Another Day With My PC

If you’re not a very demanding PC owner, then you’ve probably never heard of the term “overclocking.” I bet that if I dare you to guess right now what that IT gobbledygook means, you’d probably give me answers relating to time settings. Of course, answers following that line are far from being correct.

Overclocking refers to that process or method by which you speed up your PC by pushing its processor beyond the limit set by its manufacturer. CPU speed varies depending on its model. The one that I have right now is a 2.4 GHz Intel Dual Core processor. If you’re not into extreme gaming or heavy multimedia tasking, then a 2.4 GHz Dual Core chip would already satisfy your needs. However, if you think that God’s Will for you is to primarily play every online game that EA sports have created, then I bet my CPU’s second core that you’ve already mulled of trying to squeeze more out of your processor by putting a few more ticks into its clock.

Costless But Costly Upgrade

Overclocking is very tempting for both gamers and ordinary users alike. This is not surprising considering that putting a few more gigahertz into your CPU is like having your PC upgraded without being concomitantly punched on the pocket. And the difference is far from being negligible. You’ll definitely see a considerable enhancement in PC speed after overclocking it.

As with all things, there’s a downside to it. Overzealous overclocking could drive your PC to extreme exhaustion. This would eventually lead to a massive computer cardiac arrest. Overclocking your PC to almost twice its prescribed speed is like whipping a horse every second in order to make it run two times faster than it normally does. It will definitely run faster, but not for long.

Intel Roasting on an Open Fire

If you’re bent on adding a few digits on your CPU, be ready for the consequences. I’m not saying though, that overclocking would always lead to disaster. I just want you to be aware of the possible results or consequences, both good and bad (especially the latter), when you try to demand more from your processor. Make sure that your CPU and other PC fans are also working double time as overclocking is also synonymous to overheating. Don’t you dare put steroids into your PC when you can’t put ice in your system.

Overclocking is a very effective, but also very risky way of increasing PC speed. As with all quick fixes, they are littered with perils. I therefore suggest that you try other optimization methods first before resorting to this extreme measure. There are many ways by which you could speed up your PC, such as by defragging your hard drive or cleaning up your Windows registry so that no unnecessary instructions are flexing your PC’s muscles. These overclocking alternatives may cost you a bit, but in the end, it would actually save you from spending more when you eventually have buy a new chip and motherboard if overclocking toast your computers’ internals.

One’s marriage to a computer only lasts for about 2-3 years on the average. The union gets rocky after a year, with the human spouse beginning to complain that his or her electronic partner is not as sweet and reliable as it was when they first tied the knot. By the second year, a divorce is already in the works. Depending on how patient the human husband or wife is, the tie is usually severed by the third year.

If actual human divorces weren’t so expensive, I think that it would be much shorter than the separation of the union between man and computer. Clothes are not the only items that people change frequently. Everybody or everything seems to be expendable nowadays.

Needless Change

Unless you’re a collector of vintage items, you’ll definitely prefer an electronic partner that’s younger and faster. The desire to quickly ditch the one you have is made even much stronger by the fact that computers are being sold at very tempting prices. It’s not surprising then that many people treat their laptop, desktops, and other electronic gadgets as sort of wardrobes that they could quickly change every time their whim demands it.

For those who do not have the resources to shuffle PCs as if they’re cards, all they could do is either minimize their expectations or decrease their reliance on their e-spouse. This may be a cost-effective way of saving the marriage. However, this stagnates the union and the growth of both partners, especially for the one who’s breathing. But this doesn’t mean that one should immediately jump on the gun when his partner becomes a drag. There are ways by which such relationship could be revitalized.

Mindful

Many attribute their computer’s sluggishness to old age. Processors usually become obsolete after 2-3 years, while RAMs shrink in comparison with new models. As with humans, old age also brings about poor or deteriorating memory. Physicians usually solve this problem through food supplements and series of mental aerobics. For PC technicians, they tackle this problem by simply increasing the computer’s memory.

PC users often commit the mistake of tagging their aging processor as the culprit in their unit’s constructive demise. While they do get a bit of improvement in speed after a processor “transplant,” they soon realize that their computer’s old illness comes back to haunt them. The solution to this problem doesn’t lie on Intel’s new creation. It may surprise many and disappoint those who went through several processor and peripheral upgrades to know that all it takes to give their PC a shot in the arm is by injecting a gigabyte or two of RAM into their system. This cheap and simple band-aid beats most types of upgrade by about a mile and a half.

Before conducting a major upgrade on your PC, make sure that you’ve considered all the simple and cost-efficient solutions first before digging deep into your pockets, as well as into your PC’s casing. PC Optimization is not an esoteric or an expensive endeavor.

Many predict that 2008 will be the year when laptops would finally succeed in their bid to dethrone desktops as the PC of choice. I agree.

For two decades, the desktop has lorded over almost all conceivable machines which could read and process electronic data. It was supposed to be the “future” of data processing. Everybody thought that the size and shape of the PC would not change significantly for generations to come.

Small Enough?

It’s not difficult to see why many didn’t dismiss the desktop as something that’s only transitional. Back when hard disks were still as big as cupboards, many wished for a computer that could easily fit one’s bedroom without having to throw out everything in it, including the bed. It took several decades before that prayer was answered. When IBM came out with a design that perfectly fitted study and office tables, many fostered the conviction that this was what a computer should look like and that any alteration of its structure would considerably diminish its appeal and even functionality.

Of course, being the only constant thing in this world aside from politics, change redefined the looks and functions of the PC. The world shrunk, and time became a very expensive commodity. Everything has to be done fast. While the term “multitasking” was already popular even during the days of Windows 3.1, the word took on a whole new different meaning a decade after the IT industry had started to blabber it as if it was a cuss word.

Run Run Run

As we all know, recent operating systems allow the juggling of different tasks, functions, or programs. Depending on the amount of memory and the type of processor that your computer have, large applications like CAD or multimedia programs could run side by side with other software. Nobody now asks if one could perform several things at the same time on a computer. The question has already been answered a long time ago.

Now that programs could already be ran simultaneously in a single computer, the question that was next asked is if one could still run all of them while he is actually running. As I have intimated a while back, everybody seems to be running after time and running out of it. Eight hours seem to be just eight minutes. It’s not surprising then when people started to wish that they could bring and do their tasks even when they’re out of the office.

Personal Accessory

To inaccurately borrow the words of the HP slogan, laptops made personal computers personal again. While mainframes exponentially shrunk to desktop size, it still isn’t exactly personal and portable as your watch or mobile phone. You simply can’t bring it anywhere, well at least not conveniently.

Everybody is maximizing the use of his or her time. It’s not surprising then if people treat travel time as an extension of their office hours. Laptops are not just becoming more affordable, but more importantly, they are also making time an affordable commodity. Don’t be surprised, then, if laptop sales exceed desktop purchases this year.

I was at a local mall yesterday when I came across several desktop and laptop units running on Windows Vista. Although the sight was a bit common nowadays, I was still curious as to processors that were powering the units since the price tags did not seem to suggest that they were high-end ones.

True enough, they were merely Celerons! It’s quite a surprise considering that many touted Vista as a gas-guzzler. In fact, the first PCs that got the “Windows Vista Capable / Ready” seal have at least dual core processors in it.

Celeron chips were originally planned to be interred with XP. However, this cheaper alternative from Intel worked perfectly fine when it played the new Microsoft OS. Could it be that the chip’s maker injected some steroids to the processor which gave it extra strength to load and run Vista?

I’m not sure of Intel made some modifications to their low-end chip. However, I noticed that the manufacturer of the units which featured Celeron processors flooded their product with a least a gigabyte of RAM. Now we all know that adding more RAM to one’s PC is like getting a complete processor upgrade altogether. This news should give hope to those who want to jump to Vista but are quite apprehensive as to the capability of their hardware.

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