K, i need some help.....

[earthscore]

Seeing by the post i made in amd forum, i must know very little about computers... I was wondering if they're were some good guides and stuff to learn computers. If i saw parts out on a table or something i could identify them, and possibly assemble them with a guide.... But im hearing all these weird terms about ram timing, and agp-pci ports and different socket mobo's, and im just wondering if there's a nice guide out so i could learn about computers and not feel like a total moron every thread i make. Thx for any assistance given.

 

[The Bryophyte]

There isn't really a single guide that you can look at in order to understand exactly what you're looking for. An A+ exam guide might help you to cover some of that stuff, but it would also include alot of very boring material.

The best way to get the knowledge you seek is probably to start reading how-to's and such from sites like:

www.hardocp.com
www.anandtech.com
www.arstechnica.com

 

[GJSNeptune]

Surfing these forums gave me all the basic information I needed to build my first system. If I came across an acronym or term I didn't understand, I Googled it.

[H]ard|Forum and Google is all ya need!

 

[SocketA]

I always wanted a guide a couple of years ago when I was in your situation. The answer is one doesnt exist and probably never will. You just have to have patience when learning about computers it takes alot of time. I sat in front of Windows and beat the hell out it trying to learn it inside and out, reformating countless times. The same with hardware. I tried lowering my ram timings the other day and my system would not boot.

 

[acetic]

I dunno if this helps, but It's an article i did for school awhile back (which was sadly never used,) But it's very helpful to newbies

For those of you that don't want to read this, scroll past it (3 1/2 pages of text in Word)

Computer Terms for ‘Newbies’

There comes a time in everyone’s life where they are faced with the challenge of technology. Computers are probably one of the most common pieces of technology, taking a spot in almost every family’s home. No one really cares how it works, as long as it works, here’s where that changes. There are several terms that may frighten people away from computer, or do the opposite, and make them want to learn about computers.

First off, lets start with RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, it’s much like a humans ‘short-term’ memory, it only holds the information the computer is currently using, or may need to use within a short period of time. RAM is a must in a computer, and the more RAM a computer has, the faster it will be, within limitations of other hardware.

Lets move on to HDD’s. HDD stands for Hard Disk Drive, it’s much more like a humans ‘long-term’ memory. HDD’s store all of the other information you save on to it, such as your music (MP3’s), or your homework. HDD’s also act as a ‘medium-term’ memory as well, by offering a Swap Space. A swap space is where there is a set amount of space on the HDD to act like RAM, but its not as fast as RAM, so it is used for less important things, things that don’t currently need to be in your RAM, but things that the computer doesn’t want to dispose of yet.

Now lets check out the heart and soul of the computer, the CPU and Motherboard. The CPU is the ‘heart’ of the computer, and stands for Central Processing Unit, its what makes everything tick. It calculates several thousand equations a second. What determines how ‘fast’ a CPU is, and how many equations a second it can compute, is called frequency. The frequency of a CPU is set with a combination of numbers, the multiplier, and the Front Side Bus (FSB). The FSB denotes the speed at which your processor interacts with components on your motherboard, and multiplier is what the FSB is multiplied by to get your frequency, or clock. In theory, the higher the FSB, the faster a computer will be at interacting with its components, but the speed at which the whole computer runs depends on the architecture of the CPU, which I won’t get into detail with. Just because a CPU is really fast, doesn’t mean it’s the best, it just means its architecture is different, and a slower CPU may be able to ‘crunch’ more numbers than a faster one.

The Motherboard is the ‘soul’ of your computer, it’s what everything plugs in to, and it is what controls everything, and sends data to the CPU to be processed, and sent to another part of the computer. The motherboard as a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket for the CPU, usually 2 controllers for IDE devices (Such as your HDD, CD-Rom, CD Burners etc.), 1 controller for FDD’s (Floppy Disk Drive), several PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) expansion slots, PCI slots hold audio cards (for producing your crisp audio), networking cards (to hook you into internet), and some graphics cards (for your crystal-clear picture). There is also another standard of expansion slots, called AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port); AGP is much faster than PCI, thus making it better for supporting high-end graphics cards, for the ultimate performance. On the back of your computer you may notice a place containing a lot of different places for cables, such as PS/2 (For mice and keyboards), USB (Universal Serial Bus; for mice, keyboards, web cameras etc.), and several other ports for your monitor, printer, and sometimes even network, and audio ports. This panel is part of your motherboard, and called the I/O (Input/Output) panel.

Since you now know about the ‘short-term’ memory, ‘long-term’ memory, and the ‘heart’ and ‘soul’ of your computer, lets talk about the ‘eyes’ and ‘ears.’ The ‘eyes’ of your computer is the graphics card, and your monitor. Your graphics card is what takes the data the CPU routes to it, and turns it into the picture you see on the monitor, a graphics card usually determines whether or not your computer can play that new game you wanted. A graphics card also has RAM, its own special RAM, but your computer also leaves a portion of your system RAM for your graphics card. A monitor can make all the difference for your computing experience, maybe you like the crisp colour of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitor, but dislike the blur that can occur while playing games. An LCD can be very nice, but the price definitely isn’t, unless you have that kind of money. Maybe you prefer the colour precision, and gaming quality of a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Monitor, or maybe you just prefer the price tag.

How about your computers ‘ears’? Your computers ‘ears’ are its audio card, and speakers. While most motherboards come with decent on-board (integrated into the motherboard and I/O panel) audio, you may prefer to upgrade to a PCI audio card, to achieve better audio quality. Speakers come in different types, 2.1 (your basic stereo speakers) 4.1 (5 speaker surround sound), 5.1 (6 speaker surround sound), and 7.1 (8 speaker ultra-surround sound). Most speaker sets come with a subwoofer for that deep bass, and as with most stereo or speaker system, watt refers to how much power the speakers can utilize and put out for your hearing enjoyment.

It’s time to learn about your OS, Operating System. Your OS is that user interface you see; most users on a PC use Windows, or the lesser-known Linux. Both OS’s have their pros and cons. Windows is much more oriented towards ‘average’ computer people, providing some customizability, with a lot of compatibility stirred in. Linux on the other hand provides complete customizing options, and is much more advanced. Linux also offers a completely customizable GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a completely customizable kernel, or core. Linux’ ability to fit around whatever type of computer you have through customizing the kernel, offers users a feeling that it was designed just for them. Windows does not offer all this customizability, but it offers the compatibility for almost all games and programs. Probably the most major difference is in the price. The price one must pay for a copy of Linux is nothing, it’s free as long as you have the time to download the files, and put them on a CD, but Windows costs upwards of $100.

What makes a computer look so good, the case. Aesthetics are just about as important as how ‘good’ the components are. Cases come in many different form factors for different styles of motherboards. Modern Motherboards use 4 different form factors, ATX, Mini-ATX, Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX, with Mini-ITX being the smallest. Cases usually come in 3 main colours, beige or off-white, black, and silver. Most people crave black and silver cases, due to their superiority in looks over the off-white cases. Some people who are extreme about the looks of their cases, sometimes ‘mod’ the cases to look different, or unique. The inside of the case usually reveals a drive-rack, for all of your HDD’s, Floppy drives (FDD’s), and CD-ROMs. You would also notice a few wires coming from the bezel, the front, of the case. These wires are for the power switch, reset switch, power LED (Light Emitting Diode), HDD activity LED, and sometimes, front ports (Such as USB).


Cooling: without it a computer is as good as burnt toast, literally. Most people use the standard air-cooling, using fans to move around air. The CPU is fitted with a heat sink, and the heat sink has a fan on top, blowing into the heat sink, removing heat from the CPU. Now once that heat has dissipated off the heat sink and CPU, an exhaust fan is usually mounted near the rear of the computer, below the PSU (Power Supply Unit), to remove excess heat from the computer. This is usually enough, but when you have several HDD’s, a high-end graphics card, and a CPU in your case, things can get kind of hot. Sometimes people just install an extra fan in one of the fan punch-outs in their case, sometimes they cut a hole in the side or top panel to bring in cold air, or remove hot air. Even with all these fans, sometimes a computer can still get too hot. Some enthusiasts install a water-cooling kit so they can water cool their computers, so not only is it quieter than having lots of fans, but more efficient, but water-cooling brings its dangers, water leaks, and pump failure, both can result in hardware damage.

Finally, last but not least, the Internet, the world of possibilities. The Internet is a network of networked networks. It is ideally a network of computers all over the world. Every computer hooked into the Internet is given an IP (Internet Protocol) address, which identifies ones computer to the rest the network. When you type in a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), or the ‘address’ to a website (such as www.google.ca), the computer doesn’t understand the words, it just understands the numbers (IP address) that the words direct to, and takes you there. Many websites are hosted from a server, a computer specifically designed for hosting websites, or other on-line duties. The Internet is a vast world of information, and knowledge. There you have it, the guide to just about everything you need to know about computers.


Woah. Hope that helps

Edit: I know it doesn't get into advanced things... But I'm working on it.. A complete guide thing...

 

[Chris626]

Surfing these forums gave me all the basic information I needed to build my first system. If I came across an acronym or term I didn't understand, I Googled it.

[H]ard|Forum and Google is all ya need!

QFT

 

[Ice Czar]

good guides and stuff to learn computers.

http://www.pcguide.com/
http://www.pcguide.com/topic.html