Computer Repair Training Plus » Hardware

Hardware Diagnostics

gfrench — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:41:20 +0000

Today’s computers are becoming more and more advanced. The average personal computer is more powerful than the computers used to land men on the moon. The processing power of a single computer is something that is hard to even try to comprehend. The power of computers has allowed us to utilize their power in more and more facets of life. Computers and their impact are affecting every aspect of modern life. Computers and the ease with which files and information can be shared have revolutionized the business world. Real time information can dramatically change the strategy of companies of all sizes. Perhaps the greatest part of computers is the ease of availability of them for nearly the entire world. This puts the smallest companies on a much more equal playing field with the largest multinational firms. This proliferation of technology has made it all the more important to diagnose problems as well. Hardware diagnostics is one of the most crucial parts of keeping a system up and running.

Hardware diagnostics can be an important tool to all computer users, from the family who just emails and surfs the web to companies with huge networks and systems. To the individual and family, hardware failure can spell disaster in many ways. Perhaps the biggest threat to the individual user is the loss of priceless documents, music, pictures, and video. While not catastrophic in a monetary sense, many of these types of files are irreplaceable. To larger businesses and companies, down time due to hardware problems can cost millions of dollars. The value of a solid information technology infrastructure is almost beyond price. There is nothing more frustrating than a computer or system not working the way it is intended to. The damage that could be done to a company by lost data due to hardware problems is catastrophic. Literally the viability of companies is often dependent on their computer hardware and systems.

When data is lost or corrupted, it makes people wonder if there was something they could have done to prevent it. Often there is something that could have been done and it involves hardware diagnostics. This is a set of processes to determine if and what is wrong with the hardware of your computer. The hardware is all the physical aspects of the computer: central processing unit, monitor, and peripherals. The biggest problems are those that involve the processing unit of the computer and its internal drives. Hardware diagnostics is the way to ensure that your system continues to work smoothly. Running preventive and cautionary diagnostics is often a good idea to preserve the integrity of your systems.

The Computer Repair Training Plus website has additional information that you might find useful.

Computer Repair Training Plus – Hardware Lesson 1-3

gfrench — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:29:50 +0000

Computer Repair Training Plus hardware lesson 1-3 we discuss the newer Intel Core i7 design. This new Intel Quick Path design moves the memory controller from the north bridge to the CPU. This move more than doubles the bandwidth and also provides a separate channel for the memory. Also the I/O controller bandwidth has more than doubled. We compared this to the older design showing the bandwidth limitations and possible bottlenecks. This new design should eliminate any of the bottlenecks that existed in the older design.

It’s amazing to see this technology moving forward at such a fast pace. Robotics and AI are advancing with these processing improvements and should help to further automate all industries. The wife and I love our Romba’s and we enjoying how diligent they are in keeping our house clean.

Motherboard Video

I also made a YouTube video concerning the motherboard and the new Quick Path Core i7 improvements.

The Computer Repair Training website has some additional information you might find helpful.

Computer Repair Training Plus – Hardware Lesson 1-2

gfrench — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:47:16 +0000

Computer Repair Training Plus hardware 1-2 discusses the motherboard, chipset and other I/O devices connected to the motherboard. The motherboard or sometimes called system board is the largest circuit board in the computer. The CPU, RAM and video are directly connected through the North Bridge (NB) and directly determine the performance of the computer. You need fast RAM memory and a good video card to prevent data bottlenecks. Intel has recently moved the memory controller off the north bridge and onto the CPU. This move allows the CPU direct access to the RAM and has greatly improved performance. The south bridge controls all the other I/O connections and can run considerably slower. Most computers today have dual channel memory which has helped feed the faster CPUs. However, take advantage of the two channels you should be splitting your memory so if you want 4GB of RAM you will put 2GB in each channel. The memory should also be rated and matched for dual channel. The Newer Core i7 CPU uses DDR3 triple channel and again to get the benefit you would split the memory over all three channels. The only area left to catch up is the hard drive. New faster solid state drives will eventually help bridge this gap.

I also have a YouTube video related to this topic.

The Computer Repair Training website has some additional information you might find helpful.