The Workstation Computer
Hey guys Icarus here!
Today, like the title says, I’m going to talk about the fourth and final type of computer: The workstation computer!
So, here are some key things to keep in mind while you read this post:
1. Workstation computers are all about processing power. It’s how quickly you can get a job done, and how efficiently you can complete your job.
2. Workstation graphics cards are different from normal graphics cards we drool over in gaming computers and other high-end PCs. We have a rather small selection, such as NVidia’s Quadro series and ATi’s FirePro series. They emphasize stability and consistency over speed and graphics quality.
3. These are the kinds of computers where a dual-CPU motherboard with full-on workstation graphics is a good investment. Double the CPU, double the power!!
Those are some things to keep in mind when you start thinking about what components you would want to put in your workstation computer!
It’s awesome to build your workstation computer, I guarantee it. Many businesses have to call in computer technicians when their computers break down, but if you build your own, you save time, and you can use that time to expand your business!!
I’m also going to pose this question to you:
Who Should Use a Workstation Computer?
Workstation computers are nothing like gaming or media-editing computers, and the users are also in completely different industries.
Workstation computers are typically used for companies that work with architecture, low-end to high-end servers, and technicians who have certain tools that need workstation graphics to complete.
That is also why the workstation computer is one of the more expensive computers. However, if you really have a use for this computer, a thousand dollars or so is nothing compared to what you can get done with this computer.
Anyways, that’s it for this post! Hope you enjoyed it!
Make sure to comment and subscribe!!
Cheers!!
~| Icarus
Related Posts
Icarus and Computers Top
The Media-Editing Computer
Hey guys, Icarus here!
Some of you are probably wondering why I skipped the part where I give you a sample gaming computer. However, the next few topics will make the reason clear. But today, I’m going to be talking about the media-editing computer!
So let’s get started!!! From here-on-out, I’m going to refer to the media-editing computer as the media computer. It’s just much easier!
I’m going to start you off by giving you some of my key emphasis when I plan out a media computer:
- The media computer is a bit like a gaming computer, but there’s much, much more emphasis on the CPU and motherboard. It’s all about the processing power baby!
- You also need to include software into your budget now because a media computer is nothing without the media software like Photoshop, Coral Move Editor, and other software.
- You may also need external peripherals like speakers, headphones, and multiple monitors now. Multiple monitors make multi-tasking so much easier when you need multiple windows open at once. Speakers and headphones are a must if you’re editing
- A sound card is an extremely good investment if you’re editing music. With a quality sound card(like the ASUS Xonar Essense Sound Card, it’s expensive but definitely worth the money if you’re into listening and editing quality music or sound bites), you can practically hear everthing.
So that’s my key emphasis. Some of them are more important to some than others depending on what kind of editing you’re doing.
However, whether it’s video editing, music editing, or something else, a good CPU and motherboard is a MUST.
Anyways, that’s all for the media computer! Hope you guys enjoyed my post!
Don’t forget to comment and subscribe!
Cheers!
~| Icarus
Related Posts
Icarus and Computers Top
The Gaming Computer
Hey guys, Icarus here!
Today, we’re going to move on and talk another category of PCs: the gaming computer.
Have you ever seen those crazy cases that you have to mod(customizing your case, on your own) with slick black, green, and blue LEDs with tubes running through inside the case? With two or three huge graphics cards?
Well, not that every gaming computer has to be that way, but that’s just one example of a gaming computer. As the name suggests, it’s a computer dedicated solely to maximize your ultimate gaming experiences.
So, what’re some key components that have to be emphasized? Well, let me go in the order of importance, from most important to least important:
1. CPU: you need a good CPU. If you have a great graphics card hooked up with a slow CPU, your CPU will bottleneck your graphics power. Also, remember that the CPU is the one sending commands to the graphics cards and all other components in your PC.
2. Motherboard: you also need a great motherboard to hook up all of your components to. Cheap out on the motherboard, and you never know what may happen: your motherboard might overheat and damage the CPU, might burst into flames(unlikely, but it has happened before), or you might just lose everything you had in your hard drive.
3. GPU: Finally, the graphics card. Weird right? You’d think that the graphics card should be the most important. But it’s not actually; it’s actually backwards.
Now, you’d want to pick your GPUs carefully depending on your gaming needs:
- What monitor size do you have?
- What resolution are you going to play your games at?
- How graphics-heavy are your games?
- Do I need more than one graphics card??
- Am I going to play on multiple monitors?
Those are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself before choosing your GPU. If any of you need help with this, just leave it in a comment!
4. Cooling and Case: Oh, this is extremely important. It can save you hundreds of money from damaged components, and it’ll give you much, much more time to enjoy your games.
Many of the components above(especially the graphics card and the CPU) give off A TON of heat. If the airflow in your case isn’t adequate, your components can quickly heat up, and may cause your computer to automatically shut down once it reaches a critical temperature.
And make sure you pick a good case. You can add as many fans as you want to a case, but if the structure of the case isn’t good, then the fans won’t do much for you.
Now, depending on your budget, you can go with two options:
- air cooling: plain and simple: you add fans to your case so that the air comes in and goes out. You MUST make sure that your fans are facing the right direction, or else you might keep the hot air inside your case.
- liquid cooling: much more complicated than air-cooling. You need to plan your tubing, what you’re going to cool(CPU, GPU, sometimes motherboard chipsets), and you also need to plan out where you’re going to put the pump and reservoir. You also need to drain, clean, and put in coolant every month or so to avoid gunk build up. If you don’t do this, your liquid tubing may burst from clogging. And that’s just horrible.
5. Everything else: now, everything else is up to you:
- power supply: just know how much you need, and then pick a power supply that supplies a bit more than what you need. Just as a precaution.
- Hard Drive: up to you on the amount of storage, and the difference between 7200RPM HDD and 10000RPM HDD is negligible compared to the price. I’d go with a 7200RPM HDD with a lot of storage. You may do Raid 0 if you wish, or any other configuration.
- CD/DVD drive: this is completely up to you. If you want multiple so you can play multiple games at a time(that’d be hard though), then you can. It’s totally up to you.
And that’s a typical gaming computer for ya! Sorry this post is so long! I just wanted to make sure I got everything covered.
Well, that’s all for this post! Hope you enjoyed it.
Happy gaming! Happy computer building!
~| Icarus
Related Posts
Icarus and Computers Top
Sample Daily-Use Computer
Hey guys, Icarus here!
Since I promised I’d plan out a sample daily-use computer for all of you, I did it! And, I must admit, it’s a pretty good one too. And it’s not very expensive!!
So, here we go!!!
1. CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 CPU
So, why did I choose this one?? Because of how well it performs and the money efficiency. For a little over $100 US, you can get a high-quality dual-core CPU that’ll handle anything you throw at it!!
Still waiting for your old-hag of a computer start up for 5 minutes? Well, get this, and give yourself more of that time to enjoy your computer adventures!!
2. Motherboard: Gigabyte P45 Motherboard
For less than $100 US, you get a quality motherboard that’s from an excellent company. Gigabyte is one of my favorite motherboard companies of all time. Next to EVGA that is.
For a daily-use computer, it’s important to have stability in mind at all times so you don’t have to call someone if you, the new tech-geek on the street, can’t fix the problem. By picking this motherboard up, you’re guaranteed little to no problems at all.
3. Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2×1GB DDR2800 Memory
I personally use these right now, and I can’t even start to tell you how well the perform.
I overclock my computer occasionally to see how far I can push it, and these sticks of memory took on everything I threw at it. It has excellent cooling, and it’s extremely easy to use: just plug and play!
4. Case: Cooler Master Elite Mid Tower Case
The case is definitely up to your own liking, but I put air-cooling ahead of looks.
This is an excellent case that looks a lot more expensive than how much it’s priced for(38 dollars at Newegg!). A nice mid-tower case, this case has excellent air-cooling(kudos to Cooler Master for keeping up with their cooling standards) and most of all… it’s not expensive!! At all!!
5. GPU: EVGA 9800GT
Now-a-days, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a quality video card!
This 9800GT will take on most games you throw at it at good graphics quality and speed. Just remember, we’re building a daily-use computer here, not a gaming computer. We just need something that could handle most gaming here.
6. CD/DVD Drive, and Hard drive: Honestly, this is completely up to you.
When you pick out a CD/DVD drive, just make sure that it’s an internal one, and that you can burn CDs and DVDs if you want to.
For picking out hard drives, I’d go with something that has at least 160GB of storage. And that’s an absolute minimum, especially if you like putting a lot of movies, music, and other files in your computer for storage for the future.
7. Power Supply: Thermaltake 500W Purepower PSU
Again, the brand of the power supply is up to you, but I’d definitely recommend something made my Antec, Thermaltake, Cooler Master, or PC Power and Supply.
And remember, watts isn’t everything! It also depends on the number of rails, amount of voltage, and efficiency.
Well, hope you like my sample build! If you need any help planning your own daily-use computer with a specific budget, contact me through comments, or via the website “Contact Icarus” tab at the top of the website!
Happy computer building!
~| Icarus
Related Posts
Icarus and Computers Top
EVGA’s Magic Show: Rotatable Dual LCD System
Hey guys, Icarus here!
I just thought this was interesting and somewhat funny.
EVGA, after a year of leaking information, finally released their rotatable Dual-LCD InterView System.
Basically, it’s 2 17-inch LCD’s supported by a single verticle bar, and both LCDs can be rotated 180 degrees for awesome viewing.
EVGA apparently made this for presentations, financial consultants and others(???) who really needed something like this(I don’t think so).
What’s even funnier is the part about having two keyboards and mice controlling each LCD separately. Now, what’s the point of making this for presentation givers if you can have two people view the same screen? Either have this option, or throw it away for more money efficiency!
I can also imagine this in a house-hold, where two kids fight over which side of the system they want. Obviously, it’s going to end up in the parents scolding the children. Or so it seems…
Now, I don’t know how much this thing costs, but from my POV, it shouldn’t be expensive at all. All they did(put simply) was put two 17-inch LCDs together(they go for around 100 dollars minimum up to 200 dollars), put some USB hubs, 2 keyboard inputs, and other things that I don’t know about(probably for around 50 dollars?? I have no clue), and the PC system itself(I don’t think you can fit much in that “portable” dual-LCD system) So, in my guestimation, it should cost… around 600-700 dollars? And of course, can’t forget the manufacturing fees.
Well… I think I’d rather go with a nice, large 27″/28″ monitor and hope that the company I work at has at least a projector and a white background.
Hope you enjoyed my article! Don’t forget to comment and subscribe!
Cheers!
~| Icarus
Related Posts
Icarus and Computers Top « Older Posts — Newer Posts »