Speccy, which has been updated yesterday, is the latest to receive that treatment. And since the last review dates two years back, I thought it is as good a reason as any to take another look at the latest version of the PC information tool.

The interface looks exactly the same as it did two years ago when the first public beta of the program was released by Piriform. The program displays a summary of some of the most important system components on startup. This includes cpu, ram, motherboard, graphics card, monitor, hard drives, audio devices and the operating system.

The temperature of components with heat sensors is displayed in the interface which is excellent for a quick look if any of the temperatures are critical.

Sidebar links lead to software and hardware groups that are examined in detail by the program. Most of the links lead to hardware related information, from cpu and memory to peripherals and network.

The hard drives are for instance all listed on a single page. Each hrd drive is listed with detailed information about its model and manufacturer, the hard drive partitions and SMART values.

That’s a lot of useful information right there. From transfer modes to raid types, the hard drive’s capacity, real size and features supported by the hard drive.

Especially the operating system listing is interesting, as it lists not only the serial number and basic information about the OS, but also system configuration states. It informs the user about UAC levels, Windows Update, Antivirus, Environment Variables, Power Profiles, System folders, contents of the scheduler, the process list, installed hotfixes and services among other information. That’s excellent troubleshooting information.

Some of the information have been added in the latest version of Speccy. This includes the system folders, hotfix information and uptime information among others.

Snapshots can be saved internally or exported into txt or xml files. Snapshots can furthermore be published online. This creates a unique url on the Internet where the system information report can be accessed.

It is good to see that Piriform continues to add features that make sense to their programs. The new information that Speccy gathers can definitely be helpful for users who troubleshoot a PC system.

Windows users can download the free version of Speccy from the Piriform website. A portable version is available here.

HWM BlackBox is another system information tool for Windows that displays relevant information in a clean interface.

The program makes use of a tabbed interface to display information about the PC’s processor, memory configuration, graphics and additional hardware.

hwm blackbox

• Processor: Displays the cpu model, codename, technology, socket, revision, instruction sets, L1-L3 cache settings, speed, multiplier, bus speed and voltage. The same screen offers realtime values of each cpu core, including temperature, usage and speed values.
• Memory: The memory tab lists everything there is to know about the installed RAM, from the total size and memory type to its frequency and speed. Each memory module can be analyzed separately on the left side. The program displays information like the manufacturer, supported frequencies, CL and voltage levels or bandwidth. Great for users who plan to add another memory module but cannot remember the type and manufacturer they have in their PC.
• Graphics: Displays information about the graphics adapter. This includes basic information like the manufacturer, series and model to advanced information like gpu, shader and memory speeds, transistors, the temperature and the pixel fill rate. The tab comes with an option to switch to other graphics adapters of the system to display their values.
• System: Combines information about several hardware devices. This includes the motherboard, hard drives, optical drives and network adapters.

system information

The last tab offers to run Windows Performance tests, a feature only available on Vista and Windows 7.

A tiny button in the tabbar contains options to export hardware information into a text or XML file, change the hardware refresh speed rate, and to open an Overclocking Panel which provides an overview of overclocked components of the PC.

overlcocking panel

The hardware monitor displays lots of relevant information about a computer’s hardware. The realtime values that are automatically updated add a lot to the value of the software. It may not offer as many detailed information about the PC system than other programs, but the information gathered and displayed should be enough for most purposes.

HWM Blackbox is available as a 32-bit and 64-bit edition for Windows operating systems. The program requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher. (via Web Trickz)

We have selected the Intel Core i7-860 as the cpu, the GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 as the motherboard and the CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 as the RAM for the computer system.

The computer’s processor obviously determines the cpu cooler that we need. There are some choices here. Retail cpus usually come with a cpu cooler that can be used. The disadvantage of that cooler is that it does not cool the cpu that well and that it is rather noisy to the ear.

Build Your Own PC: CPU Cooler

We therefor recommend to purchase a separate cpu cooler to increase the cooling and decrease the noise of the system. The choice of the cpu cooler depends a lot on the user’s intention with the computer system. A user who needs the computer for Office and work that does not require lots of performance might even be happy with the boxed cooler. But there are also users who want to play games, overclock the cpu or reduce the noise of the PC system by buying a cpu cooler that supports large slow spinning fans.

The cooler that we want to use should be as noiseless as possible but still support performance intensive tasks but no overclocking.

The Prolimatech Megahalems is compatible with the 1156 cpu socket. It received many excellent ratings and combines proper cooling with good noise reduction especially in combination with a 120mm fan. The only drawback is the size of the cooler which means that users need to make sure that it fits in the case and that it does not block any of the slots, e.g. memory.

My Selection

• Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler ($60)
• 120mm fan, for example be quiet Silent Wings USC (BL013) ($20)

Build Your Own PC: Case

The case selection is as complicated as the cpu cooler selection. There are literary hundreds of cases available from cheap but functional cases for $30 to advanced cases with all kinds of gadgets and expensive materials for $150 and more.

The Lian Li PC-8NB is a case made of aluminum. The components fit in the case which comes with two fans at the front and back. The fans are relatively noisy and need to be undervolted or replaced by fans that are quieter.

My Selection

• Lian Li PC-8NB ($100)

Build Your Own PC: Power Supply Unit

The power supply unit needs to provide enough power to the PC system. A PSU with 80 Plus certification was desired. The psu should be as quiet as possible as well. The following two power supply units were selected by us:

• Enermax Modu 87+ 700W ($200)
• Seasonic X-650 ($180)

Both power supply units have received a 80+ Gold certification which is the highest possible certification for desktop psus. They are both very quiet and therefor ideal for users who prefer a quiet computer.

So far:

We now have six components for the PC that we are going to build, they are:

Case: Lian Li PC-8NB ($100)
PSU: Enermax Modu 87+ 700W ($200)
CPU: Intel Core i7-860 ($300)
CPU Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler ($60), 120mm fan, for example be quiet Silent Wings USC (BL013) ($20)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 ($120)
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ($270)

That’s a total of $1070 and we still have to pick a video card, hard drives and other components like a DVD drive, mouse and keyboard.

The project aims to build a quiet cpu that can be used to work without distraction and to play the latest games.

This includes information about the cpu, computer memory, motherboard (including manufacturer, type, socket and chipset, graphics, hard drives, optical drives and audio.

A sidebar like menu contains links to sections that contain detailed reports about the selected hardware that has been listed in the summary.

These sections contain very detailed reports on the PC hardware. The computer memory section for example contains information about the type, size, channels, DRAM frequency, command rate, frequencies and dozens of additional parameters that go into extreme details.

The program provides excellent information for users who want to find out detailed information about connected and installed PC hardware. The beta version had problems identifying the Ati Radeon 4870 video card that was installed in the test PC system.

Speccy is available as a beta for most Microsoft operating systems including the latest Windows 7. It is available as a portable software and installer.

A waterproof keyboard on the other hand can be useful for most users. Did you ever drop some coke, coffee or other liquids on your keyboard before ? Chance is that the keyboard stopped functioning from that moment on or that some keys got sticky or stuck completely.

Waterproof Keyboards from Man Machine can be cleaned from liquids in no time. Most of their keyboards can even be drowned in water to clean them up. Their medical keyboards on the other hand top even this because it’s also contaminant proof. There are probably other manufacturers of waterproof keyboards out there.

I always thought of getting a waterproof keyboard to make the cleaning process easier.Taking the keyboard with you under the shower or in the tube to clean it up once every while. That sounds like fun, does not it ?

The downside is the hefty price tag in my opinion. If someone would produce a solid waterproof keyboard for $30-40 I would buy it but it is not worth $100 or even more in my opinion unless you need it in a special work environment.

The keyboard comes as a professional and ultimate edition with the only difference between the versions that the ultimate Keyboard ships with blank keys which should be fine for everyone who wants to improve his typing skills the hard way. (the first weeks will be rather painful I believe).

Well, I would not want to pay $80 – $129 for a computer keyboard and I usually prefer simple solid keyboards from manufacturers like IBM or Logitech that come without all those extra “multimedia” keys that modern keyboards seem to ship with. My keyboards are cheap usually but provide great feedback when pressing a key on it. I really don’t feel comfortable with those thin Notebook like keyboards and those ergonomic keyboards that I usually throw at the next wall whenever I have to use them.

What type of keyboards do you prefer ? Classic ? Modern ? Ergonomic ? Uber ? Multimedia ? Let me know.

All components are chosen from the online store Newegg to be able to compare them with previous months. I will use a best-price-finder before I buy the computer to find the best prices and shops for the components.

Some thoughts. I made several changes to last months components. I changed the memory for instance slightly which added $10 to the costs. The benefit is that the new Dual Channel Kit has a latency of 4 instead of 5.

The video card has been changed as well. This one costs roughly $60 less and is faster than the previous one from Asus. Since most Geforce 8800 GT cards are sold out it remains to be seen which will be available when I make the purchases.

I reduced hard drive capacities from 500 Gigabytes each to 250 again which lowered the price by $100. I have plans to either purchase a third big internal hard drive with a capacity of 1 Terabyte or an external hard drive with at least 500 Gigabytes.

The Solid State Disk is still giving me headaches. I have to make sure that it really lives up to the promise of delivering this incredible speed gain over normal hard drives. The new one that I selected costs almost $700 for 32 Gigabytes. I hope prices are falling fast for those drives and that some magazines or websites will test them so that I have some benchmarks that help me select the right SSD.

I never did send in my computer for repair yet but I would be very cautious about it because of the privacy issue. The computer technician will check the hardware and software installed on your computer which means that he will use software that can read from your computer.

I’m not sure about you but I have stuff on that computer that I do not want a computer technician to see. Here are a few guidelines that could help you protect your privacy and data when bringing in the computer for repairs.

• Check if it is necessary to bring in the whole computer or if bringing in part of it is sufficient. If the DVD drive can’t read disks it would be enough to bring in that drive and not the whole computer.
• If you can still boot you should backup all important files first, most computer technicians know their job but bad things can happen there as well.
• I would move all important files to a external hard drive so that no one at the computer store would be able to access them.This works well if you use a program like Eraser afterwards to clean the free space of the drives so that it is not likely that they can recover the deleted files.
• If you do not have an external drive create an encrypted container on one of your hard drives with True Crypt and move your important files in there. Again it is unlikely that they can break the protection of that container.
• If all things fail you could tell the store owner that you want to stay during the check which would make sure that the technician would not snoop around.

Do you know other possibilities ? Let me know about them.

I’m thinking to replace my old monitor with either an 22″ or 24″ monitor and would like to hear your opinion and tips. Can you recommend a computer monitor of that size ? I’m not that much of a gamer but I do play games sometimes which means that the monitor should support that and have a good enough response time.

I tend to favor the 24″ screen size slightly because of the higher native resolution of 1920×1200 compared to 1680 x 1050 of the 22″ monitors. What’s your opinion in this matter ? Would you go for the 24″ or stick with a 22″ screen size ?

The computer will have everything that is needed to run it except for external components such as a monitor, computer mouse or keyboard because I decided to use those components from my old PC.

The Newegg online shop was my choice to be able to compare prices. It most likely would result in a cheaper price if I would research prices on several online shops. The Geforce 8800GT card is sold out in most locations and you have to be really lucky to buy one before christmas.

The major change in this month is the replacement of the Quad Core CPU with a Dual Core CPU from Intel and the replacement of the two 250 Gigabyte Seagate hard drives with two 500 Gigabyte Seagate hard drives.

G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory	$94.99 USD
MSI P35 Neo2-FR ATX Intel Motherboard	$119.99 USD
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor	$279.99 USD
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler	$21.99 USD
COOLER MASTER CAVALIER 3 CAV-T03-UK Black Computer Case	$59.99 USD
AeroCool ZERODBA ZERODBA-S500 500W Power Supply	$84.99 USD
Seagate 500GB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive	$239.98 USD
SUPER TALENT FSD32GB25M 2.5″ Internal Solid state disk (SSD)	$499.99 USD
ASUS GeForce 8800GT EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M Video Card	$299.99 USD

The total price for all components rose from $1,581.90 to $1,701.90 USD which can be largely attributed to the exchange of the two 250 GB hard drives with 500 GB models. The price for the Solid State Disk went up by $70 because I replaced the placeholder from last month with a available one.

Prices will most likely fall in January. Analysts say that SSD, Solid State Disks, will become more affordable in the first quarter of 2008. Lets hope that they are right.

The total for all those components is $806 which is close to the $800 mark. They are unfortunately forgetting something important here. If you click on the check prices link next to each item of the new pc you will be taken to a “best price” website which displays the best deals for the selected item. It does not add shipping costs to the price which means that you will have to add those to the total amount of money that you are going to spend for the new pc.

Shipping costs would not be a huge problem if you purchase everything from one merchant – it would be one if you select the best price only and buy it from 6-8 different merchants. You could add about $6 to every item that you purchase at different merchants which is not that much but could range between $24 – $40 which have to be added to the total.

Checking the Geforce 7600 GT at the merchants revealed that the cheapest price for the item was $163 and not $109 as claimed in the article. Could be that the card is currently in short supplies and that the prices rose therefor. I know that you can purchase a Geforce 7600 GT for about that price but someone who is inexperienced and uses the link on the website will probably not find it by himself.

I did a quick check and added all cheapest prices and came up with a total of $836 instead of $806. Add shipping costs of $24 to it and the total would be $860.

There is something else missing of course, the display. The article assumes that everyone has a capable monitor at home and does not need one it seems. What if you are stuck with an old 14″ display and need a new one ? If they assume that you have a monitor at home they also should assume that you have a mouse and a keyboard at least which can be used as well.

Last but not least I would suggest a change in the setup. Instead of buying a audio card I would use on board sound and get a more powerful graphics card instead. A Ati Radeon 1950 Pro for instance can be bought for about $165 and should have some impact on gaming performance.

So, the system will be more expensive even if you have a display at home that you can use. It should also be noted that you have to build it by yourself. It does not help that much if you buy a cheap system but are not able to build it.