Nowadays, PCs (personal computers) have turned out to be indispensible necessity in our homes. Be it an office or school work, it is impossible to accomplish our daily assignments and keep in touch with the world without a PC. Having a variety of compelling PC deals available in market, often it gets really confusing to choose a best suitable option on a budget. So, in order to get you through this deadlock, here we have put some guidelines about important elements of a PC that you need to consider.

Processor

It is among three fundamental parts of PC hardware. That is a component on which a computer’s information processing speed depends. When it comes to leading manufacturers of processers, Intel is the top one; however American Micro Devices (AMD) is grabbing the market by launching economical offers. The following points must be considered while choosing a processor:

  • Clock speed –   it determines that how many instructions a computer is able to execute per second. It is normally stated there next to manufacturer’s name. The speed of contemporary processors has already reached up to the range of gigahertz.
  • Cache memory- it is a place where recently accessed or processed data is kept. It makes the data access twice as fast as getting it directly from main memory hence simplifying computer’s processing work. In the absence of this fast speed memory, RAM (Random Access Memory) will have to take the entire data access burden.
  • Operating temperature– there are certain processors that easily get heated up while operation. So, don’t forget to inquire about processor’s operating temperature to find out if you need extra cooling while operating your computer.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

RAM or main memory acts as a volatile storage of data and programs that are being processed or executed by the computer. On top of processors, RAM too decides how fast a computer can process the data. The more RAM means faster will be a PC in fetching and executing instructions.

Motherboard

It is a board that connects all main components of a PC together like: RAM, CPU, ROM, hard drive, as well as peripheral devices. Some motherboards come with built-in soundcards and video cards, while we have to buy ones for others. The thing you must look for while purchasing a motherboard is its compatibility with processor and RAM because any incompatibility may prove to be disastrous for your PC.

Hard drive

It is a secondary memory where all of our computer data and software are kept.  You can also visualize it as a larger floppy disk. Hard disk is a non-volatile memory where we install applications and keep our important data for future use. It is better to prefer hard drives with huge capacity mainly because we are getting used to saving multimedia content in computers that need huge spaces.

Video cards

This component is responsible for generating images on computer screens. The greater the memory and quality of video card, the better colors and image quality you will see on screens. The memory of these cards also determines the speed of image processing. This becomes of greater significance particularly for multimedia tasks like, game or movie playing etc.