balancing the "computer specs" equation.

[dstebbins]

If you took even a high school-level course on chemistry, you are probably familiar with the "limiting reagent." Long story short, the least amount of a particular ingredient will be used up, and the rest of the raw ingredients will be "leftovers," kind of like how, if you have all sorts of sandwich supplies, but only two slices of bread, you'll either have one goliath of a sandwich, or a lot of leftovers.

 

When shopping for computer hardware, it's safe to assume that various pieces of hardware are loaded with limiting reagents. For example, if a CPU has a 3.0GHz processor, quad core, 1.5V voltage, 150W, and 4x2MB L2 cache, but its L3 cache is only 64kb, you've got a pretty crappy CPU on your hands. In this case, the L3 cache is the "limiting reagent."

 

What exactly would be the specs for a "perfect computer?" I'm talking about the individual, itty bitty specs for each piece of hardware (CPU, RAM, motherboard, etc.) so that there is absolutely no limiting reagents. If any part is used at its full capacity, there will be not one ounce of other spec sitting idly by; there are absolutely no "leftovers" in the specs.

 

I'd like to know this so I can bear it in mind when I shop for computers. Also, if I need a stronger or weaker computer, I'll just multiply all the specs by the same constant to calculate the specs I need. Thank you.

[bascule]

I think the ideal computer is composed of lots of little CPUs connected with a mesh network, and high speed solid state persistent storage in lieu of RAM or even cache.

[dstebbins]

I think the ideal computer is composed of lots of little CPUs connected with a mesh network, and high speed solid state persistent storage in lieu of RAM or even cache.

 

WTF are you talking about?

[StringJunky]

You want the ideal computer hardware spec that has no data bottlenecks...is that right

[dstebbins]

I want the scale. For example, for every kB of RAM I have, how many MHz of CPU speed would I need to have no "limiting reagents?" And, for every MHz of CPU, how much cache would the CPU need?

[StringJunky]

It is several years since I've been in to the hardware side of computers but I do remember you need to match the 'bandwidth' of each componenent for the most efficient throughput of data not just matching clockspeed. Here's a link to explain:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-side_bus

 

I think it would be hard to come up weith a ready formula for matching components as there are so many different standards to consider.

 

Choose your processor, find out its bandwidth capabilities and, match the memory bandwidth and motherboard bandwidth to that...simple!

---

Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

If you really want to get into understanding the hardware side of computers I totally recommend Scott Mueller's " Upgrading and Repairing Computers". It is fantastically well presented but you need a big appetite for the amount of information it contains...no stone is left unturned! I've had 3 editions. It is a technician level manual that requires minimal prior knowledge of computers since it explains everything from scratch. Scott's the nuts.

[bascule]

WTF are you talking about?

 

What part did you have trouble understanding?

 

In the future I see consolidation of permanent and temporary storage. Right now RAM and hard drives are separate because hard drives are substantially slower than RAM. New technologies like MRAM and NRAM provide permanent storage technologies with speeds similar to today's SDRAM.

 

The present trend in CPU design is towards increasing numbers of CPU cores, and in that regard it's trending towards massive parallelism and mesh interconnect.

[dstebbins]

If you really want to get into understanding the hardware side of computers I totally recommend Scott Mueller's " Upgrading and Repairing Computers". It is fantastically well presented but you need a big appetite for the amount of information it contains...no stone is left unturned! I've had 3 editions. It is a technician level manual that requires minimal prior knowledge of computers since it explains everything from scratch. Scott's the nuts.

Are you talking about this?

 

http://product.half.ebay.com/Upgrading-and-Repairing-PCs_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ60445948

[StringJunky]

Yes that's the one. The one you've linked to is the 18th edition, the 19th edition should be out in december:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Upgrading-Repairing-19th-Scott-Mueller/dp/0789739542

 

I would get the 19th edition as it deals with 45nm process cores (the latest processors).

 

I've got the 18th and I think it's slightly out of date now if you want to know about the latest stuff.

 

You actually get a video tutorial by Scott with every book on some aspect of pc building or system setup.

 

For understanding the hardware side of computing it's the only book you'll ever need...I've had 3 editions so I'll let that speak for itself.

[Mokele]

The problem is that what you'd need depends upon what you're doing. If you're constantly loading/unloading huge files into RAM, then the proportion changes from what you'd need if you were doing a lot of reading/writing to your HD with small files. What you need for a video card is going to depend on whether you're doing high-end gaming or just text processing. If it's hooked to a network and can store files on the server, ideal HD size goes down, but if it needs to operate solo, ideal HD size goes up.

 

 

Think of it like planting a garden. If I'm only growing one crop, I can precisely balance the soil nutrients so none will be limiting or leftover, but if I'm growing a wide variety of plants, I'm going to need to compromise.

[bascule]

It is several years since I've been in to the hardware side of computers but I do remember you need to match the 'bandwidth' of each componenent for the most efficient throughput of data not just matching clockspeed. Here's a link to explain:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-side_bus

 

For what it's worth both Intel and AMD have moved to asynchronous packet buses, namely QuickPath and HyperTransport respectively. Memory controllers are now integrated into the CPU and thus the concept of a front side bus is increasingly quaint.

[Banshii]

No matter what you choose, the limiting reagent will be your operating system and/or software used on the computer.