Alienware's Computer Guide

[Alienware]

Introduction.

 

Lately, there's been A LOT of Questions regarding problems with technology from computers and laptops to games, programs etc. What this thread is designed for is a quick way for users to know what to ask about specific problems and where to get help for it. (As well as understanding some of our mumbo-jumbo).

 

We use them everywhere, whether it's Gaming, Graphics, Music, Documents, iPhone's etc; but what happens when they break? This topic is designed to show you what the basic Hardware and Software are used in computers, Building your first rig and all sorts!

 

 

Hardware.

 

Hardware is the physical objects inside a computer that make it run.

 

Hard Drive

 

Hard Drives are what stores all data on a Computer. Your Operating System, Documents, Music etc are all shoved into this storage block. If it breaks, all your Data is gone. There are two types and sizes of Hard Drives; IDE Which are the older model Hard Drives and SATA which are used commonly by most machines today, both coming in 2.5" and 3.5" Sizes. There is also another form of Hard Drive called the "Solid State Drive" which is a more powerful Hard Drive designed to withstand more physical hits than a normal Hard Drive and run more reliable as well as faster. However, Unlike a Hard Drive, the space stored on them isn't as big and costs much more than your typical Hard Drive.

 

 

 

RAM

 

(Or known commonly as memory) is how much data a computer can move about at once and at what speeds. They come in little sticks and range from SDRAM, DDR1, DDR2, and DDR3 RAM. Most machines now use either DDR2 or DDR3.

 

Motherboard

 

Basically, they are a giant circuit board which everything connects to so that they can all communicate and run a machine. Each one is designed for a Processor type, Hard Drive type, and RAM type

 

Processor

 

Also known as a CPU, This is the brain and heart of a computer. This processes all data tells what part of a computer to do what etc. There are two types of Processor companies who each make different Processor types: Intel and AMD.

 

 

Graphics Card

 

This is what produces your graphics. Basic computers have them built into their motherboards, others (Especially heavy gamer machines) have a Graphics Card added in. There are two makers of graphics cards: nVidia and ATi (Now known as AMD). Also, there are two types of Graphics Cards;

-AGP: These are the OLD Models for (much) older motherboards.

-PCI-e: This is what most machines now use.

 

Software.

 

These are programs that make you able to interact with your computer.

 

Operating System

 

This is the main Program. The big wig. Most commonly known as Windows, Linux or Mac/Snow Leopard. Each machine has the option to have an OS installed, however, some machines can ONLY have a certain OS installed and work properly (Yes, the Mac)

 

Drivers

 

These are programs that help the hardware perform better (or in some cases perform at all). You have drivers for your Graphics Card, Multiple ones for the Motherboard, The Processor, Sound, USB etc.

 

Anti Virus, Spyware and Malware

 

These are programs designed to protect your computer from viruses and other nasty things that try to break your computer.

Most common Anti Viruses:

• Kaspersky (Paid/Trial)
• Trend Micro(Paid/Trial)
• Norton(Paid/Trial)
• Avast(Free)
• Comodo (Free)
• AVG (Free)
• Malwarebytes (Free)

Miscellaneous Programs

 

These are various Programs added here that you might be interested in, including customizing the appearance of your Desktops.

Rainmeter - Customizable toolbars and information on your desktop.

Rocketdock - An Icon dock which gives you a 1-click access to programs, Files and Folders.

ObjectDock/Stardock - An Icon dock which gives you a 1-click access to programs, Files and Folders.

 

Measurements and Units

 

Hard Drives measure data in amounts called Bytes. A Single byte is such a small amount of information, it probably would not be able to contain this entire sentence. Bytes are notated by prefixes akin to the Metric system.

1 Byte = 1B

Example: A short value, like "8942"

1 Kilobyte = 1KB (1000B)

A nominal but still rather small value, like a portion of this post.

1 Megabyte = 1MB (1000KB)

One of the most frequently occurring values in modern computation. A typical youtube video is about 5MB for 4 minutes.

1 Gigabyte = 1GB (1000 MB)

Common unit for larger bunches of information. A video game can range from 1 to 8GB.

1 Terabyte = 1TB (1000GB)

Uncommonly large unit, the size of most hard drives these days.

1 Petabyte = 1PB (1000TB)

Extremely large unit. All of Facebook could probably fit on a 50 Petabyte Hard drive.

1 Exabyte = 1EB (1000PB)

Unit used by Computer Theoretical Science. Some say If all particle interactions in the universe that ever occurred were recorded, they would probably be able to fit on a 10 EB hard drive.

 

Final Notes

 

If you think anything extra should be added, changed, opinions etc don't hesitate to PM me or post them in the topic. Happy Breaking Fixing Stuff!

Edited December 1, 2018 by ALIENWARE

[Benz]

Very informative post buddy. This will help alot of people in the community. Thank you for taking the time to make this post.

[Admiral MacK]

Thanks for the info. I'm a hardware guy but never really understood software and all that.

 

On a side note, I've done too much research on my GPU. I'm running a MSI Gaming-X GTX 1080 8G OC on my PC and I can't find an aluminum water block anywhere. I know EK has a nickel one for it but I'm running an aluminum custom loop for my CPU from EK and I'd like to conjoin them. Anyone know of a company that makes them or am I screwed into a separate loop / redoing my CPU loop to nickel / copper? As of now I am just running a Corsair ML120 2400 RPM Case fan rednecked to the heat sink of my GPU with small zip ties.

 

PS. Possibly add "Cooling" To your list. I think that would help as well. Just a suggestion if you're up to it! Thanks again.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Admiral MacK

[porkcow]

On a side note, I've done too much research on my GPU. I'm running a MSI Gaming-X GTX 1080 8G OC on my PC and I can't find an aluminum water block anywhere. I know EK has a nickel one for it but I'm running an aluminum custom loop for my CPU from EK and I'd like to conjoin them. Anyone know of a company that makes them or am I screwed into a separate loop / redoing my CPU loop to nickel / copper? As of now I am just running a Corsair ML120 2400 RPM Case fan rednecked to the heat sink of my GPU with small zip ties.

Have you looked into some of the water cooling kits ek sells themselves? They have the "EK Fluid Gaming A240G" kit that includes both aluminum water blocks for cpu and aluminum water block for Nvidia Pascal cards. Maybe that block could fit your card and maybe you can just shoot customer support a message about wanting to buy just the GPU water block.

 

 

 

 

[Admiral MacK]

Have you looked into some of the water cooling kits ek sells themselves? They have the "EK Fluid Gaming A240G" kit that includes both aluminum water blocks for cpu and aluminum water block for Nvidia Pascal cards. Maybe that block could fit your card and maybe you can just shoot customer support a message about wanting to buy just the GPU water block.

 

The A240g was the one I purchased over a year ago. It's the one I use on my CPU currently. But I don't have an Nvidia GPU; it's from MSI. NVIDIA software but MSI made the card itself. It's easily larger then the Nvidia 1080 and the cooler that came with the A240g didn't fit it. The EK one that does fit my card is nickel. And if you're working on custom cooling, you gotta know never to combine metals. (Especially aluminum with others). I'm trying to save money from changing my CPU to nickel or making just a whole separate loop. Not to mention I just don't have the space.

 

I can't find the EK one anymore on their website and this is all I can find. https://www.ebay.com/p/Barrow-Bs-msg1080-pa-Water-Cooling-Block-for-MSI-Gtx1080-1070-1060-Gaming-X/605119950?iid=112327358964&chn=ps

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Admiral MacK

[_CliCK]

Hi I have a Alienware steam machine asm100-980 I lost the psu just wondering if I should buy directly from Alienware/dell (expensive) or an aftermarket psu (same specs)?...thanks

[Fred.]

Fortis.

 

"1. SSD's are not designed to withstand more physical force, but rather their Read/Write speed is significantly higher than the normal Hard Drive."

They're not designed to withstand more, but they do because there's no physical disk in them that can smash or scratch.

 

"2. RAM (Random Access Memory) is most commonly DDR4, and most computers use DDR4 now, however some older systems do run DDR2, DDR3."

DDR4 is the modern standard but the majority of computers in existence are still DDR3, making DDR3 the most common, unless we're talking new computers only.

 

"the i7-7700k from Intel is the best CPU for 4-Core perfomance"

Going to assume you said this based on benchmarks and not your opinion, which if you did is still wrong. There is no real 'best' it all depends on different people's usage.

 

"Hard Drives are universal, they only require a SATA cable"

There are IDE and SCSI as well, IDE is fairly old but SCSI is still used a lot in server hardware.

 

"most CPU's today have integrated graphics"

CPUs with integrated graphics are also commonly known as APUs.

 

"Mac uses OSx and Snow Leopard was a variant of OSx, OSx constantly updates with different variants with the most current being Mojave."

Apple changed from 'Mac OSX' to 'MacOS' in 2016 with the release of MacOS Sierra.

 

"when you first build a PC or boot it up, you don't have your GPU outputting graphics, it is your built in graphics by your CPU"

This isn't true. Assuming your CPU has inbuilt graphics and the display cable is in the motherboard rather than the graphics card, then this is true, otherwise, the GPU does in fact output graphics however with none of it's fancy features. If you don't have inbuilt graphics or a graphics card you'll get no display at all.

 

"A byte is 8 bits. 1 kilobyte (kB) = 1024 bytes, 1 megabyte (MB) = 1024 kilobytes, etc... its not just 1000 (I know, its my OCD kicking in)."

kibibyte = 1024 bytes, mebibyte = 1024 kibibytes. He was correct in saying 1 megabyte is in fact just 1000 kilobytes. 

 

 

[SupaNipplez]

Quoting is fucked on here but I digress:

1. Fortis was simply pointing out that SSDs weren't designed to withstand more force, but rather to provide faster read/write speeds (even though they do, given its in the name, solid state = no moving parts = faster and harder to break)

2. The problem I have with Alienware's RAM section is that he doesnt even mention DDR4. DDR4 is the standard nowadays. Given its only gotten that way over the past few years yes I would say if you were to look at every system currently in the world most would use DDR3. Its still an older less efficient RAM type and most people reading this thread (which seems to be intended to help someone build a PC) would be using DDR4 anyways. 

3. In terms of cable types for disk drives, I dont think there is any reason to mention types like IDE (like you said is old or SCSI (because we are talking about your normal everyday home computers here not servers). In this instance the only thing you need to know is SATA. Everything else is useless and unnecessary information. 

4.Um, nope. Not every processor w/ integrated graphics is an APU. That is purely a marketing term for AMDs CPUs with integrated graphics. They are still called CPUs. Intel CPUs w/ intrgrated graphics are not APUs. 

5. This just seems unnecessarily nit picky. Snow Leopard is a version of the OS, which was what fortis was pointing out. not the name of the OS itself (that being OSX/MacOS) though I would say most people just say Mac. 

6. It is both right to say that its 1000 or 1024. It depends.

It is easier for manufacturers to use the base 10 system because that is easier for people to understand. (so 1 KB = 1000 bytes and etc.

But computers use binary (base 2 system). So technically the more correct way to put it would be 1 MB = 1024 bytes and so on. Ive always learned it in the base 2 system, but thats just because of the field im in. 

If you want to be even more correct in the base 2 system  it is kibibtye, mebibyte, gibibyte, tebibyte, but even in the base 2 system most people sill still use base 10 terms (so 1024 gigabytes for example rather than 1024 gibibytes). Again, thats just for convenience,  its easier to pronounce the SI terms anyways. 

But yes for most people they will use the base 10 numbering system because thats easier for people to understand.  

 

No offense to you but I thought Fortis brought up some good corrections and this response to it just seemed nitpicky and not needed. This thread is to help people who dont understand computers not  start a dick measuring contest on who knows more about computers than the other person. Fortis was pointing out incorrect things its unnecessary to start an argument about it. There were things wrong the orignal thread and even some unnecessary extra info the regular person doesnt need to know. 

 

Another typo id like to point out from the original thread is that it says 1 GB = 1000 GB rather than 1000 MB. Also games dont stop at 8 GB. In fact most AAA titles in recent years are around 100 GB.

Edited December 1, 2018 by SupaNipplez