Welcome to PcTik - The PC Technology Guide
The PcTik is the web's number one PC technology resource, providing clear, accessible information on computer hardware, maintenance and operation. With comprehensive guides on components and peripherals, tutorials on common computing tasks, and articles on a wide range of computer related topics, The PC Technology helps thousands of IT consumers, students, hobbyists and professionals get the computer knowledge they need every day.
Barcelona Quad CPU
AMDs first outing in to quad core architecture lags behind Intel, but boasts a native implementation that offers significant advantages. Will the Barcelona chip pick up AMDs fortunes?
Solid State Hard Drives
Solid state drives have no moving parts, no latency, and no fragmentation issues, so are faster and more reliable than traditional disk based hard drives. At last, the longstanding performance bottleneck caused by hard drives may be ended by solid state technology.
Much More Mobile PC
UMPCs are not just mobile, they're ultra mobile. Carrying full desktop operating systems in a device little bigger than a PDA, connectivity is the key to the UMPCs considerable handheld power. Get more on the UMPC.
Going GreenPower
With energy efficiency increasingly important, Western Digital are the first hard disk manufacturer to brand innovations in power saving technology. For the conservation conscious, learn more about GreenPower.
Intel High-k
Moore's law tells us that CPU transistors should double every 18 months, but the Silicon Valley's silicon is reaching its limits. So, Intel have now moved to high-k materials in their chip manufacturing process. Read this guide to learn the advantages high-k brings.
Quad Power
Multiple cores are the next step in CPU power, with processor threading technology the way forward for both AMD and Intel. This guide to Intel's Core 2 Quad and Extreme processors shows the increased power on offer, but notes that not all applications can take advantage yet.
Penryn Power
New high-k developments have allowed Intel to develop a 45nm die for their Core 2 Penryn CPU range. With the 50 new processor instructions available through SSE4, this promises to be a considerable leap in processor technology.
Mad Music Mayhem?
Find out how to manage your music collection with a well organised server providing a music storage and service to everyone in the home. Let this comprehensive tutorial help you make your own home digital music management system.
Hexa What Now?
Binary and hexadecimal can be perplexing to those coming to computer science. This friendly walkthrough will help you get to grips with why and how they're used. Includes a handy online binary, hex and decimal conversion tool.
After DVI?
DVI was only ever intended to be a transitional interface, and HDMI appears best suited to consumer A/V products ......... so will it be DisplayPort or UDI or that wins out as the long-term successor to the venerable VGA graphics card > display interface?
Last Update: Sat Sep 1st 2007