Surf Electronics - About Us

Case (back to top)
	The case is the big box you put everything in. It provides a barrier between the individual components and the outside environment and also makes moving the computer much easier. Most mainstream desktops are built in what's called the tower format (which means with the motherboard screwed to a vertical side of the case as opposed to the bottom panel). Additionally, the most common setup is the ATX Form Factor. This designation has to do with the physical area of the motherboard. Since the motherboard gets screwed into the side of the case, the case only needs to be big enough to support the dimensions of the motherboard. The AT motherboard is generally larger, and is reserved for servers with multiple processors (they take up more real estate). The mini or micro-ATX motherboard is about 2/3 to 1/2 the size of the ATX is used for mini-pcs with limited features. Since most desktops aren't too limited by size, the ATX has become the most widely used (95%) form factor. One distinct advantage to the tower format and the desktop case in general is accessibility. Since the motherboard is screwed to one wall of the case, full access to the components can be had by removing the opposite wall. Most case manufacturers make it simple to open cases so upgrades can be completed with minimal difficulty. Cases can be had for $30-300 in stores like Fry's and on the internet. In this case you get what you pay for. Larger cases offer more expandability, and some cases, while offering minimal expansion, are stylish and unique. In thinking about it, one additional benefit of desktops worth mentioning is that they ventilate much better than laptops. With the power of internal fans and software that monitors several important component temperature levels, desktops provide the ultimate in reliabilty and trouble free maintainence.
Power Supply (back to top)
	The power supply is what links the power from your wall outlet to everything else in the case. It usually sits in the back of the case on top. I'm not sure why this is, but it's generally accepted and doesn't really matter. I speculate that it's because the power supply sucks in air from outside the case and spits out warm air, and there's really no need to pass warm air over the motherboard and risk overheating the processor. Most power supplies have between 250-400 watts of power. Watts are the International System's unit of power, and for our purposes, convey how many different things we can power up in the case (running a motherboard, processor, video card, CD-ROM, etc. all draws power). Different processors have different power requirements to maintain consistent reliability and so at Surf, you'll note we always start with at least 300w of power under the hood. The power supply is a big silver box that has a lot of different yellow, red and black cables coming out of it. We'll show you which cables plug into which devices. Some devices require different voltages and so they need different size/gauge wires and plugs. Power Supplies typically go for $30-50 and can sell for as high as $100-150. Antec and Cool Masters are the dominant case designers/distributors at the moment.
Motherboard (back to top)
	This is the central nervous system of the computer. It's a big sheet of plastic that has transistors, resistors, and all sorts of weird looking things soldered to it. It screws into the case at the corners and at a few specific points in the middle. All motherboards have a watch-style battery on them to power the system clock and to provide basic diagnostic support. Everything plugs into the motherboard - no two devices connect to each other. Every device that connects to the motherboard has its own style of connection and is usually labeled in same way on the board. Mother boards typically run $80-150 and can go for as much as $400-800. Many companies compete in this market and ruthless competition has resulted in a better product at cheaper prices. The mother board is broken down into a few different sections: The processor area (upper middle) - This is where your Intel Pentium 4 processor will mount and latch to the motherboard. Nearby will be the bus (which routes instructions from various things to the processor and vice versa) and the slots to connect your memory. Somewhere nearby you'll also probably find the power connector - which is usually quite a behemoth (because it has to power so many different things on the board alone). This area runs the show and is the brains of the operation. The data area - This is the part of the board (right side) that is closest to the CD-ROM, the Floppy Drive and the Hard Drive(s). All of these devices hold data in some way or another and connect to the mother board in a similar fashion. The CD-ROM and Hard Drive both use the IDE standard, which for you just means a flat gray cable with like 50-60 pins. The upgrade area - This is the part of the board (lower left) that has PCI slots for adding in upgrade cards. Typical additions are Ethernet, Modem, Sound and Video. Some motherboards have some or all of these already fully integrated, but their quality is usually diminished (just as a Sony CD player that you put in your car is typically nicer than the stock version). These cards fit into the mother- board with a simple friction fit, and screw into the case for stability. Incidentally, the video card always plugs into the AGP slot which is the topmost slot (brown). All of the other slots (4-5 usually) at PCI slots and are white. The peripheral area - this is the part of the board (upper left) where your mouse, keyboard, printer, and other devices (USB, Firewire, etc.) plug in. In nice systems they are usually color coded on the outside but since they're all different, it's pretty easy to figure out what goes where.
CPU (back to top)
	The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the workhorse of the system and does the majority of the manual labor. It gets really hot and has to stay at a consistent temperature. Most manufacturers put a big slab of aluminum on top of the processor to dissipate the heat - this is called a heat sink. They are big because heat moves away from things faster if it has a large surface area to spread out on. Some systems even have fans that draw the heat away, but they are typically louder. Intel is the world's largest producer of processors, and holds a commanding lead in the industry (~80% market share). AMD offers the next best thing, the Athlon processor. It's fast, but it runs hotter than the Intel Pentium 4, and is thus considered less reliable. Originally the Athlon sold well because of its relatively cheap price / performance ratio. To date though, Intel has pulled away from the field in the mega hertz race and posted the fastest performing processor in the pc industry (they are poised to demonstrate 3ghz in the coming months). Intel has also effectively waged a price war to grab back market share that was lost to AMD last year - and is doing just fine. Most processors run between $100-200 while some go for > $300-400.
Memory (back to top)
	Memory Cards, or DIMMs, are the flat green cards that stick into the motherboard length-wise. They have no moving parts and simply provide a buffer to the processor. The more memory you have, the more programs you can run without compromising system performance. The industry standard in memory is SDRAM, or "Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory." Newer and faster DDR RAM (Double Rate RAM) is gaining acceptance and will presumably take over complete control in the next few motherboard product cycles. Memory prices fluctuate with demand. Most DIMMS are produced in Taiwan and accordingly, memory prices are seen to fluctuate with the ongoing tensions between Taiwan and mainland China. RAM is sold in increments of 32 mb (mega bytes), though most motherboards only offer limited space for memory (3-4 DIMMS), and manufacturers have responded by make DIMMs in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb and 1gb increments. SDRAM runs from about $50 to $600 depending on size and quality.
Hard Drive (back to top)
	Hard drives hold all the data on your system. This data holding capacity is referred to as disk space. When someone is low on space (is out of room) and needs to free some up, they will typically say, "I need more memory." This is an incorrect diagnosis, as the two are unrelated. Hard Drives are full of moving parts (very dense disks that spin rapidly (5400-7200rpm) and are screwed in the case in 4-8 places. They do make some chugging noise when they are working, and some are louder than others. Memory however is the thin sticks mentioned above, and is much less fragile - it also holds no data. For the most part Hard Drives are distinguished by their capacity, which is measured in Giga Bytes (GB). The standard today in desktop space is 40 GB, with hard drive upgrades at 60, 80, 100, and 120 GB becoming increasingly more common. Larger offerings exist but are quite impractical for typical users. Motherboards can handle two hard drives for each IDE cable (two channels per cable) and each pairing must have a master and slave. Most boards can support between 4 and 8 IDE devices. Since CD-ROMs are also IDE devices as mentioned above, there are a number of possible combinations one can work with. Hard drives hold all of the information on your machine (like the operating system, your documents, Mp3s, etc.). Thus is if you kill your hard drive you may still be able to use the parts of the computer but your data will be lost. Conversely, if you damage your Ethernet card it's quite unlikely that it will hurt the data that's being stored on your hard drive. This is important because people tend to be unaware that computers are so compartmentalized. Most hard drives utilize the ATA 100 transfer protocol (how fast the data moves from the drive to the motherboard in mega hertz). Old models use ATA 66 mhz. Newer models use ATA 133. Obviously as technology improves the ability to transfer information more efficiently improves. Hard drives run around $100-200 and as much as $400-800. Western Digital, Maxtor, IBM, and Seagate dominate this market. Most hard drives at 3.5" in width.
CD-RW, DVD-ROMs (back to top)
	These are all media devices that connect to the motherboard with IDE cables (just like the hard drives). They're all the same size because they a use the dimension of a standard CD and are 5.25" wide. They take a power connection like another other data device that plugs into the computer, as well as an IDE cable. These all vary in price depending on quality and speed. Most of these devices hover between $100-300. Sony, HP, Creative, Yamaha, and several others dominate this market. A CD-RW with the follow specifications 24x40x10 burns a CD (usually 650-800mb of data) at 24x, reads files at 40x, and burns a Re-Writable CD (most CDs are single use) at 10x.
Video Card (back to top)
	This allows you to see what you're working on by connecting a monitor to the motherboard. Most monitors use a normal VGA out cable, but newer Flat Panel monitors use the Digital Video Interface or DVI out. This costs more but provides a much cleaner and clearer picture. Video cards are very big in the gaming world, because they are designed to execute a number of very specific functions in games, and are responsible for all of the improvements in realism. This translates to immediate performance gains, better resolution, and faster frame refresh rates. In order to handle these instructions video cards have to have their own memory soldered directly on board, and thus are distinguished by how much memory they have. Most standard memory cards have 32-64mb of memory, while the best currently top out around 128mb. Other features like DVI and S-Video out (for DVDs) also influence the price of the card, but to a lesser degree than the memory. Additionally, the latest models also use DDR (Double Data Rate) memory, which makes a noticeable difference. The most common video card manufacturers are NVIDIA and ATI. Cards typically sell for $75-200 with some topping out around $400. Many motherboards have on-board Video, which will suffice for all but the most advanced video game needs.
Sound Card (back to top)
	This allows your computer to interface with a microphone, headphones, external speakers, a stereo receiver, and a number of other devices. Many motherboards have on-board sound but the quality is usually lacking - though recent motherboards have been improving. Creative is the leader in this market. Most sound cards run between $25-100 with the better ones topping out between $200-300.
LAN / Modem Card (back to top)
	These devices allow you to communicate with the outside world via DSL, Cable, Analog Telephone Lines, LAN networking, etc. They pop right into their respective slots and require no additional power sources. They run between $30-100 and all do pretty much the same thing. Ethernet Cards can also interface computers with each other, while modems can only connect you to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) through the telephone line. Linksys and 3Com are major players in this market.
USB / Firewire (back to top)
	These are two transfer protocols that allow you to connect devices like Keyboards, Mice, Hard Drives, Camcorders, Digital Cameras, Video Cameras, etc. to your computer. Firewire is much, much faster than USB but is also less widespread. USB comes standard on most motherboards while Firewire typically does not, and has to be added for around $60-100 (in the form of a drop in PCI card). The average Joe doesn't need Firewire but it's necessary for some stuff (connecting an IPod, a Digital Video Camera, etc.) because of its superior transfer rates. Apple is a huge advocate of Firewire and is doing its best to further its acceptance in the mainstream computer industry. Multiple items and devices can be daisy chained USB or Firewire ports, providing virtually unlimited expandability.