Hardware Articles

PC Sound and Speakers: A Subjective Look

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When purchasing a new computer, audio is often a peripheral concern or overlooked entirely. Though most audio products are reviewed in great detail by the audiophile community (audiophiles: people who love and make a hobby of audio technology), those outside of it often can’t answer some basic questions – how much difference does a sound card make? Can an average listener tell the difference between an expensive sound card and a basic one? Which should you put your money into, sound cards or speakers? With these questions in mind, we set out to get answers.

The 64-bit Question

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One of the things we get asked about a lot here at Puget is 64-bit Windows, and more specifically these days 64-bit Vista. The 32-bit version is still generally considered the norm, but because picking an operating system is an important aspect of configuring a computer, and because of the general confusion about the differences between these versions, it was apparent that an article on the subject might be helpful to both our existing and prospective customers.

A Look at CoolIT CPU Cooling Performance

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Peltier cooling has been around for over a hundred years, but have only recently been available to the masses for use in computers. CoolIT is one of the few CPU cooler manufacturer to sell CPU cooling solutions featuring peltier technology. With all the theoretical benefits of using peltiers, we wanted to test CoolIT coolers against our two most popular CPU coolers. We ordered in three of CoolIT’s closed-loop liquid coolers; Pure (does not feature peltiers), Eliminator (three peltiers), and Freezone (six peltiers) to determine if peltier cooling is useful in today’s computers.

Top 10 things you should be doing to maintain your computer

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Everyone loves computers when they work. Everyone screams at them when they don’t. Here’s ten ways to keep your computer running smoothly into its old age. While I can’t promise that these tips will keep your computer from ever having problems, it will at least help prevent them, and make recovery easier when they do occur.

Why Vista Isn’t as Bad as You’ve Heard

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There has been a lot of talk on the Internet for the past year about how Vista isn’t all its cracked up to be. There are lists of why folks hate Vista, lists of things Microsoft supposedly stole from the Mac OS, and reports of people switching back to XP in disgust. Amidst all of this negativity, I wanted to share my experience with Vista and address some of the accusations folks have leveled at Microsoft’s newest operating system.

Improving Windows XP Performance

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Windows XP has the potential to exhibit far greater performance on your machine than is delivered from a clean installation. This guide is intended to show you how to tweak your computer produce the fastest machine possible.

The Dummys Guide to Power Supplies

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Though it may not seem important, your computer’s power supply is a primary building block of your system. Ensuring that each component of your computer obtains adequate amounts of power should be of utmost importance. This article is designed to give you a better understanding of how power supplies work and how many watts you need for different types of computer set-ups.

The KillerNIC – Is It Worth It?

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In the ongoing efforts to squeeze every possible performance improvement out of their computing rig, most folks focus almost exclusively on the two heavy hitters in their system when it comes to generating frames per second (FPS): CPU and video card. Is it possible that both consumers and hardware manufacturers have been overlooking an untapped area for improvement?

DirectX 10, What is all the Fuss?

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DirectX is something the average gamer doesn’t give much thought. Often they don’t even see the word until one of their games complains it is out of date. Even then, the necessary version is usually included, so all they have to do is do a quick, painless install and they’re on their way. DirectX 10 is a bigger deal. It is a more exciting update, and is more of a concern if you’re buying a new system. That means it is time to do some reading! The purpose of this article is to give you an overview of what to expect from DirectX 10, and what you need to run it.

Why RAID is (usually) a Terrible Idea

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As president of Puget Custom Computers, I get a unique perspective on computer products and technology. Our company specializes in selling high performance custom computers, and that naturally brings up the question of RAID often. There is an overwhelming opinion out there that if you have the money and want a blazing fast and stable computer, that you should put your hard drives in RAID. We have known for years that this perception is just flat out wrong, but the problem is that the idea is so widely accepted that it is nearly impossible to convince our customers otherwise. In fact, if we try too hard to talk them out of it, we end up losing the sale! Should we be selling configurations that we know are flawed, for the sake of making the sale? We think the answer comes in the form of transparency and education! This article is just the latest effort in educating the public about RAID.