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How To Build A Computer

3 Comments | This entry was posted on Jul 08 2009

In this article, I am going to quickly walk you through the process of assembling a relatively basic computer system.

Here’s a quick checklist of what to remember when purchasing computer parts:

– How many watts does your power supply (PSU) need to have as a minimum? Use a Power Supply Calculator.

– When choosing a case, make sure it isn’t too small for your configuration. For example, if you’re building a system with 2x GTX285’s in SLI and five hard drives, you might want to avoid a mid-size tower and go for a full otherwise you’ll be really cramped in there with hardly any room to work and risk the likely possibility of overheating your system.

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The Importance of Properly (Thoroughly) Testing Your Memory

0 Comments | This entry was posted on Jul 03 2009

When I used to teach high school, I would describe RAM (Random Access Memory or simply “memory”) as physical desk space, and virtual memory as putting stuff on the floor. So, stuff on your desk (RAM) is the stuff you can access right away, and when the desk is full, you have to put your stuff on the floor (the hard drive) which takes longer to get. Since all hard drives are slower than RAM, it’s always good to have plenty of RAM.

Over the years I have found it is pretty rare to find memory defects, but when they do exist, your system can become incredibly erratic. Having faulty RAM can cause your system to give you BSODs, lock up inexplicably with no warnings or error prompts, restart endlessly in a loop, not boot at all and can even cause a loss of data if you are able to run the system and a piece of software is attempting to access the faulty area(s) of RAM. I am not necessarily suggesting you purchase ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM, but I am suggesting that you take the time to test your RAM at least once — and test it the right way.

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