Some Points about Buying Hardware

JerseyFoo

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There is an insane amount of ignorance when it comes to hardware... hopefully these simple points will help put a fracture in that iceberg.

You get what you pay for
You're told this when you're young and when you become rebellious you may think it's not so true. Like many other things intermediates rebel against; it is true. If something is on sale, there is a reason it is on sale. If something has a nice combo deal; there is a reason it has a nice combo deal. There is a good reason the rich are not taxed highly. Even iMacs follow this rule. The only deviation occurs when your specific priorities and values come into play, for example:
  • Pareto principle... value is in the mid-range; 80% of the quality for 20% of the price.
  • Peace (lack of frustration/low-risk/support/lightweight)
  • Social (style/sex appeal/hipsterdom/particular brand)
  • Quality (performance/reliability/longevity/usable)
  • Gimmicks (features/free games/exclusivity/thunderbolt)

One way to actually find a 'good deal' is to trade off qualities a product has that you don't desire. For example, most intermediates desire a SSD with high transfer rate, so perhaps you'd find a better deal on a SSD that doesn't have an obnoxious transfer rate. Of course, research takes time, and along with the benefits; it is a cost.


CPU
Consider (in order); socket, age, # of cores, temperature, energy usage, benchmarks, integrated memory controller, clocking capability, and virtualization.
Ignore; Clock rate, cache size, TDP, comments, Tom.
  • CPU's will always be clocked reasonably high; the overclocked are a price-gimmick.[SUP]clock rate[/SUP]
  • If cache size mattered, the company would put in more cache rather than spend billions on research.[SUP]cache size[/SUP]
  • TDP is not energy consumption, it's not relevent.[SUP]tdp[/SUP]
  • The newer the better; especially now with the advent of aysnchronous programming and parallel processing.[SUP]age[/SUP]
  • Dual-cores; better for gaming/java/crap software. Quad-cores; better for stability/productivity/multitasking. Hexa-core; probably a gimmick (for now).[SUP]#cores[/SUP]
  • Temperature is the easiest determinant of how much overcloking room the CPU has.[SUP]temperature[/SUP]

If you can wait; Both AMD and Intel are coming out with significantly more powerful technology soon.

AMD 'Bulldozer'/FX is expected late September featuring a long-overdue architectural update, a shrink to 32nm, as well as 'modules' consisting of 2 integer processing cores sharing a single complex/float core which should boost performance significantly in games & servers.

Intel 'Ivy Bridge' is projected for Q2 2012; featuring a shrink to 22nm. This is a major leap in terms of processor technology, it could be amazing or disappointing, and I strongly advise you to give it 2 months of consumer trials before buying.

Favourites; Phenom II X3 720 ($75), Pentium G620 ($78), Phenom II X6 1035T ($130)


Storage
Consider; size, ssd, brand, reliability, redundancy, IOPS, and noise.
Ignore; size, transfer rate, write performance, energy usage
  • Transfer rate doesn't matter; unless your desktop is a media server. (it's not) [SUP]transfer rate[/SUP]
  • Modern hard drives use spinning platters of 320GB or 500GB. One platter; reliable, two platter; fast, three platter; avoid.[SUP]size[/SUP]
  • 2 identical 320GB-1TB drives in RAID1 is the ideal setup.[SUP]redundancy[/SUP]
  • Storage is often under-rated; you should be spending the most on storage in order to achieve a balanced build.

A word about SSD's; MLC SSD's are very fast performers and last as long as hard drives... however; they are unreliable, very expensive, and often require firmware updates. Ideal for data which is compact, segmented or requested often, and updated lightly. A small SLC SSD would be perfect for a cache used in-between the memory and HDD, perhaps giving the best of both worlds. Unfortunately there aren't many good hybrid-ssd options at the moment, and Z68 SSD Caching or 'Smart Response Technology' as nice as it is -- is a gimmick.

Favourites; Spinpoint F3 1TB ($60), Caviar Black 500GB ($65), RE4 500GB ($80), VelociRaptor 600GB ($220)


Memory
Consider; capacity, cas latency, clock speed, integrated memory controller, apu, ECC, density
Ignore; sales, certification, design, features, temperature, multi-channel, energy usage, 'mac' memory
  • 1066mhz w/ CL7 (cas latency) is faster than 1333mhz CL9. Divide the clock by the cas latency and bias for the 'slower' memory.[SUP]cas latency[/SUP]
  • If a deal on memory is too good to be true; it is. Never buy cheap memory; don't buy memory on ebay/craigslist.[SUP]sales[/SUP]
  • Memory performance is more important with APU's.[SUP]apu[/SUP]
  • Consider memory slow enough with the correct # of channels for your CPU's integrated memory controller.[SUP]integrated[/SUP]

Ignore memory Marketing; Unless you are an expert & professional... please assume the following; there is only 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM (desktop) and 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM (laptop/imac). The less colorful and solid looking a memory module is; the better. No particular memory module will work better with your system... however; some memory may be prone to errors so it is not worth it to save $2 by buying Mushkin. Finally; all applications are designed for low-capacity memory... if you don't have the money; don't buy extra memory; 4GB is plenty.

Favourites; G.Skill 8GB dual 1066mhz CL7 ($45), Crucial 2GB 1066mhz CL7 ($15), Kingston 4GB dual 1333mhz CL7 [overclocked] ($45)

WORK IN PROGRESS
 

UndeadDragon

Super Moderator
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Pretty good. I could see a lot of these points help people who are looking to build a computer, but do not have as much experience or knowledge in that area.

Just a note, under Storage you have put size in Consider and Ignore.

I am looking forward to reading the rest.
 

JerseyFoo

1/g = g-1
Reaction score
40
Getting a little lazy with finishing this; any suggestions. problems? :D

I found a nice image-chart on the subject (attached); can't say I agree with most of it.
 

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