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Technology Primer – USB 3.0

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For over a decade, USB has been the most common standard on computers for connecting peripherals. It has grown from a port found in small numbers on brand-new systems in the late 1990s to the near-universal standard for everything from input devices to data storage, and is even in widespread use for charging mobile phones. Our modern desktops feature between six and twelve USB ports, a testament to their widespread usage. This article is an introduction to the latest version of USB, with information on performance, availability and backward-compatibility.

What is the value of a quality PC?

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This evening, I came across a forum thread online, in which users of electronic trading workstations were comparing Puget Systems to other PC builders (mainly bargain basement PC builders). An owner of one of our PC’s posted the following:

“I paid a $600 premium for my last computer from Puget. Since I typically keep a computer for about three years, I’m paying about 55 cents a day extra to have super reliable trading machines backed up by great customer service. For me, it’s worth it because computer problems mean time away from trading and/or time away from my wife and kids. Everybody has to make his own price/value decision.”

I love the thought process!

Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 – Mercury Playback Engine

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Traditionally, over at least the past 15 years, the main role of a video card in a computer has been to accelerate 3D graphics. That is a large part of what has made modern computer games possible, and it has also contributed heavily to CAD / CAM work and digital animation. Video cards have also helped with 2D graphics and video playback, but the main focus has been on 3D speed.

Is Starcraft 2 breaking video cards?

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Along with a few other guys here at Puget, I’ve been really enjoying Blizzard’s new game – Starcraft 2. While the basic gameplay remains the same, Blizzard has definitely brought Starcraft into the 21st century, with updated graphics, better game control mechanics, better online matchmaking, great cinematics, and overall a much smoother and more intuitive experience.

Making a bootable USB Key

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Hello fellow Puget enthusiasts! My name is Kyle, welcome to my first ever entry on this blog. My job here at Puget is to take your newly built system and prepare it for the real world. Mainly, I’m in charge of installations and testing. This includes OS and application installations, all software updates, installation of any additional hardware we may have been waiting for and any specific customization you the customer may have requested. From there I do a full range of testing, both the physical and logical. This is done to ensure that your computer meets our high standards. One thing I quickly came to discover is how much of a headache the installation department can be if you don’t have the right tools. Yes, a trusty screw driver is important, but a trusty USB key is irreplaceable (until you make a new one).

What is a Netbook?

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A customer called today, who had heard the term ‘netbook’ but didn’t know what one was. This seemed like a good chance to write a little primer about what a netbook is, and also what it isn’t.

Puget Picks: Antec CP-850w Power Supply

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For most of the last decade we’ve carried Seasonic and Corsair power supplies as our the bulk of our lineup. We’ve been extremely happy with both, but we’ve also slowly branched out and have been testing some other highly rated models. Over the last few months, we’ve quietly added the Antec CP-850 to our lineup – and we’ve been extremely happy with it. So with a few extra minutes today I wanted to write a little post about some of its impressive qualities!

Configuration Challenge: Gaming on Linux

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In recent days, we’ve seen more and more movement on the Linux Gaming front. TransGaming has done a terrific job with their Cedega product of bringing games to the Linux platform. MNTHGECC9VB9 Even more exciting for Linux users, we’re starting to see some developers gearing up to launch their product on all three platforms simultaneously (such as Heroes of Newerth). Now that Valve’s Steam is available on MacOS, there’s even a lot of belief that a Linux release might be next.

Puget Picks: Intel X25 SSD

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This is the first edition in a series of (hopefully) weekly blog posts titled “Puget Picks”. Our goal is to shine a spotlight on some hardware that we’ve been recently impressed with.

There’s a lot more to any particular piece of hardware than it’s polygon-crunching output, so I want to stay away from a bunch of bean-counting benchmarks (there’s plenty of great sites out there that do a terrific job at that). Instead, I’d like to focus on the hardware from the various perspectives of our departments, and what sort of experiences they’ve had.