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PLEASE NOTE: This is copied/pasted from the original thread I started on www.techjamaica.com. The references in here are mainly to persons on that forum, but some may apply here. Note that JPS is the JAMAICA PUBLIC SERVICE, the local service that provides electricity to the island. Replace the names with your applicable service provider.

Now we have all types in here. Those of us who want to learn. Those of us who think we know it all. Those of us who are annoying and ask too many questions. Those of us who just plain don't read. Those of us who leech off others info. Those of us who repeat what was previously posted. And last, but not least, those of us who fail to use the search button.

This will serve as my second project thread. Hopefully this will answer the questions that are posed when the more technical try to help out the less technical.

Before anything else - a lovely site I would like all persons to visit is www.google.com. And for those who are pests, please send them to www.justf uckinggoogleit.com. Remove the space. Or http://www.googleitfirst.com. And please - if no links are provided you can request - but google it first, or provide links that you think are useful for me to update.


WHAT IS MY PC
Your PC is an electronic device. This means it needs JPS to work - or some other source of power. Typically your basic parts needed to work are as follows, with the first five being fundamental parts:

• Power Supply - Converts JPS (AC) to power your PC can use (DC) and powers all parts inside your machine.
• Motherboard - Also called the MAIN BOARD. All other devices in your machine are connected to this - directly or indirectly.
• Processor - Also called the CPU. Though some techs and users alike refer to the SYSTEM UNIT as the CPU incorrectly (or for ease of communication), the CPU is one of the five fundamental parts needed for your machine to work. As the name suggests, this does all the processing for your machine. Any calculations needed to be done are done through this. Depending on your machine, if a game needs to load you'll notice a lot of hard disk activity. The files are being sent to the CPU - some calculations are done and results stored in memory - and once a specific thing needs to be loaded or rendered for you to see, the CPU is involved.
• Memory/RAM - Think of this as your chalkboard. Your PC is a classroom. The text books are your stored data, notebooks are free space. The bigger chalkboard you have, the more summarized data from the textbooks you can place there. Less time to erase the board, more time doing work. Bear in mind you cannot install a chalkboard larger than the dimensions of the wall in the classroom. You cannot install more memory than the machine can use, and it is also impractical to have a higher amount than can be cached. More on this later.
• Video Adapter - Without this, you can't see what is happening. Technically. Techs know you can remotely connect or do network installs and such, but that aside - as a user on the local machine, without this you have nothing to plug your monitor into.
• Storage Drive - The fundamentals out of the way, the next thing you need is some form of storage. This is most likely your HARD DRIVE. This stores your music, video, documents, pr0n, and whatever else you want. Your OS is installed here most times.
• Optical Drive - If you have no hard drive, sometimes an optical drive is enough. These can be CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or writers/burners. Bootable OSes are available (LiveCD/LiveDVD) that don't require a hard drive to function.
• Input Devices - Keyboard, mouse or other devices of your choice. Input Devices put stuff INTO the PC.
• Output Device - Printers, monitors, projectors, etc. These take data FROM the PC and place it to some external device or medium (monitor, paper, etc.)

Now that we've covered the basics, let's go into some specifications of the different roles played by persons in the field. There are basically three people. The USER - the TECHNICIAN - the PROGRAMMER.

The USER is usually the person who uses the machine. Typically like a data entry person or someone who does general work on a PC - ranging from using a word processor, spreadsheet, banking application, sales application, and other such things. The USER usually uses software to get their work done.

The TECHNICIAN can be categorized into three parts:

• Hardware Technician - Troubleshoots problems and replaces hardware parts.
• Software Technician - Troubleshoots and fixes software problems.
• Electronic Technician - Troubleshoots problems and replaces components on the circuit boards.

There are some technicians that dabble in all three but specializes in one or two. I have yet to meet the person who is extremely versed in all three areas. Some SOFTWARE TECHNICIANS may also know programming, and this will aid in their ability to fix problems. I will go a little more in-depth with each category and provide examples of what they may do.

HARDWARE TECHNICIAN
This is the most basic form of a PC tech. Most persons can do this job, and - for corporate business - this is all you need to be able to do. Your role is identifying a bad part, and replacing it. You may go into checking jumper or dip switch settings (hardware configuration), cabling, and setting up stuff like networking hardware, but you do not configure the hardware. The SOFTWARE guys do that part of it. You also do assembly of machines, not limited to PCs.

SOFTWARE TECHNICIAN
This form of PC tech is common to almost all, with some being more versed than others. You install OSes, configure networks (domains, routers, switches, etc) and clean viruses/spyware/etc. Many SOFTWARE techs and HARDWARE techs do the same things, but more in-depth software techs are trained with configuring certain advanced settings (DHCP/GROUP POLICY/IP) or trained with configuring hardware that requires certification (CISCO). Though certification is not required for persons to know software configurations, it always pays more when you're certified. Software techs usually know a little of PC assembly, and can at least install memory or adapter cards.

ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN
These are the guys that get down and dirty with the hardware. Though SOFT/HARD techs may have things in common, it is rare that you find someone who does all three - and if you do find that person, usually he does one or two better than the rest. You take burnt circuit boards and rebuild them. You can walk through a circuit board with your multimeter and find bad parts. You know what words like ZENER and TANTALUM mean. You know the difference between CURRENT and VOLTAGE. Electronic techs (this statement not limited to this category only) are smart enough to install memory and adapter cards into equipment that they have never worked on before. They are aware that most equipment is keyed, and cannot be inserted incorrectly - unless you are a complete egghead.

Now for all the mentioned fields, there are persons who "hurry come up" and don't know the in-depth sections of the job. These persons usually know how to install an OS, crack it (as they normally do), and install software. These are the ones that hardly use GOOGLE, and are usually found asking the obvious, or asking you to find something that shows up in the first 5 results in any search engine - without using any special operands. Though I do not want to fight a person trying to make money, especially in these economic times, I advise people to stay away from them. After they LEARN or get MORE EXPERIENCE, then sure - but until then, stay far.

Hardware and Software go hand in hand, and the Electronic tech is the one who is usually underpaid.

MY COMPUTER - WHAT DO I NEED?
This is entirely up to you. This should not be left up to the company assembling the machine. If you want to go and buy some factory built PC then go ahead. If you do that you're probably a user just looking to own a PC. If you have something specific in mind (gaming/stability/editing) then usually - not always - a custom build is the way to go.

With the more recent developments in the tech world, there is little to no difference between PC and MAC anymore. These were the two main types of computers you could get, and originally there was little to nothing that could be interchangeable. There were some standards that had to be followed with both, and the parts which followed standards could be changed. Nowadays, Macintosh machines are using PC internals, so the only difference that remains is the OS.

MAC OS is more stable than Windows. Heck, anything is more stable than Windows. Fact is, MS did better marketing of an inferior product, and since everyone got accustomed to it, nobody wants to learn a new product. So here's your rundown with the main contenders. Other OSes exist, but these are at the forefront at the moment.

• MAC OS - Stable. Proprietary. Software provided for video/photo editing. Can run other OSes virtually.
• Linux - Stable. Public. Software for photo editing is there, but video editing software is lacking. Can run other OSes virtually.
• Windows - Stable-ish (in more recent times). Software available for EVERYTHING. Crashes more frequently than the others. Crashes usually mean rebooting or reinstalling. Viruses/Spyware are tailored to attack this OS. Has two major thing over all other OSes - GAMING - and the software base is GINORMOUS.

Due to the popularity of the Windows OS, even software that seemed like there would never be a version available for Windows eventually had one available. An example of this is HANDBRAKE. This utility is used to rip DVD's to multiple formats quickly, and seamlessly. Originally the website had versions for BSD, LINUX, and MAC. Statements there said that a Windows version would NOT BE AVAILABLE, as the problems on the Windows platform were too extensive. Years later, Windows versions are now available.

So we return to our question - What do you want to do?

If you want to play games, then Windows is for you.

If you want to edit video and pictures, then MAC is for you.

If you want stability and just to use office documents, then Linux is for you.

Those are some basic assumptions, but later on there are other things to consider. Networking and such. For problems related to those you need to post and ask in the appropriate sections.

CONSIDERATIONS WHEN BUYING
Most users go out and just buy a machine - not thinking about what they need. Here are some things you must look into before you buy.

GENERAL RULE
Go with what works for you, but check online before buying for reviews and problems.

WARRANTY
I don't care who makes it. How long are they going to give you before you start paying for service? And does your warranty cover PARTS AND LABOR? Check out the warranty on your whole system - CPU/Monitor/Printer/Scanner/Etc - as some companies offer different warranties for the different parts.

RECOVERY
Does the PC come with RECOVERY DISCS? These are usually given with factory machines (DELL/HP/IBM/ACER/GATEWAY/ETC) - but in more recent times the practice of placing the recovery information on the hard drive, or, leaving the recovery disc creation up to the customer via a provided utility seems the be the "in thing." If discs are provided then all is well, and if you lose them you can get replacements - but - if no discs are provided (on hard drive) customers usually don't make these discs. On custom builds the technicians usually do not create recovery discs, and this poses a problem. If there is a failure of the hard drive later on, it can take hours to locate drivers and setup Windows and third party software. Check if recovery options are available. If your recovery is on your drive, create the discs and store them safely. If you got the discs with the machine, don't lose them. If your custom build has no recovery, purchase a recovery software package and do it yourself. This will save you a lot of trouble later on. And if you end up never using it, then more power to you.

SPACE - THE FINAL FRONTIER
These are the voyages of th.........sorry. If your machine is going to be in your home and shared with kids, you're going to need a large amount of space. Music, movies and games will swamp your drive, and you'd be surprised at how quickly 200Gb of storage can disappear. With technology moving so fast, large hard drives are becoming more and more stable and affordable. If you're doing video editing as well, you will need space. Typically 80Gb of space is adequate, but with more software and larger formats coming out, more space will be needed.

PROCESSOR TYPE
Seriously, at this point in time it does not matter. Any of the two main contenders should do what you need comfortably. If you're going to be asking for a recommendation this is what I'd say - AMD = Gaming - INTEL = Editing. You'll find that gamers usually gravitate towards AMD for the speed, price, and overclocking. Persons who are in offices or do video editing will tell you that INTEL is their platform of choice. You'll also notice that FIREWIRE is more standardized with the INTEL platform, while the AMD platform only has it on certain models by certain manufacturers. This is changing somewhat, but that fact still stands. Personally, I've used both and see no major performance difference (though INTEL dominated the marked with the C2D). Benchmarking utilities may say different, but you should choose based on your own personal preferences.

VIDEO CARD
This is another personal preference category. If you ask for a recommendation, I'd say ATI/AMD. Some years ago I'd recommend nVidia - and to some extent I still would - but ATI graphics have been superior IMO. The main problem was their software and drivers. This has been vastly improved in more recent times, and though I haven't tested it personally, I've heard good things. Again - if you've got your own preference, work with that.

MOTHERBOARD
Based on what you choose to do, and which platform (INTEL/AMD) you plan to run - this will decide what you need to do. My only recommendation is to find a board that has JAPANESE COMPONENTS or SOLID STATE CAPACITORS. A review of a decent built board is here:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2092

Personally I like EVGA, and that's what I'm using now - but you may like another company. Work with whoever you want to.

MEMORY
Corsair, Patriot, OCZ, Mushkin, Kingston. Those would be the brands I recommend. Buying anything else you're on your own. Best thing to do is check to ensure that the memory you buy is known to be compatible with the board of your choice. Doing otherwise may cause problems later on, or immediately.

POWER SUPPLY
Use GOOGLE and search for PSU CALCULATOR. This will turn up a lot of results. Pick one. Place in the appropriate boxes the hardware you have in your machine, and it will calculate what your minimum power requirements are. I recommend getting nothing below 500W.

Your next question is probably whether or not to get a DUAL RAIL or QUAD RAIL PSU. Heh. Check this -> http://www.pcpower.com/technology/myths/

PC POWER & COOLING is one of the best PSU manufacturers - and they wouldn't put that info there if it wasn't true. You can Google it yourself. Also check this: http://www.slcentral.com/dual-12v-rail-psu...otout/index.php

Personally - before finding out about the myth of the multi-rails - I purchased a DUAL RAIL PSU. I have it running now with now issues for me. As with other stuff above, go with what works for you.

Continuing.

MONITOR
This is your device to view stuff on screen. This can be CRT or LCD – fat or flat. There are things to look for when buying a monitor, one being DPI and the other being REFRESH RATE, and lastly - RESPONSE TIME.

First we will go over DPI.

Taken from this website → http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum36/1447.htm

User: THEDAVE

Hence the higher the DPI on the monitor, the better your image will be. Bear in mind that higher DPI usually means a larger monitor as well.
Also bear in mind that higher DPI usually means the monitor supports higher resolutions as well.

REFRESH RATE is the next thing. For detailed info on this topic, check Google and Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate

REFRESH RATE and FRAME RATE are related, and gamers will tell you that the higher your frames in a game the better. Check to see how high the REFRESH RATE of your monitor can go. Typically most monitors support 60Hz and higher, but 60 is acceptable.

An arguable topic in this between gamers is - above 30FPS, can the human eye detect the difference? Some say yes, others say no. The wikipedia link above has more on that. From what I've seen - it does and does not. Some persons can see the difference, others don't. It depends on your eye for detail.

Finally we have the RESPONSE TIME of the monitor.
This is the most critical IMO. This determines how quickly your screen can change the colors in each pixel.

SOURCE -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_time...ay_technologies


That should somewhat quell the arguments of people looking for monitors with 6ms response times. Hehe. So 10ms is good, as below that the difference is not noticeable.

USB
USB is a standardized technology that is used daily for plugging in your thumb drives. The abbreviation stands for UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS. You can have a maximum of 127 devices connected to a single USB controller. These devices can be chained and connected using additional USB hubs.

USB is placed here for persons to be wary of plugging their devices into the FRONT USB of custom builds. It is a rare condition for factory builds (HP/DELL/IBM/ACER/ETC) to have a problem with their front USB connections, unless something probably got burnt on the board. With custom builds, a tech that is not checking may plug in the USB connectors to the board incorrectly, and this will cause your thumb drive to be fried on connecting. Try to ensure you plug into the back, unless you know for sure that the front is working.

POWER SUPPLY
There is an excellent thread on power supply units here -> http://www.techjamaica.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52054

Check that thread for more details.


That's it for now. I will not go in-depth for any specific section unless requested by users. Feel free to add any section that you would like to see. Sources are linked to - additional sources out my head.

(more to come later)

More information will come as time goes along and I find additional time to add. Please feel free to elaborate and help the community to learn.

This post has been edited by khat17 on Sep 13 2009, 01:05 PM

WHAT PARTS DO YOU RECOMMEND?
Now this is a touchy topic. As stated numerous times previously, your own personal preference should rule what you want to buy. That aside, features and recommendations from friends should help. A quick example I'd use is - if you know you want to do video editing, you're going to need to look for a board that has FIREWIRE if nothing else.

Now for the listing below I'm certain other techs here will agree and disagree with me on different points, but these are what I'd use and why. I am not touching CPU, MOTHERBOARDS or GRAPHICS CARDS. As I stated before - make your own choice on that. Another tech who posts may show his recommendations on that, but I wont go there. Please place your own recommendations as well so that we have a better listing and feedback from everyone - also, if my reasons for some of the parts are not good enough (for some they wont be I'm sure) feel free to expand on them.

MEMORY
As stated above, brands I endorse are PATRIOT, OCZ, MUSHKIN, CORSAIR and KINGSTON. There may be other brands that are good, but these are the ones I know. If you check your hardware manuals you'll also find that these are the brands most seen as recommended. They have high compatability with different boards, and for the overclocker and gamer you should know that these brands are stable and meant for gaming/ocing.

MONITOR
What to choose in this category? Ones I know are good include AOC (affordable/cheap), HP, DELL, SAMSUNG, ACER. I have not used them all, but persons have said good (and bad) things about each. Right now I have an AOC, and I'll probably not switch, as the one problem I've found with it costs me a little time and electricity and an 80 dollar capacitor each time it fails.

COOLING
IMO, if you're not doing OCing or benchmarking, your stock cooler will usually suffice. If you want cooler then something like FREEZE or ARCTIC SILVER or CERAMIQUE should be enough. If you want to game or OC or just want to run cooler than stock, then I'd say ZALMAN. Never used cooling other than stock with AS5 personally - maybe something with a bigger fan or whatnot - but usually when persons talk about water cooling or other cooling ZALMAN is one of the names commonly heard.

HARD DRIVE
I will attempt to be unbiased here, and fail miserably. SEAGATE. Heh. Seriously, it depends on you. My reason for liking SEAGATE/MAXTOR is due to my experience with them vs WESTERN DIGITAL, which is probably in the reverse for some other techs. In a number of years, I ended up with a box in excess of 30 hard drives. Darn heavy. Of the drives in there, I had about 4 SEAGATE, 2 HITACHI, 1 SAMSUNG, and the rest were WESTERN DIGITAL. Some may argue that it's because WD are more popular why I have more than the others, but I beg to differ. Of the drives I've had, the WD ones failed while my SEAGATE/MAXTOR drives are still going.

Anywas, my main reason for loving SEAGATE/MAXTOR is due to the tools they have. Unlike ALL OTHER MANUFACTURERS, they have tools available for data recovery. The SEATOOLS suite will allow you to mark bad sectors and move what good data can be read to other blocks. Then after marking the bad blocks, it uses write-reallocation to make the bad blocks "disappear" - meaning, the tables for the drive will be written in such a way that the bad areas are not written to, and the head will not attempt to use that section of the drive. You will lose some small amount of space as a result, but still have a working drive.

OPTICAL DRIVE
For use in JA, I don't think it matters. You have mainly LG and LITE-ON available, and they are both decent drives, but occasionally have an issue with the tray over time. If you going to buy it overseas, I highly recommend PLEXTOR.

PSU
Brands I would endorse are SEASONIC, PC POWER & COOLING, ULTRA, ENERMAX and ANTEC. Do your own research before buying tho.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/246787-2...ly-manufacturer

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3186


KEYBOARD
Any keyboard should do - unless you do gaming ;P For gamers, things like keyboards don't matter, but an addon like the WOLFKING is something that some of us use. Other things include the OPTIMUS - what we want but don't want to spend the money on.


MOUSE
Any mouse will do. Hardcore gamers will tell you that though wireless is convenient and very nice to use in your room, it's not the best thing for gaming. Ever had this happen to you?



Or - be at a LAN party and your wireless is being interferred with by ALL the OTHER wireless devices? Heh. Some nice mice are like the RAZOR COPPERHEAD or the MICROSOFT HABU.


KVM
Any KVM will do really - and for a technician more than a gamer - it is an essential tool. This way you don't need to unplug your box to hook up a customer or friend's box. Just attach to KVM and have additional power. Many different KVMs are out these days, but ones to look for could have USB and/or SOUND options. Your choice.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=sear...rds=kvm&x=0&y=0

On another forum, after posting about the cooling, this is a response I got:

Source - > http://www.techjamaica.com/forums/showthre...79345&page=2#11




That's it for now. I will not go in-depth for any specific section unless requested by users. Feel free to add any section that you would like to see. Sources are linked to - additional sources out my head.



(more to come later)



More information will come as time goes along and I find additional time to add. Please feel free to elaborate and help the community to learn.

This post has been edited by khat17 on Sep 20 2009, 04:40 AM