Tim Dean laughs maniacally as lightning courses through the switch and gives life to an unholy performance PC.
Before embarking on our journey towards the golden halls of the fast, we need to get our goals clear. First we need to know what we're going to be using our PC for, then we can tailor our options to maximise our upgrade options. As they say, your PC is only as fast as the slowest component, so it'd be foolish to upgrade the processor and RAM only to bottleneck the system with an old hard disk.
A bit of everything
There are three broad profiles for PC usage that we'll consider, and each one has its unique needs. The first is the general multi-role, multitasking PC. This is the kind of home PC that is used for everything from word processing, to internet browsing, to media encoding, and all in an increasingly multitasking environment.
For a PC like this, your priorities are smooth operation of multiple applications and a general overall balance of features. This is one area where the Pentium 4's HyperThreading technology comes in handy. You'll also want a decent amount of fast RAM to ensure multiple applications. 512MB should be enough (for most normal people), but if you're serious about your computing, accept nothing less than 1GB, and it's got to be dual channel. Another critical component of the multitasking PC is the hard disk subsystem. A RAID 0 or RAID 5 array would be ideal. This is especially true if you're using your PC as a media centre or PVR, and recording straight to disk.
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| Even mid-range graphics cards can deliver stunning performance in the latest games. |
Game time
The next profile is the gamer - for whom too much power is quite simply never enough. 3D games suck up immense amounts of resources and are one of the few single applications that will stress just about every component in your PC.
A performance games PC will need a speedy CPU to handle the game mechanics, physics, artificial intelligence and the first stages of the graphics process. On the memory front, you'll also be needing at least 1GB of the fastest dual channel DDR or DDR-2 RAM.
The main component that influences gaming performance is the graphics card. Thankfully, Moore's Law has turned out to be conservative when it comes to 3D graphics technology, so even the mid-range chips deliver stunning performance and sport many of the latest possible graphics features. Aim for the fastest card you can afford, but keep in mind some of the high end cards can cost over $1000 and only deliver a few percent more performance than a $500 card.
Your hard disk subsystem doesn't play as big a role in games, but it's still important. A RAID array with 7200rpm, or if you're really on the edge, 10,000rpm drives, is the way to go.
Video fiend
The final profile is that of a video editing PC. As usual, you'll need a hefty CPU and at least 1GB of RAM, especially when it comes to editing and encoding video. Besides these components, the most important consideration is your hard disk subsystem. You should be aiming for no less than a RAID 0 array of 7200rpm drives, and if you're truly insane, then RAID 0 or RAID 5 using 10,000rpm SATA drives. This will give you a big boost in performance when it comes to capturing, editing and encoding, and will insure smooth transfers.