Customizing Your Computer
From Mod Mania
Software and Hardware Modification
The personal computer is a ubiquitous object, but why then is it called a personal computer? Many people use the stock standard pc and its software and go about their daily business, however there are a large majority of people who customize their PC’s to make them personal again, to make the PC an extension of ones brain, like an outer body thinking machine that resembles you. But why it is something that we feel must represent ourselves; it’s still something that many people do not share at all. It is a personal computer after all. Some of the ways in which people modify their computers can include hardware upgrades or software upgrades.
Software upgrades can include anything from a different version of windows to using open source software. Wincustomize is a website set up by a company called Stardock. The company produces software that enables windows users to customize what windows looks like and how it works. Their efforts and the communities need to personalize/mod their computers, has provided the world with an extremely large mod group. The mods available include changing the windows skin (appearance), icons, mouse pointers, objects, docks, wallpapers, screen savers, logon screens and sounds. Each different mod uses a different program, for example, windowsblinds operates the skins and object dock operates a menu. All these separate programs are part of the stardock suite which you can buy online or in stores.
It is only possible to change small aspects of windows and the way it looks, things like fonts and the size of the fonts, only you cannot completely change the look, for example, if I liked the way the apple OS looked then I could not make it look like that system. With a program like windows blinds it is possible no matter how silly it seems. If one was patient enough and had the will power you could change the look completely, and possibly give the skin a theme. The possibilities are endless.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get a clean and custom look to your desktop without icons cluttering it all the time, to look at your high-resolution background without obstruction? Object dock allows you to do this by utilizing animation to hide those icons into a menu bar. The bar is fully customizable and a variety of settings can be achieved, the idea is to provide a good looking, easier way of navigating the desktop. Other applications can be added to the dock too, such as an animated clock, system monitor, HDD monitor, weather app, colander, the possibilities are endless. The start menu in windows does not allow you to do such things and thus the idea of having a system set up just for oneself is overpowering. If only you could write software for the real world.
The world of high end hardware or customized (over-clocked) computers is vast. Gamers in particular can develop the most creative solutions to problems, or just make a system look aesthetically pleasing. The products out there to add and to develop custom computers include every facet of the pc. Every object can be changed. The most noticeable of course is the computer case. This is not just a functional object, it has becomes somewhat of an art piece, the computer commands more time of people, therefore it commands more respect and becomes a focal point in a room. Mods to cases include materials eg. Aluminum, wood, titanium, and even soundproof sandwiched materials to deaden sound. Over clocked items include processors, graphics cards and physics accelerators. All this requires cooling and so creative solutions have been developed such as water cooling with radiators or even submerging the whole computer into vegetable oil.
Customizing a pc however has its limits for most people as most have no idea how to customize a case and therefore rely on the companies to develop cases that stand out from the mundane brand name computers. Companies use peoples modding ideas to improve their products, for example water cooling for gamming computers was developed by gamers, and then companies grabbed the idea and developed it into a product that many other people could by, yet it is not a standard part in a computer, more like an aftermarket part. This relationship has boosted the way that computer technology and software has developed. Games are released in a beta version and gamers are allowed to test the game for free. The companies then take into consideration the way that the game performs and what the gamers want to do with the game and develop it further. This means that people have the power to help the companies develop a better product. But the modding community goes one step further by using the games do develop their own games, they can play what they want. If a company releases tools to develop the game, modders will help develop the next game inadvertently. This is the main difference and probably the reason the gaming industry is worth more than the film and music industry put together.
Stardock have developed the same way of thinking. the products come with software to develop your own skins/themes for windowsblinds (so long as you buy it) These tools do not grant the user to modify the existing source or code that makes the program work but rather it enables the user to operate within a field of creativity. For example, if I did not like the look of the start menu on windows then I could use their software to change it into something I did like. Conversely if you were lazy and could not be bothered spending time on such an epic task, then you could go to their website wincustomize.com and for a fee, download other peoples mods that you liked.
When customizing a computer one has to look at what they are going to use the computer for. I, for example, need a computer that runs high end graphics so that games can be played, DVDs, and another essential element is to be able to use high end graphics programs such as 3D studio max or solidworks. Specific hardware’s are required to achieve this, but no companies offer computers that achieve both, the models are either pure gaming, or pure computing. When building my own I took all this into consideration and came to the following conclusion. I would need
- 4 gigs of ram. Otherwise known as memory. This enables the central processing unit to use that memory for processing.
- 2.66 dual core processor. This means that there are two processors running at the same time with 2.66GHz. essentially that means that you could run 2 programs at that speed or one program at twice the speed.
- Nvidea 8800 GTX Xtreme graphics card with 712mb memory. Basically enables me to play any game available today with excellent graphics and a really high resolution.
- Antec P180 computer case. This is all aluminum, black and has 6 fans that run super quiet.
- 22inch LCD monitor with 2ms response time. this means that the frame rate at which it refreshes is approximately 2 milliseconds, therefore blurring does not occur during action.
- Microsoft gaming mouse. It has on the fly resolution changes. It basically can change the sensitivity of the mouse without exiting a game, just by pushing a button. You can also change the balance of the mouse by adding or subtracting weight from the mouse with little lead weights.
- 2x 320gig sata HDD. These are two hard drives that run in a RAID. Basically this means that the computer will only see one drive of 600 gig. When the computer writes information to the HDD it writes half to one drive and half to the other but in small packets, effectively cutting down the write speed into half the time. hence the read time is also halved. Windows will load in half the time it normally takes.
Weather customizing software or hardware, it is important to note the relationship that consumers, modders and companies have with each other that is unique to the computer industry. Through this relationship the development of the industry is facilitated and the creativity of the users valued. It is also important to make a note of the fact that one person can make a difference by developing something, thus creating a self sustaining domino effect that every one can use as the modding community goes one step further.
Overclocking
Overclocking is an area within computer systems that should not be treated lightly, as it pushes the computer hardware to the absolute limit to gain that extra performance without having to purchase any extra hardware. Not many people are familiar with the term overclocking due to the fact that you really need to know what you’re doing in order to gain the desired result.
Overclocking can be done by two means, software tweaking within the operating system, or directly through the computer’s BIOS (basic input-output system). Doing either should be done by taking a lot of precaution and patience as this could literally kill your computer. Such programs for overclocking include ATITool and nTune, with monitoring systems such as Everest, CPU-Z, and the basic displays through the operating system (OS). The two main components that should be closely watched are the temperatures of the hardware and the voltages being fed to each.
TBC --Hoenniger rainer 09:52, 18 October 2007 (EDT)
