The Ignorance

My 50-year-old dad always reminds me about the importance of making ‘informed decision’. A decision which is made based on knowledge of a particular matter. But, too much knowledge can be a bit confusing though.

I was looking through computer component pricelist from Low Yatt Plaza trying to figure out the best combination/configuration of specification to set up a whole new CPU. There was a mix matching session going on inside my brain since different combination results in different performance. Unlike a desktop PC package sold by branded names like Hewlett Packard or Dell, a self-assembled desktop requires you to choose each hardware and components according to requirement.

When it comes to this part there are many things to consider in layman term such as:-

• Processor – The brain of a PC. Perform baulk of the computational calculations. Currently there are two rivals competing in the consumer processor market, Intel and AMD. I have sided the latter one, because I have a tendency of choosing ‘second-best’ rather than the best. Technology of microprocessors has pretty much improved until it has become possible to include multiple cores ( of 2 or 4 ) inside a single chip. Imagine Einstein with double brain under his white hair and thick skull. If he does, maybe today he has figured out on how to reverse the fabric of time and space. At any point of this article which makes you yawn or dizzy or this all is just not your stuff,do skip all points to the green coloured paragraph below.
  

• RAM ( Random Accessed Memory ) – Often confused with Hard disk, this component acts like a temporal memory. Let’s put a scenario where your mom ordered you to drop by the nearest sundry to get some grocery stuff, she will describe the stuff that you need to remember such as: bunga kantan dua kupang, kelapa parut putih saja, daun karipulai, etc.etc.. RAM is like a lobe in within your brain to remember things that were never mend to be kept for a long time. A computer component which influences the speed. The bigger sizes of this memory the better it is. Which means an almost lag-free handling six to seven camwhoring photographs of removing pimple/blemishes on a single Photoshop session while YM, MSN,Word or other app remained ready at the bar waiting in-line along the ‘Start’ button.

• Hard disk – or in short termed as HDD. Hard disk stores your saved data. Your photos, videos, documents, mp3’s and everything else is located here. Consists of rotating disk plates which rotates at a very high speed. Over ram your vehicle till the tachometer (rpm) hits 7, that’s the speed of a rotating hard disk during its operation ( Advanced HDD can go up to 10k rpm ). Considered as the slowest equipment inside a computer due to its rotating nature.

• VGA card– or known as 3d card. Video Graphic Accelerator cards provide computational calculation to emulate graphics on the LCD. For architects/engineers who are familiar with 3d projection software, a VGA-card played a major role and perhaps may save them a few seconds/minutes/hours worth of time if they get their hands on high-specs cards. Also, with the miracle of PC gaming and ever growing size of LCD panel, VGA is an asset which makes a desktop the jewel crown of gaming machine. Like processor, there are currently two rivaling big players of VGA card. Those are ATI and nVidia which cards are in tight race to have higher points in benchmarking indexes with new models announced weeks after the other. Who benefits when these horses raced? Us.

• Motherboard - The backbone of a PC. The fundamentals and the basis of a computer. The part of which you see lots of capacitors and chips, sockets and slots, pins and silver/gold lines. A motherboard plays the very vital role of managing all of the above mentioned components. It handles communications between those devices. Like a translator, it reads and writes many different languages. Or you can regard motherboard as the medium/organizer of single’s blind dating cum matchmaker. It utilizes itself just to see two or more individual component communicate well. How noble.

• PSU – If human consciousness exists as wholly spirit. Then PC reason of existence is electricity. With electric signals moving back and forth at bajillion rates, then, it is important to have a Power Supply Unit a.k.a PSU. It used to be lightly regarded component of a CPU internals, but with the advent of multi-core processors, performance-RAM, Hi-rpm HDD’s and scalable-VGA, the PSU has become a particularized item which are given higher attention. A PSU manages power input which the wall AC provides. Its wire then spreads like an octopus dexterous arm into different components and parts of PC internal components. Being the frontline of electric supply management, guess you already know which CPU internal will smoke first during unexpected thunderstorm electric surge?

Okay, Finally, all of the above components were surveyed. Never mind about mouse, keyboard and speakers, they all just work pretty much the same.

With the spirit of making an ‘informed decision’, I dived deeper to find info about each component. With each survey you found out those processors ranges in speed, motherboard varies in chipset, VGA-card differs in memory and bit rate. RAM have a selection of architectures. Forums mentioned about unstable combinations? Websites stated about upcoming series of advanced components, while pricelist were swinging crazy with price increasing or mostly decreasing. Hoe about DVI and HDMI ports, which one is better? Which LCD has support for the mentioned above ports? Are their refresh rates (GTG) worth the price? Should I go for Crossfire? Oh no! Have I studied too much of computer stuff!?

If you have skipped a whole paragraph of technical verbs and adjectives, then, I’m glad and wished to be in your position. As the saying goes ‘ignorance is bliss’, I imagine of being a person who knew little about computer component and stuff which can make a whole lot of difference. If I had no interest to dig deeper into the technicality there shouldn’t be a problem since I would accept any PC configurations as long I switch it on and start displaying something on the screen. There wouldn’t be any guilt since the ignorance will make the low-spec PC an equal PC and won’t bother me.

In quest of making ‘informed decision’, here I’am tangled with many uncertainties. I doubt my future assembled PC is going to down perform. Apart from that instabilities and incompatibility concerns were taken into account too. Sigh