Hi Guys!
Part 2 of Assembling the Computer was not really interesting enough to warrant a whole post, but I'll just finish it off quickly for you all.
So the next part was dealing with this mess of wires-- which actually connect the different parts of the computer to the motherboard, where they can be controlled. The wire pins are very small, so it wasn't an easy task to put them in. We had to plug the computer in and try to turn it on, and if it didn't work, go back and move around the tiny wires again.
If anyone ever traps you in a dark alleyway and asks you what the connection wire is called for the hard drive, it's called the SATA!
We also installed the Intel CPU fan. It's really something to think about how much heat these parts generate if you need one giant fan for the CPU alone.
So there's the finished computer! When it works, the motherboard light turns on. Of course, that light is pretty extraneous, so we turned it off when we booted the computer. Still looks cool though.
The MUCH more interesting news is that I think I found a much better solution to the cost issue I raised in my last post! How many of you have heard of ARM processors, or maybe Raspberry Pi computers?
ARM processors are the tiny processors they use in phones, calculators, etc. Unlike Intel Processors, they can be manufactured by any company if they license the building plans from ARM. This makes them significantly cheaper.
ARM processors are built with the main goal of energy efficiency-- they shouldn't get extremely hot and shouldn't require much energy input. This is why they're used in phones. ARM processors deplete the battery much less, so the phone requires less recharging.
Make no mistake- they aren't as powerful as Intel processors. But look at this: while Intel processors like the i7 are $250 alone, you can get an ARM processor (a quad core one!), its motherboard, 1GB of RAM, and an Ethernet connection for $35 dollars. So if I want eight intel nodes, and each node is estimated at $300 (I'm not even including the hard drives), then that would cost $2400. In that money, I can get SIXTY EIGHT ARM COMPUTERS. SIXTY EIGHT.
It's not that Intel doesn't have processors that are as energy efficient as ARM- their atom processor doesn't take up very much heat, but since they have to compete at the price of ARM processors, they don't make very much money off of it. Also, Intel's focus has always been the most computing power, at the expense of energy efficiency. It's very hard for the company to turn everything around and focus on energy efficiency all of a sudden, when companies like ARM have always focused on energy efficiency.
And that, friends, is the solution to my problem. I'll leave you to think about what this huge cost difference means for the future of Intel and the microprocessor industry...and if you want another perspective, this article is pretty good.
Until Next Time,
Anvita
Part 2 of Assembling the Computer was not really interesting enough to warrant a whole post, but I'll just finish it off quickly for you all.
So the next part was dealing with this mess of wires-- which actually connect the different parts of the computer to the motherboard, where they can be controlled. The wire pins are very small, so it wasn't an easy task to put them in. We had to plug the computer in and try to turn it on, and if it didn't work, go back and move around the tiny wires again.
So there's the finished computer! When it works, the motherboard light turns on. Of course, that light is pretty extraneous, so we turned it off when we booted the computer. Still looks cool though.
The MUCH more interesting news is that I think I found a much better solution to the cost issue I raised in my last post! How many of you have heard of ARM processors, or maybe Raspberry Pi computers?
ARM processors are the tiny processors they use in phones, calculators, etc. Unlike Intel Processors, they can be manufactured by any company if they license the building plans from ARM. This makes them significantly cheaper.
ARM processors are built with the main goal of energy efficiency-- they shouldn't get extremely hot and shouldn't require much energy input. This is why they're used in phones. ARM processors deplete the battery much less, so the phone requires less recharging.
Make no mistake- they aren't as powerful as Intel processors. But look at this: while Intel processors like the i7 are $250 alone, you can get an ARM processor (a quad core one!), its motherboard, 1GB of RAM, and an Ethernet connection for $35 dollars. So if I want eight intel nodes, and each node is estimated at $300 (I'm not even including the hard drives), then that would cost $2400. In that money, I can get SIXTY EIGHT ARM COMPUTERS. SIXTY EIGHT.
It's not that Intel doesn't have processors that are as energy efficient as ARM- their atom processor doesn't take up very much heat, but since they have to compete at the price of ARM processors, they don't make very much money off of it. Also, Intel's focus has always been the most computing power, at the expense of energy efficiency. It's very hard for the company to turn everything around and focus on energy efficiency all of a sudden, when companies like ARM have always focused on energy efficiency.
And that, friends, is the solution to my problem. I'll leave you to think about what this huge cost difference means for the future of Intel and the microprocessor industry...and if you want another perspective, this article is pretty good.
Until Next Time,
Anvita
Hi, its Noah from Lutheran High school in Parker again. I would just like to thank you for your posts on how to build computers. I have been looking into it for a while and now see that I can do this pretty easily on my own, with the extreme hardware knowledge I seem to be lacking. Also, I may have missed this is a past post, what is the budget you are working with? It seems that you are working with a pretty small number. If that is the case, good luck!
ReplyDeleteI love these visuals! I think it's so great that you are able to apply theory to reality and make it work wonderfully! Congratulations on everything you've done!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, using visual aid is crucial for demonstrating progress. Your posts help me and many others in working on small amounts of money to create computers from scratch. Although I prefer software myself, I applaud your work in hardware engineering.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading my comment,
Sterling
Lutheran High School