Form factor
The form factor of a computer case characterizes, first of all, the internal volume. Main PC Form Factors:
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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 clarified separately. Anyway, such cases have a rather original appearance, different from traditional "towers" and "desktops".Type
The general type (specialization) of the processor installed in the PC.
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Desktop. Processors originally designed for full-sized desktop computers. The specific characteristics of such CPUs can vary quite widely; however, in general, they have higher processing power than mobile chips, as well as a wider range of additional features and special solutions to improve efficiency. And with the same actual performance, desktop solutions are much cheaper than mobile ones. The downside of these advantages is the relatively high energy consumption and heat dissipation. However, for full-sized PCs, these shortcomings are not critical, so almost all traditional desktop computers, as well as most all-in-ones (see "Type") are equipped with this particular type of processor; and for powerful gaming models, a desktop CPU is mandatory by definition. On the other hand, this category also includes rather economical and "cold" low-power chips, which are suitable for compact computers that do not require high performance, such as nettops and thin clients.
—
Mobile. This term in this case refers to processors originally designed for laptops. Most of these CPUs use the same basic architecture as desktop models — x86. Their main differences are: on the one hand, reduced energy consumption, reduced clock frequencies and low heat generation, on the other hand, less computing power in general. However th
...e actual characteristics of such processors may vary from model to model, some laptop solutions are not inferior to fairly advanced desktop ones; however, with similar capabilities, a laptop processor will cost significantly more. Thus, this type of CPU is mainly used in nettops and individual models of monoblocks (see "Type"), where it is difficult to use powerful cooling systems.
A rarer variety of mobile processors used in modern PCs are chips based on the basic ARM architecture. Such processors have even lower heat dissipation and power, and are also often implemented in the System-On-Chip format, when the CPU itself, RAM, wired and wireless connection controllers, and other components are combined in one chip. ARM solutions can be found in Android touchscreen all-in-ones (which are effectively "desktop tablets"), as well as in individual thin clients.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.
Passmark CPU Mark
The result shown by the PC processor in the test (benchmark) Passmark CPU Mark.
Passmark CPU Mark is a comprehensive test that allows you to evaluate CPU performance in various modes and with a different number of processed threads. The results are displayed in points; the more points, the higher the overall performance of the processor. For comparison: as of 2020, in low-cost solutions, the results are measured in hundreds of points, in mid-range models they range from 800 – 900 to more than 6,000 points, and individual top-end chips are capable of showing 40,000 points or more.
RAM
The amount of random access memory (RAM, or RAM) that came with your computer.
The overall performance of the PC directly depends on this parameter: ceteris paribus, more RAM speeds up work, allows you to cope with more resource-intensive tasks, and facilitates the simultaneous execution of numerous processes. As for specific numbers, the minimum volume required for the stable operation of a general-purpose PC nowadays is
4 GB. Smaller amounts are enough for microcomputers and thin clients, and at least
8 GB is installed in gaming systems, on the contrary.
16 GB and even more so
32 GB are already very solid volumes, and in the most powerful and performant systems there are values \u200b\u200bof
64 GB and even more. Also on the market you can find configurations
without RAM at all — for such a device, the user can choose the amount of memory at his discretion; for a number of reasons, this configuration is especially popular in nettops.
Note that many modern PCs allow for an increase in the amount of RAM, so it does not always make sense to purchase an expensive device with a large amount of "RAM" — sometimes it is more reasonable to start with a simpler model and expand it if necessary. The possibility of upgrading in such cases should
...be clarified separately.Number of slots
The number of slots for RAM modules provided on the PC motherboard. In this case, we are talking about slots for removable strips; for a PC with
built-in memory, this parameter is irrelevant.
The slots available on the "motherboard" can be occupied all, partially or not occupied at all (in models
without RAM). Anyway, you should pay attention to their number if the initially installed amount of RAM does not suit you (or ceases to suit you over time), and you plan to upgrade the system. The smallest amount found in a PC with removable memory is
1 slot ; if it is busy, you will only have to change the bar when upgrading. More connectors for RAM are always paired, this is due to a number of technical nuances; most often this number is
2 or
4, but it can be large — up to 16 in powerful workstations.
Note that when planning an upgrade, you need to take into account not only the number of slots and type of memory (see above), but also the characteristics of the motherboard. All modern "motherboards" have restrictions on the maximum amount of RAM; as a result, for example, the presence of two DDR4 slots does not mean that two strips of maximum capacity can be installed in the system at once, 128 GB each.
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,
GeForce RTX 5070,
GeForce RTX 5070 Ti,
GeForce RTX 5080,
GeForce RTX 5090. AMD offers both discrete and integrated graphics - including the popular
Radeon RX 500,
Radeon RX 5000,
Radeon RX 6000,
Radeon RX 7000. 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.
Drive capacity
Объем основного накопителя, поставляемого в комплекте с ПК. Для моделей с комбинированными хранилищами (например, HDD+SSD, см. «Тип накопителя») основным в данном случае считается более емкий жесткий диск; а если в комплекте два HDD, то они обычно имеют одинаковую вместимость.
С чисто практической стороны чем больше данных вмещает накопитель — тем лучше. Так что выбор по данному показателю упирается в основном в цену: большая емкость неизбежно означает и более высокую стоимость. Кроме того, напомним, что SSD-модули в пересчете на гигабайт емкости обходятся заметно дороже жестких дисков; так что сравнивать по сочетанию объема и стоимости можно только носители одного типа.
Что касается конкретной вместимости, то объем в
250 ГБ и менее в современных ПК можно встретить основном среди SSD. Жесткие диски такого объема практически не встречаются, для них емкость
от 250 до 500 ГБ все еще считается довольно скромной.
501 – 750 ГБ является довольно неплохим значением для SSD и среди них же в основном и используется.
751 ГБ – 1 ТБ — внушительный показатель для SSD и средний уровень для жестких дисков,
1,5 – 2 ТБ является весьма солидной емкостью даже для HDD. А очень высокая вместимость —
более чем в 2 ТБ — как ни парадоксально, встречается даже среди чистых SSD: такие
...накопители устанавливаются в высококлассные рабочие станции, где скорость работы не менее важна, чем вместимость.M.2 connector
The presence of at least one M.2 connector on the computer motherboard.
Technically, this is a small slot for compact components and expansion cards, which allows you to use two connection interfaces at once — SATA and PCI-E; most often, both are supported in this connector at once, but this point needs to be specified separately. One of the most popular ways to use M.2 is to connect high-speed SSD drives running over PCI-E: this interface allows you to fully use the capabilities of solid-state memory, while a SATA connection often lacks bandwidth. In addition, expansion boards are also available for M.2 — in particular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless adapters.
Note that in the standard configuration of the PC, this connector can be either free or busy — this should be specified separately.