TLE-ICT-CHS - System Specification (October 18,2016)
TLE-ICT-CHS - System Specification (October 18,2016)
SYSTEM’S SPECIFICATION
Whenever you purchase software or hardware for your computer, you should first make sure your computer
supports the system requirements. These are the necessary specifications your computer must have in order to use
the software or hardware. For example, a computer game may require your computer to have Windows XP or later,
a 2.0 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, a 64 MB graphics card, and 500 MB or hard drive space. If your computer does
not meet all of these requirements, the game will not run very well or might not run at all.
It is just as important to check system requirements for hardware devices. For example, if you buy a printer,
it may require either Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.3 or later. It may also require a USB port and 80 MB of available
hard drive space. If your computer does not have any USB ports, you will not be able to physically connect the
printer. If your machine does not have Windows XP or Mac OS X 10.3 or later, the printer drivers may be
incompatible with your operating system. This means your computer will be unable to recognize the printer.
Most hardware and software products have the system requirements printed on the side or bottom of the product
packaging. When you are shopping for computer software or hardware, it is a good idea to first find out exactly what
your system's specifications are and write them down on a piece of paper. The important information to record
includes:
1. Operating System (i.e. Windows XP, SP 2 or Mac OS X 10.3.8)
2. Processor Speed (i.e. Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz or Power PC G5, 2.0 GHz)
3. Memory, a.k.a. RAM (i.e. 512 MB)
4. Graphics Card (i.e. ATI Radeon 9800 w/ 256 MB video memory)
5. Hard Disk Space (i.e. 80 GB available)
6. I/O Ports (i.e. USB, Firewire, Serial, Parallel, SCSI, VGA, DVI ports)
By recording these specifications from your computer, you will be able to make sure your computer supports
the products you are buying. In terms of installation, systems’ specification is a big consideration in order for a
computer to run and work properly for the most efficient way it could be.
In broad terms, the performance of a computer depends on four factors: the speed and architecture of its
processor or "central processing unit" (CPU), how much random access memory (RAM) it has, its graphics system,
and its internal hard drive speed and capacity. Also of importance to most users will be the specification of its
Internet connection. Most computer users and in particular those working with a lot of photographs, music files or
videos should also think about the most suitable storage devices they will need in order to keep and back-up all of
their valuable data.
RAM
To a large extent, the more RAM a computer has the faster and more effectively it will operate. Computers
with little RAM have to keep moving data to and from their hard disks in order to keep running. This tends to make
them not just slow in general, but more annoyingly intermittently sluggish.
RAM is measured in megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB), as detailed on the storage page. Just how much RAM a
computer needs depends on the software it is required to run effectively. A computer running Windows XP will
usually function quite happily with 1GB of RAM, whereas twice this amount (i.e. 2GB) is the realistic minimum for
computers running Windows 7.
Graphics system
A computer's graphics system determines how well it can work with visual output. Graphics systems can
either be integrated into a computer's motherboard, or plugged into the motherboard as a separate "video card".
Graphics systems integrated into the motherboard (also known as "onboard graphics") are now quite powerful, and
sufficient for handling the requirements of most software applications aside from games playing, 3D modeling, and
some forms of video editing.
Any form of modern computer graphics system can now display high-resolution color images on a standard-
sized display screen (i.e. any monitor up to about 19" in size). The more sophisticated graphics cards now determines
how well a computer can handle the playback of high definition video, as well as the speed and quality at which 3D
scenes can be rendered. Another key feature of separate graphics cards is that most of them now allow more than
one display screen to be connected to a computer. Others also permit the recording of video.
As a basic rule, unless a computer is going to be used to handle 3D graphics or to undertake a significant
volume of video editing or recording, today there is little point in opting for anything other than onboard graphics
(not least because separate graphics cards consume quite a lot of electricity and create quite a lot of heat and noise).
Adding a new graphics card to a computer with onboard graphics is also a very easy upgrade if required in the future.