A+ Certification Guide Chapter 8 Customized PCs and Multimedia Devices

Chapter 8 Objectives Students should compare and distinquish the needs and components required of the following computer systems: Graphic/CAD/CAM Design Workstation Audio/Video Editing Workstation Virtualization Workstation Gaming PC Home Theater PC Standard Thick Client Thin Client Home Server PC

Graphic/CAD/CAM Design Workstation Optimized for graphics 3D rendering Raw photo editing Needs Powerful processor High-end video card monitor ATX motherboard with maximum RAM Full tower chassis For multiple Hard drives DVD/Blu-ray 750 Watt PSU

Audio/Video Editing Workstation Specialized Audio Card Specialized Video Card Large Hard Drive Speed optimized Two or more displays

Virtualization Workstation Maximum RAM 8GB to16GB depending on of number VMs Maximum CPU Multicore (at least 4, 6+ recommended) Virtualization-enabled motherboard

Gaming PC High End CPU 3+ GHz or better-multicore 8mb L2/L3 cache Motherboard with multiple PCIe x 16 slots To accommodate multimonitor surround display High-end video with onboard GPU Suitable for third rendering High frame rate processing/High resolution-capable Better than normal sound card 5.1/7.1 surround 24 bit, 96kHz or better Cooling system To accommodate overclocking when used Heat pipe/liquid cooling

Home Theater PC Surround sound audio 5.1/7.1 SPDIF HDMI Output For HD movies Look for audio compatibility HTPC form factor To accommodate small installation spaces TV Tuner To enable recording of programs

Standard Thick Client Standard off-the-shelf retail system Has onboard hard drive for local storage Can act either as Standalone workstation Network attached client Desktop applications Typical business use Hardware meets minimum OS requirements for Windows Most-common open source OSs

Thin Client Typically smaller form factor systems May or may not have local storage Can boot from remote OS Usually connected to a network for storage and remote computing May run applications from a network server Desktop can be loaded as a virtual desktop.

Home Server PC Optimized for Multimedia presentation/streaming Large file download File server capabilities Concurrent processing during download Printer service sharing May have components such as RAID array Gigabit NIC Multiterabyte secondary storage

Evaluating On-Board Components System Information (msinfo32.exe) Processor type BIOS information OS information Memory Components/drivers Device Manager Reports locally attached devices requiring hardware/software interfaces to control functions Software interfaces Process threads/running applications Virtualized devices/processes

Installing and Configuring Multimedia Devices Devices may include Webcams Digital Cameras Sound Cards MIDI Microphone Video Capture/TV Tuner Cards Many are USB items which are plug ‘n’ play Motherboard installed devices need Driver installation Configuration parameters to be tweaked

What Have You Learned? Use Lab 8-1 to evaluate a computer’s suitability for various tasks. What would be a primary concern for gaming? What is important for file storage?

Chapter 8 Summary Students should distinguish the needs and components required of specialized computer systems: Graphic/CAD/CAM design workstation Audio/video editing workstation Virtualization workstation Gaming PC Home Theater PC Standard Thick Client Thin Client Home Server PC How to evaluate and install components Next Lesson: Chapter 9