I am often asked by friends and colleagues to make hardware recommendations for a new PC. PC Building has long been a hobby of mine, and something I think I will always love. I love keeping up with the latest that the hardware manufacturers have to offer, even if I’m not in the market to build a machine.

Even though I’m no AanandTech or Tom’s Hardware with hardware manufacturers sending me awesome gadgets to benchmark and make build recommendations off of, I decided to put together a few recommended builds for my readers. I will “spec out” 7 different machines for you:

Intel Power Build

AMD Power Build

Intel Mainstream Build

AMD Mainstream Build

Intel Budget Build

AMD Budget Build

The “Bare-bones Budget” Build

All of the entries should be fairly self explanatory, however I want to explain that the “Bare-Bones Budget” build will be just that – what I feel is the cheapest possible, usable, modern computer one could get away with at the time of writing.

These builds are simply for the computer only. I’m not including Monitors or any peripherals such as Keyboards and Mice. I’m also not including the OS or any software. These are all very personal choices and thing you are all educated enough to choose what best meets your needs in these areas.

First things first, let’s start with the drool educing “Intel Power Build”

So, let’s get started with the Intel Power Build. This is not a collection of the higest end of the highest end parts available (if so, I’d have the new Hexacore chip on here). This is a machine that is as affordable as possible, and a machine that will provide excellent performance to a power user such as a Musician, Videographer, Photographer or Developer. This is a balanced machine that will not only be fast, quiet and stable as well.

CPU
Intel Core i7 930 (2.8GHz Stock Speed)
I chose the 930 simply because it’s a nice little speed bump above the very popular 920. It’s a fairly new CPU and will provide a touch better raw CPU performance for those who choose not to overclock. Also, be sure to pick up a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler and it’s Core i5/i7 Bracket Kit for optimal cooling, and best Turbo Boost performance

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD5
I have long been a fan of Gigabyte motherboards, although I’ve had good experiences with ASUS as well. Honestly, I tend to lean towards Gigabyte for Intel Builds, and ASUS for AMD builds. As for this board, it’s a solid board built on the 5th Generation Gigabyte Ultra-Durable design and has USB3.0 and SATA 3.0 (6Gbps).

Memory
Patriot Extreme Performance Viper Series 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
I really only included memory here for completeness – honestly, memory prices change so rapidly, please simply research and find yourself the best 12GB kit with 1.5V and a low CAS rating. This is CAS 7 at 1.5V and rated at DDR3 1333. I have had good experiences with Patriot memory in the past, and have no problems recommending this kit.

Boot Drive
WD SiliconEdge Blue 128GB
Honestly, I almost didn’t even include an SSD, simply because I still don’t quite feel that the technology has fully matured. Honestly, you could keep this off if you needed to save $450, and add one later as the technology matures more. SSD’s are a very complicated technology, and there are lots of variables that affect performance. I recently read a nice review on these WD devices on Anandtech (who has the best SSD articles on the web) and it seemed like a solid, and safe pick. Another good option would be one of the OCZ devices or the Intel drives. Your mileage may vary depending on your usage patterns. Option 2 for me would be a 300GB WD VelociRaptor 10,000RPM HDD.

Storage Drives
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb (x2/RAID-1)
This is the latest incarnation of Western Digital’s awesome Caviar Black series drives. You still get the awesome performance from the dual controllers, plus it’s been upgraded to SATA 3.0 and 64MB of Cache. For ultimate stability, substitute this drive with the Western Digital RE3 WD1002FBYS 1TB – slightly lower performance, but it’s designed for RAID use.

Optical Drive
LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model UH10LS20
Any modern system at least needs the ability to read Blu-ray disks. This is an excellent LD drive with a 4MB cache buffer and also serves as DVD/R-RW drive. You may double for extra pleasure (some folks prefer 2 optical drives, although I would just go for one personally).

Graphics Adapter
GIGABYTE GV-R577UD-1GD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0
Although this isn’t a “gaming” system, it still needs a decent card – something that would handle casual gaming as well as excel in HD video playback. The ATI 5770 GPU gives everything you would need, and it’s Gigabyte since the Mobo was Gigabyte and I’m anal retentive about stuff like that

Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W Modular PSU
Corsair makes an Awesome PSU, however you can’t go wrong with Antec, PC Power & Cooling as well as several other brands. This guy has a peak output of 750W, a massive 60A 12V Rail (Single Rail) and is modular. Personally, I prefer a beefy single 12V rail over multiple rails. Just remember, this is often a rookie mistake, never skimp or cheap-out on your PSU.

Case
Antec P183
Computer cases are kind of a personal choice – everyone has different tastes. You can’t go wrong with almost anything from Antec, their enclosures are always of highest quality – across all price points. The P183 is a nice mainstream tower with is well designed, easy to work with, quiet and will provide ample cooling.

And there you have it. Priced out on NewEgg.com at the time of writing this, the machine above would run you $2259 before shipping. This would be an excellent development box, digital audio workstation, as well as a graphics or video workstation. Sure there are higher end parts available, however I feel the above is an excellent mix of price and performance without going completely overboard. My only hesitation would be on the SSD drive – I personally might would swap that out for a 300GB VelociRaptor 10K RPM drive and then add a SSD in later, but it’s up to you – it’s your build, enjoy!

40GB SSD KIT Gives a real speed boost, and includes all the parts and software you will need

Solid State Disks, or SSDs, are designed to replace harddisks in computers. Unlike harddisks, which have moving parts, they use the same type of memory as USB memory keys. At£75 Kingston’s 40GBSSDkit is the cheapest we have seen. The kit includes the disk itself, the cables and bracket needed to fit it into a desktop PC and a program that can copy the contents of your harddisk onto the new SSD. The benefit of anSSDis speed. We copied a new Windows 7 installation from harddisk to the SSD. With the harddisk the computer took 52 seconds to start, but the SSD took only 35 seconds.The speed for copying files increased by around 50per cent. It’s silent and with no moving parts should be more reliable than a harddisk. 40GBis not much space so this SSD would best be used to store Windows and programs, with files stored on a separate harddisk.

DETAILS
Contact: Kingston 01932 738888
Info: www.kingston.com
Retail price: £75
Buy: www.computeractive.co.uk/bestprices

Source of Information : Computer Active Issue 310 January 7 2010

It is A small but perfectly formed mouse, ideal for laptops or small hands.

This small but perfectly formed mouse from Microsoft is designed to be used with a laptop computer. For that reason it’s smaller than the average desktop model, and its tiny USB receiver fits neatly into a slot on the bottom when not in use. However, it works just as well with any desktop PC. As well as the usual two buttons it has a third smaller button to one side and a clickable wheel. One AA battery is required, which is included in the box. The Mobile Mouse 4000 uses Microsoft’s new Bluetrack technology ,and although we are not sure this is any better than the laser systems found in other mice it worked well enough. The mouse we tested came in a rather gaudy shade of yellowish green, but it’s also available in black and other shades. The retail price of £35 is high, but it can be found online for less than £20. At that price, it’s a good buy


DETAILS
Contact: Microsoft 0870 60 10 100
Info: www.microsoft.com/uk
Retail price: £35
Buy: www.computeractive.co.uk/bestprices


Source of Information : Computer Active Issue 310 January 7 2010

Are you want to buy a wireless router to replace your wired router? You'd better know what is the best wireless router available at this time.

There are the below wireless router compatibled with Windows 7 32bit/64bit:
All products installs automatically without any extra driver.

Cisco Linksys WRT310N Wireless-N Gigabit Router Wireless Router
Netgear Rangemax Dual Band 802.11n WNDR3300 Wireless Router
Linksys Broadband 802.11n 4Port Wireless Router
Linksys Dual-Band Gigabit 802.11n Wireless Router

Belkin Wireless Router:
G F5D723-4
N+ F5D8235-4
N F5D8236-4
N F5D8233-4
802.11g DSL/Cable Gateway F5D7230au4
F5D7230uk4 G F5D7230uk4
F6D4230-4 N150 Enhanced F6D4230-4
N150 F6D4230uk4
G F5D7230-4

D-Link Wireless Router:
DIR-628 RangeBooster N Dual Band
DIR-635 RangeBooster N 650
D-Link DIR-855 Xtreme N Duo Media
D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit
D-Link DGL-4500 Xtreme N Gaming
D-Link DIR-615 N
D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit
D-Link DIR-300 Wireless-G
D-Link DIR-320 Wireless-G USB Print Server
D-Link DIR-600 150

Netgear Wireless Router:
Rangemax Dual Band 802.11n WNDR3300
WNR3500

Earlier today, AMD announced the ATI Radeon HD 5450 graphics card – the latest addition to the ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series of graphics cards.

The ATI Radeon HD 5450 will cost less than $60 (USD) for a 512MB memory configuration and supporting DirectX 11 making it one sweet deal if you’re looking for a DirectX 11 graphics card for your Windows 7 PC.

The Radeon HD 5450 offers entry level performance and ultra-low power consumption and also supports AMD’s multi-monitor technology called ATI Eyefinity and their ATI Stream technology. There will be variations of this card depending on partner offers including passive cooling models or whisper-quiet, single slot fan-cooled models.

This graphics card is perfect for someone putting together a home theater PC (HTPC) with Windows 7 as it comes with features like HDMI 1.3a with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

For a complete list of specs on the ATI Radeon HD 5450, click here.

Get speedier file transfers, smoother video streaming, and better network gaming with the right PC networking tools.


ON MOST HOME networks, the transfer rate of a fast ethernet connection (about 12.5 megabits per second) is the speed limit—and that’s painfully slow for some tasks. The solution? Upgrade to a gigabit network. Switching over to gigabit (1000-mbps) speeds increases potential throughput tenfold, minimizing transfer times and greatly enhancing your ability to stream high-bandwidth files to connected devices without interference. Gigabit networking is now a common feature of networking devices and shouldn’t carry a big cost premium. Most modern motherboards have gigabit functionality built in. This guide does not apply to wireless networks. The factors that constrain speeds on wireless networks are entirely unlike those that limit speeds on wired networks. Here we’ll look at how to determine whether your equipment can handle gigabit networking, and (if not) how to build a gigabit network from scratch.


Identify Your Network
Do you already have a gigabit network? Th e Windows desktop doesn’t indicate whether you’ve acquired this superspeedy networking feature. And since many factors influence network transfer speeds, your gigabit network might crawl at a data transfer rate of less than 10 mbps for various reasons. One requirement of gigabit networking is that all connected devices be connected via a gigabit port. In addition, they must be connected to one another with network cables that can handle the bandwidth. For devices such as your router, a gaming console, or an external storage device, the easiest way to discover whether they support fast Ethernet (10/100 mbps) or gigabit ethernet (10/100/1000 mbps) is to check the devices’ specifications in their online descriptions or accompanying manuals. Look for a mention of either “gigabit networking” or “1000 Mbps.” Your PC’s motherboard is a critical component of the gigabit network. If your system came to you prebuilt or if you don’t remember relevant details about your rig’s motherboard, don’t worry. In Windows, click Start and select Run (for more-modern versions of the OS, move your cursor to the search box and left -click). Type ncpa.cpl and press . The Network Connections window should pop up. Right-click the network connection that’s listed as your Local Area Connection (LAN), and left -click Properties.
Click the big Configure button located to the right of the listing for your network controller. In the new window that appears, open the Advanced tab and scroll down until you find a property labeled ‘Connection Type’ or ‘Speed’. Left -click it and click the Value field to the right. Scroll up and down through this list of options, looking for anything that starts with a value of ‘1000’ or anything that refers to network speeds in ‘Gbps’. If all you see are ‘100’ values and speeds designated in ‘Mbps’, your motherboard’s built-in Ethernet controller tops out at fast-ethernet speeds. But you can still upgrade your PC to gigabit networking by installing a third-party gigabit ethernet card. If all of the devices on your network do support gigabit functionality, great! If you add a slower, fast-ethernet device to a gigabit-ready hub, transfer speeds will crawl only when you access that particular device—a slow device connected to a router won’t poison the rest. Obviously, if you directly connect a gigabit-ready PC to a fast-ethernet device such as a network-attached storage (NAS) box, you’ll get only fast-ethernet speeds. Also, consider your cables. A typical category 5 (Cat 5) cable supports gigabit ethernet, but it’s worthwhile to invest in Cat 5e cables if you are building a gigabit network from scratch. Plain old Cat 5 cabling is now considered obsolete, and Cat 5e cabling meets more-rigorous specifications, allowing it to do a better job than Cat 5 cabling can of minimizing electromagnetic interference. On the other hand, bumping up your cabling to a classification higher than Cat 5e may not benefit your network speeds; for example, Cat 6 cabling doesn’t dramatically improve speed. To see what kind of cable you have, check the cable’s side: The spec should be printed somewhere along the length of the cord.


Test Your Network
If your parts are in order and the cables are connected, you’ll want to fire up your gigabit network so that you can check its performance. But first you need to confirm that the drivers and firmware related to your network-oriented devices (motherboard, router, NAS box, and so on) are up-to-date. Suppose that you are planning to connect your PC to a gigabit NAS box via a single router. At this point you need to make sure that you are running the latest firmware for your NAS box and your router, and either the latest firmware and drivers for your motherboard or the most recent drivers for your discrete gigabit network card, depending on how you’ve set up your system. All too often, a device may not work as intended out of the box. Head over to the manufacturer’s Web site to grab the latest drivers and firmware updates; then run the accompanying driver setup program or follow the related instructions for flashing your device. The process isn’t difficult (see find.pcworld.com/63936). Fire up your network devices and use the helpful LAN Speed Test utility (www.totusoft.com/Products) to gauge the speeds that your gigabit network is attaining. After launching the tool, click the Start Test button and browse to a folder on a connected network device. Enter a size for your test file (1GB should do the trick), and the program will begin to track the read and write speeds of transfers between your system and the target device. Of course, you won’t get the maximum 125-mbps connection that a gigabit network theoretically supports. Ultimately, the speed of the storage devices doing the reading or writing—be they magnetic hard drives or flash-based storage—will limit your network’s performance. For a hard drive, relevant factors include the physical speed of the drive itself and the location where the drive writes the data on its physical platters. For a solid-state drive (SSD), the
performance you get depends on whether the drive uses faster single-level cell flash memory or slower multilevel cell flash memory, and on whether you’re reading or writing to the drive. Unless it uses a RAM drive, or an array of hard drives or SSDs, your network won’t reach the 125-mbps limit for gigabit networking. Nevertheless, you can realistically expect to achieve speeds of at least 40 to 50 mbps, which is four times as fast as the realworld speed of a typical fast-ethernet connection. Though gigabit networking might not be the Star Trek transporter of LANbased file transfers, the performance improvement that it offers over a typical fast-ethernet connection amply compensates for the time this setup process requires.

Source of Information : PC World December 2009