The motherboard is an MSI MS-7525 model, which uses the Intel G31 Express chipset and has both an integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor and a PCI-Express 16X slot for more serious graphics cards. For gamers this is also a limitation, as most gaming computers (and workstations) have at least two available PCI-Express 8X/16X slots.

Best Video Card For P6120t (Source: h10025.www1.hp.com)

By default the HP Pavilion P6120t desktop comes with up to 2 x 2GB of DDR2 memory, one 750GB 7200RPM hard drive, one DVD burner or Blu-ray + DVD burner combo and a low-end video card. These components may require about 35Watts of power plus the video card, which by default is an nVidia Geforce GT210 or ATI Radeon 4350, with a power consumption under 30Watts.

For all these components HP installed a 250Watt power supply, so let's see how much power we're left with for the video card: 250W – 65W – 40W = 145W. This means that in theory you could install an ATI Radeon 4850/5850, AMD Radeon 6850/7850 or nVidia Geforce GTS 450. Unfortunately the nVidia Geforce GTX 560 doesn't qualify, as it has a TDP above 160W.

In my opinion the AMD Radeon 6850 is the best video card you may hope to install in the HP Pavilion P6120t desktop, as it requires just 131Watts (max) and in term of performance it beats the nVidia GTS 450 and ATI Radeon 4850.

Best Video Card For P6120t (Source: images.highspeedbackbone.net)

Newegg.com sells this dual slot AMD Radeon 6850 video card (made by HIS) for 140 USD. Personally I wouldn't try to install a faster video card in a Core 2 Duo desktop, because it has a very limited performance and the MSI MS-7525 motherboard also is limited to an early PCI-Express bus version, which offers about half the speed of a v2.1 port (needed by today's high-end video cards).

Users have reported the successful installation of Radeon 4850 and Geforce 9600GT video cards, but I wouldn't recommend these old and inefficient video cards, as the AMD Radeon 5570/6570 models offer about the same performance, but consume very little power (under 70Watts), thus producing less heat and noise.

You may try to install a high-end Dual GPU video card into your HP Pavilion 6120t desktop, but first you'll have to upgrade the power supply to at least a 600W model, because these high-end video cards can use up to 400Watts total. The 3D speed of the system may increase a lot, but not at all proportional to the money you spend.

Hard drives are mandatory parts of most computers, as the operating system needs to start and run from a reliable storage device. They are also important for personal storage, as the internet is not secure enough yet for storing your most treasured personal files.

With the recent problems on the HDD market prices have gone up, so users think twice before purchasing a new hard drive and hard drive manufacturers have changed strategies. Seagate for example has phased out its energy efficient line of hard drives, as they proved to be too slow and save just about 50 cents/month on the electricity bill.

1tb 7200rpm Hdd Seagate (Source: algogensystems.com)

Today one of the best choices for a large hard drive is the Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200RPM hard drive, which costs just $125 at newegg.com. What's special about this unit is the structure, as it's based on a single platter and two heads. This translate into less material, lower manufacturing costs, faster operation, increased efficiency and longer life. I think this last one is the most important, as single-platter drives tend to wobble less, so the motor's bearing lasts longer.

Other specs are also quite good: 64MB cache and SATA 3 interface. Of course you also need a fast enough computer with at least a SATA 2 controller, in order to take full advantage of these features, but the drive performs significantly better than older ones even in desktops with simple SATA 1 controllers.

1tb 7200rpm Hdd Seagate (Source: laptopkeyboards.org)

The Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200RPM hard drive costs $10 more than the previous model, mostly because it's a two-platter HDD unit and manufacturing costs are higher. It is also very fast, equipped with 32MB of cache and a SATA 3 interface.

Recognizing the HDD's slight shortcomings, newegg.com decided to continue selling for this higher price, but also give a free DVD burner with it. I don't know how appealing this offer is to average users, but it may be a wise purchase for those who are putting together a new computer or have no optical drive.

Today the gap between the two giants is closing, in the sense that nVidia is just about 2 months behind with its GTX 600 series video chips, while AMD has already released high-end models from the new Radeon 7000 generation.

Best Nvidia Video Card Under 250 (Source: vgadownload.com)

 In the image above you see the best nVidia video card under 250 USD, released by ASUS, with nVidia's mid-range GTX 560 graphics processor. A lot of features have been improved on this video card, when compared to nVidia's reference video card. First of all the graphics processor is overclocked to 900MHz, which makes its performance comparable to that of more expensive video cards. ASUS also installed a much better power stabilizer, to support the higher power consumption of the overclocked chip. The cooling system uses the traditional heat pipe technology, with one small difference: the heat pipes are mounted directly on the graphics processor's surface.

This way heat dissipation is more efficient by up to 20%, when compared to other cooling solutions with a an additional aluminum or copper plate between the chip and the heat pipes. I would like to say that noise is also reduced by using this improved cooling system, but any possible noise reduction is canceled out by the larger amount of heat that needs to be disposed of.

Best Nvidia Video Card Under 250 (Source: img.linkecomputer.com)

 As you can see the best nVidia Geforce GTX 560 video card under 250 USD takes up two slots in the computer, but it's also recommended to have an additional empty slot next to the cooling fans, in order to reduce the chances of overheating.

Three digital outputs can be found on this video card: one mini HDMI and two DVI port, which can also be used with DVI to analog VGA adapters. Without any additional accessories the video card can handle up to three monitors, and even more, if two, three or four of these cards are installed in the same computer. Yes, you can also use DVI or HDMI port multipliers to connect twice as many monitors, but then you may find the card's processing power to be insufficient for so many monitors.

All in all the nVidia Geforce GTX 560 TI graphics processor is the best you can find on video cards under 250 USD, and this is not likely to change anytime soon, as manufacturers seem to be concentrating on releasing high-end video cards first, so the cheaper and/or overclocked models of the new series will come later.

On the other hand there are still many users who subscribe to cable TV through a SD (standard definition) receiver, which come only with analog video outputs. There are also a lot of movie collections in studios and homes around the world, still on video cassettes or projection films.

Analog Video Capture Card (Source: images.highspeedbackbone.net)

A basic video capture card (available for about 20 USD) has three different video input ports: TV input (many selectable channels), Composite A/V port (1 x yellow video + 1 x stereo audio jack) and an S-video port (also usable with the stereo audio port). Almost all such video capture cards come with a remote control, which works just like a TV set and VHS video recorder.

In theory these analog capture devices can record video in DVD resolution (768 x 576) at 30FPS, but that's not what you can expect in practice. First of all analog signal strength is almost never adequate in consumer electronics, so you almost always end up with poor quality captures. Secondly it's fairly typical for cheap analog video capture cards to overheat after 30-50 minutes of capture, so the 30FPS is also ruined in a computer with insufficient ventilation.

Analog Video Capture Card (Source: tuobuy.com)

Analog video capture cards made for laptops (ExpressCard slot) are no too good either. They usually come with less input ports (with the audio you go directly into the laptop's audio in 3.5mm jack) and they have the same problems as the desktop computer cards. In fact even those so-called “stand-alone” TV-tuners (which can be connected to LCD monitors) are based on the same chips as the video capture cards. All in all these analog video capture devices were never made to perfection, and will go out of style very soon.

Digital video capture devices are much better, as the video quality depends only on interface bandwidth and the processing power of the computer you use for recording. At this moment most digital video captures are done from cable TV companies that officially (or unofficially) allow people to use computer digital tuner cards and with slightly different satellite receiver cards with people's own satellite dishes. In both cases image quality is excellent and with appropriately fast computers even HD channels can be successfully recorded and they look like store-bought Blue-ray movies.

In reality however the user with the best chances is the one who knows the basic info of every part he wants to buy, without restriction to specific brands.

Computer Parts Info (Source: mswhs.com)

Usually hard drives are the computer parts that have the least relevant information printed an their labels. In the picture above people with a good eye can easily find the capacity and the “Made in Thailand” phrase. Unfortunately the rotation speed, cache size and interface type are not shown, and can only be looked up on the internet by the hard drive model, which in this case is HDS5C4040ALE630. After a bit of searching you find out that in fact it's a 5400RPM drive with 32MB cache and SATA 3 (6GBPS) interface.

Microprocessors and video cards are much easier to identify, as they usually come in retail boxes, on which the most important information is clearly specified. For example a dual core Intel Core i3 processor has a small white sticker where the main technical information is shown, like the exact part number, frequency, power consumption, socket type, generation and class. Video cards also come with the model, frequencies, memory size and memory bus painted (or on a sticker) on the circuit board and also on the retail box with huge color letters

Computer Parts Info (Source: hardwareheaven.com)

Motherboards and power supplies are harder to read, because they connect to all internal and almost all external components of a computer, so every little detail counts. On the motherboard you should look for socket type, expansion slot types and the different kind of ports available.

The power supply should be chosen last, as it has to provide enough power to all computer parts on the appropriate wires. In low-end systems with cheap parts you don't need to pay attention the power supply, but gaming systems and workstations require large amounts of power for the video card and/or microprocessor. Without having a specific configuration in mind, in my opinion for these two types of computers you never buy a power supply under 550W with less than two 12V rails (or one, but really powerful, >35A).

All Parts Needed To Build A Computer (Source: i.techrepublic.com.com)

This solution is far from a high-end gaming computer, but nevertheless packs enough processing power for WEB browsing, office applications and playing FullHD videos. You can also take your computer anywhere (including all your important documents), because it's a smartphone.

Another solution for building an efficient computer may be offered by laptop parts. All you need is a laptop motherboard, processor, some memory, laptop hard drive, an AC/DC laptop adapter and the computer is ready. One might argue that a laptop connected to the same LCD-TV or monitor and wireless input devices shown in the picture above will produce the same – or better results, but then you're not building anything, are you?

All Parts Needed To Build A Computer (Source: dell-laptop-battery.com)

This solution will deliver much more processing power, depending of course on the amount of money you're willing to spend. Whichever the case may be, laptop parts are almost as fast as their desktop counterparts, but much more efficient.

To build a computer from desktop parts is the easiest and most complete solution. It will run any desktop operating system, applications and games you want. That being said I also have to mention that desktop parts are not efficient at all. An average assembled desktop system consumes about 100Watts of power when it's not performing any tasks, while a laptop with a similar performance level needs just around 10Watts while in idle. This difference is not at all negligible if you want to make a responsible choice.

In 2012 we already have a new high-end video card from AMD, which already started shipping to stores around the world a few days ago. Its name is AMD Radeon 7970, which was made to dethrone all previous single processor video cards. It has a 600 USD average retail price, performs better than it's Radeon 6970 predecessor and needs just 250Watts of power (6+8pin cables + a few watts through the PCI-Express 2.1-3.0 slot).

Best Gaming Video Card (Source: i40.tinypic.com)

Today, this video card seems to be the best option of you're looking for a cheap efficient solution, although it's clearly slower than previous generation dual-processor video cards from both manufacturers.

The real high end video card with two graphics chips will most likely arrive from AMD in March, 2012. Like most top models from recent generations, it is called AMD Radeon 7990 and will feature two high-end graphics chips and a lot of on-board memory.

Pricing is not clear yet, but rumors say that it will be around 800 USD. If this is accurate, then the AMD Radeon 7990 video card will be a very cheap upgrade option for Radeon 6990 owners, as this older card costs around 730 USD.

Best Gaming Video Card (Source: tecnologiasdeultimogrito.com)

Tech specifications of the upcoming AMD Radeon 7990 dual processor video card are already known and they sound very tempting. On the reference model both graphics processors will run at 850MHz, so the 2 x 2048 stream processors will surely outperform every video card released to date. Let's not forget that the new AMD Radeon 7000 series video chips are manufactured on 28nm technology, which means serious overclocking potential. Video card manufacturers which are known for their factory overclocked high end products, will surely break the 1GHz GPU clock barrier with these chips. As for the on-board memory, the reference model will have 2 x 3GB GDDR5 memory, which is not an industry first, but will certainly satisfy the needs of any game or application.

Nvidia has announced its Geforce GTX 680 video card for February in order to compete with the recently released AMD Radeon 7970. It will be interesting to see what nVidia will produce to compete against the AMD Radeon 7990 video cards. For the competition's sake, let's hope there won't be any power consumption issues with these high-end products and will be available soon to gamers everywhere.

The big majority of these AGP video cards come with analog VGA, DVI and S-Video ports, because the HDMI port is a more recent invention. With these video cards you can use DVI to HDMI adapters (or cables) in order to successfully connect them to a large LCD TV or monitor, without sacrificing quality through the analog VGA or S-Video port.

Agp Video Card With Hdmi Output (Source: ecx.images-amazon.com)

In the picture you can see an nVidia Geforce FX5200 video card, which was an extremely popular low-end video card for up to DirectX 9.0 games and applications. Such AGP video card are sold for about 35 USD and a DVI to HDMI adapter may cost you another 3-7 USD, depending on the brand and quality. If you don't have a DVI or HDMI cable yet for your LCD TV or monitor, then you're in luck, as you can simply purchase a DVI to HDMI cable instead of a DVI-DVI cable and DVI to HDMI adapter. This is why many TVs and monitors come with just an analog VGA cable, even though they also have a DVI or HDMI port.

Agp Video Card With Hdmi Output (Source: images.highspeedbackbone.net)

The earliest AGP video cards that have adopted the HDMI port were from the ATI Radeon X1000 series and the nVidia Geforce 8000 series. At Newegg.com the fastest and most recent AGP video card with a HDMI port is the HIS IceQ Radeon 4670 model. It features 320 stream processors running at 750MHz and 1GB DDR3 memory. If there's a serious problem with this video card, then it has to be the price, 112 USD. Considering the fact that this AGP video card doesn't support DirectX 11, we have to recognize it's limited life in computers.

These old – and very old video cards should be used only to replace a burnt video card in an otherwise perfectly working system, or they can also allow users to connect high resolution displays to older machines, without sacrificing image quality. Please note that most high resolutions are supported by almost any AGP video card with a DVI or HDMI port, but because of their age they won't run the most recent 3D applications and games at acceptable speeds. I would rather recommend these cards for programmers, bloggers and other users with low graphics performance needs.

This processor features four processing cores running at 3.4GHz, automatically overclocked to 3.8GHz by Intel's TurboBoost technology, when needed. Consuming up to 95Watts of power, this processor is one of the most efficient high-end models available.

Acer Computer Parts (Source: images.highspeedbackbone.net)

Strangely enough Acer has chosen a barely mid-range video card for this desktop, the nVidia Geforce GT 530 with 2GB of on-board memory. This allows the user to run most applications at pretty decent speeds (including CAD software), buck lacks that extra horsepower that's needed for 3D gaming in high resolutions and high image quality.

By default 8GB of DDR3 system memory is installed, which is enough for most applications and games with the page file disabled. On the other hand video editing and 3D modeling may ask for up to 16GB memory (RAM + page file). In my experience 8GB of memory is enough for the average user, as it can boost even the performance of low-end computers, based on Celeron, Pentium, Athlon or Llano processors. I have recently purchased a Celeron G530 dual core processor and the cheapest LGA1155 motherboard from Asrock, and I have to say that the extra 4GB (4+4 total install) of memory makes all the difference while multitasking in Windows 7.

As for internal storage, Acer has installed a standard high-end part in this desktop, a 2TB 7200RPM SATA hard drive – to be more exact. Removable storage consists of a lot of USB ports and the internal 16X DVD burner. Yes, a lot of recent DVD burners can climb up to 24X reading and writing speed, but in reality there's very little difference in MB/s, so it's better to use slower and quieter units.

Acer Computer Parts (Source: images.highspeedbackbone.net)

A pleasant surprise is the 450Watt power supply inside this stylish desktop computer case. The total power consumption of the installed parts stays at 200-250Watts on average, so the 450Watt power supply is more than enough. It needs to be said that Intel and nVidia chips tend to exceed the official TDP for a few seconds from time to time, so this is why the extra 200Watts o power is needed in this desktop. I'm not saying that AMD chips behave much better when it comes to power consumption, but they are known to stay within the official limits (at least 5% lower then the maximum allowed).

The Acer Predator AG3610-UR10P desktop computer costs 1050 USD with the parts mentioned above (at newegg and tigerdirect), and will serve you well if you don't want to run the latest games in the highest detail.

It's hard to say what the main problem was with Gateway computers, mostly because the success of a manufacturer depends on a lot of calculable factors, but also on luck. What I can say for sure is that most Gateway computers today are very much like the products of other manufacturers, but with their own exterior design and quality.

Gateway Laptop Computer Parts (Source: static.gateway.com)

In the picture above you see a Gateway laptop from the most recently released laptop series, the ID series. There are four models available from the ID series, three have a 14” form factor while the fourth is based on a 15.6” display panel. They all have price tags between 629 and 699 USD and they also feature almost the same basic internal parts.

The ID47H03u model comes with a 2.3GHz Core i5-2410M processor (second generation), integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 video chip, 4GB of DDR3 system memory and a standard 500GB laptop hard drive. Other important parts include a 6-cell 6000mAh battery pack, which can last for up to 8 hours, Wi-fi, DVD burner and a multi-in-one memory card reader. This 14” laptop also features a USB 3.0 port and Gigabit Ethernet for fast data connections with peripherals and networks. If we consider all these standard laptop computer parts, then the $699 estimated retail price is reasonable for this configuration.

The cheapest Gateway ID series laptop configuration, the ID47H06u, is based on pretty much the same laptop computer parts as the previous configuration, except for the microprocessor which is a Core i3, so it lacks the TurboBoost technology and operates at a fixed lower frequency. Interestingly enough this configuration also includes a Bluetooth module, even though it's price is just 629 USD.

Gateway Laptop Computer Parts (Source: static.gateway.com)

The 679 USD Gateway laptop configuration is based on a Core i5 processor and 15.6” display panel, but it also features Bluetooth. This is a bit surprising, as it seems that this laptop outranks all the others from the same series. Yes, it is a bit bigger than the others, but has all the features and a fast Core i5 processor.

All in all these Gateway laptops are built with some great mid-range laptop parts and their prices are also decent, so I recommend purchasing any one of them, if you don't mind using the integrated graphics solution. Their battery life is above average (by ~50%) and that also means low power consumption, 65Watt max is what the power brick's description says.