The configuration of a computer is a criterion for measuring the quality of a computer. Mainly look at the CPU, graphics card, motherboard, memory, hard drive, monitor, etc. Foreign brands include HP, Apple, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc., but the two brands with better customer reputation and quality are DELL and HP; domestic brands include: Asus, Acer, Tsinghua Unisplendour, Tsinghua Tongfang, Shenzhou, Haier, Lenovo, and Ba Billions of time and space, etc.

1. CPU, this mainly depends on frequency, L2 cache, L3 cache, and the number of cores. The higher the frequency, the larger the L2 cache, the larger the L3 cache, and the more cores. Faster CPUs only have L3 cache that affects the corresponding speed.

2. Memory, memory access speed depends on the interface, the number of particles and the storage size (including the memory interface, such as: SDRAM133, DDR333, DDR2-533, DDR2-800, DDR3-1333, DDR3-1600). Generally speaking, The larger the memory, the stronger the data processing ability, and the speed of data processing mainly depends on the type of memory (for example, DDR is not as fast as DDR2).

3. Motherboards are mainly processing chips. For example, notebook i965 has stronger processing power than i945 chip, and i945 has stronger data processing ability than i910 chip, and so on.

4. Hard drives are divided into solid state drives (SSD), mechanical hard drives (HDD), and hybrid hard drives (HHD). SSDs are the fastest, hybrid hard drives are second, and mechanical hard drives are the worst. The larger the hard drive, the more files it can store (such as storing movies, music, etc.). First, the data reading and writing speed of the hard drive and the speed of the hard drive (divided into: high-speed hard drives and low-speed hard drives. High-speed hard drives are generally used in large servers. , such as: 10000 rpm, 15000 rpm; low-speed hard drives are used in general computers, including laptops), desktop computers generally use 7200 rpm, and notebook computers generally use 5400 rpm. This is mainly due to the fact that high-speed hard drives are used in notebook computers due to the Moving vibrations accidentally scratch hard drive platters as well as power consumption and heat dissipation reasons.

The speed of hard disks varies due to different interfaces. Generally speaking, they are divided into IDE and SATA (also known as serial port) interfaces. Earlier hard disks mostly had IDE interfaces. In contrast, storage The speed is slower than that of the SATA interface.

With the development of the market, the hard disk cache has increased from the previous 2M to 8M, which is 16M or 32M or larger. Just like the CPU, the larger the cache, the faster the speed.

5. Graphics card: Pay attention to the stream processing capabilities of the graphics card as well as the size and width of the video memory. The bigger the better. This is directly related to the response speed of running very large program software, such as running CAD2007, 3DStudio, 3DMAX and other graphics software, and playing large 3D games. In addition to the difference in hardware level, the graphics card also has the existence of "unlimited video memory" technology. The difference from the general built-in video memory chip is that this "unlimited video memory" technology needs to read the video memory from the memory to handle the needs of the corresponding program. Or some people call it: dynamic video memory. This technology is more commonly used in laptops.

6． Power supply, as long as the power is sufficient and the stability is good (generally 300W is enough power for ordinary home computers, and 500W is no problem for most computers), a stable power supply is very important, as it provides stable voltage and current for various electronic components of the computer. It is the key to the life of the computer.

7. Monitor: The interface between the monitor and the motherboard also has an impact (such as DVI and VGA interfaces), but people generally don’t care too much (please check the technical information related to the display device).

Software

1. Operating system: Let me give you a simple example: with the same computer configuration, running the original Windows 98 will definitely be faster than running the original Windows XP, and the original XP will definitely be faster than running the original Windows Vista. Finally, the original Windows Vista will run faster. It is faster than the latest original Windows 7, and so on. This means that under the same configuration, the larger the system resources occupied by the software, the slower it will be, and vice versa, the faster it will be.

Also, the stability and speed of running English version programs on the original English version of the operating system are related to the stability and speed of running the Chinese version of the program.

Therefore, special emphasis is placed on the original system, that is, the system that has not been streamlined. In the same way, the streamlined Windows XP will generally be faster than the original XP. Because some infrequently used programs are streamlined and occupy less system resources, the speed is significantly improved.

The WIN7 system is rapidly becoming popular due to its ultra-stable advantages, and has a tendency to replace the XP system. (Attachment: XP is an operating system launched by Microsoft in April 2001! Microsoft has promised to extend support for XP to 13 years, which is April 2014! After April 2014, Microsoft will stop supporting this system. Patch! Users can still use the system, but the security of the system is not fully guaranteed, and as Microsoft stops launching patches for the system, many newly developed software will no longer be considered compatible with the system. This means that many new software will no longer be able to be installed and used normally on XP!)

2. Software (including hardware) can be appropriately optimized to suit the user. For example, for an average office clerk with an average computer configuration, installing a streamlined version of XP and a streamlined version of Office 2003 is sufficient for daily use. But if you are a graphic designer, you need professional configuration, especially the graphics card. Therefore, it is necessary to upgrade the software: Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or above.

Which software can check computer configuration:

1. EVEREST

2． Master Lu + Optimization Master

3. Hardware Quick Capture

4. cpu-z

5． gpu-z

The new version supports the latest Core i5, Core i7 and other new products.

2 Detailed configuration editing

CPU

The two main mainstream desktop CPU manufacturers are INTEL and AMD. The low-end Intel platform is the Celeron and Pentium series, and the high-end is Core 2 (which has successfully replaced Core 1). In 2009, the next generation more advanced CPU i7 was also launched. According to Intel's plan, the 32NM6 core i9 may also be launched in 2013. It will be launched in the first half of the year, and its performance can be up to 50% faster than the existing i7.

The low-end AMD platform is Sempron, and the high-end is Athlon and Opteron. The most commonly used ones are the mid to low end of the two. In terms of INTEL processors, there is the e7400 in the mid-to-high end, which can be paired with higher-frequency DDR2 memory, which is difficult to achieve in AMD's mid-to-high-end platforms.

AMD boxed CPU

Although AMD 250 is great value, it lacks support for dual-channel memory, which makes many players unhappy.

Intel boxed CPU

There are two mainstream configurations on the market, Intel and AMD. One is Intel configuration and the other is AMD configuration. The main difference lies in the difference in CPU. As the name suggests, the CPU configured by Intel is Intel brand, and the CPU configured by AMD is AMD brand. The market positioning and performance of the products are basically the same. The prices are different, and the main performance tendencies are different. Can be determined according to needs and price.

Motherboard configuration

In fact, the commonly used better brands are not only Intel, but also ASUS, GIGABYTE, ECS, MSI, EPOX ), UNIKA, BIOSTAR, SOLTEK, JETWAY, DFI, etc., and some second-tier brands like Spartak are also better.

Memory configuration

Memory stick

There are three types of commonly used memory sticks: 1) SDRAM memory gold fingers (that is, the golden contact part inserted into the motherboard) are Two fool-proof notches, 168 pins. The Chinese meaning of SDRAM is "random dynamic memory". 2) The DDR memory gold finger has only one fool-proof notch, and it is slightly tilted to one side, with 184 pins. The Chinese meaning of DDR is "double rate random access memory".

3) The DDR2 memory gold finger also has only one fool-proof notch, but the fool-proof notch is in the middle, with 240 pins. The gold finger of DDR2SDRAM memory has 240 contact points.

The latest memory in 2009 has been upgraded to the DDR3 generation. DDR3 memory is compatible with DDR2 memory and also uses 240 pins. DDR3 is an 8-bit prefetch design, while DDR2 is a 4-bit prefetch, so the frequency of the DRAM core Only 1/8 of the interface frequency, the core operating frequency of DDR3-800 is only 100MHz. The operating frequency of mainstream DDR3 is 1600MHz. DDR3 for 64-bit architecture obviously has more advantages in frequency and speed. In addition, due to other functions such as automatic self-refresh based on temperature and partial self-refresh, DDR3 is also much better in terms of power consumption. . First-tier memory brand manufacturers have launched their own DDR3 memory, such as Kingston, Apacer, ADATA, Corsair, Kingbang, etc. In terms of price, DDR3 memory is only dozens of yuan higher than DDR2. On the road of memory development, DDR3 memory has unlimited future.

Hard disk configuration

Hard disks are divided by interface: PATA is an earlier hard disk interface and is basically invisible in new desktop computers produced in 2009; SATA is a mainstream interface It is also commonly referred to as the serial interface. Hard drives on the market generally use this interface; SATAII is an upgraded version of the SATA interface. There are some such hard drives on the market, but not many. The main purpose is to improve the cache and transmission speed; SCSI is a hard disk interface used in servers. Its characteristic is that the rotation speed can reach 10,000 rpm, so that the reading and writing speed can be accelerated and it also supports hot swapping.

Graphics card configuration

As an important part of the computer host, the graphics card is very important for people who like to play games and engage in professional graphic design. Graphics chip suppliers for civilian graphics cards mainly include ATI and nVIDIA.

The full name is Graphic Processing Unit, which is translated into Chinese as "Graphics Processor". A concept first proposed by NVIDIA when it released the GeForce 256 graphics processing chip. The GPU enables the graphics card to reduce its dependence on the CPU and perform some of the original work of the CPU, especially when processing 3D graphics. The core technologies used by GPU include hardware T&l, cubic environment material mapping and vertex mixing, texture compression and bump mapping, dual texture four-pixel 256-bit rendering engine, etc. Hardware T&l technology can be said to be the hallmark of GPU.

Display Card

The basic function of the display card is to control the graphics output of the computer. Only when the display card is connected to the monitor can the image be seen on the display screen. The card is composed of a display chip, display memory, RAMDAC, etc. These components determine the output on the computer screen, including the speed, color, and display resolution of the screen display. Graphics cards, from early monochrome graphics cards, color graphics cards, enhanced graphics graphics cards, to VGA (Video Graphic Array) display graphics array, are all led by IBM in the specifications of graphics cards. VGA has a resolution of 720*400 in text mode and 640*480*16 colors or 320*200*256 colors in drawing mode. This 256-color display mode became the common standard for later display cards. Therefore, the display card is commonly called VGA. Later, various display chip manufacturers devoted more efforts to improve the display capabilities of VGA, and terms such as SVGA (SuperVGA) and XGA (eXtended Graphic Array) appeared. Display chip manufacturers even integrated 3D functions with VGA, which became all A well-known 3D accelerator card and 3D graphics display card.

The maximum pixel fill rate is the 3D clock multiplied by the number of rendering passes. For example, NVIDIA's GeForce 2 GTS chip has a core frequency of 200 MHz and 4 rendering pipelines, each of which contains 2 texture units. Then its fill rate is 4x2 pixels x 200 million pixels/second = 1.6 billion pixels/second.

The pixels here make up the picture seen on the display screen. At the 800x600 resolution, there are 800x600=480,000 pixels. By analogy, the 1024x768 resolution has 1024x768=786,432 pixels. When playing games and using some graphics software, the resolution is often set. When the resolution is higher, the display chip will render more pixels, so the fill rate is of great significance in measuring the performance of a graphics card. The fill rate of GTS is calculated above to be 1.6 billion pixels/second. Let’s look at MX200 again. Its standard core frequency is 175 and there are only 2 rendering pipelines, so its fill rate is 2x2 pixels x 175 million/second = 700 million pixels/second. This is an important reason why its performance is half that of GTS.

Graphics card

Shows the abbreviation of memory. As the name suggests, its main function is to temporarily store the data to be processed by the display chip and the processed data. The stronger the performance of the graphics core, the more video memory is required. In the past, video memory was mainly SDR, and the capacity was not large. The market basically uses DDR specifications, and some high-end cards use DDRII or DDRIII generation memory with better performance (DDR is no longer better, but the worst kind) .

The manufacturing process of display chips is the same as that of CPUs, and their processing accuracy is measured in microns. Improvements in manufacturing processes mean that display chips will be smaller, more integrated, can accommodate more transistors, have more powerful performance, and reduce power consumption. Like the central processing unit, the core chip of the graphics card is also made on a silicon wafer. The use of higher manufacturing processes is crucial to increasing the display core frequency and graphics card integration. What's more important is that the improvement of process technology can effectively reduce the production cost of graphics card chips.

The development and progress of microelectronics technology mainly relies on the continuous improvement of process technology, which continuously reduces the characteristic size of devices, thereby increasing the integration level, reducing power consumption, and improving device performance. After 1995, the chip manufacturing process has developed from 0.5 micron, 0.35 micron, 0.25 micron, 0.18 micron, 0.15 micron, 0.13 micron, 0.11 micron, 0.09 micron to the current 0.08 micron.

The memory clock cycle is the repetition period of the memory clock pulse, which is an important indicator for measuring the speed of the memory. The faster the video memory, the greater the amount of data exchanged per unit time. Under the same circumstances, the performance of the graphics card will be significantly improved. The clock cycle of the video memory is generally measured in ns (nanoseconds), and the operating frequency is measured in MHz. The memory clock cycle corresponds to the working frequency one-to-one, and the relationship between them is: working frequency = 1÷clock cycle×1000. Then the memory frequency is 166MHz, then its clock cycle is 1÷166×1000=6ns.

For DDR SDRAM or DDR2 or DDR3 video memory, the equivalent output frequency is used to describe its operating frequency. Because data can be transmitted on both the rising and falling edges of the clock cycle, the memory bandwidth is twice that of SDRAM when the operating frequency and data bit width are the same. In other words, under the same memory clock cycle, the equivalent output frequency of DDR SDRAM memory is twice that of SDRAM memory. For example, the operating frequency of 5ns SDRAM memory is 200MHz, while the equivalent operating frequency of 5ns DDR SDRAM or DDR2 or DDR3 memory is 400MHz. Common memory clock cycles are 5ns, 4ns, 3.8ns, 3.6ns, 3.3ns, 2.8ns, 2.0ns, 1.6ns, 1.1ns, 0.09 or even lower.

The smaller the number of memory clock cycles, the better. There is a reciprocal relationship between the memory frequency and the memory clock cycle (also commonly known as XXns). That is to say, the smaller the memory clock cycle, the higher the memory frequency and the better the performance of the graphics card!

Video memory bit width is the number of data bits that the display can transmit in one clock cycle. The larger the number of bits, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantly. This is one of the important parameters of video memory. Currently, there are three types of video memory bit widths on the market: 64-bit, 128-bit and 256-bit. People are accustomed to calling 64-bit graphics cards, 128-bit graphics cards and 256-bit graphics cards to refer to their corresponding video memory bit widths.

The higher the video memory bit width, the better the performance and the higher the price. Therefore, 256-bit wide video memory is more used in high-end graphics cards, while mainstream graphics cards basically use 128-bit video memory.

Everyone knows that video memory bandwidth = video memory frequency For example, for 128-bit and 256-bit video memories with the same memory frequency of 500MHz, their memory bandwidths will be: 128-bit = 500MHz*128∕8=8GB/s, and 256-bit = 500MHz*256∕8=16GB/ s, which is twice that of 128 bits. This shows the importance of video memory bit width in video memory data.

The video memory of the graphics card is composed of pieces of video memory chips, and the total bit width of the video memory is also composed of the bit width of the video memory particles. Video memory bit width = video memory particle width × number of video memory particles. The memory chips of the video memory have the memory number of the relevant manufacturer. You can look up the number on the Internet to understand its bit width. Then multiply it by the number of video memory chips to get the bit width of the graphics card. This is the most accurate method, but it is more troublesome to implement.

PCI Express interface

PCI Express is a new generation of bus interface, and graphics card products using this interface have been officially launched in 2004. As early as the "Intel Developer Forum" in the spring of 2001, Intel proposed to use a new generation of technology to replace the PCI bus and the internal connections of various chips, and called it the third generation I/O bus technology. Then at the end of 2001, more than 20 industry-leading companies, including Intel, AMD, DELL, and IBM, began drafting specifications for the new technology, which were completed in 2002 and officially named PCI Express. (AGP has basically been replaced by PCI-E)

There are two types of pure screen monitors and LCD monitors on the market. As the price of LCD monitors drops, they have become the mainstream type of monitors. Common LCD monitors include 19-inch, 21-inch, 22-inch, 24-inch, etc. Prices vary and performance varies greatly. Can be determined according to needs and price.

Most of the quality depends on:

1) Brightness\contrast. Commonly used is 500NIT, with a contrast of about 1000.

2) Viewing angle. The IPS screen can reach 178 degrees both horizontally and vertically.

3) Are there any bright spots, dead pixels, or black pixels and are there any light leaks.

4) The backlight is uneven.

5) Power consumption. The power consumption of a single screen includes the logic board part and the backlight part.

3 Notes for editing

Purchase

[1] With the application and popularity of computers, computers It has gradually become an indispensable tool in people's study, work and life. At the same time, the price of computers is gradually falling, and many users are beginning to prepare to buy their own computers. When purchasing a computer, you should consider the needs of the user.

1. Clarify the needs

Before buying a computer, you must first determine the purpose of the computer and what work the computer needs to do for it. Only by clarifying the purpose of your purchase can you establish a correct purchasing plan. The following lists several different computer application fields to introduce their corresponding purchase plans.

(1) Business office type

For office computers, the main purposes are document processing, sending and receiving emails, and tabulation, etc. The required computer should be stable. In business offices, it is very important for computers to run stably for a long time. It is recommended to configure an LCD monitor to reduce the harm to the human body caused by long-term computer use.

(2) Types of home Internet access

In ordinary families, the main functions of using computers to access the Internet are to browse news, process simple text, play some simple games, and read Internet video, etc., so users do not need to configure a high-performance computer, and choose a mid- to low-end configuration to meet user needs. Because users do not run larger software, they do not feel that a computer configured in this way is slow.

(3) Graphic design type

For such users, because they need to deal with graphics color, brightness, and image processing workload, it is necessary to configure a computer with fast computing speed and high overall configuration. Computers, especially in terms of CPU, memory, and graphics cards, require higher configurations. At the same time, a CRT monitor should be configured to achieve better display effects.

(4) Entertainment game types

Most of the games currently developed use three-dimensional animation effects, so such users have higher requirements for the overall performance of the computer, especially in terms of memory capacity and CPU. There are certain requirements in terms of processing power, graphics card technology, monitor, sound card, etc.

2. Decide whether to buy a desktop or a notebook

With the rapid development of microcomputer technology, the price of notebook computers continues to drop, and many customers who are about to buy a computer are considering whether to buy Desktop or laptop. When buying a desktop or laptop, you should consider the following points.

(1) Application environment

Desktop computers are not very convenient to move around. For ordinary users or users with fixed offices, you can choose desktop computers. The advantage of notebooks is that they are small in size and easy to carry. Users who often travel on business or work on the move should buy notebooks.

(2) Performance requirements

There is a certain gap in performance between notebooks and desktops of the same grade, and the upgradeability of notebooks is poor. For users with higher performance needs, desktops are a better choice.

(3) In terms of price

The price of laptops with the same configuration is higher than that of desktops. In terms of cost performance, laptops are not as good as desktops. Therefore, when it comes to price factors, desktop computers are relatively cheaper.

3. Determine whether to buy a branded machine or an assembled machine

Currently, there are two main categories of desktop computers on the market: one is a branded machine, and the other is an assembled machine (also known as compatible machine).

(1) Brand machine

Brand machine refers to a computer with a registered trademark and independent brand produced by a computer manufacturer with a certain scale and technical strength. Such as IBM, Lenovo, Dell, HP, etc. are all well-known brands at present. Brand machines have undergone strict performance testing before leaving the factory. They are characterized by stable performance, guaranteed quality and ease of use.

(2) Assembling machine

Assembling machine is a computer in which computer accessory sellers combine various computer accessories according to the user's consumption needs and purchasing intentions. The characteristics of the assembly machine are that the computer configuration is more flexible, the upgrade is convenient, and the cost performance is slightly higher than that of the brand machine. It can also be said that under the same performance conditions, the price of the brand machine is higher. As for choosing a branded machine or an assembled machine, it mainly depends on the user. If the user is a computer beginner and does not have a deep grasp of computer knowledge, then buying a brand-name machine is a good choice. If you are familiar with computer knowledge and plan to upgrade your computer at any time, you can choose to build a machine.

4. Understand computer performance indicators

For a computer, its performance is not determined by one indicator, but by the overall configuration of each part. To measure the performance of a computer, we mainly look at the following performance indicators.

(1) The computing speed of the CPU

The computing speed of the CPU is an important indicator of computer performance. It is usually described by the main frequency. The popular dual-core CPUs on the market now adopt multi-core technology while increasing the main frequency speed. The higher the overall main frequency, the faster the computing speed.

(2) Graphics card type

The graphics card processes the image data sent by the CPU into a format that the monitor can receive, and then sends it to the display screen to form a picture. The more popular graphics chips on the market are NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards. The capacity of independent graphics cards is used as a measure of graphics card performance indicators. Currently, independent graphics cards with 1G or higher are the mainstream graphics cards on the market.