fahrulazmi

Published on August 30th, 2009 at 8:11 pm under Computing and visited 746 times.

Hari ini is supremely a boring day. Have a lot of works to be done but sekarang is just not the golden time. Everyone is home for 3 days Merdeka holiday. Kecuali my rumet and I, and some others yang rumah jauh. My home is in Shah Alam, if kentut pun boleh bau. Tapi malas, boring.

So I guess it would  be great if I wrote a blog. A semi-personal blog. Well, I nearly installed a new wordpress just for blogging on this site. But what the heck, just use this one. “Malas”. If I installed a new one, mesti kena ada new theme that I have to design my self. Better if I just upgrade this theme saje.

Enough the merepek part…

Some people asked me a good specification for their computer. With a good price, of course. Well, I never answered. If jawab (jawab ke jawap?) pun, the answer would be incomplete. But now is sharing time. Below are some specifications complete with ‘what?’, ‘whom?’, ‘why?’, ‘how?’, and the estimated price. These specs only valid for may be 2 months from now. Computer stuffs evolve rapidly.

---

All specs are expected to run the latest Windows 7. It is lighter than Vista, though. So if you don’t have it yet, buy it or ask from your friends.

Are you a geek? You might find these specification (especially Specs A) are just too much. Well, I’m giving whoever reading this the best, in my opinion. My reason is you will not have to blow your mind with “I have to change everything!” in the future.

Are you not a geek? You should read this. I know it’s long. But this post can give you a lot of knowledge that you can even mouth fight with my coursemates. Haha. So keep reading. I hope this is useful.

Specification A – RM 1960

This specs is for light computer user. Enough for browsing the internet, reading some PDF files, viewing images, pendek kata, office use. Not recommended for engineering students. This specs is not a real multitasker, compiler, and renderer. Maknanya if you render some complicated 3D graphics while browsing with many firefox tabs, it might freeze or you would feel like banging your head on the PC. You may play simple to intermediate game on this PC.

Processor aka CPU

Model: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E7500 (3MB Cache, 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)

3MB cache (pronounced like ‘cage’. boleh laa..)? – Cache is the intermediate memory between the processor and the main memory (RAM). The processor is just too fast while the RAM is slow, so cache is a way to improve the performance and reliability. The larger, the better. (Kalau salah jangan marah yer Dr Syamsiah. Biasa la, layman’s term. Hehe). Don’t understand? I know. Haha.

2.93 GHz – This is the clock speed of the processor.

1066 MHz FSB – This is quite tricky for you to understand. And I won’t bother explaining. So just ignore this stuff.

It might be pricey compared to AMD but I just love Intel. Sorry AMD.

Price: RM 425

Motherboard

Model: Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2L

Memory: Has 2 DDR2 slot with dual-channel memory architecture and supports up to 8GB. I’ll explain dual-channel later in this post.

USB Ports: 4 on the back panel

G41 – This is the chipset. The brain that runs the motherboard. A good chipset is important and shouldn’t be ignored. Intel G41 is just sufficient for this spec.

Price: RM 195

RAM

Model: 2 x 1GB Corsair DDR2 800 MHz

800 MHz – This is the speed of the memory. Since your motherboard supports up to 800 MHz. So, we use the advantage and sufficiency. There are several speed for DDR2, 667 MHz, 800 MHz, and 1066 MHz (some can be overclocked).

2 x 1GB – This is for dual-channel purpose. I’ll explain later.

Price: RM 110

Hard Disk Drive

Model: Seagate

Size: 500GB

Interface: SATAII

Price: RM 180 (Dah murah! Damn…)

Graphic Card

Model: ASUS EN8400GT

Memory: 512 MB DDR2

Price: RM 180

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Model: Cooler Master Extreme Power 460W

Price: RM 150

Casing

Any casing with price RM 100 (hehe)

LCD Monitor

Model: Samsung 2033SW

Size: 20 inches wide

Resolution: 1600 x 900

Contrast Ratio: 15000:1

Note: 17″ is facing extinction. Plus, the price is cheap. I do not recommend View Sonic, Acer or (the stupid) AOC. Come on! We are in the HD era!

Price: RM 440

Speaker

Any light speaker with price RM 100

DVD Burner

Samsung SATA Optical Drive DVD Multi-Recorder

Price: RM 80

Specification B – RM 2580

This specs is for intermediate computer user. Great for more than just browsing and office work. It is compiled for students especially engineering who use applications like MatLab, Circuit Maker, NetBeans (programming), AutoCAD, and you name it. But not for industrial design students. You may play up to high-end games on this PC.

Processor

Model: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8400 (6M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)

Has double cache size then the previous one and greater speed too.

Price: RM 595

Motherboard

Model: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L

Memory: Has 4 DDR2 1066MHz slot with dual-channel memory architecture and supports up to 16GB system memory.

USB Ports: 8 on the back panel

Price: RM 330

RAM

Model: 2 x 2GB Corsair DDR2 800 MHz

Price: RM 200

Hard Disk Drive

Same as Spec A

Graphic Card

Model: ASUS EN9600GT

Memory: 512 MB DDR3

Price: RM 355

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Same as Spec A

Casing

Same as Spec A

LCD Monitor

Same as Spec A

Speaker

Same as Spec A

DVD Burner

Same as Spec A

Mahu ke bazar. Sambung malam nanti…

For gamers.

Processor

Model: Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor Q9550 (12M Cache, 2.83 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)

Double the cache size compared to Spec B. Since it’s the 2nd best in Intel® Core™2 Quad Processor family, I bet it’s awesome and overwhelming.

Price: RM 805

Motherboard

Model: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

Memory: Has 4 DDR2  slot with dual-channel memory architecture and supports up to 16GB system memory. Support for DDR2 1366+ MHz memory!

USB Ports: 8 on the back panel

Price: RM 550

RAM

Model: 2 x 2GB Corsair DDR2 1066 MHz

Price: RM 265

Hard Disk Drive

Same as Spec A

Graphic Card

Model: ASUS EN GTS 250 Dark Knight

Memory: 1 GB DDR3

Price: RM 560

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Model: Cooler Master Extreme Power 650W

Price: RM 299

Casing

Find a good gaming and cool casing with price RM 200

LCD Monitor

Same as Spec A

Speaker

Find a better 2.1 speaker with price RM 250

DVD Burner

Same as Spec A

Spec D (real 3D worker) and i7 coming soon….

I really hope this post is useful. I almost forgot, some computer jargons.

Dual-Channel memory architecture

Most motherboards are capable of dual-channel memory. Take a look at your current motherboard. Find 4 (or 2) slots with same shape and they are coloured with red and yellow (or any colour). They are near to the processor. Brief intro in case you are confused, those are the RAM slots!

If you had 2 pieces of RAMs. 1 GB each. You should plug it into the RAM slots both with the same colour. If one red, then the other one should be red too. What’s the big deal? Well, this is how you should place your RAM on dual-channel capable motherboard. But, your RAMs must have exactly same made, brand, and model. Identical.

Ever heard of 2 pieces of 1GB RAM are better than 1 piece of 2GB RAM. Never? That is the advantage of dual-channel.

Difference between Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad

There is no physical or visible difference. Core 2 Duo is dual (two) cores processor while Core 2 Quad is 4 cores processor. Core is like the brain inside the processor. Wow! My computer has 2 brains!

Any question? Drop a comment!

Gambar Hiasan: Wonder Girls