Your Tower Has Guts!

Computers have come quite far from their first forms; they no longer take up entire rooms for example, and are now accessible to almost everyone. But what’s inside that mysterious tower? Some things are new, some are updated, and some have vanished entirely.

While you won’t find many floppy disk drives anymore, you will almost always find combination CD/DVD burners, and in some cases, they do Blue Ray as well. Many manufacturers make CD/DVD combo drives, but this is what you need to know about them.1. Writable means you can put your data on a blank disc. Re-writable means that you can overwrite a disc with existing data. The term “read” refers to simply being able to access or run the information on the disc.

2. The common three speed ratings that appear on a box (12x/10x/32x, for example) when you purchase a drive are in order as follows: write, re-write, and read speed. Speeds have increased many times over throughout the information age.

Low-end computers typically come with on-board (motherboard, that is) sound and graphics; higher-end and self-modified models can have them added in. Graphic cards can greatly improve video and gaming graphics quality. This is the least of what you should know about graphic cards:

1. Graphic cards use up precious memory resources, but nowadays you can buy some that come with their own separate RAM. GeForce and Radeon are the two most commonly sold types.

2. The card typically fits into PCIexpress (PCIe) slots, located on your motherboard. You should make certain your motherboard supports it, before proceeding with purchase and installation. This device can make HDMI type video available, if your computer has older style on-board input.

While single-processor technology is not yet defunct, many users are upgrading to multi-core processors, such as the AMD Phenom II x4 (four cores), and the Intel Core i7 (six-cores) processor. AMD and Intel are the most popular manufacturers of processors, and you can commonly find dual and quad cores in those brands, though the six core version is quickly becoming more mainstream.

Whatever devices you choose to incorporate, always ensure that the followings things support the new devices or each other:

A. Your motherboard
B. Your processor
C. Your power supply (is it SATA and IDE, or just one of those? Plus, with all the new technology, you should try to have at least a 500 watt power supply)

Is it time to give your computer tower fancier guts?

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