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For More Information

Computer labs are maintained and managed by Himanshu Naik, Lab Manager.

E-mail: labmanager at engr.sc.edu

CEC Computer System Recommendations

The College of Engineering and Computing recommends the following for students who plan to attend the College for 2007-2008 and who are considering the purchase of a personal computer.

NOTICE: CEC does not yet support Microsoft Vista. We will still try to assist you to the best of our abilities. For Windows Vista, Microsoft recommends the following.

CEC Minimum Desktop System Recommendation

CPU	2.5 GHz Pentium IV or AMD Athlon
RAM	1024 MB of RAM
Hard Drive	80+ GB Hard Drive
Video Card	128 MB Video Card
Sound	Optional
Operating System	Windows XP or Windows 2000
Monitor	17" High Quality Monitor or LCD Monitor
Additional Storage	24X CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive
	256 MB USB Memory/Flash Key
Communications	Optional (56K modem)
	10/100Mbit NIC with RJ-45 adaptor

CEC Recommended Desktop System Guidelines

CPU	3.0 GHz Pentium Core Duo or AMD Athlon, or higher - 64 bit CPUs are not required, however recommended for future compatibility.
RAM	2048 MB of Ram or higher
Hard Drive	120+ GB Hard Drive or higher
Video Card	256 MB Video Card or higher
Sound	Optional
Operating System	Windows XP Professional
Monitor	19" LCD Monitor or higher
Additional Storage	Rewriteable DVD Rom (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
	1024 MB (1 Gigabyte) USB Memory/Flash Key
Communications	Optional (56K modem)
	100Mbit NIC with RJ-45 adaptor

CEC Minimum Notebook System Recommendation

NOTICE: Tablet PCs are recommended equipment.

CPU	2.6 GHz Intel Core Duo or AMD Athlon, or higher - 64 bit CPUs are not required, however recommended for future compatibility.
RAM	512 MB of RAM or higher
Display	15" TFT active-matrix or higher
Hard Drive	120+ GB Hard Drive or higher
Video Card	256 MB Video Card or higher
Sound	Optional
Operating System	Windows XP Professional
Additional Storage	Rewriteable DVD Rom (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
	1024 MB (1 Gigabyte) USB Memory/Flash Key
Communications	802.11g Wi-Fi high-speed wireless LAN (built-in or PC Card)
	Optional (56K modem)
	100Mbit NIC with RJ-45 adaptor

Further Comments and Recommendations

• Operating System:
  Operating systems other than Windows XP or 2000 are not recommended for students planning to major in Chemical, Civil and Environmental, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineering. Operating systems other than Windows 2000, XP, or Unix are not recommended for students planning to major in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. Among versions of Unix, Linux is recommended.
• Monitor:
  It is in a student's best interest to spend as much as can be afforded on the monitor. The monitor is the primary interface that you as a student will have with your computer, and a bigger and better-quality monitor will pay off with less eye strain and more enjoyment. Key things to look for in a monitor are Dot Pitch and Refresh Rate. A good monitor will have a dot pitch of .25mm or less and the ability to have a refresh rate of 75 MHz or greater at the intended resolution.
• Hard Drive:
  Students in Computer Science and Computer Engineering are advised to opt for more than the minimum hard drive. While some of the instruction in CSE uses Windows, many of the upper-level courses are taught using some variant of Unix. Many students will find it desirable before the end of their career at USC to partition their disk so as to permit dual-booting both Windows and Linux.
• Memory versus Processor Speed:
  If cost is a consideration in making a decision between more memory or a faster processor, the general recommendation is that more memory should be purchased. Many canned software packages and tools are memory hogs rather than CPU-intensive, and a user is more likely to experience improved performance from increased memory size rather than from processor speed.
• Applications Software:
  CHEMICAL ENGINEERING: Students in Chemical Engineering will use MS Office products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) as well as MathCad.
  CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING: none
  COMPUTER SCIENCE AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING: The first-year courses in the Computer Science and Computer Engineering majors currently use free tools for programming in Java. These tools can be downloaded from the web. Students are also encouraged to acquire a machine that could eventually handle dual-booting both Linux and Windows.
  ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: none
  MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are used throughout the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum, and it is strongly recommended that students who own personal computers have this software. MathCAD (the latest release) is recommended because it is used in several classes in the Mechanical Engineering Curriculum.
• Obsolescence:
  Students should not expect that a computer bought for the Fall of 2005 will still be state-of-the-art by the time they graduate. If a purchase is done carefully, upgrades to disk, processor, and memory can be made over time without extraordinary expense, but it must be expected that the lifetime of a personal computer, for a professional who makes extensive use of computing resources, is less than four years.