My Technology Blog

I decided to purchase a new hard drive to backup my main computer recently, and it looks like the prices of components is really coming down. I ended up getting a 500G Seagate for a little over $100, and you could get 2G of DRAM memory for $50. There was someone else in the store that wanted to upgrade their computer to support HD. They ended up purchasing a motherboard and processor for a little over $100, and could not believe that it was so cheap.

The AMD Intel chip wars have really helped to push computer technology beyond what most people need these days. PCI-e and more integrated chipsets, have also really helped to remove many of the old bottle necks in the PC Architecture. These days, a pretty basic system will be more than enough power for what most people want, and with PCI-e and lots of on board multimedia functions, you get a pretty powerful machine.

Years ago, it always seemed like there was some new application coming out that would require the latest and greatest machine to run. Video editing was one that always seemed to be pushing the limits of the current technology. It used to also seem like new applications and technology would also quickly fill up your current storage solution. I usually build mid range systems these days, and I have not come across any applications in recent years that have required me to upgrade my system.

Hardcore gamers are still going to want to have the best machine available, but if you are building a home PVR, or editing video most new machines are prety good. If you are storing lots of 1080p HD movies on disk, then you could start eating up lots of storage space quickly. Of course at about $200 per Terabyte, and $100 for 4GB of DRAM, storage is not that expensive.