Home Computer Talk

It’s that time. You’ve finally decided to go and buy yourself a home computer. The first and probably most important question would be… For what purpose are you buying a computer?

It’s more important than you realize if you’re new to the computer world or if you’ve only ever used a work computer running Word. The use can determine how much memory (RAM) hard disk space, which chipset you need, whether you need a whiz-bang video card and if you need a network card.

What are we talking about?

Memory or RAM: The Computer loads instructions from programs and executes them to give you results. RAM is the area where it does the processing. The more RAM, generally, the less to and fro the chip (CPU) has to do to get things done, so the faster you get your results.

Hard Disk: Sitting in a box inside the computer are a number of spinning magnetic disks. The computer can understand (read) the magnetic bits on the surfaces and change them. (write) This allows you to Save your work so it is available later. The disks spin at high speed, typically 5400RPM or 7200RPM so you can hear them coming up to speed as the computer starts.

Chipset: Inside the computer is a flat piece of circuit board with a whole lot of circuitry and a variety of computer chips on it. This is the Mainboard or Motherboard of the computer and the ‘housekeeper’ for your system – it provides access to the various parts of the computer and has circuits that negotiate priority and direct traffic.

Video card: While the modern main or motherboard can perform video functions (presenting pictures on your screen so you can see them) some functions require a lot of processing and the on-board video chip has to compete for resources with all the other functions being directed by the motherboard. Adding in a video card to exclusively handle video requirements takes load off the main board and also (usually) provides a host of performance enhancements for anything video related.

Network Card: While most motherboards these days have built in networking, there can be reasons to add in a card dedicated to providing network services to other computers in your place. Note this network is NOT necessarily the same as the network some Broadband Internet modems can set up. Also there are wireless network cards that will let your desktop PC connect to a wireless internet connection.

In the next post I will talk about the balance of functions in your new computer.