Custom PC Guide

Our Custom PC Guide
We understand choosing a custom PC is often a difficult and time consuming process especially with an industry that is moving so fast. This is why we have devised a quick guide to helping you on your way.
Brand
Probably the most important issue surrounding custom PCs is the brand of components that go into them. Non descript and cheap branded components will be the difference between a top performing PC and an expensive paper weight! You should be looking at brands such as Antec, ASUS, Coolermaster, Corsair, Creative, Microsoft, Razer, Logitech, Seagte, Samsung, Western Digital, OCZ, Intel, ATI, Nvidia, AMD, Xigmatek, MSI, Gigabyte, Sony, LG, Akasa, Noctua, Coolit, Zalman, Sennheiser. Undescribed and "premium brand" are not brand names. Check carefully that the following components have a brand listed;
Power Supply (PSU) - This is where most manufacturers scrimp on their builds. Check the brand carefully. It is the most likely part of a PC to fail. Corsair and Antec are the industry leaders here, and their power supplies are that good they come with a 5 year warranty as standard.
Case - Same again, a lot of manufacturers use dodgy units that not only have poor cooling properties and will soon fall apart after touching it a few times. Antec, Coolermaster, Xigmatek, Lian Li, Corsair and Silverstone make the good ones.
Processor - Make sure this is of Intel or AMD brand. Most are. RAM - Check for a quality brand name associated with it. Poor choice in RAM will affect the overall speed and reliably of the PC as a whole. Corsair XMS RAM dominates the market by a long way. Other brands to consider are Kingston and OCZ.
Hard Drive - Another common corner cutter is the brand of hard disk. Cheap hard drives will affect the performance of the whole PC. You also would not one of these to fail as you would be likely to lose any data stored on it. Western Digital, Seagate and Samsung are the brands to look out for here.
Processor
The main "Engine" of a computer - The faster the better! Speeds are measured in Gigahertz (GHz) ranging from around 2.0GHz right up to nearly 4.0GHz. As a general rule of thumb, Intel processors are faster than AMD processors despite the higher gigahertz speeds.
RAM
RAM is like a turbo is to a car. It helps the Processor along with more being better. It is measured in gigabytes (GB) and ranges from 1GB right up to 12GB or even 24GB! Generally, 4-6GB is plenty even for the most demanding applications or games. DDR3 RAM is now the normal so choose a PC with DDR3 Technology. Least important is the memory speed, this is measured in megahertz (Mhz) where the higher the Mhz number the better so consider this when choosing RAM for your PC.
Motherboard
Good branded motherboards will usually have everything you need here. Choose a motherboard that has the right features for you. This maybe something as simple as onboard sound cards, network cards or the amount of expansion slots.
Power Supply
An often underrated part of a PC. As mentioned earlier, many manufactures use substandard power supplies so pay particular note to its brand. The industry leaders here are Corsair and Antec, try to make sure your PC has one of these units. When a Power supply fails it can not only destroy itself but can damage all the other components, or worse, cause a fire. The measurement of how powerful a Power supply is measured in wattage (W). The higher the wattage the more powerful parts can be chosen for a custom PC.
Case
Yet another part of a computer where manufactures cut costs. A decent case will last you year and years and will withstand upgrade after upgrade. It is not uncommon for a decent case to last 10 years! The general rule here is go for the best you can afford. Choose a case that has ample cooling fans, is of a good size and looks good. Antec, Coolermaster, Xigmatek, Lian Li, Corsair and Silverstone make the good ones.
Hard Disks
Mainly specified for the amount of data they can hold. Like RAM this is measured in Gigabytes (GB) and a thousand gigabytes, Terabytes (TB). The more the better but generally users are not going to need more than 500MB - 1TB. Hard Disk speed is also worth considering, Seek Times, Spindle speeds, Cache size and Data Transfer Rates define how fast a hard disk. High performance demanding users are now starting to use "solid state drives" (SSD) which are around twice the speed of normal hard disks.
Graphics cards
This is the part of the PC that defines how good a visual output you get. The Things that define how good a graphics card is, is clock speed (measured in MHz), the amount of stream processors and finally how much on board RAM the graphics card has to itself. When choosing a custom built PC for gamers this is one of the most important choices.
Optical Drive
This is not too much of a hard choice to make. The standard is a CD and DVD Read/Writer/Re-Writer whilst an upgrade would be considered a blu-ray drive which plays/burns blu-ray disks. Whatever you opt for make sure it is has a SATA interface as the older IDE interface is pretty much had its day.

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How to Get Value for Money From Your SSD Disk Drive

Purchasing SSD disk drives can be confusing, as prices can vary dramatically for what seems to be very similar technology. It can be difficult, therefore, to know if you are indeed investing in something that represents good value for money and also meets your needs without blowing the budget.
There are several ways to determine which SSD disk drive to buy, which are fairly straightforward to follow and will ensure that you only pay for what you need. The first factor that affects price is the speed of your SSD, with the cost of the fastest devices on the market being sometimes hundreds of times of entry level products.
It is important to remember, therefore, that the higher the speed of the products, the faster you can expect it to perform - although you should, of course, check all the specifications thoroughly before purchase. Carefully consider the speed that you require in your SSD disk drive, as this can allow you to save a few pennies, or may indeed indicate an area you need to splurge on.
A second significant factor to look at is that each different SSD disk drive will have a different average operational life, which can also have a great influence on the price of the product that you are wishing to buy. Whereas entry level SSDs can have an attractive price tag, some of the better quality ones can have an expected lifespan of up to 100 times more.
How long your equipment is going to last is no negligible matter; after all, the more frequently an item needs replacing, the higher your costs will rise. To make sure that you get value for money, consider spending a little more on a product that boasts an average operational life that you determine to be more than adequate for your needs.
There are also other reliability features that can cost more upfront but lead to greater savings down the road. These include enhanced fault tolerance, enhanced endurance, internal hardened data integrity and more, depending on the model you are considering. If reliability is important for you, consider spending more on an SSD disk drive with these options.
The memory of the SSD disk drive can cause prices on the market to fluctuate dramatically, and determining which memory capacity is right for you can be a tricky matter. It is generally worth noting that RAM SSDs are the most expensive on the market, followed by SLC Flash SSDs, MLC Flash SSDs and finally MLC SSDs.
If you are unsure about the type of memory and the capacity you need, consult with a specialist vendor, who will be able to guide you in the right direction depending on your particularly needs and requirements.
It is also worth looking at the efficiency of the SSD disk drive you are thinking of buying. Some SSDs use significantly more flash than others, and can use more expensive related chips. This can improve efficiency but also drive up costs. Again, talk to a specialist retailer is you are unsure about how this could affect you.
There are also other factors to consider, including security, extended temperature operation for industrial environments, ease of installation and more, all of which can affect the overall price of your SSD disk drive.
The key to getting the best value for money on your purchase is to look carefully at your specific needs in the areas of speed, average operational lifespan, reliability, memory and efficiency. Balancing out which of these are the most important for you will help you determine which is the right product in an often confusing market.
After this, consider any special needs that you may have, such as industrial use mentioned above, heavy and extended use, or use in varying temperatures. All of these could cost you a little extra for a more tailored product, but also offer great return on investment when you find a product that is reliable and specifically suited to your unique needs.

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About External Hard Drives

For people who move around often and are in need of carrying electronic data with them a must buy thing is an External Hard Drive. All the leading hardware companies like Apple, CMS, Seagate, D-Link, HP and Lenova have introduced compact, high capacity external hard drives.
External Hard Drives are available with attractive looks and also with high storage capacity. The storage capacity starts from 1 GB to that of 1 TB that facilitates the user to store any big size of data to carry along. They are tiny, approximately about 2.5 inches to 3.5 inches in size. The prices are also getting cheaper day by day making them affordable to all. They enable the user to take back ups quickly and easily and are portable too.
Once you plan to buy an External Hard Drive think of:
The storage capacity: This depends purely on the need of the buyer. If he has to carry many bigger files or data then he has to go for higher storage capacity if not he has to look for one with lower storage size that will be cheaper in price. The higher capacity the better for future needs.
Connectivity (Whether it supports only USB or Firewire)
Firewire is the latest in technology and may not be available in all the computers you access. If the hard drive supports USB only then transferring of the data will be slower than in the firewire. And if the USB Port is 1.0 and not 2.0 even slower will be the data transfer.
The Speed: The time an external hard drive takes for data transfer depends on the RPM and Buffer Size. The suggestible RPM (rotation per a minute) that is available recently is 7,200 and the Buffer Size 8 MB. This specification would take very less time to transfer bigger files.
The Life or Durability of the hard drive: For an assured durability it is best to buy a brand that is known for its quality, service support and a reasonable warranty period. Browse for good brands and specifications for a good buy.

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ATA vs SATA

Hard Drives: ATA versus SATA
The performance of computer systems has been steadily increasing as faster processors, memory, and video cards are continuously being developed. The one key component that is often neglected when looking at improving the performance of a computer system is the hard drive. Hard drive manufacturers have been constantly evolving the basic hard drive used in modern computer systems for the last 25 years, and the last few years have seen some exciting developments from faster spindle speeds, larger caches, better reliability, and increased data transmission speeds.
The drive type used most in consumer grade computers is the hearty ATA type drive (commonly called an IDE drive). The ATA standard dates back to 1986 and is based on a 16-bit parallel interface has undergone many evolutions since its introduction to increase the speed and size of the drives that it can support. The latest standard is ATA-7 (first introduced in 2001 by the T13 Technical Committee (the group responsible for the ATA standard)) which supports data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. This is expected to be the last update for the parallel ATA standard.
As long ago as 2000 it was seen that the parallel ATA standard was maxing out its limitations as to what it could handle. With data rates hitting the 133MB/sec mark on a parallel cable, you are inviting all sorts of problems because of signal timing, EMI (electromagnetic interference) and other data integrity issues; thus industry leaders got together and came up with a new standard known as Serial ATA (SATA). SATA has only been around a few years, but is destined to become "the standard" due to several benefits to be addressed in this Tech Tip.
The two technologies that we will be looking at are:

ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) - a 16-bit parallel interface used for controlling computer drives. Introduced in 1986, it has undergone many evolutions in the last 18+ years, with the latest version being called ATA-7. Wherever an item is referred to as being an ATA device, it is commonly a Parallel ATA device. ATA devices are also commonly called IDE, EIDE, Ultra-ATA, Ultra-DMA, ATAPI, PATA, etc. (each of these acronyms actually do refer to very specific items, but are commonly interchanged)

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) - a 1-bit serial evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.
Basic Features & Connections
SATA drives are easy to distinguish from their ATA cousins by the different data and power connections found on the back of the drives. A side-by-side comparison of the two interfaces can be seen in this PDF from Maxtor, and the following covers many of the differences...
Standard ATA drives, such as this 200GB Western Digital model, have somewhat bulky, two inch wide ribbon cable with 40-pin data connections and receive the 5V necessary to power them from the familiar 4-pin connection. The basic data cables for these drives have looked the same for years. A change was made with the introduction of the ATA-5 standard to better improve the signal quality by making an 80 wire cable used on the 40-pin connector (these are commonly called 40-pin/80-wire cables). To improve airflow within the computer system some manufacturers resorted to literally folding over the ribbon cable and taping it into that position. Another recent physical change also came with the advent of rounded cables. The performance of the rounded cables is equal to that of the flat ribbon, but many prefer the improved system air flow afforded, ease of wire management, and cooler appearance that come with them.
SATA drives, such as this 120GB Western Digital model, have a half inch wide, 7 "blade and beam" data connection, which results in a much thinner and easier to manage data cable. These cables take the convenience of the ATA rounded cables to the next level by being even narrower, more flexible and capable of being longer without fear of data loss. SATA cables have a maximum length of 1 meter (39.37 inches), which is much greater than the recommended 18 inch cable for ATA drives. The reduced footprint of SATA data connections frees up space on motherboards, potentially allowing for more convenient layouts and room for more onboard features!
A 15-pin power connection delivers the 250mV of necessary power to SATA drives. 15-pins for a SATA device sounds like it would require a much larger power cable than a 4-pin ATA device, but in reality the two power connectors are just about the same height. For the time being, many SATA drives are also coming with a legacy 4-pin power connector for convenience.
Many modern motherboards, such as this Chaintech motherboard, come with SATA drive connections onboard (many also including the ATA connectors as well for legacy drive compatibility), and new power supplies, such as this Ultra X-Connect, generally feature a few of the necessary 15-pin power connections, making it easy to use these drives on new systems. Older systems can easily be upgraded to support SATA drives by use of adapters, such as this PCI slot SATA controller and this 4-pin to 15-pin SATA power adapter.
Optical drives are also becoming more readily available with SATA connections. Drives such as the Plextor PX-712SA take advantage of the new interface, although the performance will not be any greater than a comparable optical drive with an ATA connection.
Performance
In addition to being more convenient to install and drawing less power, SATA drives have performance benefits that really set them apart from ATA drives.
The most interesting performance feature of SATA is the maximum bandwidth possible. As we have noted, the evolution of ATA drives has seen the data transfer rate reach its maximum at 133 MB/second, where the current SATA standard provides data transfers of up to 150 MB/second. The overall performance increase of SATA over ATA can currently be expected to be up to 5% (according to   Seagate ), but improvements in SATA technology will surely improve on that.
The future of SATA holds great things for those wanting even more speed, as drives with 300 MB/second transfer rates (SATA II) will be readily available in 2005, and by 2008 speeds of up to 600 MB/second can be expected. Those speeds are incredible, and are hard to imagine at this point.
Another performance benefit found on SATA drives is their built-in hot-swap capabilities. SATA drives can be brought on and offline without shutting down the computer system, providing a serious benefit to those who can't afford downtime, or who want to move drives in and out of operation quickly. The higher number of wires in the power connection is partially explained by this, as six of the fifteen wires are dedicated to allowing the hot-swap feature.
Price
Comparing ATA drives to SATA drives can be tricky given all of the variables, but in general it is the case that SATA drives will still cost just a bit more than a comparable ATA drive. The gap is closing rapidly though, and as SATA drives gain in popularity and availability a distinct shift in prices can be expected. Considering the benefits of SATA over ATA, the potential difference of a few dollars can easily be justified when considering an upgrade. Computer Geeks currently has a limited selection of SATA drives, but several technical sites, such as The Tech Zone and The Tech Lounge, offer real time price guides to see how comparable drives stack up.
Final Words
The current SATA standard provides significant benefits over ATA in terms of convenience, power consumption and, most importantly, performance. The main thing ATA has going for it right now is history, as it has been the standard for so long that it will not likely disappear any time soon. The future of SATA will be even more interesting as speed increases will help hard drive development keep pace with other key system components.

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How to Sanitize Your Hard Disk?

Some people say with the click of delete button your hard disk gets sanitize. However, do yourself think so ... well then check the recycle bin and see the list of deleted items, which you have removed and can be recovered as well. For secure deletion of data, it is necessary to sanitize the hard disk with the help of a professional. But if you want to do it your self then buy the right hard disk erasure software. There are many companies these days offering with Free Hard Drive Eraser Software. This was in general we have talked about.
Well if you are a customer care company, then it becomes necessary to keep the confidential data about the clients, like credit card numbers, customer's information, important policies completely secured. If you go on for a hard drive erasure, then you need to use multi pass scrubbing technique.
Beside this, there are three other ways of sanitizing the hard disk:
i) Physical destruction

ii) Overwriting the disk's data

iii) Degaussing
Some people prefer physical destruction of disk. This includes smelting and pulverizing of disk. If you think that this is an expensive method, well then overwrite the disk data using hard disk shredder. This is the proper and an economical way of secure data removal.
These all methods are suggested to those who want to sell their old hard disk, junk it or junk it then using the above methods is important. However, if you want to use the same hard disk then simple basic sanitizing is more than enough. In this you need to delete all the unwanted data, unused programs and reformat the disk completely. For more information on how to sanitize your hard disk [http://www.eraseyourharddrive.com/easytouse.htm], contact a professional company now.

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How To Protect Your Computer

With all the technology around today, most people would not know how to function without it. From toasters to cell phones, everything seems to be getting more advanced every day. With that being said, something going wrong is usually a pretty big deal. With schools that now depend on technology and businesses relying upon technology the smallest glitch can cause chaos in the system. Knowing how to do hard drive recovery is a pretty useful thing if you own a computer. Data hard drive recovery is essential to getting your information back in case that your computer would crash. In the event of your computer crashing, knowing how to bring all your information back is very helpful. You could lose a lot of important documents and work if you do not safe guard your computer well.
It is ideal that your computer not crash in the first place, but it can happen due to viruses. Many people will tell you that viruses are becoming a thing of the past, and which is often true. However, they are not completely eradicated from the internet yet. The new big trend with viruses will most likely be with cell phones and getting your personal information. As of now however, the same virus protection rules stand as ever. Internet viruses find their way into your computer in a wealth of ways such as emails, pop-ups, side-links, spam websites and more. These programs are tricky and know how to get what they want.
First, always have an anti-virus system and make sure it is up to date. Virus protection has gotten much more advanced in the past few years so if you keep your system updated you should be safe from harm. If you fail to do so however, you run a very high risk of infecting your computer. Do not click on to a pop-up site. If it asks you to take a survey or play a game, just exit it. Never interact with them because all it takes is the slightest of clicks. In addition, do not even enter your information into an online form unless you know and trust the website. That is another safe and important point as well. Sites that are well-known and credible are always safer than obscure and creepy ones. As a general rule of thumb, do not peruse the dark alleyways of the internet.
A great way to safe guard yourself from a total melt-down is to back up your files to an external memory device. They are much cheaper than they once were and you can get a good amount of memory. You do not even need to back everything up, just the things you would be extremely sad or troubled to lose. Pictures and important documents should always be stored somewhere other than your normal memory drive. They are much more inexpensive than they once were, smaller and with more memory; there is no reason not to own one. Following this advice could really save you some trouble and stress in the event of a catastrophe.

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Keeping Data Safe While On the Go

Balancing convenience and security is a difficult task. People like to keep their information with them and have convenient access to it at all times. But as information becomes more convenient to share and access, security risks start to increase. Here's the issue: What is the best way to conveniently access our data while keeping it secure? To solve this issue, we need to balance convenience and security. More importantly, each person needs to find a plan that fits their needs.
To begin with, you might want to consider investing in a portable hard drive or in online storage. Portable hard drives offer a large amount of space for a very reasonable price. Because most portable hard drives come with backup and encryption software, they are a great way to keep your data safe while on the go. Another method you can use is the online storage option. The great thing about online storage is that it allows you to easily share all of your information while keeping it secure on the host's servers. Most online storage companies also charge customers based on the amount of storage that they use. In other words, you won't have to pay for any unused storage.
Try to avoid traveling with your laptop as much as possible. This reduces the chance that it will be forgotten, stolen or dropped. On business trips that require you to travel with your laptop, make sure to keep your eyes on it at all times. Even when your laptop bag is going through security in the airport, remain alert. People are quickly scanning through your bags and you need to make sure that you pick up the right bag. Keep your laptop with you at all times. Instead of checking your laptop in luggage carry it with you in your carry on bag. If you are traveling in a car, keep the laptop out of sight when not in use.
To provide additional security, use secure passwords to stop others from gaining access to your information. My definition of a secure password is a password that: contains at least twelve characters, uses lower case as well as upper case letters, symbols, numbers and is unique. NEVER write down your passwords and keep them in your laptop bag. If you're like me and have trouble keeping track of your passwords, consider installing a password protection program. I recommend using Keepass, a free password protection program that creates an encrypted password database for all your passwords. To gain access to the Keepass database you are required to create a master password that you use to login.
If you have to use your laptop in a public area and will be working with sensitive information, use a laptop screen guard to protect your privacy. When staying in a hotel, avoid leaving your laptop inside of your room. Hotel rooms are a common place to lose items; they also give the hotel's staff access to your belongings. If you absolutely have to leave your laptop in your hotel room, put your do not disturb sign on the door to keep the room as secure as possible.
In the event that your laptop is misplaced or stolen, change the passwords to your network accounts immediately. In addition, inform your IT department about the situation so that they can take the appropriate measures to protect as much data as possible.

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