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Selection of a Monitor/ Video Display
To work with all CAD soft wares, it is better to select the largest monitor with the best resolution as it facilitates greatest ease in working. A 14" monitor is a standard monitor that may not fulfill the requirement. An 18" monitor which costs a little more than the standard one may be an ideal tool for viewing the design. A 24" monitor is also available which is very expensive and affordable by very few. A resolution of at least 640 x 480 dpi (dots per inch) is a must for the standard monitors. Resolutions of 1024 x 768 dpi, 1280 x 1024 dpi or better are optimal. Monitors with high. Performance cards are available which enables the display of 256 colours at the same time. Flat screens deliver a crisper, more distortion - free display across the screen.
Organizing the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The CPU is the computer's activity centre. After processing the software and user input, it sends instructions to the monitor, printer, plotter or other peripheral devices. The CPU's speed and efficiency affect its performance and user productivity. Speeds of CPU differ and around 50 MHz speed is the least speed required for any type of CAD. The greater the speed, the less time it takes for the drawing to regenerate. The kind of processor used also affects the CPU's processing power. Pentium processors are faster and at present Pentium 4 is the fastest CPU available in the market.
RAM or Random Access Memory is the storage space that holds the drawing and programme while they are in use. RAM should be based on the requirement of software used for designing and a RAM of 128 Megabytes (MB) may be the minimum requirement for design work. Design work consumes a lot of space than text in a computer. Scanned pictures form larger files that occupy lot of space.
For convenience the CPU should contain external drives such as floppy drive, CD drive / CD writers, Zip drive etc to provide external space for storage of information and flexibility of use. The CPU should also have few expansion slots for future up gradation. These can be used for additional serial and parallel ports, extra memory, video cards and other enhancements. An non-integrated mother boards is better than integrated mother boards as the former facilitates replacing of its components individually.
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