System Specifications for Windows Vista Win Vista

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS

The first step in optimizing your PC is to find out precisely what hardware components you have, and what their various capabilities are.

This is known as your System Specifications, and to find out the specific details of your hardware you requ ire an appropriate set of tools. Information about your system specifications is vital both for using this guide, and for general PC usage and maintenance.

For example you must know the model and chipset type of your motherboard before you ca n upgrade your BIOS, or install the correct motherboard drivers; you must know the full capabilities of your graphics card if you want to know if it can run Vista Aero or again to update its drivers; or you may have a complex problem which you wish to resolve yourself or provide details of to a Technical Support person.

This chapter covers the tools you need and the methods you can use to obtain all the relevant system information.

SYSTEM INFORMATION TOOLS
There are several good free system information utilities to choose from, including some comprehensive ones built into Windows Vista. A combination of these programs will tell you everything you need to know about your system specifications and ca pa bilities, and I recommend you download and install as many of these programs as possible:

WINDOWS SYSTEM INFORMATION TOOL
You can access the Windows System Information Tool by going to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information, or go to Start>Search Box and type "msinfo32" (without quotes) and hit Enter.
The Windows System Information Tool presents a range of basic information about your system.
Unfortunately much of it can be a little difficult to comprehend or may not be quite what you're looking for.
Some of the more useful pieces of information include the IRQ allocations under Hardware Resources>IRQs; the listing of your hardware components by type under the Components section; a listing of all the system
drivers loaded up and their status under Software Environment>System Drivers; or recent Windows errors under Software Environment>Windows Error Reporting. In general the System Information Tool is best used by medium to advanced users who can comprehend the interface and the information much easier than a beginning user. Its major advantage is that it is a free and built-in utility that anyone can easily access.

PERFORMANCE & INFORMATION TOOLS
Windows Vista contains several tools which provide performa nce and diagnostic information about your system. These can be found under Control Panel>Performance Information and Tools>Advanced Tools and include the Task Manager, the Reliability and Performance Monitor, the Windows Memory Diagnostics and the Generate System Health Report items. These tools are very useful in both providing more detailed information about your system, and more importantly for allowing you to undertake troubleshooting/diagnostics. They are covered in detail under the Performance Measurement & Diagnostics chapter.

DEVICE MANAGER
You can access the Windows Device Manager under the Control Panel, or by going to Start>Search Box and typing "device manager" (without quotes) and then pressing Enter. As a built-in Windows utility you can gain a great deal of useful information about your hardware from this tool. Your major devices are displayed under various categories, and you can even choose to update individual device drivers or uninstall a device altogether should you wish. The Device Manager has several important roles and is covered in more detail under the BIOS & Hardware Management chapter.

DIRECTX DIAGNOSTICS
You can access the DirectX Diagnostic Utility (DXDiag) by going to Start>Search Box and typing "dxdiag" (without quotes) and pressing Enter. DXDiag is another built-in Windows Diagnostic/System Information tool that is part of the DirectX 10 API (See the Graphics & Interface chapter). The main tab of DXDiag, called System, displays basic information about your system such as your Processor (CPU) type and speed, amount of Memory (physical RAM) and the Pagefile (Virtual Memory) usage among other things. Under the Display, Sound and Input tabs you can find more information about the particular hardware you are running for each of these functions. In particular you should ensure that all the DirectX Features listed are Enabled. If they are not, they can't be changed here however this indicates that there may be an issue with your hardware or drivers - see the Windows Drivers chapter for more details.

The most useful function for DXDiag is its ability to create a detailed text file with all your major system information, including your main hardware specifications, driver files, and environmental settings. To generate this text file click the 'Save All Information' button found at the bottom of the main DXDiag screen.
You will be prompted to save this report somewhere, and the default of the Windows Desktop is just fine.
This DXDiag.txt file can now be attached to an email you can send to a Technical Support person, or its contents can be posted on an online forum to allow others to help you with any problems you may be experiencing. Don't worry - it doesn't contain any private information such as serial numbers or passwords.

3DMARK
You can download the latest version of 3DMark from the Futuremark Website, and you can read more about its main functionality under the Performance Measurement & Diagnostics chapter. 3DMark is primarily designed as a graphics benchmarking utility, however it has a nice system information section that gives you a brief snapshot of major system information. Start 3DMark and on the main screen click the Details button under the System section. A browser window will open with a range of information about your system.

SANDRA
You can download Sandra from the SiSoftware Website. Once installed, run Sandra and you will see a wide selection of information and benchmarking modules to choose from. Under the free version of Sandra, many of these modules are inactive, however the main ones we need ha ve sufficient functionality for our purposes.
For example, if you want to know more about your system, go to the Hardware ta b and open the Computer Overview module. It will display a range of basic but important information about your system, such as the CPU speed and type, and your graphics card model. If you want to know more about your motherboard in particular for example, open the Mainboard module, and it will display the motherboard chipset type, and information related to your motherboard and the types of devices on its various ports. Sandra has several very useful benchmarking and stress testing features that are covered in more detail in the Performance Measurement & Diagnostics chapter. Note that Sandra installs two new Services for itself, called the
'SiSoftware Sandra Agent Service' - which you can set to Manual; and the 'SiSoftware Database Agent Service' - which you can Disable.

CPU- Z
You can download CPU-Z from the CPU-Z Website. Run CPU-Z.exe and it will provide you with everything you need to know about your CPU, such as its precise speed, voltage, packaging type, cache sizes etc. It will also tell you about your system's current Bus speed under the CPU tab, your full motherboard details under the Motherboard tab, and your RAM's complete details under the Memory and SPD tabs. Note that for information to appear under the SPD tab you will have to first select the slot(s) on the motherboard that your RAM stick(s) occupy, otherwise the box will be empty.

There are many other system information tools which are available, some of which are not free. However a combination of the tools above can give you all the details you need to see precisely what hardware is in your PC. I strongly encourage you to make sure that you are fully aware of your hardware specifications and capabilities, as incorrect knowledge can cause major problems when you try to install drivers or make system or BIOS changes for example. Make a list of your relevant system specifications now using the above tools and keep them handy - see the format below for further help.

PROVIDING SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
At some point while you are seeking help for a computer-related problem you will have to provide your system specifications. Whether a qualified Technical Support person or simply a computer enthusiast on an online forum asks, you should provide your specifications in an appropriate format. Simply copying the entire contents of a DXDiag dump for example is far too large for most people to have the patience to wade through, so I recommend that you use the format shown below.

Use the system information tools covered above to fill in the appropriate details. The more detail you can provide, the better - the bare minimum is the brand and model number of your major components. Add in details like whether any of the components are overclocked, whether there is any additional or modified cooling, and indeed whether any other modifications have been made to the system since purchased. I have filled in some sample information in italics to demonstrate how it should look:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-core CPU, stock speed, XP-90 cooling
Motherboard: DFI NForce4 SLI-DR
Graphics card: Nvidia GeForce 7800GTX at Stock speed
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2ZS
RAM: 2 x 1GB OCZ PC3200 at 400MHz, 2-3-2-5 (CAS 2)
Hard Drive(s): 2 x 74GB Western Digital Raptor SATA RAID 0
CD/DVD Drive(s): Pioneer DVR-109 DVD-R
Power Supply: Silverstone 650W
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate including all updates
Driver Versions, Other Details: 2.08.0002 Audigy 2 drivers, 100.65 Forceware, 6.70 NForce drivers

You can also provide details of your monitor, keyboard, mouse,speakers/headphones, however these are usually not critical to solving a PC problem, unless of course your problem is with mouse input, display output, or audio output for example.

If you are still at a total loss as to how to provide full details of your system, use DirectX Diagnostics (see above) to generate a report and attach it to an email or post its contents on a forum, but bear in mind that noone can magically solve a problem simply by looking at your system specifications, no matter how detailed they are, so despite the length of a DXDiag text dump, it is not a substitute for you becoming familiar with your own system and therefore troubleshooting your own problems, or actively being able to contribute and assist someone else who is trying to do so. You should also become familiar with the Performance Measurement & Diagnostics chapter of this guide, as it provides important details on how you
can go about resolving many problems on your own PC.

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