Performance

As well as debugging and virus checks, another indicator on the performance of a computer system will be as simple as the number of background systems running at the time. This is seen by viewing the task manager and going under processes, this will reveal all of the systems running in the background of the computer. The more (or bigger) of these systems running, the lower the performance of the computer, as it is taking more of its processor to cope with this additional activity.

This particular system has a few unnecessary programs running in the background which may be slowing down the PC. Things like Light Scribe  Hamachi, and Chrome will slow down the computer because you are not using them, but they still run invisibly.

Videos of me completeing various tasks with a variety of different computer software.

Operating System

Operating Systems

An operating system is a piece of software which manages all of a systems basic functions. It provides a GUI for the user to navigate the computer with, instead of having to type everything in a complex code. For example, when I opened word, I double clicked the icon on the desktop; but if there was no operating system and there was just the command line, then I would have typed in a code which defines where the file for word is, and what to do with it. This obviously was the point when computers really took global presents and know occupy almost every household.

I will be comparing two different operating systems, Windows 7, and Linux Ubuntu.

Windows 7

Windows is the prodigal son of Microsoft. The first Windows released was Windows 3.1, which revolutionised computing, as it was the first operating systems which thought of using clickable icons (windows), instead of typing lines of code. This has been adapted and updated as technology has advanced, and now we have Windows 7. This version of windows is reliable and visually pleasing. It has many in-built features which allow people who have no experience with computers keep it running smoothly and allows them to accomplish day-to-day activities. These features include bundled software such as disc defragmenting software, word processing software, Internet Explorer, and also a bunch of games to keep people entertained when they should be doing work. These features along with clever business deals and strong advertising has lead windows to the head of the computing industry, and has allowed them to be instantly recognised and associated with computing worldwide.

However, Windows has a reputation for being vulnerable to viruses and prone to crashing. This means that it must have anti-virus software installed at all times when connected to the internet as to avoid harmful viruses and spyware access to files which may contain valuable details such as bank details, or addresses. Also, maintenance must be performed regularly as to avoid major crashes, but still will be unstable. This is shown by even Microsoft backup servers run a version of Unix (basis of Linux) as an operating system as Windows has a tendency to crash. On top of this, Windows is expensive, and will cost to upgrade to new versions, this means that when your version is outdated, or you buy a new PC, then new versions must be bought for a somewhat hefty price tag.

Ubuntu

Linux Ubuntu is also an operating system, but has taken a slightly different path to that of Windows. Instead of becoming an instant success, it stayed in the background, and was considered nerdy for many years as it did not have as much of a user friendly GUI as Windows, or as strong advertising. But in recent years, it has become more and more mainstream as people are becoming more technologically adept, and are starting to recognise the flaws that exist in the Windows system. This means they opt for the more stable Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a free piece of software which carries out the same main functions as Windows, but has a different file structure so it is not as affected by viruses like Windows. A windows virus cannot harm a Linux machine, and tailored viruses can be easily gotten rid of by restoring the PC, saving all saved files. Also, all software downloads for Linux are free, so different word processors, games, and thousands of utilities can be gotten at a click of a button, instead of having to fork out cash every time you want to buy Microsoft Word, or Excel. Also, Linux does not have as much of a down rate as Windows, meaning that it does not crash as easily, and runs more effectively.

However Linux is not without flaws. The software choices for Linux are not nearly as much as that for Windows. Windows has a far better range fo software options and is also more user friendly than Linux, as well as being highly endorsed by most computer stores like Comet etc.

All in all, both operating systems have their merits, but for me, Windows is the best type of operating system, as you have maximum choice for software, and don’t have to download an alternative, or have to run special software. Windows has been in the spotlight for way longer, so has become a trusted image and has had most software tailored for it. So to compete, Ubuntu will have to offer more than just better stability and protection.

Recommending a System

Recommending a System

I am going to recommend a variety of systems to a friend who is looking for a gaming PC. I will start with a relatively cheap one, around £500 - £600. Then two more from around £1500 and £2500 respectively. This will give a good overview of the PC market and will enlighten him on which type of PC he wants and what kind of quality you can get for certain price ranges.

This friend wants to start up a company which specialises in recording game footage for machinima style shows, and the in-depth reviewing of various games.

Low-end System

Gladiator CYCLONE Vortex Intel i5 2.80GHz Quad Core NVIDIA GeForce Gaming PC

• Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Processor
• Official Intel Cooler
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550Ti 1024MB GDDR5 DirectX 11 Graphics
• 4GB Corsair DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit
• 500GB 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive
• ASUS Intel H61 Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• 550W OCZ ZS Series ATX2.2 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply
• Coolermaster HAF 912 Plus Black Midi Tower Chassis
• 22x DVD±RW SATA Optical ReWriter Drive

£549.95

This system has a solid processor, it doesn’t allow over clocking, but is reasonable for the price. A 1024MB graphics card is a capable graphics card for this system, which will be able play games on a reasonable graphics setting. 4 GB of RAM will be adequate to play most games on. The cooling system is not great as it is a base Intel cooler, this is because this is made for the bare minimum spec, so will only keep it an ‘acceptable’ temperature, not optimum temperature.  Overall, this system is adequate for a standard gamer, but not really for a experienced gamer who wants to game seriously.

Mid-Spec System

Gladiator HELLFIRE Exodus Intel i7 4.50GHz Overclocked Quad Core Radeon HD Gaming PC

• CPU professionally Overclocked up to 4.50GHz*
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1 Operating System
• Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandybridge) Processor
• be quiet! Dark Rock Advanced CPU Cooler
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 DirectX 11 Graphics
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit
• Crucial m4 128GB 2.5" SATA-III Solid State Hard Drive
• 1TB 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive
• MSI Intel Z68 Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• 750W OCZ ZS Series ATX2.2 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply
• NZXT Phantom Black V2 Full Tower Chassis w/ USB3.0
• Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp
• 22x DVD±RW SATA Optical ReWriter Drive

£1529.99

This system is very competitively priced. It has an over clocked CPU which means that it has been pushed to maximum capacity, so that a higher performance can be achieved through it. It has the Windows 7 64 bit operating system it can utilise this systems impressive memory. The RAM runs at a good speed for a balanced gaming system, and will be able to cope with most games needs.  A 1TB HDD is more than adequate for a gaming PC , coupled with the 128GB SSD, this will allow games to be saved to the system and be able to start and load much faster.  The AMD Radeon HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 is the fastest single GPU on the market at the time of writing this (1/02/2012), so is more than adequate for gaming. The cooler is a reasonable cooling system, but its main feature is that it is very quiet, so does not disturb people in neighbouring rooms. The power supply is efficient and an adequate wattage as to accommodate the other pieces of hardware. This sound card is fairly low-end, but will still provide superior sound to the motherboards sound systems.

High-Spec System

Gladiator RAMPAGE Overlord CrossFire Intel i7 4.60GHz Overclocked Hexa Core Radeon HD Gaming PC

• CPU professionally Overclocked up to 4.60GHz*
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1 Operating System
• Intel Core i7-3930K (Sandybridge) Processor
• Corsair H80 Water-Cooling CPU Cooler
• 2x AMD Radeon HD 7970 3072MB GDDR5 DirectX 11 Graphics in CrossFire
• 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz Quad Channel Memory Kit
• Crucial m4 128GB 2.5" SATA-III Solid State Hard Drive
• 1TB 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive
• GIGABYTE Intel X79 Socket 2011 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• 1050W Corsair HX Series Modular ATX2.3 SLI/Crossfire Compliant Power Supply
• Corsair 600T Graphite Series Mid Tower Chassis
• Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp
• Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - SATA Optical Blu-Ray Reader Drive

£2569.99

The Intel Core i7 processor range is the highest tier of processor available at the time of this recommendation, and the 3930K is all but the best of this line, and the difference between this and the next one up will be unnoticeable unless you are doing extreme over clocks, and is almost twice as expensive. This processor has also been professionally over clocked from 3.2Ghz to 4.6Ghz, maximising its output.

Because of the H80 cooling system, the system will be quieter as the fan only needs to remove heat from the water cooling system. In theory this is an effective way of doing so, as it is quieter and better heats can be maintained due to the water cooling, but, the particular fan they use with this system is actually slightly louder than usual, so this is not going to be as quiet as other water cooling systems.

This system’s GPU’s are the same as in the mid-spec system, except they are running in crossfire, which means that there are two of them running separate slots at the same time. This does not mean that it doubles the performance, due to scaling, but significantly increases it. These GPU’s have a large video memory, so will be able to effectively operate 3 screens in eyefinity. Also, when running crossfire, there are driver issues which make maintenance difficult and restrict performance of some games, which could be problematic.

The RAM on this system is more than enough to perform any needs. Runs at good CAS9 timings, and could be over clocked if timing where slightly raised and voltage raised.

The SSD will allow for game storage so it will decrease loading times etc. And the 1TB HDD will be more than adequate for games and any backups or movies that he wishes.

The PSU is very efficient and has a high enough wattage so it can comfortably run this system, as well as anything that he wishes to add.

The case has an interchangeable mesh – windowed panel, and has plenty of room for cable management and drive bays. The person i am recommending the system to also likes the cases look, which is a bonus.

The sound card is far better than the on-board one, so will provide superior sound. Also it comes with blu-ray reader drive and a normal optical reader/writer drive.

Videos

Videos will be uploaded soon!

Gaming PC’s

Gladiator Nemes!s AMD FX 8150 @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Gaming PC (£1099.99)

Specs
• CPU professionally Overclocked up to 4.50GHz*
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1 Operating System
• AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 Socket AM3+ 8-Core Processor
• Thermolab Trinity Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler
• ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 8GB Mushkin Blackline #996995 (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
• 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARX 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive
• Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 990FX (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express ATX Motherboard
• Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp
• 750W Corsair TX750 V2 ATX2.3 SLI/Crossfire Compliant Power Supply
• Coolermaster Storm Enforcer Gaming Midi Chassis
• LG 22x DVD-RW SATA Black Optical ReWriter Drive

Gladiator FTW H20 V2 Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.50GHz DDR3 Gaming PC (£1049.99)

Specs

• CPU professionally Overclocked up to 4.50GHz*
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1 Operating System
• Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor
• Corsair H80 Water-Cooling CPU Cooler
• GeForce GTX 560Ti 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 8GB Mushkin Blackline #996995 (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
• 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARX 3.5" SATA III Hard Drive
• ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 Intel Z68 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard
• Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp
• 650W Corsair TX650 V2 ATX2.3 SLI/Crossfire Compliant Power Supply
• Corsair Carbide 500R Black Midi Tower Chassis
• LG 22x DVD-RW SATA Black Optical ReWriter Drive

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

This PC uses more power hungry hardware such as ATI Graphics cards and the Bulldozer processer requires more. Also, the Bulldozer CPU’s run hot therefore require better cooling than comes with this system, such as a custom water loop, or a Noctua NH-D14, more so when over clocked. This means that this PC has the 750w power supply whereas the other has the 650w. In terms of HD 1080p on a singular monitor, the cards will be evenly matched, but when put on multiple monitors; the HD6950 will have the edge due to extra memory. Newer games such as the recently released Battlefield 3 will take advantage of this extra memory and will be able to run higher quality textures.

The FTW system has H80 cooler, which is stated as ‘water-cooling’, but is widely considered air cooling as the temperature it provides is inferior to even some fan systems. So when it says H2O in the title, this can be misleading. This computer is running a cooler CPU (SandyBridge), so does not need as heavy duty cooling.

Both systems overclock effectively and have both already been overclocked to 4.50GHz. Overclocking is the process of raising the clock speeds of computer hardware to achieve a faster machine. This process is most commonly done on CPU’s and GPU’s.

Gladiator Punisher Pro AMD Llano 3850 @ 2.90GHz DDR3 Gaming PC

• AMD Llano A8-3850 2.90GHz (Socket FM1) Processor
• Radeon HD 6550D DirectX 11 Graphics
• 4GB Mushkin Blackline #996659B (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
• 1TB Seagate Barracuda Green ST1000DL002 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive
• Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2HP AMD Hudson D3 (Socket FM1) DDR3 PCI-Express Micro-ATX Motherboard
• 450W Coolermaster GX 80PLUS Bronze Power Supply
• BitFenix Merc Alpha Black Midi Tower Chassis
• LG 22x DVD-RW SATA Black Optical ReWriter Drive

Gladiator IBIS Deluxe Intel Core i3-2100 @ 3.10GHz DDR3

Gaming PC

• Intel Core i3-2100 3.10GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor

• Radeon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 DirectX 11 PCI-Express Graphics Card

• 4GB Mushkin Silverline #996768 (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz 9-9-9-24

• 1TB Seagate Barracuda Green ST1000DL002 3.5" SATA II Hard Drive

• Gigabyte GA-H61M-S2 Intel H61 (REV B3) Socket 1155 DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard

• 500W Coolermaster Elite Power ATX2.3 Power Supply

• BitFenix Outlaw Black Midi Tower Chassis
• LG 22x DVD-RW SATA Black Optical ReWriter Drive

The IBIS has the superior processor because the i3 proccessor has better architecture than the AMD APU, regardless of the Quad core, this is proved by benchmarks, taken from hardwaresecrets.com, that show that the i3 proccessor scores on average 300 PC mark points higher than the AMD system. The AMD system has APU, which means it has a true GPU with its own memory so its not like a conventional graphics card which leaches of the main system memory. Another notable feature is that you can add another graphics card, with a matching gpu, in crossfire with the APU's GPU. The IBIS has a dedicated graphics card, which means that it is far more suited to PC gaming. The AMD system has faster memory than the IBIS as 1333 MHz compaired to 1600MHz, however both have CAS 9 timings, this difference will be practicly undetecable when gaming. The two systems have evenly matched Hard Drives, and use the same case and optical drives. Due to H61 chipset on the intel system it is unable to be overclocked, whereas the AMD system can be overclocked so it is even or may even surpass the Intel system.

For gaming, i would recommend the AMD system as it can be overclocked to be equal or even surpass the Intel system. However, if you do not knnow how or dont want to overclock, th Intel is the logical choice, as well as it has overall better hardware within.