Form factor
The form factor of a computer case characterizes, first of all, the internal volume. Main PC Form Factors:
—
Midi Tower. A representative of the tower family (tower cases) of medium size — about 45 cm in height with a width of 15-20 cm, with the number of external bays from 2 to 4. Most popular for middle-class home PCs.
—
Mini Tower. The most compact "vertical" case type, with a width of 15-20 cm, has a height of about 35 cm and (usually) less than 2 compartments with external access. Used mainly for office PCs that do not require high performance.
—
Full Tower. The tower case is one of the largest form factors for PCs today: 15-20 cm wide, 50-60 cm high, with up to 10 externally accessible bays. Most often in this form factor running advanced high performance PCs
—
Desktop. Enclosures designed for installation directly on the desktop. They often have the possibility of horizontal installation — in such a way that a monitor can be placed on top of the case — although there are also models that are installed strictly vertically. Anyway, "desktop" models are relatively small.
—
Cube Case. Cases having a cubic or close to it shape. They can have different sizes and are intended for different types of motherboards, this point in each case should be clar
...ified separately. Anyway, such cases have a rather original appearance, different from traditional "towers" and "desktops".Model
The specific model of the processor installed in the PC, or rather, its index within its series (see "Processor"). The full model name consists of the series name and this index — for example, Intel Core i3 3220; knowing this name, you can find detailed information about the processor (characteristics, reviews, etc.) and determine how suitable it is for your purposes.
Speed
Clock speed of the CPU installed in the PC.
In theory, higher clock speeds have a positive effect on performance because they allow the CPU to perform more operations per unit of time. However, this indicator is rather weakly related to real productivity. The fact is that the actual capabilities of the CPU strongly depend on a number of other factors - the overall architecture, cache size, number of cores, support for special instructions, etc. As a result, you can compare by this indicator only chips from the same or similar series (see “CPU”), and ideally, also from the same generation. And that's pretty approximate.
Max. memory support
The maximum amount of RAM that can be installed on a computer. It depends, in particular, on the type of memory modules used, as well as on the number of slots for them. Paying attention to this parameter makes sense, first of all, if the PC is bought with the expectation of upgrading RAM and the amount of actually installed memory in it is noticeably less than the maximum available
So the amount of maximum installed memory depends on the number of slots in the PC and can be from
16 GB(a modest PC) to
64 GB and above. The most popular on the market are
PCs with a maximum installed 32 GB of memory.
Graphics card type
The type of graphics card used in the PC. Modern computers can be equipped with both
integrated modules (among those you can find products of
Apple and
Intel –
HD Graphics,
UHD Graphics and
Iris) and
discrete video cards (including
professional ones), which can be installed in several pieces using
SLI or CrossFire technology. In addition, on the market you can find configurations that are not equipped with graphics adapters at all. Here is a more detailed description of each option:
— Integrated. Video cards that are built directly into the processor (less often, into the motherboard) and do not have their own dedicated memory: the memory for video processing is taken from the general “RAM”. The main advantages of such modules are low cost, low power consumption, minimal heat release (which does not require special cooling systems), and extremely compact dimensions. On the other hand, the performance of this type of graphics is low: it is enough for simple everyday tasks like web surfing, watching videos and undemanding games, but for more serious purposes it is still desirable to have a discrete video adapter in the system. And the fact that integrated systems take
...up part of the system RAM during operation does not contribute to performance either.
— Discrete. Video cards in the form of separate modules with a specialized processor and their own memory. They are noticeably more expensive than integrated ones, take up more space and consume more energy, but all these shortcomings are offset by a key advantage — high performance. This allows you to work even with “heavy” graphic content like modern games, 3D rendering, high-resolution video editing, etc. (although the specific characteristics of discrete graphics, of course, may be different). In addition, graphics processing in such systems does not use the main RAM, which is also an important advantage. For additional performance enhancement, discrete video adapters can be combined into SLI / CrossFire systems, this option is indicated separately (see below). Also note that in most modern PCs, such graphics are combined with a processor with an integrated graphics core, and often work in hybrid mode: the integrated module is used for simple tasks, and when the load increases, the system switches to a discrete graphics card.
— SLI/CrossFire. Several discrete video cards (see above) bundled using SLI technology (NVIDIA is used) or Crossfire (AMD is used). From the point of view of an ordinary user, there are no fundamental differences between these technologies: both of them allow you to combine the computing power of several video cards, thus increasing graphics performance. However, such graphics are not cheap, and therefore they are used exclusively in high-performance PCs with an emphasis on graphic capabilities — in particular, gaming ones.
— Sold separately. The absence of any graphics card in the initial configuration of the PC. A rather rare option found in some high-end workstations: such configurations are equipped with professional processors without an integrated graphics core and do not have discrete graphics — it is assumed that such an adapter is more convenient for the user to buy separately.Graphics card model
The main manufacturers of video cards nowadays are
AMD,
NVIDIA and Intel, and each has its own specifics. NVIDIA produces primarily discrete solutions; Among the most common are
the GeForce MX1xx,
GeForce MX3xx,
GeForce GTX 10xx series (in particular
GTX 1050,
GTX 1050 Ti and
GTX 1060),
GeForce GTX 16xx,
GeForce RTX 20xx,
GeForce RTX 30xx(
GeForce RTX 3060,
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti,
GeForce RTX 3070,
GeForce RTX 3070 Ti,
GeForce RTX 3080,
GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, GeForce RTX 3090,
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti),
GeForce RTX 4060 , GeForce RTX 4060 Ti,
GeForce RTX 4070,
GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER,
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti,
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER,
Ge Force RTX 4080,
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER,
GeForce RTX 4090 and separate
Quadro series. AMD offers both discrete and integrated graphics - including the popular
Radeon RX 500,
Radeon RX 5000,
Radeon RX 6000,
Radeon RX 7000 and
AMD Radeon Pro series. And Intel deals exclusively with modules integrated into processors of its own production - these can be HD Graphics, UHD Graphics and Iris.
Note that many configurations with discrete graphics also have an integrated graphics module; in such cases, the name of the discrete video card is indicated as more advanced.
Graphics memory
The amount of native memory provided by the discrete graphics card (see "Graphics card type").
The larger this volume, the more powerful and advanced the video adapter is, the better it handles with complex tasks and, accordingly, the more expensive it is. Nowadays,
2 GB and
3 GB are considered quite modest,
4 GB are not bad,
6 GB and
8 GB are very solid, and more than 8 GB means that we have a specialized PC built for maximum graphics performance.
Rotational latency
The nominal rotation speed of the hard drive spindle (see "Drive type") installed in the PC.
The platters of hard drives in working condition rotate constantly. The standard rotation speeds found in modern PCs are 5400 and 7200 rpm (revolutions per minute — revolutions per minute). A higher rotation speed speeds up data access, but significantly affects the cost of the drive. In addition, "fast" drives are considered less reliable (which is often offset by various design tricks, but they also affect the price).
Internal 3.5" compartments
The number of internal 3.5" component bays in the computer. This form factor is standard for hard drives, and is also often used in other types of drives; accordingly, the more bays, the more drives you can install on your computer.
Paying attention to the number of internal 3.5" bays makes sense, first of all, if you purchase a configuration without drives or plan to upgrade your PC in the future. It is worth noting that it is recommended to install drives not in a row, but through one slot — for cooling efficiency ; so ideally the number of slots should be twice the number of devices to be installed.