The main principle is that a non-defective component should be used as long as possible, a period that is variable from component to component, because obviously there comes a time when a specific component is just not sufficient anymore. In the case of the hard drive, development was very fast in the past few years.

We have come a long way since the experimental refrigerator-sized 2.52GB hard drive from the 70s. Capacity, speed and power consumption have improved to a level which seems hard to beat. 2TB size, ~100MB/s average transfer rate and ~5Watt power consumption make the hard disk the second most power efficient component is the whole system, right after the DDR3 memory modules that need around 3Watts per module. The smallest and cheapest new hard disk available today may be enough for any operating system for up to 5 to 10 years, if we look at the evolution of space requirements in the past. Windows 7 requires around 16Gigabytes of hard disk space, Windows 8 most likely won’t require much more. Hard disk speed isn’t an issue, if you have enough RAM installed on your system.

For example an old fashioned LGA775 Celeron D 2.8GHz processor with 2-3GB of DDR1 memory can still handle flawlessly the most demanding version of Windows 7, when it comes to everyday office and home programs, although it was launched way back in 2005. With an appropriate graphics card it may also run some of the latest games with medium graphic detail settings.

The motherboard has a somewhat shorter lifespan, no matter how sufficient its speed still is. It includes most of the sensitive components of the computer system like ports (that have to withstand the user’s abuse, sometimes even electric shocks), voltage regulators and filters for the processor, slots (that also face some serious strain when expansion cards are installed)…etc. Motherboards most likely last around 3-5 years in a system in perfect, functioning condition. It’s not amongst computer parts that are worth reusing after a major system upgrade.

When you’re looking to reuse a processor, things get a bit complicated. Usually in 3 years or so the efficiency of a processor falls drastically, even if you bought a top processor back in 2007, today you’ll find that speed at half the price and also with increased efficiency. It’s not recommended to reuse computer parts like the processor and graphics card (that’s also basically a processor with a short life, because cheaper and more efficient ones appear on the market in every 1-2 years).

Although the computer case is a passive part of the computer system and may last many generations, it usually comes with an installed power supply that is not so durable. The cheapest power supplies work within optimum parameters for up to 2-3 years, after which they should be replaced with new ones even if they still seem to function properly. More professional power supplies (with prices above $100) should work perfectly for up to 5-7 years, assuming that you stay with upgrades under the maximum power consumption allowed.

Monitors are computer parts that are frequently reused. Some users still can’t give up their good old CRT because of its good picture quality and colors, no matter how much it hurts their eyes and how much power it uses. A 21” CRT from the year 2000 consumes 150-300Watts of power, while the latest 24” FullHD LED monitors need only around 20Watts to display a much bigger and sharper image. While monitors may work up to 10-15 years, they are not worth keeping more than 3-5 years, because cheaper and much more efficient models become available such a period of time.

Of course these are only some general conclusions, there may be some special brand computer systems out there that can be used and reused for up to 10-15 years, what’s your experience?

Non-digital household appliances are also easy to recycle, usually the outer casing is made of one material and inside there are electric motors, heating elements, compressors, pumps …etc. and maybe different fluids or gases (ex: refrigerator). Materials from these products can be reused close to 100%, but it requires some skilled workers and special machines.

Electronics (consumer products with circuit board inside) are the hardest to recycle, because when they are turned on, materials deteriorate inside in different components, so some of them end up in an ecological garbage dump in sealed containers. The average lifespan of such products is from 3 to 7 years and the components inside are not designed to live far past these age limits.

Computers are the most complex electronic products around and their components have very short lives because faster and better versions of these components become available in every 6 months, if not sooner. Every computer part includes at least one circuit board with chips, capacitors, transistors …etc. on them.

A simple answer would be less to none (compared to copper content for example), because these gold plates are very thin, sometimes only a molecule thick. Basically these gold plates are used only to improve the contact between two copper conductors. Gold is never used instead of a conductor, mostly because it’s very expensive.

Not so long ago another computer part was improved in a way that it significantly changed how much gold is in computer parts. The part I’m talking about is of course is the CPU (and GPU) cooler, that has been made of aluminum for a long time (some with a copper central part or copper plating), but this wasn’t enough for the high-speed components that appeared a couple of years ago. Processors (CPU) reached a 90-140Watt power consumption, while graphic chips (GPU) even 300Watts so heat sinks also had to be improved.

Some are almost completely covered with gold.

Other cooling solutions have only a gold plate base, which comes in contact with the processor (or GPU), because this is the most important part where heat has to be transmitted with the highest efficiency between the CPU and heat sink.

CPU coolers usually don’t get recycled often, because models that are made with copper or gold are part of the enthusiast category, which can handle 2-5 future processor generations from the time of purchase.

But have we ever wondered how does computer do all these things we ask of it? How does it actually work? How does it process all the input we provide it with? Granted, we don’t have to. We can easily work on computers and leave the processing of data to computer geeks.

If we still wish to know how does a computer process information (and we really should take some interest in this aspect which could help us understand what we can ask or what we cannot of our machines), here are some steps, some stages the computer goes through in order to get  the information processed.

The first step the CPU takes when demanded to execute an operation is to access memory in order to locate the program that needs to be opened or worked on. CPU uses the program’s counter number to find it.

As soon as it located the program, CPU begins decoding it. CPU does not see the program as we see it, but as a code. CPU deciphers the code in a programming language that it understands. To that effect, CPU must ascertain which language the program is written in, and then to decide to decode, so that it may read the instruction the program requires.

After the CPU has deciphered the code and has found the order of execution, the execution itself is the next step of the processing. The program is loaded and made ready to use.

The final step is the writeback. The CPU records feedback as the processing advances, to the purpose of making sure some of the problems may occur during the execution. That happens even when everything loaded perfectly. When the Windows doesn’t start properly it must be restarted. CPU writes the error that caused the restart into memory. When Windows finally starts, CPU sends the owner a message containing the feedback from the last attempt that resulted in an error.

What if it does so every five minutes, or every half hour? It makes you loose your mind. In order to avoid this sort of nuisance, you should know what makes computers shut down on their own. There has to be something, computers don’t think. Not yet, anyway.

First thing a computer geek tells you when you complain to him about the random computer shut down is that your CPU is overheated. In other words, the central processing unit is smoking hot from intense usage, prolonged usage or precarious ventilation system.

Geeks say that if your vent system is running slowly or is running improperly on laptops for instance because it needs a cooling pad to disipate the hot air the computer vents are desperately trying to push out of the system. That is why the first thing you should do is give the machine a little rest. Literally. Then check out to see if there is any activity on the vent compartment. If you have a tower computer you should even see the ventilator running. If you have a laptop you should feel by a simple hand touch that there is a part that is hot.

If the problem still endures, you should move on the next level. Now, the next level could require professional help, in case you don’t know your way around the hardware. You need to open the casing and execute a cleaning of the vent fins. As time goes by dust accumulates and impedes the correct functioning of the computer ventilation system. You could clean it and allow it to function properly.

There is a program called Speedfan you can download for free from the Internet and this will tell you exactly how temperature is building up on your computer and when hit becomes critical. There could be other reasons why computers shut down randomly, but the most serious of them remains the CPU overheating. Still, this is no exclusively hardware problem. It may occur as a result of virus infestation. When a virus that destroys your executable files gets to a certain point in devastating you computer one of the symptoms is the shut down of your machine. That means that on one hand the operating system is no longer operating properly, and that your hard drive, on the other hand, is almost destroyed.

Computer shut down is a very nasty thing. To avoid it all it takes is a little computer hygiene.

The Thermaltake Tsunami (VA3000BNA) Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower computer case has an excellent design, but there are no special features in the chassis itself.

The power supply inside and the fans are more interesting, because they directly influence your gaming experience.

This specific computer case comes without a power supply, but there are two 12cm silent fans installed in the back and front, with air filters. The practically empty computer case costs $80, while a cheap 430Watt Thermaltake power supply will set you back with another $40:

Unfortunately it has only a 8cm fan, which means that it makes more noise than a 12cm one. If you have enough money it’s best to choose a more expensive power supply with a 12cm or 14cm fan. There’s a more practical family of Thermaltake computer accessories that includes liquid coolers for most internal components.

The PW880i model is not a very compact design, but it includes all components for a very efficient CPU cooling system. It supports all Intel and AMD processors up to 125-150Watts, including the new Six-core and Eight-core designs.

For the graphics card there’s a more unusual Thermaltake computer accessory.

It’s also a liquid based cooler, but the difference is that it dissipates part of the heat right there on the graphics card and it pushes the hot air out, while it connects to the main cooling system too. The fan is relatively small, but it only produces 18dBA of noise, so it doesn’t bother the user. If the computer care is padded with sound absorbing materials even less noise will escape.

Thermaltake makes traditional coolers too:

The Thermaltake SlimX3 is for low-profile computer cases with mini-ITX motherboards and maximum 65Watt Intel processors, which include some Core 2 Quad processors and all Core 2 Duos, while some low power Core i3, i5 and i7 processors may be on the way. In the meanwhile undeclocked/undervolted LGA 1156 processors may be used.

This next monster doesn’t complain, it supports up to 220Watt processors which can be found only in the server market at the moment:

It supports both Intel and AMD processors, so the new six-core and eight-core processors are supported too.

More unconventional designs address low-profile cases too, while they manage to cool up to 150Watt CPU’s:

The Termaltake CL-P0464 makes a bit more noise, 21dBA, but the fan has a variable speed so if the processor generates less heat, the noise generated is less with the same percent.

Other Thermaltake accessories include thermal grease, and different types of cooler adapters for different types of motherboards:

In conclusion Thermaltake has some interesting solutions, everything is great except the cases themselves.

Hardware comprises all of the physical part of the computer such as Monitor, CPU, motherboard, ram, CD-Rom, printer, scanner, hard disk, flash drive (AKA pen drive), processor, pci buses, floppy disk, power supply, VGA card, sound card, network interface card, peripherals, joystick, mouse, keyboard, foot pedal, computer fan, camera, headset and others.

Memory – Memory is the one of the important piece of the hardware. Sometimes memory chip memory is confused with the hard disk memory. Sometimes unallocated space of the hard disk is used as virtual memory also known as page file. This type of memory is a temporary memory and is used actual memory is less and requires some additional memory to perform a specific task.