is made diagonally from one corner of the screen to the opposite corner. LCD panel sizes now range from 15 inches up to 23 inches.

Native Resolution
An LCD panel display always has a certain native resolution. Usually you can go lower than this resolution but the image will appear blurry. If you need to change your monitor resolution quite often, then a CRT monitor may be a better bet. LCD native resolutions currently range from 1024 by 768 to 1600 by 1200.

Viewing Angle
One problem specific to LCD monitors is the fact that you cannot see what is displayed if you move off to the side of the monitor too much. A greater viewing angle is therefore typically better - especially if you need to show presentations to others on the LCD screen very often.
 

CRT Monitors

Now let's take a look at some things you need to look out for when purchasing a CRT display.

Tube Size and Viewable Area
The tube size and viewable area of a CRT monitor is of utmost importance. The tube size helps you judge how much room you'll need for the monitor on your desk. It is expressed in inches measured from one corner of the monitor to the opposite corner.

The viewable area (also measured diagonally) indicates how much you'll be able to see on a screen. The viewable area of CRTs can range from 15 inches all the way up to 22 inches.

Tube Type
You'll need to think about tube type as well. Traditional CRTs have curved screens, while newer models usually have flat screens. Flat screens improve clarity and reduce glare, so you should think of getting one if you want to reduce eye strain and fatigue.

Maximum Resolution and Refresh Rate
A CRT monitor's maximum resolution can range from 1024 by 768 at 75 Hz all the way up to 2048 by 1536 at 70 Hz. For normal home use, 1024 by 768 at 75 Hz is sufficient. Try to ensure your CRT monitor supports refresh rates above 70 Hz - anything below 70 Hz can result in screen flicker and cause eye strain.

Dot Pitch
The dot pitch of a CRT monitor helps you determine how sharp a picture will be - these can range from 0.24 mm to 0.28 mm. A smaller dot pitch number often indicates a sharper image. Of course, to the untrained eye, the differences in image quality due to dot pitch may not be discernable. Hence, the dot pitch may not be an important consideration if you're not too concerned about the finest details in your screen images.
 

Conclusion

I hope the above has helped you understand what factors to look out for when buying a LCD or CRT monitor. One thing to always remember when buying a new monitor - don't throw away your old one! Re-use it for an old PC or give it to a friend who needs one. By not dumping that old monitor, you'll certainly help to save the environment.

How to Choose a PC Case

How to Choose a PC Case

One of the most important but overlooked components in your PC is the PC case. Selecting a good PC case is an important step in building your computer, since it determines several things. It determines the number of PC components you can have, as well as how well your system's temperature. And heck, it also determines how good your PC looks! Now let's take a look at how we can go about selecting a good PC case.

Some PC cases available in the market

External Space

The first factor to consider is how much space your PC case is going to take up. Are you placing it on a tight, crammed desk? Or on a large desk? If you have the space, tower PC cases are a good choice. If you're short of space, you may wish to consider smaller mini PC cases which are getting more popular these days.
 

Internal Space

Another factor to consider is how many components you wish to fit in your PC case. If you're a computer nut like me, you'll want to fit in a good motherboard, CPU, a couple of hard drives, video card, LAN card, cooling fans, a CD-ROM drive and a DVD writer. That's a lot of components to be cramming into a PC case! Again, a good choice would be a tower PC case. However, with so many components, you have to watch out for overheating problems - make sure you deck out the system with a couple of good fans.
 

Motherboard Support

One thing you must absolutely remember - check that your motherboard can fit into the case! Some cases are flexible enough to support AT, ATX and Baby-AT boards, but others only support one of these sizes. Even then, you need to be careful - some cheaper 'ATX' cases don't really fit ATX motherboards. I remember buying a wonderful ATX motherboard and it couldn't fit into my PC case! Imagine my frustration!
 

Power Supply

Most PC cases come with power supplies. With more and more components being fitted into a PC, you will certainly need enough juice to power them. My advice is to go for at least a 400W power supply. Also make sure the unit is ATX 2.01 compliant to avoid motherboard compatibility issues.
 

Cooling

If you're a overclocker or have many system components, you'll need to ensure you've got enough fans in that case to cool the system. Good PC cases allow multiple (4 or more) cooling fans to be installed, ensuring good ventilation.
 

Looks

Just a few years back, PC cases were boring white boxes. These days, you can find a plethora of colorful PC cases - if you're concerned about your PC's 'look'. Many PC enthusiasts I know go for good looking PC cases that come in a variety of colors - red, black, green, blue and what not.
 

Conclusion

In summary, always remember to consider the above factors when selecting PC cases. For the average home or business user, a good, simple case is recommended. If you're a hardcore computer enthusiast, you'll want to pay more attention to factors like internal space, motherboard support and cooling. Just consider your budget and your needs carefully - then go grab that case!

 

How to Buy Computer Memory

How to Buy Computer Memory

How do you know when to buy more memory for your computer? Or how much memory you'll need? If you can afford it, you should always buy as much memory as you can, since it boosts system performance. But not all of us need 1 GB of RAM - most home users need only about 512 MB of RAM. Besides, computer memory is very expensive. This article will help you analyze when you need to buy memory and much memory is required in various scenarios.

A typical stick of computer memory

 

When to Buy More Memory

Thinking back on my experience with building computers, there are usually five scenarios under which you'd buy memory for your computer:

• When upgrading your operating system
• When installing new applications
• When installing multimedia cards
• When adding computer peripherals
• When your hard disk starts 'chugging'

Let's look at these in turn.


When Upgrading Your Operating System

Each time I upgrade my operating system, I find that I need to buy more memory. Your operating system is a huge memory hogger. Windows XP , for example, requires at least 512 MB RAM to run smoothly (at least on my PC). Windows 2000 needs at least 256 MB RAM. Always check the operating system manufacturer's documentation carefully - they always tend to understate memory requirements.

When installing new applications: Business software like Microsoft Office, video editing applications like Adobe Premiere Pro and games like Half-Life 2 really need a LOT of memory. Some will refuse to run if they find your memory lacking. Other applications will run but will crawl like a snail. Newer software these days assume you have a huge amount of memory. Again, check the manufacturer's documentation carefully for memory requirements.
 

When Installing Multimedia Cards

Two types of cards come into mind - video cards and sound cards. Video cards have a built-in memory but they also consume main system RAM. Don't be fooled by that fancy video card that says it'll deliver fantastic 3D graphics performance. Video cards depend a lot on your main system RAM. Without sufficient memory, the video cards will still perform poorly even if they are the latest and greatest versions (the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro comes to mind).
 

When Adding Computer Peripherals

If you add a printer or scanner to your system, you should also consider buying more memory. Printers consume system memory particularly when printing huge files. Scanners consume memory when handling large image files.
 

When Your Hard Disk Starts 'Chugging'

In general, you can tell whether you should be buying more memory by listening to your hard drive. Yes, by listening to your hard drive. If it makes a long drawn 'chugging' noise whenever you copy or edit large files, you can be sure you need a memory upgrade.

You see, when your system is low on memory, it borrows space from your hard disk to make 'virtual memory'. This process is called 'paging' and it's very, very slow and irritating . Get that memory upgrade and avoid this problem at all costs!
 

How Much Memory Do You Need?

Depending on the type of software applications you are using, the amount of memory you need will differ. As a bare minimum, computers these days need at least 256 MB of RAM. Refer to the table below to see how much memory you will need based on the type of software you use.

Type of Computer Usage	Recommended Amount of Memory
Administrative Word processing, email, spreadsheets, surfing the web, general gaming, not many applications open at once.	256 MB to 512 MB
Executive/Professional Word processing, email, spreadsheets, presentations, videos, photos, surfing the web, general gaming, several applications open at once.	512 MB to 1 GB
Graphics Design/Software Development 3D CAD software, enterprise programming suites, simulation or modeling software	1 GB or more

Conclusion

This article has explored the various scenarios when a memory upgrade is necessary. Once you determine you need a memory upgrade, decide how much memory you want. Remember that your motherboard has a limited number of slots for memory, so check that whatever memory you buy can fit into those slots. Good luck and happy shopping!

How to Choose a CPU

How to Choose a CPU

Are you baffled by the range of CPUs in the market today? Processors from AMD and Intel come in so many shapes and sizes (Athlon, Celeron, Pentium, and what have you), it is very hard to discern which one is the one you need. What's worse ... after shelling out hundreds of dollars on a CPU - you find it's too slow to run the latest 3D game you've been dying to play.
Well, this article will help you out. Read on and find out more ...

Some CPUs available in the market
 
 

So how do you make sense of all the CPUs out there? Well, let's start by splitting them into four broad categories:

• Obsolete Processors
• Budget Processors
• Mid-Range Processors
• High-End Processors
   

Obsolete Processors

These would refer to those processors which were around 5 or more years ago. They will typically come with older refurnished or budget computer systems. Be very careful if you are purchasing such CPUs as your system's speed will definitely slow to a crawl. Worse still, some software on the market today simply cannot be run using older processors.

The Windows XP operating system, for example, needs the newer crops of CPUs to function. Overall, I'd only recommend buying these processors if you want to do extremely simple tasks with your PC - like word processing or general web browsing. Some examples of processors in this category would be: the older AMD Athlon CPUs and Intel Celeron CPUs, AMD Duron CPUs, and Intel Pentium III CPUs.
 

Budget Processors

Strapped for cash? Consider purchasing CPUs in this category - which include yesterday's top-of-the-line CPUs which have been discontinued or the newer budget CPUs. While you may not get extremely good performance, these CPUs will give you the best bang for your buck.

While you're not going to get super-duper performance for more CPU intensive activities like gaming and video editing, the speed provided by these CPUs will be more than enough for general applications. Under this category, you'd be looking at processors like the AMD Athlon XP, AMD Sempron, Intel Celeron (2.4 GHz and higher), as well as the Intel Pentium 4 (2.6 GHz and lower).
 

Mid-Range Processors

The CPUs in this category would have been king of the hill just 6 months ago. Due to the entry of newer, faster CPUs, processors will drop in price and become more affordable. These processors will still scream in performance and are very popular among current PC owners.

Whenever I upgrade my computer, I always go for CPUs in this category. To sum up: thes CPUs here give slightly outdated but extremely powerful performance. Examples include the AMD Athlon XP (2800+ to 3500+) and the Intel Pentium 4 (2.8GHz and higher) CPUs.
 

High-End Processors

Want drop-dead performance? The CPUs in this category will scream even if you run the most demanding gaming or video editing applications in the market today. Of course, be prepared to fork out serious cash. If you absolutely want no less than the best, be an early adopter and go for one of these CPUs.

Personally, I tend to avoid buying top-of-the-line CPUs for two reasons - the high prices and stability. These CPUs are not only expensive, they are also unproven - I've heard cases of extremely new CPUs crashing or overheating. CPUs like the AMD Athlon 64 FX and the Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition fall into this category.
 

Conclusion

In summary, always consider your computing needs when selecting a CPU. If you want to do simple word processing or general computer tasks, go for the budget or low end processors. If you are more into gaming or do CPU intensive work like video editing, go for a mid-range or high-end processor.