Einhard's: Beginners guide to making your own Personal Computer : Part 4 - RAM

The RAM is one of the more important part of the computer when it comes to determining the speed o the computer.

No matter how good the processor of a computer if the RAM is bad then everything fails.

The RAM we are talking about right now is DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM because this is what is used in common computers.

Take note that a DDR is commonly named in either one of the following formats

first is something like "DDRtype" - "Data transfer per second" so an example of this would be something like DDR2 - 800 and DDR3 - 1333

the second format is something like "PCtype" - "Peak transfer rate" example of which would be something like PC2 - 6400 and PC3 - 10600

note that PC and DDR are both actually referring to the same type of RAM the only difference is the data that is shows.

to know the equivalent PC model name of a DDR model name simply multiply the Data transfer per second by 8 (8bits = 1 byte)
so DDR2 - 800 = PC2 - 6400

and to know the DDR model name of a PC model name just divide the peak transfer rate by 8
so PC2 - 6400 = DDR2 800

obviously enough Data transfer per second refers to the number of bits the RAM can process in a second (in millions so for example DDR2 - 800 means that it's transfer rate is 800 million bits per second).

Peak transfer rate refers to the speed by which megabytes are transferred per second (PC2 - 6400 can transfer 6400 Mb/s)

to get the Input/Output bus clock divide the Data transfer per second by 2 and change the unit to MHz

To get the memory clock of the RAM divide the I/O bus clock by 2 and retain the MHz unit..


So what is the better RAM? Well obviously the better RAM is the faster and larger ones =D. Be sure though that the RAM you choose is compatible with your motherboard ^_^

Einhard's Beginners guide to making your own Personal Computer: Part 3 - Motherboard

Alright today we will be talking about motherboards. Now for me the motherboard is the body of the computer and I would like you to think of it that way.

Why is it the body of a computer? It is because all parts depend on it.

No matter how good the parts are, if the body is weak then the entirety of the computer will be weak. For example even if a person has an incredibly good brain if his body is weak then his brain will easily wither and die with his body. If the body is sick all other parts will suffer. If the body is weak no matter how good your feet are you can't be the best because of your weak body.

Why am I telling you those things? It's because I want to stress the importance of picking a good motherboard and the importance of thinking of it as the body of the computer.

More often than not people tend to disregard the quality of the motherboard. I know a lot of people would buy good processors, video cards and a high amount of RAM and then they will look for the cheapest motherboard that is compatible with those parts. The thing is because they do this their high-end parts without their knowledge is actually not able to use 100% of it's capabilities.

So how do one pick their motherboard?

First of all limit your choices to motherboards that are compatible to your processor.

Then further limit your choices to motherboards that are compatible with your Video Card because Video Cards are subdivided into AGP and PCI-E (which will be discussed later on) and is further divided into ATI Radeon and Nvidia GeForce video cards

Next limit your choices on your preferred maximum RAM that can be placed on the motherboard also take note that RAM's are also subdivided into many frequency and types so you have to limit your choices accordingly.

Next limit your choices to other optional things like the built in LAN, Audio , Number of USB ports, Overclocking capabilities, Number of customizable ports etc.

Once you have limited your choices into a handful of choices do research on them first because chances are there will be some almost similarly prized motherboards with big performance gaps.

Well that's all for today hope you guys learned something ^^

Einhard's: Beginners guide to making your own Personal Computer : Part 2 - Processor

Ok so here is the long delayed (sorry about the delay it's because of our consultations at school) second chapter of my guide to making your own personal computer.

Today we will be talking about processors. So why is it that I made the processor the first part that one should pick when making a computer? Well it's pretty simple because it is the core of the computer.

So how should one pick a computer? Here are some guidelines on things you may need to ask yourself before buying a processor
1. Am I a power user?
2. Am I going to use my pc primarily for games?
3. Am I a multi tasker?
4. How much processing power do I really need?
5. Do I just use computer for things like ms word?

By answering those questions you will be able to properly pick your computer.

Anyway you may want to look at my older articles to understand processors better.

In a nutshell however here are some processor recommendations

Power Users and multi taskers benefit from more cores, gamers would benefit more from dual cores with higher clock speeds and for those who use their pc only for office will benefit more from a single core processor with high clock speed

Einhard's: Beginners guide to making your own Personal Computer : Part 1 - Introduction

Alright since it will be sem break soon and I have a lot of time to post stuff I'm going to create my very own "Beginners guide to making your own Personal Computer" It will be divided into parts in this manner.
1-Introduction
2-Processor
3-Motherboard
4-RAM (Random Access Memory)
5- Video Card
6- Casing
7- UPS (Universal Power Supply)
8- Cooling System
9- Speaker
10- CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive
11- Keyboard and Mouse
12- Monitor
13- Operating System
14- Modems,LAN Card, Printers, Scanners
15- Peripherals and Accessories
16- Sample Computer Systems

Ok so some of you might think that the ordering of the parts are weird but to me that is the best order because I think that is the best order of doing things when building your own personal computer ^^. Look forward to my future posts I think I might post one article every other day ^^

Have a great day everyone

Correct Programming in C++

This time around I'm going to give tips to those aspiring programmers out there ^^.
I'm going to list some of the most basic correct programming practices to help new programmers avoid Common Programming mistakes in C++.

1. Start your programs with int main(void). If you want to know the reason then Google it ^^

2. ALWAYS properly name your variables.

3. If possible initialize the values of variables as you declare them.

4. Avoid using scanf

5. Comment a lot

6. Use functions on everything that can be used as functions

7. Utilize the header files as much as possible

8. Don't add header files that you are not going to use

9. Return a value for functions that need something be returned

10. As much as possible avoid using global variables.

RAM question and answer.

Here are some of the more common questions about RAM

Why is RAM called memory even though our files are stored in the Hard Disk?
-Because the memory processed by the processor are stored in the RAM thus therefore it is the primary memory (because of it's hierarchy in processing) and is rightly called memory.

Does having a larger RAM size make it better?
-No. Not because a RAM has a bigger size doesnt make it always better compared to another RAM with a smaller size. Why? Because of RAM frequency

What is a RAM frequency?
-It is basically the speed by which the RAM can input/output memory from the secondary memory and to the processor although of course it is a lot more complex than that.

Can I just plug in any RAM in my computer when Upgrading RAM?
-No. Your RAM largely depends on your Processor and motherboard. If your motherboard/processor is not compatible with a RAM frequency and yet you plug it in you will break your PC. Also if you are adding a RAM make sure that both of your RAMs have the same memory else you will break your computer.

What are those SODIMM RAMs?
-They are the RAM's of laptops

What is the best RAM nowadays?
-DDR3

What does RAM stand for?
-Random Access Memory

hope you learned some stuff ^^

Basic Internet Account Security Tips

So this week I'm going to share to you some tips on making your internet account safer. With a lot of hackers roaming the net these days our accounts can be easily be targeted by some off them. SO how are we gonna protect ourselves from them? Here are some tips for protecting our internet accounts.

1. Malware Scan every day. Scanning for malwares every other day is no good. To protect your pc from viruses,keyloggers,spywares, rootkit and the likes you have to scan your pc everyday for them.

2. Never use passwords that are related to you personally. For example using your birthday as a password makes your acccount easily hackable.

3. Use long alphanumeric characters ,symbols and big and small letters on your passwords

4. Never use the same password in accounts that are important

5. Never use REAL answers as answers on your Secret Questions

6. Never give out your password no one ever needs them except you. Most especially not someone from the company who you use the password for.

7. As much as possible do not acccess your account on computer shops.

8. Memorize your passwords don't write them down as much as possible

9. Never give anyone event a slight hint on what your password may be

10. make sure that your password is pure giberish and not something that has meaning for example.

IlOvECooKiEs^%#677475 can be easily guessed compared to a password like a*t08nVda5#qWp

hope you learned something take care guys ^^