Now is the time to get a new PC or a radical upgrade of an old one, because with the help of modern components you can build a fast and inexpensive Windows 7/8 PC that will last you for years. The new generation of hardware platforms will only be supported on Windows 10. However, this system will scare away users who want to control their PC and data. If this thought also visits you, you should think about assembling a new PC yourself.
You can find any components in the appropriate online or computer stores located on almost every corner. By the way, in many stores there is a service for self-configuring and subsequent assembly of a PC.
Processor: Skylake is the best solution?
We recommend starting to assemble the system with the choice of the central processor, since its characteristics "set the tone" for all other components. The choice between the two processor manufacturers is now obvious: AMD's current offering is a few steps behind Intel's; only processors from the Zen series manufactured by AMD could "mix the cards", and even then not earlier than the beginning of 2017. In the Intel portfolio, recommendations are worthy of the current generation of Skylake processors; their predecessors, the Broadwell and Haswell models, are hardly more profitable.
Skylake's successors, the KabyLake family of processors, are currently in the starting position and, apart from improved UHD video encoding and decoding, are unlikely to offer anything new for desktop PC users. In addition, Microsoft is denying support for Windows 7/8 to the new Intel platform. You can determine how much performance you will get with the new processor using Cinebench by running it on your old PC and comparing the result with the data in the table below.
For the Skylake platform, processors of different lines are produced: Core i7 / i5 / i3-6xxx and Pentium / Celeron. Modifications differ primarily in the number of processor cores and the ability to simultaneously process one or two data streams per core (Hyper-Threading technology). Clock speed, cache sizes, and power consumption also differ.
Which processor is best for your PC depends on your needs. Two Pentium/Celeron cores are enough to work with the Office suite, access the Internet, play media files and play simple games with resolutions up to Full HD, and in this particular case we recommend the Pentium G4520. Thanks to its high clock speed, its computing power surpasses, for example, that of mid-range mobile processors (i5-6200U) in many comparison tests. It's fast enough for everyday tasks.
However, truly multitasking overloads the Pentium. Installing updates or running an antivirus in the background can slow down your computer. 3D games, image processing, or video file processing are no fun for the Pentium either. Therefore, for general-purpose mid-range PCs, we recommend using the Core i5-6600 processor, which is the best in terms of price / quality ratio. Four cores "inside" make it suitable for today's demanding games.
Our recommended top-end Core i7-6700K has even more performance reserves. A processor with four cores and Hyper-Threading technology is more powerful for highly parallelized tasks (such as video encoding) and should also handle the next generation of 3D games and VR applications. The “K” symbol in the marking of the Core i7 recommended by us means that its performance can simply be increased by overclocking thanks to the multiplier unlocked upwards. In addition, the processor clock speed is increased compared to the standard version of the CPU, which does not have such a symbol in the name.
Depending on current offers, you can also choose from "intermediate" models, the performance of which in most cases is closely related to the price. The exception is the energy-saving CPU models marked "T". They are slower and more expensive than the standard versions; their use is advisable only for mini-PCs.
In 2013, Chinese scientists managed to create a computer capable of running at least 30 petaflops. Since then, the first line of the international Top 500 rating has repeatedly been given to Tianhe-2.
The Top 500 lists are updated twice a year - in the first summer month and in the last month of autumn. In second place on the list, which includes the world's most powerful supercomputers with a score of 17.59 petaflops, is the American Titan, in third, with a minimum margin of 0.42 petaflops, is also the representative of the US Department of Energy - the Sequoia supercomputer.
sequoia
This one of the most powerful computers in the world is used to simulate nuclear explosions, cope with the tasks of astronomy and energy. He is able to recognize the secrets of the human genome and calculate the consequences of climate change.
For all those operations that Sequoia conducts in one second, it is necessary to take seven billion people, give everyone a calculator in their hands and force them to do mathematical calculations without breaks for lunch and sleep. If you work all 365 days a year, day and night, then the calculations would take 320 years. Fortunately, the Sequoia was built after all, and now there is no need to manually carry out complex calculations.
Titan
Before the advent of a Chinese competitor, this powerful computer held a leading position. It was born thanks to the joint work of Cray and Nvidia. Each of the supercomputer's 18,688 nodes houses a sixteen-core AMD Opteron processor and an Nvidia Tesla K20X graphics card.
Titanium found its way to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He is busy designing fuel-efficient engines, studying biofuels, calculating the effects of climate change.
Top 500
According to the compilers of this ranking, tracking the emergence of the most powerful computers in the world, the top ten has remained unchanged since 2013. The rating includes 233 representatives of the United States, 73 - Chinese models, three dozen supercomputers of British and Japanese production, three less than France, and Germany is represented by 23 computers.
Russia in this rating is represented by five machines, one of which is the Lomonosov supercomputer, located at Moscow State University. M.V., Lomonosov, with a performance of 0.9 petaflops, as of November 2014, is in 58th place.
Tianhe-2
But the most powerful computer in the world deserves our immediate attention - Tianhe-2 is located in this place due to the high - 33.86 petaflops - computing speed, which is equivalent to a million billion calculations per second! Such a figure is difficult to comprehend by the human mind. To make it more clear, imagine that powerful technology is thirty-three million times more powerful than any iPad.
The machine has a total of 16 thousand computing nodes, each of which consists of three twelve-core Xeon Phi E5-2692 processors and two Intel Xeon IvyBridge processors. In their defense, Chinese designers said that Intel processors were used only for the computing part of the machine, while the rest of the filling - interconnect, RAM, secondary processors and software - are exclusively the fruits of Chinese production.
The memory capacity of the most powerful computer in the world is 1,24 TB, which exceeds the results of a conventional PC by 12 times. The supercomputer requires about 18,000 kW of energy to operate. The total number of machine cores is 3 million 120 thousand. Theoretically, the possible performance of Tianhe-2 is about 55 thousand teraflops.
This computing technique works on the Kylin Linux operating system. The supercomputer is located at the Defense Science and Technology University of the People's Liberation Army of China.
It was developed by the National University of Defense Technology of the People's Republic of China in cooperation with Inspur. At the moment, the machine is doing calculations in the field of climate, modeling powerful explosions. In general, he does everything that his colleagues do. His research was applied in the development of the large C919 airliner, with which you can observe the Earth, determine the sequence of genes. It has found its application in the field of administrative management, cloud computing and information services.
To create the most powerful computer in the world, China spent $390 million. Great hopes are pinned on it - the supercomputer should accelerate the development of such areas as materials science, information technology, military, space technology, and aircraft construction.
At the moment, the development of anti-satellite laser systems is actively underway, a search is underway for new sources of energy, and many other promising developments for which the future lies.
Epilogue
This is not the first time in the history of supercomputers that a Chinese computer has taken the top spot in the top 500. The predecessor of "Tianhe-2" in 2010 already occupied the leading line of the list, but did not last long there. It was displaced by computing giants from the USA and Japan. How influential powers will respond to China this time, time will tell. But according to experts, it may take a long time to create technology that can surpass the results of Tianhe-2.
Mankind has never reached Mars, a cure for all diseases has not yet been invented, cars do not fly, but, nevertheless, there are areas in which people have reached unprecedented heights. The computing power of computers is one of them. To begin with, let's figure out what is the key parameter when evaluating this characteristic of supercomputers. Flops - a value showing the number of floating point operations that a computer can perform in a second. Based on this indicator, our ranking of the most powerful computers in the world was compiled, according to 2019 data.
The rating was presented at the International Supercomputing Conference, the top 500 supercomputers were compiled by mathematicians at the Lawrence National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee.
10 Trinity - performance 8.1 Pflop / sec
This supercomputer stands guard over US military security, maintaining the effectiveness of the national nuclear arsenal. Given this, you might think that this device is incredibly expensive, however, starting in 2015, it began to be replaced by new, more powerful supercomputers. Trinity is based on the Cray XC40 system, its performance is 8.1 Pflop / sec.
9 Mira - 8.6 Pflops/sec
Mira is another brilliant product from Cray. It is worth noting that the project of this supercomputer was developed by order of the United States Department of Energy. Mira's main application area is government industrial and research projects. The computing power of this computer is 8.6 petaflops per second.
8K Computer - 10.5 Pflops/sec
The peculiarity of this supercomputer lies in its name, which comes from the Japanese word "kei" and means 10 quadrillion. Approximately this figure rests on the productive capacity of K Computer - 10.5 petaflops. The specificity of this technique also lies in the fact that the system uses water cooling, which can significantly reduce energy consumption and reduce the layout speed.
7 Oakforest-Pacs - 13.6 Pflop/sec
The Japanese company Fujitsu, which also developed the K Computer mentioned earlier, has created a new generation supercomputer (the Knights Landing generation). The project was commissioned by Tokyo and Tsukuba Universities. Despite the fact that it was originally planned to equip the computer with 900 TB of memory and a performance of 25 quadrillion operations, its computing power is 13.6 petaflops / s.
6 Cori - 14 Pflops/sec
Until 2019, Cori held a solid 5th position in the world ranking of the most powerful computers, but in the face of rapidly developing technological progress, it still lost one rating “line” to the latest supercomputers. It is located at the Lawrence and Berkeley National Laboratory in the USA. Cori has already made its unique contribution to the development of science: with its help, Swiss scientists were able to simulate a 45-qubit quantum computing system. 14 petaflops - the productive capacity of this "supermachine".
5 Sequoia - 17.2 Petaflops
Many experts call Sequoia the world's fastest supercomputer, and for good reason: its arithmetic performance is equal to the speed of 6.7 billion people who would perform an identical task using calculators for 320 years. Sequoia is also distinguished by its size: the computer covers an area of 390 square meters and consists of 96 racks. 17.2 petaflops is its performance, which is equal to almost sixteen thousand trillion operations.
4 Titan - 17.6 Pflops/sec
In addition to being one of the world's fastest computers, the Titan is also considered one of the most energy efficient, with 2142.77 megaflops per watt of power consumed. The secret to saving energy is to use Nvidia accelerators, which provide up to 90% of all computing power, which, by the way, is 17.6 petaflops. Thanks to them, Titan noticeably reduced its dimensions - now only 404 square meters are enough to accommodate it.
3 Piz Daint - 19.6 Petaflops
The Piz Daint supercomputer project was launched back in 2013 in the Swiss city of Lugano. It is located in the same place - in the Swiss National Center for Supercomputing. Piz Daint has collected almost all the positive characteristics of the above analogues, including energy efficiency and high speed, except for compactness: the device consists of 28 large racks. Its computing power is 19.6 petaflops.2 Tianhe-2 - 33.9 Petaflops
The supercomputer with the romantic name "Milky Way" (translated from Chinese) until June 2016 headed the top 500 most powerful computers in the world. Its power provides a speed of 2507 trillion operations per second, which is equal to 33.9 petaflops. Tianhe-2 found its "calling" in the field of construction: in the calculations of buildings and laying roads. It is worth noting that since the beginning of 2013, as soon as "Milky Way" was released, it did not leave the leading position in the ratings, which is a really powerful indicator.
1 Sunway Taihu Light - 93 Petaflops
Inside this computer are 40,960 productive processors, which explains its overall dimensions: Sunway itself covers an area of about 1000 square meters. In 2016, at an international conference in Germany, it was recognized as the fastest of its kind. To date, Sunway TaihuLight is the first in the ranking and the only one in the top 10 supercomputers capable of generating speeds of 93 petaflops.
If we consider technological progress in terms of its impact on a person, society as a whole and the environment, it is obvious that it has global shortcomings. Today we have access to a great variety of computers, various devices and robots. But the highest goal is to find a worthy use for the great inventions of mankind and direct their use for the benefit of our common future, without turning them into meaningless toys.
Many personal computer users prefer to build their own machines from components purchased separately. But for this you need to have a certain level of knowledge, besides, ready-made computers have recently become more affordable. It is easier to buy a ready-made computer, besides, you can choose a monoblock, in which the motherboard and monitor are placed in one case.
In this article, we have collected the best computers of 2017. But note that not all of them can be improved and modified. But first, let's talk about what is important to consider when choosing a computer and what parameters to pay attention to.
Desktop computers have a certain advantage over laptops. They can be equipped with a more powerful processor, multiple video cards and much better cooling is configured. But your choice will very much depend on what you are going to use the device for. If you are only going to surf the Internet and edit documents, then you do not need top-end processors, video cards and memory. Most budget computers can fit here.
But if you are a gaming computer, then you already need to take into account a huge number of factors. Such a machine will cost at least $600. Budget computers usually have up to 4 GB of RAM, an Intel Core i3, Celeron or Pentium processor, and a hard drive up to 500 GB. Top-tier gaming PCs already ship with Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, or AMD's top processors like Ryzen.
The best computers of 2018
And now let's look at the best computers of 2018. Not all of them make sense to use the Linux operating system, but this does not make them worse.
1. Dell XPS Tower Special Edition
- CPU: Intel Core i5 or Core i7;
- Graphic arts: AMD Radeon RX 480 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10180;
- HDD: HDD 1 TB or SSD 500 GB;
- Connection: Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
- Dimensions: 7.09 x 14.02 x 15.22;
- Price: $ 1686.
Pros: compact, minimalistic design;
Minuses: RAM is not ideal for VR;
Although the Dell XPS Tower Special Edition looks like a regular computer, it comes with one of the highest performing graphics cards from AMD or NVIDIA, as well as a powerful SkyLake generation processor and 8GB of RAM. Despite the simple case design, this is a very powerful gaming computer.
2. Surface Studio
The best computer of 2018 for designers and artists.
- CPU: Intel Core i5 or Core i7;
- Graphic arts: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (4GB GDDR5 VRAM);
- RAM: 32 GB DDR4;
- HDD: HDD 2 TB or SSD 500 GB;
- Connection: 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0;
- Camera: 5MP Windows Hello camera
- Dimensions: 25.09 x 17.27 x 0.44;
- Price: $2900.
Pros: the best solution for digital drawings;
Minuses: all ports are located at the back, the price is too high.
Microsoft doesn't seem to care what other manufacturers do. The Surface Studio costs a lot more than its Dell competitor and doubles that of the HP Envy AIO 27. But it does support the Surface Pen and 10-point multi-touch. It's much more than just a gaming PC.
The PixelSense display has a diagonal of 28 inches and a resolution of 4500 x 3000 pixels. And the fact that the computer is made in monoblock form factor makes it even more compact and versatile.
3. Apple iMac with 5K Retina display
Stylish, multifunctional computer with an excellent screen from Apple.
- CPU: Intel Dual-Core i5 - Quad-Core i7;
- Graphic arts: Intel Iris Graphics 6000;
- RAM: 8-32GB DDR4;
- HDD: HDD 1 TB and SSD 3 TB;
- Connection: Wireless: 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0;
- Dimensions: 196x196x36;
- Price: $1990.
Pros: bright IPS screen, wireless technology;
Minuses: it is difficult to update hardware in this computer;
iMac has a stylish and at the same time simple appearance, this computer is also made in the form of a monoblock, and MacOS is used as the operating system. The screen, speakers and wireless adapter are built into the case, and you can also use the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse 2 wireless keyboard. All you need is one power cable.
The computer has a screen diagonal of 27 inches and can be equipped with a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with a clock speed of up to 3.9 GHz. But the most interesting thing here is the 5K screen. With an aluminum frame, it feels even thinner than the competition, despite having all the computer components inside.
4. HP Pavilion Wave
- CPU: Intel Core i3 - Intel Core i5;
- Graphic arts: Intel HD Graphics 530 - AMD Radeon R9 M470;
- RAM: 8 GB DDR4;
- HDD: HDD 1 TB;
- Connection: 802.11ac, Ethernet, Bluetooth 4.2;
- Dimensions: 6.81 x 6.62 x 9.25 inches;
- Price: $799.
The HP Pavilion Wave is the best computer for music lovers you can find. It is made in the form of speakers and all the components are inside them. The speakers are cylindrical in shape and their casing is made of fabric, which enhances the look and sound quality at the same time. The case has three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, DisplayPort and one USB Type-C port.
5. Acer Aspire ATC-780-UR61
The best budget computer 2018 with maximum performance.
- CPU: Intel Core i5;
- RAM: 8 GB;
- HDD: 1 TB HDD;
- Graphic arts: Intel Graphics 530;
- Connection: Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0;
- Price: $483.
If you are looking for a high performance budget PC, the Acer Aspire ATC-780-UR61 might be a great choice. It uses an Intel Core i5 processor with a clock speed of 2.7 GHz, as well as a 1 TB hard drive. For a budget computer, it looks very good. The Intel Graphics 530 graphics card does not perform well in video games, but it is enough for rendering and editing video and other tasks.
Additional features include the presence of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, as well as support for Bluetooth 4.0.
6. Acer Aspire AIO
Powerful computer for work at home.
- CPU: Intel Core i5;
- RAM: 8 GB;
- Graphic arts: NVIDIA GeForce 940M;
- Connection: 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
- Price: $670.
This is not very expensive and at the same time powerful computer for working at home, it has a screen with a diagonal of 23.8 inches and is made in the form of a monoblock (All In One). It uses a sixth-generation Intel processor with a frequency of 2.2 GHz, 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive. The screen resolution of 1920 x 1080 allows you to display the picture in sufficient quality.
You can edit videos, play games, work with documents or software.
7. HP 20 Snow White
The best computer 2018 in appearance.
- CPU: Intel Pentium J3710;
- RAM: 4GB;
- HDD: SATA 500 GB;
- Dimensions: 18.4 x 7.2 x 14.5;
- Price: $ 469;
This is one of the best computers of 2018 at the moment, it is small in size and also made in a monoblock form factor. It uses a not very powerful Intel Pentium processor with a frequency of 1.6 GHz, and 4 GB of RAM.
The screen with a diagonal of 19.5 inches has an anti-reflective coating and a resolution of 1600x900 pixels. Of the external ports, there are two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0, Ethernet, DC and a headphone port.
Rating of computers in 2018
conclusions
In this article, we've taken a look at the best computers you can buy in 2018. Recently, All In One solutions, when all computer components are located inside the screen, are gaining great popularity. Most of the devices from our article are just that. What kind of computers do you like best? What would you buy? Write in the comments!
Performance series computers have a 36-month warranty. This warranty includes highly qualified technical and service support. Our managers are always ready to provide consulting support with the installation and configuration of equipment.
If you have a technical problem, we carry out an initial diagnosis and solve the problem as quickly as possible. If the problem is due to hardware failure and requires replacement of components, the computer must be brought to one of our service centers. Service centers of our company are located in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
In this warranty package, delivery to service centers is FREE of charge for all cities of Russia. Additionally, there is an opportunity to increase the term and level of service.
Testing
We conduct comprehensive testing of a gaming computer using specialized software designed to evaluate stability, performance and temperature conditions.
Special sets of utilities create the maximum possible load for a long time, going through several cycles, followed by logging and graphical display of the received data. Most problems with hardware can be "caught" at the stage of preliminary testing.
For Performance Series computers, the standard testing period is 12 hours, with the option to extend to 24 hours.
Assembly and setup
We pay special attention to the assembly and configuration of computers. Specialists and masters of the company undergo a rigorous selection for professional suitability. This allows you to create systems that meet the high requirements of the company, paying attention to the smallest details.
Our goal is to provide our customers with uninterrupted and high-quality equipment with an impeccable appearance, which will allow them to fully enjoy the games in the form that the developers intended.
The assembly includes: working with cable management, a high-quality thermal interface, setting up the cooling system, flashing the BIOS "and the motherboard, installing all the latest drivers and setting up the storage subsystem.
Reliable and free shipping:
Our company provides free shipping throughout Russia. We work only with trusted logistics companies, the shipped cargo will be insured for the full value.
Each gaming computer comes with secure foam packaging to prevent any damage to the shipment during transit.
When shipping Performance X series computers between cities, a branded shipping box is included. It will ensure the iron safety of the cargo.
