Thursday, July 9, 2009

Top 10 Supercomputers in the World

Supercomputers are defined to be the fastest line of computers. Contrary to mainframes and microcomputers, supercomputers are dedicated to execute only a few programs simultaneously. This is to avoid compromising the speed needed for tasks requiring a lot of processing speed. Among the functions of supercomputers are weather forecasting, high-end graphic animations, dynamic calculations, nuclear power researches, and fuel exploration.

The speed of supercomputers is measured in FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second). Before, supercomputers are stuck to what is called “Petaflop Barrier” or A thousand teraflops. However, in June 2008, the “Petaflop Barrier” has been shredded by IBM’s Roadrunner installed at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Today, there exists two supercomputers breaking the petaflop barrier.

Holding on to the No. 1 spot as the world fastest computer running in 1105.00 Teraflops is IBM’s Roadrunner found in Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA. Second place is the second teraflop barrier-breaker with a speed of 1059.00 Teraflops is Cray XT5 of Cray Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA. Third spot is running in 825.50 Teraflops called JUGENE of IBM located at Jülich Research Centre, Germany. Fourth place is Pleiades of SGI based in NASA/Ames Research Center, USA with a speed of 487.01 Teraflops. Fifth post is Blue Gene/L by IBM installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA running in 478.20 Teraflops. Sixth placer is called Kraken by Cray Research found in National Institute for Computational Sciences, USA with a speed of 463.30 Teraflops. Seventh place holder is IBM’s Intrepid running on 458.61 Teraflops at Argonne National Laboratory, USA. In eighth position is called Ranger by Sun Microsystems located in Texas Advanced Computing Center, USA with a speed of 433.20 Teraflops. IBM’s Dawn is in ninth place with its 415.70 Teraflops speed installed in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA. The top 10 supercomputer as of ISC09 conference on June 23, 2009 at Hamburg, Germany is called JUROPA by Groupe Bull located in Jülich Research Centre, Germany.

Monday, July 6, 2009

What’s the Right Desktop For You?

With so many desktop computers today, how do you know which is the right one for you? Choosing a desktop can be dizzying with the choices available. The different specs of each of these can give you a hard time deciding. With the advancement of computers today, a particular desktop might be outdated very quickly so you really need to determine the best features out of the options available.

What you need to do first is to decide what you need the computer for. It includes what you’re going to do with your desktop, whether you do games, watch movies, and so forth. To be safe, you should consider the desktops in mid-ranges when it comes to their specifications. You only need the powerful ones if you intend to use software that requires heavy specifications. You can perform a search first in the internet if you still don’t know what you want, there is a lot of information you can find there using the search engines we have. The common things you need to consider aside from the hardware and the specification of a certain desktop are the things like warranty, technical support, upgrades, and the quality of each component. A quality part such as the keyboard and mouse can make you comfortable even if you work for hours, so make sure you have those quality ones.

You also need to consider all the “extras”: examples are the DVD burner, more USB ports, and a webcam although they are not that necessary for your desktop, theycan still give easiness and enjoyment while you do your work. If you’re willing to pay extra amount then why not include them.

Before making a decision, list the entire brand you want for the components of your desktop and compare prices and quality with what’s available in the market. Do these and you will get the best value out of your budget, as well as a desktop just right for you which will give you comforts while working.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Fastest Best-Selling Desktop Computer Processor Ever

This is really a jaw-dropping speed processor a computer can ever have. I am talking about the AMD’s Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64. It belongs to the AMD’s X2 multi-core processor family with an awesome CPU speed of 2.16 GHz. It is equipped with the 65nm AMD’s manufacturing technology but with a smaller wattage rate of 35 watts. It is definitely the fastest computer processor these days.

Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64 has two separate CPU cores on a single die. Each core is running on 2.16 GHz speed. The standard multiplier for determining the overall speed of a processor is 1.8. So when two cores are running together, Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64 can have an astounding speed of 1.8 X 2.16 = 3.88 GHz. You could barely feel any buffering or lagging even when you are running on different high-end multi-thread software applications all at the same time.

Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64 processor bus speed can also reach around 3600 MHz. Of course, the motherboard controls the bus speed so it must meet with the CPU’s bus speed for optimum performance. Bus speed is the rate at which computer processor can transfer or process information (with different computer parts like motherboard and RAM) per second. Typical bus speed for motherboard would be 4000 MHz and RAM capacity of 4 GB.

Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64 has a shared L2 cache memory of 1000 KB (1 BM). The CPU static L1 cache can store information at 128 KB. When this L1 cache is consumed upon computer operation, L2 cache can store up to 1000 KB of data for processing and file swapping. With Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-64 wattage rate of 35 watts, it reduces the chance of having processor overheat. It also consumes power at a lesser rate almost half of common Intel multi-core processors.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Knowing Intel’s Smallest Processor : Atom

Intel Atom 200 series are equipped with the smallest processor in the world. They belong to the 45nm technology and that a single chip has a total area 26mm2. Despite of its minute size, each Intel Atom processors chip can carry an astonishing 47 million transistors. It is also designed for portability weighing only around 1.11 kg. In a dimension of 258.5 x 184 x 25.4 mm, diagonal screen size is roughly 12in - it can even fit in your clutch bag.

Intel Atom computer models are built for cost efficiency. It is regarded as a highly-portable, low-cost computer. They are also the lowest power running computers in six-cell lithium ion battery type. They are set with a new hafnium-infused 45nm high-k silicon technology. These compact-designed computers consume power in as low as 1 watt compared to other computer’s 2.5 watts.

Intel Atom 200 series model N280 could be the latest Atom model until the fourth quarter of this year. Looking at its specifications you could see a small but powerful kind of device. Although it has a single-core processor, it has a clock speed of 1.66GHz. In an Acer Aspire One AOD250 unit, it is usually inserted with a 1GB of memory and 160GB hard drive space. There are built-in card readers, VGA-out port, Ethernet and Wireless LAN, and webcam. Its graphic hardware is Intel GMA capable to display up to a maximum screen resolution of 1,024 x 600. It also has L2 cache, which can store up to 512Kb of data whenever the L1 cache is full.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Optimize your Productivity

Technology continues to advance at a stunning pace and has always helped humanity achieve more. For business owners, the presence of technology such as laptop notebook computers has allowed more efficient and effective work. These computers have enabled businesses to soar to greater heights in terms of revenues and stay at par with their competitors.

It is also technology that enabled us to send people to outer space and visit the moon; technology created databases of music individuals can put into their pockets. Technology also provided us with complex devices we can use so we don’t have to ask for directions again while road trekking. These and many others have made countless individuals live life better.

Apparently, technology like laptop notebook computers can cost a fortune. Right out buying of Asus notebook computers, for example, may not be too sensible for many due to its high price.

Thanks to select Sydney computer rental shops, individuals who cannot afford to buy brand new technologies such as computers can now gain access to these necessities. There are also hundreds of shops that offer apple computer product rentals for those who require apple products.

Like Sydney computer rental shops, Melbourne computer rental and Brisbane computer rental also rent Mac laptops and Toshiba laptop rental. These shops also rent out LCD projectors, photocopiers and even servers.

If you are a business owner, try one of the rental options Sydney computer rental shops have to offer. Renting out will not only save you money on equipments but will help you improve productivity.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

How to Troubleshoot a Printer

A printer is a peripheral that converts a soft copy document into a hard copy document. This device is very much helpful for reports and the like since this would produce a tangible document that can be viewed even without a computer. But what is the use of a printer when it is not working? Here are some basic steps on how to troubleshoot a printer.

First, the printer should be plugged on to a power supply. Check the power ratings before plugging it into a power supply source. The power ratings are usually seen at the back or bottom of the printer. (Caution: Don’t plug the cord when the maximum power rating is less than the power supply source. Example: Plugging a 110V printer to a 220 power supply will damage the printer). After inserting the cord in the power supply source, check the power indicator if it lights. If not, press the on button. This should make the printer power up. If this does not help, contact the manufacturer regarding this issue.

If the printer does not print the document, first, check the printer if it is the default printer. This can be checked by going to the control panel and open printers and faxes (for XP). The default printer is the checked printer (sometimes labeled as the default printer). If the printer being used is not the default printer, right click the printer that is being used and select “set as default”. If the printer is not included in printers and faxes folder, the printer needs to be installed which is described on the printer’s manufacturing handout. Find the installation process and follow it step by step.

If all of these do not solve the issue, refer to the printer’s handbook for more tips on troubleshooting the printer.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Free Your Head from Headaches: Perform Computer Maintenance

Computer equipment maintenance is very necessary to have your computer equipment work efficiently, have it run smoothly. There are a several ways of doing computer maintenance but there are some other ways that are missed. Here is the complete checklist to make the computer maintenance at its fullest.

The things that should be kept in mind are tasks that include backing up, setting up firewalls, keeping computer healthy, resolving power issues, putting a stop to spying, and keeping away from trouble.

Backing Up: Any document that you create on an external drive should be kept safe with backups using other external drives such as USB. However, you should also provide backup for important data or any files saved in your computer hard disk. In case you have to reinstall, also keep backups on computer programs to avoid downloading these programs again and waste a lot of your time. The frequency of providing backups depends on how often you make changes to your documents. Software drivers and operating system disks should be kept in safe place that is moisture-free and easily accessed.

Setting Up Firewalls:

Firewalls are responsible in keeping your computer away from programs that would enable others to access your computer. Hence, it is termed as the “locked gate” for computer hard drive. This can be set up with the use of internet security software such as Norton and others.

To be continued here: Checklist for Computer Maintenance