วันศุกร์ที่ 31 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Expansion Cards Part 2: AGP

Expansion Cards Part 2: AGP The first in this series of Tech Tips on expansion cards took a look at the PCI slot, and the variety of devices that may find their home in one. Graphics cards are one of the many items that may be used in a PCI slot, but the demands of fast-paced video games require more speed and greater bandwidth than the PCI Bus can provide. Thus, the AGP slot was born, providing a dedicated interface to transfer graphics data only. The letters 'AGP' stand for Accelerated Graphics Port, and it is the term used to describe a dedicated, point-to-point interface that connects a video card directly to the system's memory and processor. AGP was first introduced by Intel in 1996, and is based off of their previous work in developing the PCI bus. Despite being based on PCI technology, the AGP and PCI slots on a motherboard are not interchangeable, so an AGP card can not be installed into a PCI slot, and vice versa. The initial release of AGP saw a sizeable performance boost over PCI, and the few revisions to the standard helped increase this even more as years went by. Other than having a dedicated path to the system's memory and processor, several other design features help AGP outperform PCI when it comes to graphics performance. Three of the other advancements: pipelining, side band addressing and graphics address remapping table are described below. Data transfer is improved through 'pipelining', a term used to describe the ability of an AGP graphics card to receive, and act upon, multiple instructions simultaneously. PCI data transfers require each piece of necessary information to be received separately before acting on any of it. Something called 'side band addressing' also provides AGP with a performance boost. Basically, additional lines of data are included with each packet to instruct the system as to where this data is to be used. PCI data transfers do not have this addressing information, and the system must look at the data itself in order to determine its destination. This is an obvious time saver, as well as a resource saver since the processor doesn't have to analyze all data just to determine the address. AGP allows the operating system to store texture maps in the system's memory which allows for more space, and perhaps faster access, rather than being limited to the use of graphics card memory only. Graphics art address remapping table, also known as GART, is a term used to describe a process that maps physical memory as virtual memory for the storage of texture maps. Basically, GART takes the system memory it is allowed to use to store texture maps and re-addresses it so that the system thinks these maps are now actually being stored in the frame buffer, or virtual memory. This might not sound like anything special, but this re-addressing requires that the texture map be written to memory only once and it is locked into place right where the AGP card can find it quickly. AGP can be broken down into different groups based on revisions to the specification (AGP 1.0, AGP 2.0, and AGP 3.0), as well as by the general speeds (1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x). There is overlap between the various categories, with AGP 1.0 supporting 1x and 2x, AGP 2.0 supporting 1x,, 2x, and 4x, and AGP 3.0 supporting 4x and 8x. For a complete break down of all the combinations available, please visit this page. Before taking a look at the specifications of AGP, let's have a refresher as to what was available on PCI prior to the birth of AGP. The standard PCI bus has a width of 32-bit, operates at 33 MHz, provides a maximum bandwidth of 132 MB/s (which has to be shared by all devices connected), and operates on 3.3V (or 5V on the original standard). The first version released was AGP 1.0 with a speed of 1x, which offered the following specifications: 32-bit bus width, operating at 66 MHz, providing a maximum bandwidth of 266 MB/s, and utilizing 3.3V. So, it can be seen that right out of the gate, AGP offered double the bandwidth of PCI. Each speed increase over 1x provided double the bandwidth as well as double the clock speed through the use of special signaling. So, AGP 2x offers a maximum bandwidth of 533 MB/s at a speed of 133 MHz, AGP 4x offers a maximum bandwidth of 1066 MB/s at a speed of 266 MHz, and AGP 8x offers 2.1 GB/s at a speed of 533 MHz. Given the timeline of the evolution of these cards, AGP 8x cards dominate today's marketplace. Finding some cards that are backwards compatible is possible, but the tricky part may be ensuring that the slot on the motherboard will accept them. Comparing the connector on this 128MB Apollo GeForce FX6600 GT card, to the connector on this 64MB Hercules 3D Prophet Ultra II card, and to the connector on this 256MB Chaintech GeForce FX5200 card shows that the first one is obviously different than the second two. The Apollo card is 8x only, the Hercules card is 4x/2x compatible, and the Chaintech card is 8x/4x, which results in different notches in the connector. AGP 1.0 only features a 3.3V connection, the release of AGP 2.0 saw the availability of both a 3.3V and 1.5V connector, and AGP 3.0 uses the same 1.5V, but only requires 0.8V for signaling. In order to protect cards of different voltages/formats, special keyed connectors were designed so that only the correct card could be installed on any motherboard. A universal connector was eventually released for AGP 1.0/2.0 which allowed cards of either voltage to be installed. For a schematic of the various connectors, please visit this page. Although AGP 3.0 can share in the use of a universal connection, many motherboards now only support 4x/8x cards based on the AGP 3.0 standard. Another specification for AGP was released between 2.0 and 3.0, and was referred to as AGP Pro. AGP Pro was intended to be the new standard to meet the demands of high powered graphics workstations, but it never really garnered widespread acceptance. Speeds of 1x, 2x, and 4x were supported with AGP Pro, and it utilized either a 3.3V, 5V, or a universal connector, similar to AGP 2.0. But, the AGP Pro connector was not the same size as the 'standard' AGP connector (see schematic at link above), meaning there were now three more possible connections to consider. An AGP Pro connection is longer than a standard AGP connection, and depending on the connector type, it could accept AGP 1.0 and 2.0 cards. Modern motherboards supporting AGP will specify what type of card is compatible with the board, so the guess work is eliminated when trying to match one with the other. For example, this Socket 754 Chaintech motherboard specifies that it has one AGP 4x/8x slot and this Biostar LGA 775 motherboard specifies that it has one 8x AGP slot. Final Words The AGP slot provided a much-needed boost to graphics cards as compared to the PCI slot, but game developers still managed to push the capabilities of this more powerful format to the edge. Something even faster was needed, and the next Tech Tip will take a look at that something in &quot;PCI Express.&quot; PCI Express is not only destined to be the successor to AGP 8x, but due to its flexibility, perhaps to PCI as well. <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com">Computer</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">tech tips</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">computer help</a>

Ten Ways (plus 1) to Save on Printer Ink and Toner Cartridges

Are you getting tired of the high cost of printing? You're not alone. Many consumers are up in arms. For example, they believe paying $22 per ounce for printer ink and $150 to $300 (or more) for a toner cartridge is way too much. Most of the major printer manufacturers have adopted the same marketing model as the razor blade, TiVo and cell phone industry. Simply stated, they sell you the printer for cost or less in order to sell you printer ink and toner cartridges at huge markups. In many instances, they charge seven to ten times what it costs to manufacture these products. In addition, these major companies spend thousands of dollars trying to convince you to purchase only their products. They strongly criticize printer ink and toner cartridges offered by third party companies. However, did you know that many of these major companies are now selling their own recycled cartridges? and you're still paying full retail price for them! As someone once said, to get a real education, read the fine print on the label. With the advent of online marketing, consumer have more choices than ever. There are a large number of reputable companies that sell printer ink and toner cartridges at significant savings. It is very common to save 50-85% when purchasing your printer supplies. In addition to substantial savings, you'll get a money back guarantee and your order is normally shipped the same day. Ok, here's ten ways (plus 1) to save on printer ink and toner cartridges: 1. Purchase a compatible inkjet cartridge. These are cartridges made from new parts and manufactured to meet or exceed the OEM specifications for you exact printer. 2. Purchase a remanufactured inkjet cartridge. Third party companies collect empty printer ink cartridges. They refill them with ink and test them vigorously to make sure you get exactly the quality and quantity you expect from your inkjet cartridge. 3. Purchase an ink refill kit. You'll get step-by-step instructions, the tools and printer ink you need to refill your ink cartridge in just a few minutes. On the average, you can refill an inkjet cartridge ten times. 4. Your inkjet cartridge will eventually wear out. Instead of purchasing a brand name cartridge, purchase a compatible or remanufactured cartridge. Then, when compatible cartridge is empty, refill it with printer ink just as you did your original. 5. When you're printing, always use draft mode until you're ready for your final print. 6. Whenever possible, select black and white print. If you're final product is to be in color, your draft can be done in black and white until you've double-checked everything. Then, print your final copies in color. 7. Purchase a compatible toner cartridge. Third party companies make these toner cartridges from brand new parts. They are manufactured to be equal to or better than your original toner cartridge. 8. Purchase a remanufactured cartridge. Many companies collect empty toner cartridges. They empty any toner waste and then refill the cartridge. They quality check the drum and other parts of the cartridge to insure maximum performance for the consumer. 9. Purchase a toner refill kit. These kits include the tools and instructions necessary to refill your own toner cartridge. On the average, you can refill a toner cartridge about three times. 10. When you toner cartridge is not producing the quality of print you expect, check to see if you can replace the drum, instead of the entire cartridge. This will keep money in your pocket. 11. Purchase multiple ink and toner cartridges if you can. You will save substantially over the already discounted cost, plus you will probably get Free shipping. By ordering your printer ink, toner or ink cartridge online, you'll experience the best service, the best warranty, and the best products available, for all your printing needs. About The Author Larry Andrew is an educational consultant, author and publisher of <a href="http://www.ez-printer-ink.com" target="_new">www.ez-printer-ink.com</a>. Purchasing printer ink, toner and inkjet cartridges on line should be fast, convenient and cost-effective.

The Printer Cartridge Wars: Generic or Remanufactured Cartridges Right for You?

Overview As "generic", "remanufactured", and "new compatible" inkjet printer cartridges and laser toner cartridges creep deeper into the printer accessories market, the choices become varied and often confusing. It is estimated that by the year 2004 the aftermarket share of the inkjet and toner cartridge market will exceed 11% of the estimated 12 billion dollar printer accessory market [source: CART magazine, March 2001] Here's a look at what all these terms mean, and an examination of the upside and downside of using non-"brand name" printer cartridge products in your printer. Terminology First, let's examine the terminology. When shopping online for a new inkjet or toner cartridge for your printer, you'll likely encounter these terms: OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or brand name products A "brand name" inkjet or toner cartridge is just that - it's a printer cartridge that carries the brand name of the manufacturer on it, usually the same as the printer manufacturer, for example, Epson, Canon, Hewlett Packard, etc. New compatible, off-brand or generic products A "new compatible", "off-brand" or "generic" inkjet or toner cartridge is manufactured by a company other than the original printer manufacturer. There are a large number of these "new compatible" manufacturers, and it's quite true that the quality of their product can vary (more on that a bit later). In the case of inkjet cartridges, "generic" cartridges are completely new. In the case of toner cartridges, to qualify as "new compatible" the toner drum must be replaced with a brand new drum, as well as all major parts serviced and replaced as needed. Remanufactured products A "remanufactured" inkjet or toner cartridge, by definition, is a cartridge which has been serviced, cleaned, refilled with toner or ink and possibly had a few component parts repaired or replaced. In many cases, remanufactured toner cartridges do not have new drums; they instead refurbish the original drum and send it out for another cycle. An Important Note About Toner Cartridges The relatively unknown truth is that almost all laser toner cartridges, including most of the original brand name "new" cartridges, have been remanufactured to some extent. The defining point is to what degree they have had component parts repaired and/or replaced. For example: check the box for a brand new Hewlett Packard Laser Jet 4000/27X. Brand new, right? Well, it is. But check the fine print, which says: This newly manufactured product may contain parts and materials recovered from the HP planet partners recycling program. This means that the product, while "new", is possibly not completely new; it's quite probable that components of this cartridge have been used before, and have been recycled. Quality vs. Cost It's a fact: the cost of brand name inkjet and toner cartridges can be exceedingly high in comparison to generic or remanufactured inkjet or toner cartridges. In many cases, new compatible inkjet cartridges can be as much as 70% less than the cost of brand name cartridges. New compatible or remanufactured toner cartridges on the whole tend to be as much as 50% less in cost than their brand name counterparts. For example, an Epson T013201 black inkjer cartridge, used for various Epson Stylus printers, sells for $17.09 direct from Epson. The same cartridge, compatible, at an online retailer, Abacus24-7 (http://www.abacus24-7.com), sells for $4.95. The difference....70% in savings.(Prices as of August 2005) What's the catch? Well, there really isn't one, if you find a quality off-brand product you can purchase from an online merchant you can trust, one who stands by their product in those rare cases that generic or remanufactured products don't perform as well as you expect. Brand name cartridges cost much more than generics primarily because of the marketing and advertising budgets most OEM manufacturers spend in promoting their products; a cost most smaller manufacturers don't have. And then there's the issue of your printer warranty - we'll discuss that issue a little bit later. Inkjet Cartridges: Performance Generic or new compatible inkjet cartridges are in general highly reliable and perform as well as, or nearly as well as, brand name cartridges. Latest technologies and adherence to ISO 9001 codes (internationally recognized standards for quality assurance) by most producers of generic cartridges has increased the overall reliability of these aftermarket products in relation to your typical brand cartridges. In particular, Epson and Canon new compatibles are highly reliable, as the technology required to duplicate the performance of their cartridges is minimal (with the exception of the very latest Epson cartridges with the "computer chip"). In terms of print life (how many pages they print) generics stack up pretty well - usually within plus or minus 5% of the life of your typical brand name cartridge. High quality photographic printing is the one area where generic cartridges are occasionally suspect. The quality of the inks used by the manufacturer play a significant role here - lower grade ink which doesn't have the same density or brilliance and consistency of color can produce inferior results in the most high-demand cases. Although most manufacturers of generics have moved away from inferior inks, we recommend you ask your online merchant about the quality of the inks used by their supplier, if you are doing this kind of high-quality photographic printing. In particular, the inks should be made in the U.S.A.. With good ink your results should be just fine. Remanufactured Inkjet cartridges are another subject. Primarily you will only find remanufactured Inkjet cartridges for Hewlett Packard, Lexmark and Dell, as these companies have meticulously patented (and subsequently filed suit against anyone who tried to duplicate) their inkjet cartridge designs. There are no true "generics" for HP or Dell inkjet printers. Remanufactured cartridges are a huge cost value over new cartridges - usually over 50% less - and for every day printing work just fine. The failure rate of remanufactured cartridges is slightly higher than new product, however, and so it's important your online merchant guarantees their product to cover the occasional return. For typical printing, remanufactured inkjet cartridges can be the right choice over new ones. Lately, Dell computers and printers are increasing in popularity. Dell's popular models include the Color 720, and All-in-One a920, a940, and a960 models. Direct from Dell, one can buy an OEM cartridge, for example the color cartridge (X0504) for the Dell a940 printer for $34.99 from www.dell.com. The same cartridge, yet remanufactured, sells online for $23.95 at Abacus24-7 (http://www.abacus24-7.com).(Prices as of August 2005) Laser Toner Cartridges: Performance As with generic or new compatible inkjet cartridges, new compatible toner cartridges are for the most part highly reliable and provide a noticeable cost savings over brand new toner cartridges. Again, ISO 9001 standards have greatly increased the consistency and reliability of the aftermarket toner product in recent years. Further, many new compatible toner manufacturers increase the volume of toner in the cartridge, providing for a longer print life. Quality new compatible cartridges will have new or replaced mag sleeves, wiper blades, and magnet tips. Remanufactured toner cartridges in general have a less stringent set of criteria applied to them, and as mentioned before may not contain a new toner drum. Be sure to ask your supplier. It is our humble recommendation that you go with toner cartridges that have a new aftermarket drum, as opposed to a refurbished or recycled drum. Lastly, ask if the new drum is "high density". You want that. Color laser new compatible toner cartridges are just coming to market, and although early feedback seems to indicate a positive outlook, an evaluation of these cartridges is premature at this time. Good for the Country, Good for the Environment If you care about recycling or the good of the Country's economy, consider these facts: - 99% of new compatible toner cartridges are manufactured in the USA; most "OEM" brand cartridges are manufactured overseas - Nearly 40,000 tons of plastic are saved from our nation's landfills each year, by remanufacture of inkjet and toner cartridges - It takes on average 2 quarts of oil to manufacture a Brand New Toner cartridge but less than half of that amount to manufacture a new compatible toner cartridge Your Printer Warranty and You A legitimate concern of many people is whether using generic or remanufactured cartridges in their printer voids the printer's warranty. The answer is no. The following is a partial quote of the text of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, which deals with this exact question: MAGNUSON-MOSS WARRANTY IMPROVEMENT ACT United States Code Annotated Title 15 Commerce and Trade Chapter 50 Consumer Product Warranties 15 Section 2032 ... (c) No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumer's using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name; except that the prohibition of this subsection be waived by the commission if: 1) The warrantor satisfies the Commission that the warranted product will function properly only if the article or service so identified is used in connection with the warranted product, and 2) the Commission finds that such a waiver is in the public interest. In English, this means that no warranty may be voided by use of aftermarket products unless the manufacturer acquires a waiver that clearly shows such voidance would be in the public interest, or that their product will only function properly if the specified manufacturer parts are used. There is one catch, however: the manufacturer (in this case your printer manufacturer) is not compelled to repair their product under warranty if damage done to the product occurred as a direct result of using aftermarket parts. In other words, using generic cartridges is fine, and if your printer ever fails under conditions which have nothing to do with the cartridge you are using, no problem. However, if the damage is directly caused (however unlikely) by the use of a generic cartridge, the warrantor may elect not to repair it, although the warranty would remain in effect for all other warranty issues. Conclusion In general, aftermarket generic and new compatible or remanufactured printer cartridge products are an excellent way to cut significant costs from your every day small business or personal printing expense, while maintaining quality printing results. Those who need extremely high quality printing (such as photographers and artists) can, with a little trial-and-error testing of different generic cartridge products, find a product which provides the quality results you need. In all cases, be sure to buy your cartridges from an online supplier who 100% guarantees their product without question, and isn't afraid to answer your questions when it comes to the quality and reliability of their products. Written by David Amerman also published by <a target="_new" href="http://www.About.com">About.com</a>

A Review of Refurbished HP Laptops

HP refurbished laptops can be found on their website hpshopping.com. Just enter &quot;refurbished laptop&quot; into their search field and browse through the current selections. (Note that Hewlett-Packard also owns and distributes Compaq computers.) There you can purchase a quality refurbished laptop for up to 30% off the new retail price. The HP lines are named Pavilion and Omnibook; the Compaq brand offers the Presario laptop at refurbished rates. The Pavilion line is by far the most popular. They are most suited to replace your home desktop computer, or assist any student in creating the perfect reports and multimedia presentations. They are slim, sleek, and very mobile ? usually under 5 pounds. In order of performance, the most common Pavilion notebooks are the ze4000, ze5000, and ze1200. They come as cheap as $1000 from the manufacturer. The Omnibook line is more suited to the serious home user and businessperson. They feature powerful, long-lasting batteries, interchangeable media bays, and ultra slim design ? usually less than 4 pounds. These can cost as little as $1200 refurbished. The 20-30% savings is immense. They come with Intel Pentium 3, 4, or M processors. The most common lines are the 6100, 6200, and 4100 models. Ask the manufacturer or private refurbished laptops dealer for details on which Omnibook would fit you. The Compaq Presario line is perfect for the money-conscience laptop user. One Presario model utilizes an Intel Celeron M processor to power the amazing graphics capabilities. It features 512MB of RAM and a jaw-dropping 40GB of hard drive space. It includes a DVD/CD-RW, which allows you to both play and record any DVD or CD that you wish. You can get all of these features for only $800, making it not the least expensive of refurbished laptops, but certainly a great deal. As with most other manufacturers who offer refurbished laptops, HP offers a 90-day warranty. <a target="_new" href="http://www.i-refurbishedlaptops.com">Refurbished Laptops Info</a> provides detailed information on quality, cheap refurbished laptops by manufacturers like Dell, IBM, Toshiba, and HP, as well as refurbished laptop batteries and related products. Refurbished Laptops Info is the sister site of <a target="_new" href="http://www.e-rackmountcomputer.com">Rack Mount Computers Web</a>.

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 30 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Ceramic Disc Capacitor-How to Accurately Test It

The last article I mentioned about electrolytic capacitor breakdown when under load. In this article I will talk about the high voltage resin coated ceramic disc capacitor. In computer monitor, it is frequent used in the screen voltage (G2) line at the crt board. When it fails, it can cause erratic or intermittently raster bright and dim and sometimes no display. Adjusting the flyback transformer screen control will not solve this problem. You can isolate the problem as whether if it cause by a defective fly back or G2 line at crt board. Remove the G2 wire from circuit and measure the screen voltage with a digital multimeter- it should have a constant voltage (will not vary). If the voltage is not stable suspect the fly back. If it ok then trace the screen voltage circuit. Usually this circuit consist of only resistors and capacitors. Sometimes a defective crt socket might cause this type of problem also! Many times a tech can't solve this intermittent or no display problem is because their digital capacitance and ohmmeter measured ok on the capacitors. The capacitors in the screen voltage line are usually rated of 102,103, and 472 1kv to 2kv. A 'missed' in checking this capacitors will caused the technician can't solve the problem, unless he direct replace the capacitor. An intermittent capacitor can pull down the screen voltage causing the display problem. As mentioned earlier, an ohmmeter with 12v output and a digital capacitance with 3v output are unable to accurately check the capacitor that have the rating of 1-2 kilovolt! If you have the analog insulation tester or meter, the panel will show a short circuit when certain voltage are pump in to check the high voltage capacitor. The voltages that you can select is depends on the brand or model you buy. Some have the range of 50v to 1000v and some have the range from 100v to 500v. It is optional whether you should have one. If you have one then it would be an added advantage for you. The other option that you have is to direct replace the suspected capacitor. In my country, you can get a new one in less than US150.00 or you may bid a used unit from eBay. As for me, checking the small blue resin coated ceramic disc capacitor that have the capacitor code of 104 50v, besides using digital capacitance meter to check for the value, i also use an analog meter set to times 10Kohm that have the output of 12v to check this type of capacitor. Many times it will revealed the bad intermittent capacitor. You will be shocked to see the capacitance meter checked ok but show a shorted reading when check with analog multimeter. In the market there is certain brand of analog multimeter that have the range of 100kohm. If you open up the cover, you can't see the 9v battery in it, what you see only the 2 pieces of 1.5v battery. This type of meter can't accurately detect the short in the capacitor because the output voltage is only 3volt! For those of you who involved in repairing monitor, you will agree with me that checking the flyback internal capacitance- quite often you get the right value 2.7nf with digital capacitance meter but when you switch on the monitor, you will hear a 'tick-tick' sound from the flyback. This is because the capacitor is breaking down when under load. If you did not do anything with the flyback, gradually the internal capacitance will become shorted and you will need to refurbish the flyback. Jestine Yong is a electronic repairer and a writer. For more electronic repair information please visit his website at <a target="_new" href="http://www.noahtec.com/electronic-repair-articles.htm">http://www.noahtec.com/electronic-repair-articles.htm</a>

Ink Cartridges & Printing - Poor Print Quality Solutions

Why are there faint areas or gaps in my print out?<br> * Unlikely, but your paper may need changing due to its deterioration due to its age. * Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer matches ('Media Type') the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box. * You may need to clean the print head nozzles. These can be cleaned by employing the 'Head Cleaning' utility from within the printer software interface you get when you want to print or by going via the 'Control Panel' (found via 'My Computer') and selecting the printers section. After the cleaning operations are carried out by the printer, a check pattern will be printed to show that the ink cartridge nozzles are clean. If there are still poor quality areas, repeat the operation. I have white horizontal lines appearing?<br> * You may need to clean the print head nozzles - see above * If your printer has a light flashing indicating low ink levels for a cartridge, then change it. * Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer ('Media Type') matches the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box. The colors are not what I thought they'd be? * Clean your print head nozzles - see above * You've not chosen the color option in your printer software interface. This has happened to me many times. By default, my printer software had black selected for all printing. * Specific types of paper have one side only that can be printed on. Ensure that it is loaded correctly in your printer. * Check that the type of paper you are using in your printer ('Media Type') matches the setting in the printer software 'Main Menu' or 'Print' dialog box. * What you see on your monitor will never be identical to what you get on your print out. It shouldn't be that far out, but if it is, then you you may have a color calibration issue between your monitor and software package that you are using. Finally;<br> Never buy brand name inkjet cartridges. Get what are called compatible ink cartridges. They are much cheaper and produce the same quality results. www.ink-cartridge-store.com shows you the range of such products available nowadays. In my experience, if you use your ink cartridges infrequently, then you will find yourself having to use the cleaning utilities practically every time you do use them. So I suggest printing out a b/w and color text page (say, 200 words with black, red, blue and yellow colors) on a regular basis (once a week?) even if you are not using the printer. You will save ink in the long run as the cleaning utility will use a lot more than your weekly maintenance pages. This article may be reproduced in its entirety provided the resource paragraph below is included and all urls kept active. (c) Paul Curran, CEO of Cuzcom Internet Publishing Group and webmaster at <a target="_new" href="http://www.ink-cartridge-store.com">Ink Cartridge Store</a>, providing <a target="_new" href="http://www.ink-cartridge-store.com/bestinkcartridges/Bulk.html">discount bulk buys</a> and also <a target="_new" href="http://www.ink-cartridge-store.com/bestinkcartridges/Laser.html">best laser toner</a> supplies.

The Making of Energy Efficient Datacenters

The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron is a wonderful movie to watch. It is based on the book, The anatomy of greed, written by a former employee of Enron, Brian Cruver. One interesting thing that comes on our minds is the size of all power companies. They are all huge. We all depend on power for just about everything and yet very rarely do we think about conserving energy. A typical PC for example takes about 135 watts of power. A data center with about a 1000 servers should typically take about 135 x 1000 Watts or 135 Kilowatts and that would just power the computers. This does not include the air-conditioning and lighting. According to to a research paper sponsored by The California Energy Commission in a datacenter about 50% of the total energy consumed is by the servers and about 35% is the air conditioners. <br> Here are some interesting research done in this field - <br> <ul> Feeling the heat- An interesting paper by Liebert describing the challenge of effectively managing the heat dissipation in datacenters. </li> </ul> <ul> Heat-Density Trends in Data Processing, Computer Systems, and Telecommunications Equipment- This white paper provides valuable current data and best available insights regarding historical and projected trends in power consumption and the resulting heat dissipation in computer and data processing systems (servers and workstations), storage systems, and central office-type telecommunications equipment. <br> </ul> This problem can be solved by making better energy efficient air conditioners and by making more energy efficient computers. Many companies have taken a lot of interest in subject. However, nothing substantial has been done primarily because of the market requirements. The end users still want to host their sites on the fastest processors which drives the market with the latest processors. Going at this rate we would reach a time soon when the energy required would be much higher than the energy available in the market. <br> <br> Intel, AMD, Transmeta and Via have all released processors which consume very low power. A typical Pentium or AMD processor consumes about 25 Watts of power, whereas these low powered processors take only about 5 watts of power i.e. about 5 low powered processors would consume as much power as a single main stream processor of today. These low powered processors are also generally fan less processors which means lower noise levels too. Intel has the centrino which has a lower power consumption than the regular pentiums. Intel also has the arm processors but those are RISC. Our prime focus would be AMD, Transmeta and Via. They all have some very promising products.<br> <br> One thing to be noted is that most of these low powered processors work only at about 1.2GHz or lower. So they won't be as fast the pentium4s. Which means one would have to host lesser sites per server. A good recommendation would be upto a maximum of 600 sites on a regular pentium 4 server. A low powered processor should comfortably take about 200 sites. One advantage of these low powered processors is that they have a very small form factor too. This means that one can have more such servers in the same space that is typically allocated to a high powered servers. All datacenters use a profitability matrix based on the following rule: Performance/Per Watt/Per Cubic Foot. This is one place where the low powered processors really score high. <br> <br> <br> AMD Geode? NX Processor family comprises of the AMD Geode? NX 1250@6W processor, the AMD Geode? NX 1500@6W processor and the AMD Geode? NX 1750@14W processor. The first two in these consume only 6Watts of power and run without a cooling fan. According to AMD they provide the highest x86 performance for fan less operations. They are based on the mobile AMD Athlon processor technology.<br> <br>Transmeta was one of the first companies to develop low powered processors. For a long time Transmeta was known as the company where the Microsoft co founder Paul Allen had interests in and the place where Linus Trovalds, the father Linux, worked. Both of them are no longer part of the organization. Today they are known for the two processor families they have - The transmeta crusoe and the transmeta efficeon<br> <br> Transmeta Crusoe?- processors range from 500Mhz to 1.2 Ghz. According to Transmeta,Crusoe is a unique combination of software and hardware. It's this radical design that gives Crusoe its important advantages, and manufacturers of all kinds of electronic devices their first truly innovative new platform in over 25 years. Thanks to Crusoe, mobile devices can be made smaller and lighter than ever. These new devices will be more comfortable to use, too, because Crusoe generates very little heat a problem that plagues the industry's legacy hardware-only processors. And because it uses far less power, mobile devices running on Crusoe run far longer on a single battery charge, and Crusoe-powered ultra-dense servers do far more work per watt, far more efficiently. <br> <br> Transmeta Efficeon processors are the higher end processors from Transmeta and they run at upto 1.6Ghz and have high performance I/O interfaces. They are built upon Fujitsu's next-generation 90nm silicon technology featuring transistors with a length of just 40nm. <br> <br> The entire Transmeta range not just uses the x86 instruction set, they also have full multimedia instruction support (MMX, SSE-SSE2). Transmeta has done very little in marketing in terms of selling their products for the server market. Like all other companies they have focussed on mobile products, set-top boxes etc.. While these products are great for the mobile market, they do have a great potential in the server market. FIC, JM-Net etc. have some products for the server market which run on the Transmeta processors. <br> <br> Via , the Taiwanese manufacturer purchased the Cyrix processors and has since gotten out of the race of faster processors with AMD and Intel. Instead they are focussing on fan less, low-powered processors. They have the Eden and the C3 range of processors. The power consumption varies from only 7watts to 15Watts. Additionally, the processors come with the PadLock Hardware Security Suite which provides a platform approach to computer security, ensuring uncompromising security performance. These features include the implementation of the Quantum-based VIA PadLock RNG (Random Number Generator), and the VIA PadLock ACE (Advanced Cryptography Engine) supporting AES encryption. <br> <br> According to Via, the VIA Eden-N Processor is the world's smallest, lowest power and most secure native x86 processor. It is a mere 15mm x 15mm in terms of size and consumes between 2.5W @ 533MHz to 7W @ 1GHz. <br> <br> <br> Via again like Transmeta has not focussed in the server market. The images above give a good idea of the benefits of this processor in the server market. For datacenters, Via may be the best in the Performance/Per Watt/Per Cubic Foot matrix.<br> <br> Companies like Hitachi make some very good low powered hard disk drives which have a very small form factor. They have both IDE's at 7200 rpm as well as SCSI hard drives. <br> <br> Many may think it is better to take higher end servers as the power or heating problem does not directly affect them. As mentioned earlier a server driven by a low-powered processor would be able to take just about 200 sites. This means that a person with 600 sites would need to take 3 such servers instead of one higher powered server. Here are some benefits of this scenario. <br> One of the biggest factors influencing the performance of sites on the internet is the capability of the network card (ethernet) . When all sites are hosted on just one server, they all would use the same network card to push the data. Now if these sites are distributed among 3 servers the amount of data that the sites can push would be 3 times more which means faster access to the sites. Another benefit is that if one of the site goes down all 600 people would not be effected, rather only 1/3rd the number of sites would be affected. Hence, the number of support request would be lesser. And finally, such processors are very affordable. Typically they would be just a third of the cost of regular mainstream processors. <br> <br> Amarjyoti Krishnan heads bobcares.com, a tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., a software and IT services company which specializes in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 100 engineers. Amarjyoti is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of experience in the hosting industry. He has spoken and written extensively on the subject. His articles have been published both online as well as in print in magazines. <a target="_new" href="http://poornam.com">http://poornam.com</a> <br> <a target="_new" href="http://bobcares.com">http://bobcares.com</a> <br> <a target="_new" href="http://amarjyoti.com">http://amarjyoti.com</a>

What to Do Once You Are Infected with Spyware, Ad-ware or Viruses

What to do once your PC is infected with spyware, ad-ware or viruses So you've been running a virus program. Or you haven't. (Check my previous article on keeping your computer at top speed by using Avast). Either way, your PC is now infected by spyware/ad-ware, or even worse, a virus. What DO you do? The easiest method, is, of course, to format. Should you turn on your PC and the infestation is so bad (and some of them are) you need to format, simply slide a windows xp cd you've either bought or burned into your rom drive, re-boot, and go through windows installation. Don't forget to enter your BIOS/CMOS and change your boot sequence so your cd-rom drive boots before your hard drive. If you've just got a small problem; your computer still runs fine, then you can just clean up your hard drive with any number of programs. There are many out there, but the ones I suggest would be Spybot: Search and Destroy, Lavasoft ad-aware, and Avast Anti-Virus. All of these programs are free and can be downloaded off download.com . Likely the most user-friendly program would be Avast or Ad-aware. Spybot is a little more of an advanced program. It is still one of the best, but if you have trouble understanding PC problems, you might have troubles understanding how Spybot works. (You could always read the readmes or their forums, however). Microsoft has also released a new program too, which can be downloaded from download.com as well, or whatever your favorite download portal is. Anyways, once you have one of these programs, start a scan and attempt to remove the infestation. Most of these programs can also schedule a boot time scan. This means your computer will reboot and scan before you load windows. This can help remove most infestations because most spyware/ad-ware/viruses can manifest themselves in windows so well that they cannot be deleted unless you delete them before windows loads or from safe mode. A boot-time scan is recommended as the first course of action to remove your infestation. Should you continue to experience slower PC speeds, you could try using a virus scanner to not only scan your hard drive, but prevent your PC from getting more spyware. Usually with spyware, once you have even a few files infected, they spread like a virus and attempt to propogate themselves. It's important you have a virus scanner to not only delete old spyware, but prevent new spyware from popping up. Avast is great for this. Anyways, good luck and good hunting. Use a format as your last course of action. Besides, it's good for your PC at least once a year to format. This re-aligns your partition tables and eliminates corruption as well as fragmentation. I am a young, aspiring computer engineer into Internet Marketing, hardware, software, web design, SEO and just about anything related to computers. Please come check out my growing PC forum at <a target="_new" href="http://www.markspcforum.com">http://www.markspcforum.com</a>

วันพุธที่ 29 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Buying a Refurbished Dell Laptop

Dell offers a full line of refurbished laptops on their website, dell.com. Look for &quot;Outlet Refurbished Laptops.&quot; There you will find a full range of popular models that run just as reliably as a new machine ? for hundreds of dollars less than you would pay for new versions. This is because Dell refurbished laptops are inspected for &quot;good-as-new&quot; quality. The only differences are the red label on the bottom of the unit and a lower price. Dell's most popular refurbished laptops are Latitude and Inspiron. The Latitude series of &quot;notebook&quot; computers is no longer manufactured, but is still a great buy for someone looking for an up-to-date machine. Latitude is an apt name for these models: they afford you great leeway in updating, expanding, or otherwise changing the internal workings of the computer. With its black chassis and clean lines, it is a rather &quot;normal&quot; looking computer. It is a middleweight unit, but sized to fit any standard laptop case, along with AC/DC adaptor, mouse, floppy and zip disks, and other accessories. The Dell Latitude C600, CPX, and L400 are the three most popular models in the line. The Inspiron series of notebook computers is still manufactured today, with some modifications. Slightly older versions are still a great way to meet all your computer needs. Inspirons are not quite as expandable as Latitudes, but, with their jazzy black-and-silver chassis, have a distinctive look. Inspiron laptops are also a bit more affordable than Latitudes. Furthermore, Inspiron ranks among the highest performing laptops available, with famously long battery life The Dell Inspiron 1100 and 1150 are the two most common models in the line of refurbished laptops at Dell. If you are looking to get the lowest price on a Dell laptop, look for one that uses a Celeron processor instead of an Intel. Celeron is less expensive, and also uses less battery juice, than Intel. <a target="_new" href="http://www.i-refurbishedlaptops.com">Refurbished Laptops Info</a> provides detailed information on quality, cheap refurbished laptops by manufacturers like Dell, IBM, Toshiba, and HP, as well as refurbished laptop batteries and related products. Refurbished Laptops Info is the sister site of <a target="_new" href="http://www.e-rackmountcomputer.com">Rack Mount Computers Web</a>.

Security Risks and Ways to Decrease Vulnerabilities in a 802.11b Wireless Environment

Introduction This document explains topics relating to wireless networks. The main topics discussed include, what type of vulnerabilities exist today in 802.11 networks and ways that you can help prevent these vulnerabilities from happening. Wireless networks have not been around for many years. Federal Express has been using a type of wireless networks, common to the 802.11 networks used today, but the general public has recently just started to use wireless networking technology. Because of weak security that exists in wireless networks, companies such as Best Buy have decided to postpone the roll-out of wireless technology. The United States Government has done likewise and is suspending the use of wireless until a more universal, secure solution is available. Background What is Wireless? Wireless LANs or Wi-Fi is a technology used to connect computers and devices together. Wireless LANs give persons more mobility and flexibility by allowing workers to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as they roam from one coverage area to another. This increases efficiency by allowing data to be entered and accessed on site. Besides being very simple to install, WLANs are easy to understand and use. With few exceptions, everything to do with wired LANs applies to wireless LANs. They function like, and are commonly connected to, wired Ethernet networks. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance [WECA] is the industry organization that certifies 802.11 products that are deemed to meet a base standard of interoperability. The first family of products to be certified by WECA is that based on the 802.11b standard. This set of products is what we will be studying. Also more standards exist such as 802.11a and 802.11g. The original 802.11 standard was published in 1999 and provides for data rates at up to 2 Mbps at 2.4 GHz, using either FHSS or DSSS. Since that time many task groups have been formed to create supplements and enhancements to the original 802.11 standard. The 802.11b TG created a supplement to the original 802.11 standard, called 802.11b, which has become the industry standard for WLANs. It uses DSSS and provides data rates up to 11 Mbps at 2.4 Ghz. 802.11b will eventually be replaced by standards which have better QoS features, and better security. Network Topology There are two main topologies in wireless networks which can be configured: Peer-to-peer (ad hoc mode) ? This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. Two or more devices can talk to each other without an AP. Client/Server (infrastructure networking) ? This configuration is identical to its wired counterpart, except without the wires. This is the most common wireless network used today, and what most of the concepts in this paper apply to. Benefits of Wireless LANs <ul> <li>WLANs can be used to replace wired LANs, or as an extension of a wired infrastructure. It costs far less to deploy a wireless LAN than to deploy a wired one. A major cost of installing and modifying a wired network is the expense to run network and power cables, all in accordance with local building codes. Example of additional applications where the decision to deploy WLANs include: <li>Additions or moves of computers. <li>Installation of temporary networks <li>Installation of hard-to-wire locations </ul> Wireless LANs give you more mobility and flexibility by allowing you to stay connected to the Internet and to the network as you roam. Cons of Wireless LANs Wireless LANs are a relatively new technology which has only been around since 1999. With any new technology, standards are always improving, but in the beginning are unreliable and insecure. Wired networks send traffic over a dedicated line that is physically private; WLANs send their traffic over shared space, airwaves. This introduces interference from other traffic and the need for additional security. Besides interference from other wireless LAN devices, the 2.4 GHz is also used by cordless phones and microwaves. Security Issues of WLANs <ul> <li>War-driving <br>War-driving is a process in which an individual uses a wireless device such as a laptop or PDA to drive around looking for wireless networks. Some people do this as a hobby and map out different wireless networks which they find. Other people, who can be considered hackers, will look for wireless networks and then break into the networks. If a wireless is not secure, it can be fairly easy to break into the network and obtain confidential information. Even with security, hackers can break the security and hack. One of the most prevalent tools used on PDAs and Microsoft windows devices is, Network Stumbler, which can be downloaded at <a href="http://www.netstumbler.com." target="_new">http://www.netstumbler.com.</a> Equipped with the software and device, a person can map out wireless access points if a GPS unit is attached. Adding an antenna to the wireless card increases the capabilities of Wi-Fi. More information can be found at: <a href="http://www.wardriving.info" target="_new">http://www.wardriving.info</a> and <a href="http://www.wardriving.com" target="_new">http://www.wardriving.com</a> to name a few. <li>War-chalking <br>War-chalking is a method of marking wireless networks by using chalk most commonly. War-driving is usually the method used to search for networks, and then the person will mark the network with chalk that gives information about the network. Some of the information would include, what the network name is, whether the network has security, and possibly the contact information of who owns the network. If your wireless network is War-chalked and you don't realize it, your network can be used and/or broken into faster, because of information shown about your network. </ul> Eavesdropping & Espionage Because wireless communication is broadcast over radio waves, eavesdroppers who just listen over the airwaves can easily pick up unencrypted messages. These intruders put businesses at risk of exposing sensitive information to corporate espionage. Wireless LAN Security ? What Hackers Know That You Don't www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002 Internal Vulnerabilities Within an organization network security can be compromised by ways such as, Rouge WLANs (or Rouge Aps), Insecure Network Configuration, and Accidental Associations to name a few. Rouge Access Points ? An employee of an organization might hook up an access point without the permission or even knowledge of IT. This is simple to do, all a person has to do is plug an Access point or wireless router into an existing live LAN jack and they are on the network. One statistic in 2001 by Gartner said that, &quot;at least 20 percent of enterprises already have rouge access points.&quot; Another type of attack would be if, someone from outside the organization, enters into the workplace and adds an Access Point by means of Social Engineering. Insecure Network Configurations- Many companies think that if they are using a firewall or a technology such as VPN, they are automatically secure. This is not necessarily true because all security holes, big and small, can be exploited. Also if devices and technologies, such as VPNs, firewalls or routers, are mis-configured, the network can be compromised. Accidental Associations ? This can happen if a wireless network is setup using the same SSID as your network and within range of your wireless device. You may accidentally associate with their network without your knowledge. Connecting to another wireless LAN can divulge passwords or sensitive document to anyone on the neighboring network. Wireless LAN Security ? What Hackers Know That You Don't www.airdefense.net Copyright 2002 Social Engineering ? Social Engineering is one of the most effective and scariest types of attacks that can be done. This type of attack really scares me and can be done for many other purposes besides compromising security in wireless networks. A scenario: Someone dressed up as a support person from Cisco enters the workplace. The secretary sees his fake credentials and lets him get pass the front desk. The impersonator walks from cubicle to cubicle, collecting user names and passwords as he/she goes. After finding a hidden corner, which seems to be lightly traveled, he plugs an insecure Access Point into the network. At the same time he configures the Access Point to not broadcast its SSID and modifies a few other settings to make it hard for the IT department to find this Rouge Access Point. He then leaves without ever being questioned by anyone because it looks like he just fits in. Now, all he has to do is be within 300 feet from the access point, (more if he added an antenna), and now has access to all kinds of secure documents and data. This can be a devastating blow to any corporation and could eventually lead to bankruptcy if the secrets of the company were revealed to competitors. Bruce Schneier came to my classroom and said the following about Social Engineering, &quot;Someone is just trying to do their job, and be nice. Someone takes advantage of that by targeting this human nature. Social Engineering is unsolvable.&quot; Securing Wireless Networks According to Bruce Schneier and others such as Kevin Mitnick, you can never have a totally secure computing environment. What is often suggested is to try and control the damage which can be done if security is breached. One can try many different tools on the market which can help prevent security breaches. WEP ? WEP supports both 64 and 128-bit keys. Both are vulnerable, however, because the initialization vector is only 24-bits long in each case. Its RC4 algorithm, which is used securely in other implementations, such as SSL, is quite vulnerable in WEP. <a href="Http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/jan/cover.shtml" target="_new">Http://www.infosecuritymag.com/2002/jan/cover.shtml</a> Wireless Insecurities By Dale Gardner. Different tools exist to break WEP keys, including AirSnort, which can be found at www.airsnort.net. Although this method is not a secure solution, it can be used to help slowdown an attacker if other means are not possible financially or otherwise. VPN and IPSec- IPSec VPNs let companies connect remote offices or wireless connections using the public Internet rather than expensive leased lines or a managed data service. Encryption and authentication systems protect the data as it crosses the public network, so companies don't have to sacrifice data privacy and integrity for lower costs. A lot of VPN's exist on the market today. An important note about VPNs is, interoperability does not really exist, and whatever you use for your server has to be the same brand as your clients most of the time. Some VPNs include: <ul> <li>Borderware <li>BroadConnex Networks <li>CheckPoint <li>Cisco <li>Computer Associates </ul> DMZ ? Adding this to your network enables you to put your wireless network on an untrusted segment of your network. Firewalls ? Firewalls are all over the place. Firewalls range from hardware to software versions. By adding a firewall between the wireless network and wired network helps prevent hackers from accessing your wired network. This paper doesn't go into specifics about different firewalls and how to set them up, but there are many. Some of the firewalls include: <ul> <li>ZoneAlarm (an inexpensive based software firewall) Zonelabs.com <li>Symantec has many different firewalls depending what you require. </ul> PKI - Public-key infrastructure (PKI) is the combination of software, encryption technologies, and services that enables enterprises to protect the security of their communications and business transactions on the Internet. What is PKI? <a href="http://verisign.netscape.com/security/pki/understanding.html" target="_new">http://verisign.netscape.com/security/pki/understanding.html</a> Site Surveys ? Site Surveys involve using a software package and a wireless device to probe your network for Access Points and security risks. Proactive Approaches Since wireless technology is insecure, companies or anyone can take a proactive approach to try and identify hackers trying to gain access via wireless networks. Honeypots ? are fake networks setup to try and lure in hackers. This enables administrators to find out more about what type of techniques hackers are using to gain access. One product is Mantrap created by Symantec. &quot;ManTrap has the unique ability to detect both host- and network-based attacks, providing hybrid detection in a single solution. No matter how an internal or external attacker tries to compromise the system, Symantec ManTrap's decoy sensors will deliver holistic detection and response and provide detailed information through its system of data collection modules.&quot; <a href="http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=157" target="_new">http://enterprisesecurity.symantec.com/products/products.cfm?ProductID=157</a> Intrusion Detection ? Intrusion Detection is software that monitors traffic on the network. It sounds out a warning if a hacker it trying to access the network. One such free product is Snort. &quot;Before we proceed, there are a few basic concepts you should understand about Snort. There are three main modes in which Snort can be configured: sniffer, packet logger, and network intrusion detection system. Sniffer mode simply reads the packets off of the network and displays them for you in a continuous stream on the console. Packet logger mode logs the packets to the disk. Network intrusion detection mode is the most complex and configurable configuration, allowing Snort to analyze network traffic for matches against a user defined rule set and perform several actions based upon what it sees.&quot; <a href="http://www.snort.org/docs/writing_rules/chap1.html#tth_chAp1" target="_new">http://www.snort.org/docs/writing_rules/chap1.html#tth_chAp1</a> Network Monitoring- Network Monitoring would be products such as snort that monitor the flow of traffic over the network. Quick tips and tricks <ul> <li>When setting up wireless networks and access points there are a few quick steps that can be taken to immediately secure the network, even though it does not make it secure. Some of these ways include: <li>Change your default SSID: each router or access point comes with a default SSID. By changing this it can take longer for an attacker to know what type of device he is trying to hack. <li>Change the default password ? generic default passwords are assigned to access points and routers. Sometimes the password is admin. By changing this password, the attacker cannot modify settings on your router as easily. <li>Disable broadcasting SSID: By default AP's broadcast their SSIDs, if you shutoff this setting it is harder for outsiders to find your AP. <li>Enable MAC filtering: WARNING: this can only work in smaller environments where a centralized access list does not need to be maintained. You can enable only specific wireless cards to access the AP by only enabling those MAC addresses. <li>Turn off shares: If security is important, scanning for shares and turning off the shares on the network can help. Also encrypting sensitive data can prevent hackers from accessing the data. <li>Put your wireless access points in a hard to find and reach spot. <li>Keep your drivers on all wireless equipment updated. This helps patch existing security vulnerabilities. <li>Read current press releases about emerging wireless news. </ul> About The Author Richard J Johnson Network+ Certified RJ Computer Consulting <a href="http://rjcomputerconsulting.com" target="_new">http://rjcomputerconsulting.com</a> Richard@johnsorichard.com

RAM - What is It & Why You Need Plenty

This is the first article in the Understanding Your Computer series from aworldofhelp.com. Our goal is to help people understand how their computer works, not simply tell them what they need to buy or use. When you know how your computer works, buying the right system or upgrade is easy. The series is designed to provide valuable information to users of all knowledge levels, so if part of it seems too complicated or too simple for you, I hope you read on and get all you can out of the articles. If you have questions or comments about this or any article, please ask in the forums! RAM - What is it & why you need plenty Many people picture a computer as consisting in part of a Processor - CPU Memory - RAM Hard Drive The way these three components interact is important to understanding how a computer works, and ultimately to understanding why you need enough RAM for your programs. Around the Internet and in Magazines you can find recommended RAM amounts for typical users. You also will find many places proclaiming RAM as the best performance for your dollar upgrade. I don't disagree at all, but I want you to understand what RAM actually does, and why it can be such a valuable upgrade. I covered this subject briefly in the aworldofhelp Notebook Buyer's Guide on page 4. The information in that article is accurate, but I want to try to make things a little clearer here. The article is divided into four sections, covering: 1. The functions of the three components we are discussing and their relative speeds 2. Why you need RAM and what takes up RAM 3. Multitasking and how RAM improves performance 4. How much RAM you need CPU stands for Central Processing Unit. It is the brain of your computer. When you open a program, like Microsoft Word for example, the CPU reads through lines of computer code and follows the instructions so you can use your program. When you play an audio file like an MP3, the CPU has to do work to decompress it while it plays. When you edit a picture the CPU has to perform many calculations to make even the smallest changes. One thing to note is that the CPU actually does have a very small amount of memory in it. This is the fastest memory in a computer system, but it is so small it doesn't really affect this article. Generally speaking, the CPU doesn't store the information that makes up the program, MP3, or picture, it only processes it. The data has to be located somewhere in your computer, and the CPU has to find it and then retrieve it. That action, the problem of locating the data and how it affects your overall system performance is what this article is about. RAM RAM stands for Random Access Memory. This memory is very fast, and you will see it in sizes like 256 MB, 512 MB, or 1024 MB. When you turn off your computer, the contents are erased, so it is only temporary memory. This is where the CPU looks first to get data to process. So if you are editing a picture, and its data is in this RAM, because RAM is fast memory, editing the picture will happen relatively quickly. Hard Drive Your Hard Drive is where you store all of your programs, music, video, and everything you keep on your computer. This is the memory where you store your files that remain even after you turn your system off. You will see them in all sizes, now typically ranging from 30 GB, to hundreds of GB. Hard drives are very slow compared to your CPU and RAM because they are mechanical. Inside the disk there are actually small readers that physically move around to locate and read data. If you are editing a picture, the CPU will first look in RAM memory to see if it is there, because RAM is fast. If it isn't, the CPU will go to the hard drive and edit the picture there. Because your hard drive is so slow, this takes a much longer time than if the picture had been in RAM. Again, the CPU only stores a tiny bit of data, so it has to get it from somewhere to operate on. If the CPU has data to process, it will do so as fast as it can, but if it doesn't, the brain of your computer simply sits and waits doing nothing. Only after it finds and retrieves the data it needs can it process it. So ideally, you want your CPU to find data in the fastest place possible. As you can see, if the data is in RAM you are far better off than if it is in your hard disk because RAM is so much faster. Just take a look at the graph below. It shows the time it takes to access each memory type in nanoseconds. Clearly, your hard drive is slow, but when you look at the above graph, and you see the numbers it is based on below, you realize just how slow it is. Each is an approximate access time in nanoseconds: CPU 1 ns<br> RAM 60 ns<br> Hard Drive 10,000,000 ns It should be clear why the bars for your CPU and RAM do not even show up on this graph, your hard drive is simply extremely slow. So why bother with a hard disk? Seeing that, you might think that it would be great if you could just use huge amounts of RAM instead of a hard disk. You are right, this would be a great situation, but as you might imagine, the faster the memory in your computer, the more expensive it is. RAM prices have come down significantly in recent years, but it will still cost you much more compared to Hard Drive space. Computers work within this constraint - that faster memory is more expensive - by looking in the fastest place for information first, then moving to slower locations only when they need to. So if you hear your hard drive making noise or you see a light telling you it is being accessed, you know the data could not be found in RAM. Now you know that the hard drive access that's going on is very slow, and that is the reason your CPU, and in turn you, have to wait. So now you know that you want lots of RAM, at least enough for all your programs, so you don't have to access your slow hard drive too often. But what actually uses your RAM, and how can you see whether your system has enough? Windows itself takes up a lot of RAM. Microsoft says Windows XP will run on a machine with 64 MB of RAM, though they recommend 128 MB or 256 MB. If you have even more RAM than that, and I recommend you do, Windows will use some of it as well. Everything that loads when you boot up your computer also uses RAM. What these programs are actually doing is putting themselves in to RAM, if enough is available, so that they can be used very quickly. The problem is when there isn't enough memory for all these programs, and your computer runs very slowly. On my machine these programs load when I turn on my computer: AVG Antivirus Scanner Software Digital Camera Software Gmail Notifier AOL Instant Messenger And some server software for testing Then, everything I run after the boot up uses more RAM. Whatever Internet Browser I use, for example, takes up RAM. Microsoft Word does too, as well as all my programs. To see how much RAM you have and how much free RAM you have, you can open up Task Manager by right clicking on the start menu and selecting it, it looks like this. On the right, in the Physical Memory section my RAM is listed. My total and available memory is listed, and as you can see, just booting my computer into Windows XP and loading all the things I do, I have less than half of my RAM available for other programs. Your system will probably have less total RAM, but you'll be able to see how much and how much you have free. You can easily find out how much ram you have by right clicking on "My Computer" and going to properties, but it's useful to see it here so you understand what the Task Manager is showing. You can use this tool to convert the number shown in "K" to a number that you may be more comfortable with, in "MB". K MB On my computer, 1048040 K converts to 1023.4 MB, which is 1024 MB. Your own system may give you a number a few megabytes lower than the actual. For example, 252 instead of 256. That is normal, and is a result of something else, like a video chip, using a portion of the RAM. The actual RAM your programs has to work with is the number listed in the Task Manager. In my example, I have a hundreds of Megabytes of free RAM. I sometimes fill the RAM if I am video editing or photo editing, but beyond that, it is rare. This is a good thing though, remember the chart. If your RAM is full, your Hard Drive will be used more, and since it is so slow, your system will grind to near a halt. By looking at the Task Manager, you can get a good idea of how your system is running. If you have lots of available RAM, you are in good shape. But many systems I see actually have almost no free RAM, and this is what causes the system to use the hard disk instead and run slower. Note that the available RAM will generally never hit zero, but will fluctuate around very low numbers if your system is out of memory. Our example so far has been simplified to show how doing one thing on your computer needs memory. But a real benefit of having adequate memory is multitasking. Basically, if you are doing more than one thing at a time, you are multitasking. If you are reading this article and editing a picture at the same time, you are multitasking. Generally, if you can switch between two open programs on your machine very quickly, they both are loaded into RAM. In this case, you can likely see plenty of available memory in Task Manager. On my machine, since I have plenty of RAM, I switch between two or three Internet browsers, Excel, PowerPoint, Instant Messenger, my audio player, and more very quickly. On the other hand if you don't have enough RAM, even with just two programs open, when you switch between them your computer may slow down considerably. The program you are switching to is not in RAM, and the CPU is forced to get information from the hard disk. As you open more programs, the situation only gets worse. A check on task manager in this case will likely show very little free RAM, too little in fact to fit all your programs. How Much RAM do you need? The best answer is that you need enough RAM to run all your programs and multitask between them quickly. If your system is running well and you check Task Manager and have lots of available RAM, you are probably in good shape. If your system is slow switching between more than one program, look at the task manager and see if your available RAM is low. If it is, adding more will likely make your entire system run faster, just by fitting more programs into RAM. You'll be amazed how fixing this problem will improve you computing experience overall. That is the reason so many people talk about RAM as being the best upgrade for older systems. If you are buying a new computer 512 MB is a good amount of RAM for most users. If you edit a lot of pictures or video, or if you can just afford the upgrade, moving up to 1024 MB (1 GB) is not a bad idea. Memory prices are much lower than they used to be, and you'll have extra memory for more programs now. For most users, the biggest advantage to getting more RAM is that if you keep your computer for a long time, the extra RAM could save you an upgrade down the road. But how much RAM is too much? Well you won't really slow down your system by adding RAM. Typical systems currently can accommodate up to anywhere from 512 MB - 2 GB of RAM. The problem is, after you have enough RAM, adding more really doesn't get you much, if any performance gain. With that in mind, check back soon for an article comparing performance of common applications, including multitasking, with different amounts of RAM. We'll test from 256 MB to 1024MB, and you'll be able to see how all we've covered here has a real affect on the speed of your computer. Steve Perlow is the founder of <a target="_new" href="http://aworldofhelp.com">aworldofhelp.com</a>, where you can find the aworldofhelp Top Picks in desktop and notebook systems. Visit aworldofhelp.com to get answers from real people to your questions about technology, travel and more.

วันอังคารที่ 28 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

How To Backup Your Hard Drive

We all know that we should back up our system as soon as possible. But if you're like most of us, you will get to it tomorrow. The problem is that tomorrow rarely ever comes until you experience a serious computer failure and then it's too late. Taking the time to backup your data or entire hard drive is not as painstaking as it may seem. And the rewards of doing so will be great should your system experience a crash. WINDOWS AND OTHER BACKUP SOFTWARE If you have Windows XP you will need to install the new Windows backup utility from the Windows XP cdrom. Just place the WinXP cdrom in your cdrom drive and locate the line D:VALEADDMSFTNTBACKUP. Here you see the first letter as D but if your optical drive has a different drive letter, exchange the D with your drive's letter. To install the utility, click on the file named NTBackup.msi. The backup utility will be installed to the system tools group. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and Backup. There is a neat wizard that will walk you through the backup process. WinXP's backup utility will backup your entire hard drive and will make a recovery disk to boot. One neat third party backup software you can try is NewTech InfoSystems at <a href="http://www.ntius.com" target="_new">http://www.ntius.com</a> where you can download their trial version and put it to use for 30 days. And if it's your cup of tea, the full version will run you about $79.95 INCREMENTAL OR DIFFERENTIAL BACKUPS You should back up your entire hard drive when you perform your first backup. After that it is best to perform an Incremental backup. This type of backup only allows you to backup files that have changed since your last performed backup. Differential Backups copy changed files that have been added since you last did your entire backup. This type of backup is more detailed than incremental backups and is easier to restore. BACKUP STORAGE DEVICES You can backup your files on cdroms and have the files compressed to save both space and backup time. WinXP will compress folders, subfolders, and files during backup. You can purchase compression software that will do the same, saving you cdrom storage space. The compressed files are automatically uncompressed once they are restored onto your hard drive. You can also use a second hard drive as your backup storage device. We use two backup hard drives to be certain Ultimate PC Repair is up and running 24/7. You can either purchase an internal hard drive and install it to your ide cable, or you may want to purchase an external hard drive that connects to your Universal Serial Bus or USB Port. The advantage of the external drives is that they have very large amounts of storage space, transfer data fast, and can be moved from your computer to any other computer. We use the Western Digital 170 Gigabyte External Hard Drive and we simply bounce it around to either one of our four computers with the greatest of ease. USING ONLINE BACKUP SERVICES You may also consider online services for backing up your data. If you lose all your backup data, say due to a natural disaster such as a flood, your online data is right there waiting for you. Another advantage of online backups is that you can access, upload, or download your data from any location. It is best to use high speed internet access if you're considering online data storage. One such online backup service is Istorage located at <a href="http://www.iomega.com/istorage" target="_new">http://www.iomega.com/istorage</a> and charges from $2.49 a month for 50MBs to $17.95 a month for a big 1,000MBs of storage. Or you can check out FilesAnywhere located at the url <a href="http://www.filesanywhere.com" target="_new">http://www.filesanywhere.com</a> Still another online service to try is CapSure located at <a href="http://www.capsure.com" target="_new">http://www.capsure.com</a> Backup your system now in one way or another if you have not done so. If you have critical data that you simply cannot do without, take the time to invest in a backup device or one of the many online backup services. Stop and perform those backups as soon as possible. You will be thankful you did should something go wrong with your computer. It's always better to be safe than sorry. About The Author Otis F. Cooper is the author of the award winning PC Super Pack, the Computer Training By Video course. For hundreds more free PC repair tips, sign up for his bi-monthly newsletter and learn the PC free at <a href="http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com" target="_new">http://www.ultimatepcrepair.com</a>

Computer Parts Online

In today's age, building computers on yourself is often chosen as the safest and choicest option by a sizeable part of the market for computers. There are various advantages and disadvantages for doing so. When personal computers first entered the mass market, building a computer was an arduous and risky task. Getting the right computer parts was also difficult and without a guarantee. Putting the whole thing together was a risk because of the newness of the product as well as the absence of expert knowledge. But over the years, the market has understood the process of computer assembly and the heavy savings involved in making your own computer (you basically save on the branded company's professional service charge for putting the computer together for you). Customers are able to find everything needed to build a computer on the Internet. If you want to assemble the whole system at one go, you can get a barebone computer system and keep adding on later. Using quality but cheap computer parts is the key trick behind assembling computers. There are thousands of cheap computer parts on the web today. A quick check list of the main components you need to build your computer is ? ? CPUs (Processors)<br> ? Hard Drives<br> ? Graphics Card<br> ? Monitors<br> ? CD / CD-RW / DVD ROMs<br> ? Mouse and Keyboards (other Input Devices)<br> ? Batteries<br> ? Cables & Adapters<br> ? Communications and Connectivity tools<br> ? Cooling Products<br> ? Computer Bags & Cases<br> ? Firewire Products Accessories<br> o Digital Cameras<br> o Flash Memory<br> o Gaming Hardware<br> o Ink & Toner<br> o Cellular Accessories<br> o Cleaning Kits & Supplies<br> o Notebook Accessories<br> o Headsets<br> o Media Storage You can find any of almost all of these computer parts in Internet individually. Cheap computer parts are easy to find and pay for securely over Internet. There are also many sites and services that help you build these types of computers on a professional basis and get you started. These sites help you step-by-step through the process of building a good quality computer using cheap and high quality computer parts ? often with illustrated instruction guides to show you how to put your new computer together. Building your own high-quality but cheap computer with computer parts that are genuine and cheap are often considered a safe bet. Adrian Griffiths - <a target="_new" href="http://www.vipersystems.co.uk">Computer Hardware UK</a>, <a target="_new" href="http://www.vipersystems.co.uk/networking-articles.php">Cheap Computer Parts</a>

วันจันทร์ที่ 27 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Intel Celeron vs Pentium

The Celeron and Pentium Processors are two of Intel's best selling CPUs. They are found in a majority of home computer systems. When comparing the two processors it should be first understood that there are different types of Pentium processors - the original Pentium all the way to the Pentium 4 (the latest Pentium processor). The Celeron processors are more or less the same, although you will find them in a wide variety of speeds. The Intel Celeron processor was always designed to be a low-cost alternative to the Pentium processor line. It is much like a car company that offers various priced cars from the luxury sedan to the economy compact. The Celeron is simply a downgraded Pentium, that almost anyone can afford (it is essentially the compact). To begin, Celeron chips have a smaller L2 cache 9128kb compared with 512kb in the Pentium 4 Northwood, which translates into slower processing speeds. In fact, current Celerons have a clock speed limit of about 2.0GHz, where as the Pentium for is capable of speed in excess of 3.0GHz. In addition, the Pentium runs at a lower core voltage because it is more energy effecient (1.75V vs. 1.5V). In summary, the Pentium 4 is more powerful than the most advanced Celeron processor on the market. However, Intel has planned it to be this way. Many applications will work just great with a Celeron processor, despite a little less power than the Pentium 4. It is a way to save a little cash when buying a new pc - but don't forget the saying "you get what you pay for." Celeron processors are of good Intel quality, but they will never be as good as the Pentium. This Celeron vs. Pentium review was brought to you by SciNet Science and Technology Search Engine. SciNet is not affiliated with or specifically endorses the Celeron or Pentium processors or the manufacturer, Intel Corp. Please consult the Celeron and Pentium product information and configuration before you purchase either processor. It is also a good idea to seek other up-to-date product reviews and information as necessary. Bradley James is a senior editor at <a target="_new" href="http://www.scinet.cc">SciNet.cc</a>, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on Celeron and Pentium processor technology, please visit our <a target="_new" href="http://www.scinet.cc/articles/celeron-vs-pentium/celeron-pentium.html">Celeron vs Pentium</a> webpage.

Laptop and Notebook Theft Prevention

Laptops or Notebook computers are an expensive personal and business asset that are highly sought after by both small time thieves and large complicated theft rings. Keeping your laptop and notebook computers safely in your possession should always be in the back of your mind. Not only are these extremely expensive, they can contain very private personal information or business secrets that can hurt you if the information was ever brought public, or worse yet, sold to a competitor! Physical theft prevention should be your primary concern when you use laptops, and really most of the information is just common sense. Don't brag, or advertise that you have a laptop in your possession, try to carry your laptop in non-traditional laptop bags that make it obvious you have one. If you can fit it in your briefcase, or in a shoulder bag you are far better off from getting targeted. Asset tag your electronics devices and peripherals with permanent markings or engravings, large markings that make your laptop unique make your device less attractive because it will become harder to sell. Always be mindful of where your laptop is at. If you are using the washroom, or a payphone, don't leave it on a table, counter, this includes while you are at restaurants! If you are traveling in rental cars, try to get a car with a lockable trunk, that doesn't have access or a viewable trunk from the outside such as SUV's or hatchbacks. Don't leave items in plain sight that will entice people to steal from your car! If you are staying in hotels, try to use locking cables to permanent metal settings to secure your laptop if you go out, or ask the hotel to lock it up in their safe if you won't be using it for an extended period of time. In the event that your laptop has been stolen there is many different organizations that offer products and services that might help in a quick recovery or tracking of the device. Some products install a "call home" feature if the laptop is ever reconnected to an internet connection, or having serialized components that make tracking and recovery easier. Additionally there is some really interesting products that have movement and proximity alarms installed. For instance, you wear a device on your belt, and if your laptop is more than a certain distance from you an alarm will sound loudly. This is used in hopes of stopping criminals who snatch and run with your device! It's always a very good idea to install some sort of encryption software on your laptop, such as a PGP that will help keep your data private in the event it is stolen. It's always a good idea to plan for the worst and hope for the best! Remember, physical security mainly consists of using common sense to protect any attractive item that you may own. Be discreet, be mindful of your devices and you should be relatively safe! Ken Dennis<br> <a target="_new" href="http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net">http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net</a>

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 26 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2551

Motherboard Basics

A recent Tech Tip covered the basics of selecting a computer case and made mention of the various sizes that correspond to motherboards of different form factors. A few people wrote in expressing interest in understanding more about the basics of motherboards, and that's exactly what this Tech Tip intends to address. A motherboard, also known as a main board, is the primary circuit board inside of a computer, and is where the central processing unit (CPU), memory, expansion slots, drives, and other peripheral devices are connected. The circuitry on a motherboard facilitates the communication between all of the devices in the computer, making them as critical to a system's performance as items such as the CPU or memory. The core circuitry of a motherboard is referred to as its chipset, and generally the manufacturer of the motherboard is not the manufacturer of the chipset. Intel does produce motherboards with their own chipsets, but buying a motherboard brand such as Gigabyte, Biostar, and ASUS means getting a board with either a VIA, Nvidia, SIS, or Intel brand chipset. 1. Form Factor The different basic shapes and sizes of motherboards are categorized as form factors. There are several standard form factors available, but some of the more common ones found in desktop computers include: (http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/atx2_2.pdf), ATX (http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/matxspe1.2.pdf), Micro ATX (mATX) (http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/FlexATXaddn1_0.pdf) FlexATX (http://www.via.com.tw/en/initiatives/spearhead/mini-itx/) and Mini-ITX The basic sizes of each are as follows: * ATX: 12" x 9.6" (305mm x 244mm) * Micro ATX: 9.6" x 9.6" (244mm x 244mm) * FlexATX: 9.0" x 7.5" (229mm x 191mm) * Mini ITX: 6.7" x 6.7" (170mm x 170mm) ATX and mATX are by far the most popular motherboard sizes for desktop computers, and as seen in the list above, are also some of the largest. More real estate on a motherboard allows for greater expansion possibilities and extra features, which make the use of these boards more flexible. A Mini-ITX board may feature just one slot for memory and one slot for an expansion card, while a typical ATX board may feature 4 memory slots and six slots for expansion cards. Each form factor has its own niche that it fits into, from workstations and gaming systems for larger boards to media centers and in-car computers for smaller boards. There is definitely overlap between the potential applications of each form factor, and other features and capabilities will also influence the targeted use. 2. CPU Socket The major processor manufacturers, AMD and Intel, are constantly waging a battle to offer the fastest, most powerful processors available. Getting more speed and performance out of a relatively small chip generally requires a change to the physical dimensions as each new generation of processor is released. Therefore, motherboards need to evolve at the same pace in order to accept the new CPUs. Back in the day, AMD and Intel processors shared a common CPU socket, but those days were short lived. AMD and Intel have since been traveling down their own, relatively parallel, paths of performance and speed increases, while using different designs. Selecting a motherboard for a modern AMD processor eliminates the use of any Intel processor, and vice versa. AMD's current offering for desktop processors includes the Athlon 64, which is available in Socket 939 and Socket 754 formats. The number in the names represents the number of pins present on the backside of the CPU that connect to the motherboard's socket. The Socket 939 Athlon 64 therefore has a staggering array of nine hundred and thirty nine tiny pins to match up with the motherboard's socket. The Chaintech VNF4 Ultra is an example of a Socket 939 motherboard based on Nvidia's NForce4 Ultra chipset technology. In addition to these two sockets, many AMD processors, including Athlon XPs, Semprons, and Durons, share the Socket A format, also known as Socket 462 thanks to it having 462 pins for connecting to a motherboard.Socket adapters Intel's latest offering for their Pentium 4 and Celeron processors, LGA 775, doesn't have pins at all and basically swaps the pins to the motherboard for the socket. Perhaps this design move puts the burden of bent pin warranty claims on someone else, but it is fairly unique. The Biostar P4M80-M7 is an example of an LGA 775 motherboard based on the VIA P4M800 chipset. Other Intel processors still on the market utilize the Socket 478 format for Pentium 4 and Celeron processors. Although most motherboards support just one CPU socket, some applications benefit from having more than one processor to tackle the tasks at hand. Servers and high end workstations are two examples where a dual processor system, such as could be run on the Tyan Thunder i7500 motherboard, might make light work of more advanced applications. 3. Components 'Components' is a fairly vague term to describe this section, but the items to be covered are fairly diverse. Computer systems all use memory, storage devices, and power supplies, but among the many differences motherboards have is the type and quantity of connections for these components. Most modern systems use DDR memory, but DDR-2 memory is becoming more common and will eventually become the standard. Although some boards provide slots for both types of memory, it is generally the case that either one or the other technology is supported. Besides operating differently, the physical difference of DDR having 184 pins and DDR-2 having 240 pins prevents them from being interchangeable. Going forward, users will have to decide whether they want to jump on the new technology bandwagon when selecting a motherboard, or to try to continue using their existing DDR for as long as possible. Regardless of technology, most motherboards come with 2 to 4 slots for memory, although as mentioned, Mini-ITX boards may just offer 1 slot. Hard drive technology is changing too, as mentioned in the Tech Tip comparing SATA to ATA hard drives. Most motherboards over the past few years have offered two ATA connections, which could support up to 4 drives. With SATA becoming more popular, some boards now offer a mix of ATA and SATA connections, while others have abandoned ATA all together, and instead offer multiple SATA connections which only support one drive each. In addition to type and quantity, motherboards can also offer choices in hard drive capabilities by integrating RAID controllers onboard, as found on the ASUS K8V SE Deluxe. As systems become more advanced, they many times impose special power requirements to keep them running smoothly. Most motherboards feature the typical 20 pin ATX power connector, while some server boards may have a 24 pin connection in its place. Motherboards for AMD Athlon 64 and Pentium 4 processors will have a second power connection located in close proximity to the CPU socket for providing the extra power that today's high end processors demand. This special 4 pin connection isn't found on every AMD Socket A motherboard, but it will most definitely be located on an AMD Socket 939 motherboard. Power supplies have been including this special connection for years, but for those upgrading an old system with a new motherboard, the power supply may be just one more item that has to be upgraded as well. 4. Extra Features Many motherboards now include features onboard that were once only available as expansion cards to be purchased separately. A typical motherboard will now include stereo sound capabilities, a 10/100 LAN connection, and a few USB 2.0 ports on the back panel connection. Depending on the budget and needs of the end user, many motherboards may also include other convenient features such as integrated Firewire ports, VGA connections, and onboard RAID controllers. Motherboards Extra Features Although many of these items may be added later with expansion cards, if you know you want them upfront, a bit of installation hassle and expense can be eliminated by finding a board with just about everything you want included. That said, there aren't many choices of onboard components, so it's a case of take it or leave it. For example, you may want stereo sound included, but find most motherboards offer 5 channel, where you would prefer 8 channel. In that case, it may be a good thing that motherboards include expansion slots to add the sound card of your choice. 5. Expansion Slots A motherboard typically provides at least one slot for the installation of a graphics card and a few slots for expanding the capabilities of the system in other areas. Graphics cards are available in PCI, AGP, and now PCI Express formats, and matching a motherboard to the appropriate card is a key step. Most motherboards released over the past few years include an AGP slot, and the new wave of motherboards are now starting to feature PCI Express slots for graphics card installation. PCI slots are found on most motherboards, but are much slower than AGP and PCI Express slots, so they are not the optimal choice for graphics. ATX motherboards may typically feature four to five PCI slots, and although they could be used for secondary display graphics cards, more common applications include sound cards, network cards, RAID controllers, TV tuners, modems, and USB/Firewire controllers. Considering that many of these items are now included onboard, having multiple PCI slots isn't quite as important as it used to be. 6. Style With enthusiasts adding windows and special lighting effects to just about every feature of a computer, why should the motherboard be left out of the action? Long gone are the days of the stereotypical green PCB with white connectors, and now most boards feature a vibrantly colored PCB and a rainbow of colors on expansion slots, memory slots, drive connectors, and so on. For example, if someone was undecided on a mATX board for their Socket 754 AMD Athlon 64, style might be the deciding factor. The Chaintech MK8M800 and the Biostar K8VGA-M-N are similar boards featuring the VIA K8M800 chipset and prices under $70. The golden PCB with black and white features of the Chaintech board may appeal to some, while the red, white, blue, and yellow of the Biostar may sway others. In general, a particular model is only available in one color scheme, and many manufacturers use the same theme across their entire current line up. As an example, the Biostar board for AMD Athlon 64 processors above features the same basic style as this Biostar board for the new Pentium LGA 775 processors. In addition to coloring, some manufacturers will include LED lighting on chipset cooling fans, or accessorize motherboards with matching cables to complete the unique looks of the board. Some people may scoff at colors being included in the list of key features on motherboards, but there will be some that shop for style first, and then performance. Final Words There are many factors to address in selecting a motherboard, and this Tech Tip really just scratched the surface of the basic choices that may need to be considered. Much more technical decisions may need to be made by the advanced user, but covering the six basic areas discussed above is a good start for users of any level. <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com">Computer</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">tech tips</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.geeks.com/pix/techtips.htm">computer advice</a>