2nd Year Mathematics CBA 1-Mathematical

Investigation

By Thomas Lynch 2nd year

Ms. Furness
Table of contents
Pg3-The problem and why I chose it
Pg4-Assumptions
Pg5-Steps I will take
Pg6-My Prediction
Pg7-Overview of current computer
Pg8-Pre-built computer
Pg9-Parts I need
Pg10-Case
Pg11-Motherboard
Pg12-Procceser
Pg13-Graphics Card
Pg14-RAM (Memory)
Pg15-Storage Device
Pg16-Fan
Pg17-Adding it all up
Pg18- New graphics card and comparing the cost of the pre-built computer vs the custom built
computer
Pg19- Comparing the parts of the pre-built computer vs the custom-made Computer.
Pg20-Comparing my chosen computer to my old computer
Pg21- Comparing my chosen computer to my current computer.
Pg22- Comparing my results to my assumptions
Pg23- Strengths and weaknesses
Pg24- Does my answer make sense? Did I make any changes? And the websites I used
Pg25-Goodbye 
 The problem
I want to upgrade my current computer, which option is
better buying the parts myself and building the computer
vs buying a prebuilt computer
Based on these factors:
 It must be a big upgrade over my current computer.
 It would have to fit within my budget of €1000.
 It would be able to play videogames on my
computer.
I chose the problem as my current computer was bought
in 2015 that means the parts inside of the computer are
outdated and it's time for me to get an upgrade, It also
includes lots of chances for me to include math's into my
investigation which would benefit me.
 Assumptions
 I would have the budget of 1000 available to buy all
the parts and the pre-built computer.
 If I went over budget my family would be able to
give me the rest of the money, I needed.
 I would have all the time in the world to build this
computer.
 I would not need any help with building the
computer.
 The parts would arrive at the suggested time online.
 I would have the tools necessary to build my
computer.
 My current mouse, Keyboard, Headphones and
speak is compatible with the new computer I am
going
 All of the parts that I will buy for the custom
computer will work together

Steps I will take

1. I will write up an overview of my current computer's
hardware to be able to compare it to my new computer
later in my investigation.
2. I will look online for a pre-build computer that is near
my €1000 budget.
3. I will look online for all the parts that I need to be able
to build my own computer.
4. I will look online for the prices for the parts.
5. I will use pie and bar charts to compare parts to find
the best one for value.
6. I will add up the price to find the total cost and create
a pie chart to see what takes up the biggest amount of
money.
7. I will compare the cost of pre-built vs the custom built
computer
8. I will figure out the overall best option to pick out of
the two options I have chosen.
9. I will compare my chosen computer to my old
computer to figure out how better it is.

My predictions
I predict that the custom-made computer will be cheaper
than the pre-built computer and have better parts overall
inside of it because the pre-built computer includes the
price of someone else building it and shipping a big
object.
I predict that I will be able to stay inside my budget for
both of my options because I am buying these online and
can check my prices.
I predict that both options will have better parts inside of
them than my current computer because I am going to
ensure that they do because I want this computer to be a
better overall computer than my current computer.
Later on in the Investigation I will compare these
predictions with my results.

Overview of current computer

Processor=Intel Core i5-3350P CPU @ 3.10GHz 3.10 GHz
Installed RAM=8.00 GB
Display= Screen Size-18.5", Resolution-1366 x 768,
Response time-5ms
Case= ASUS Essentio 2015 Case
Processor= 2nd Gen Intel Core Processors
Storage= 909 GB
Graphics card=GeForce GTX 650

Pre-built computer
Price €1,070 €920 €1,088
RAM 16GB 8GB 8GB
Processor Model Corei7 Corei5 Corei5
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
1060 6GB 4K
Storage 1TB 1TB 1TB
Winner Win Lose Lose
Why? This computer has the This computer is the This computer is the
 best overall parts and is cheapest which would most expensive most
the middle option in save us on price, but its likely because it can run
terms of price. parts are far too low. 4k, but I cannot use 4k
as my monitor can't run
it.

For the Pre-built computer, I am going to look at 3

computers and compare them

Parts I need
I looked online on cgdirector.com for all the parts that I
need to create my own computer from scratch.
 Case
 Motherboard
  Processor
 Graphics Card
 RAM (Memory)
 Storage
 Fan
I will be going through each of these items individually to
find which ones I can buy for the best value.

Case
 Case 1

Case 2

Case 3
I am going to choose case 1 as it is the second most
expensive and has the best reviews.

Motherboard

Motherboard 1
 Motherboard 2

Motherboard 3

I am going to choose motherboard 3 as it is cheaper than

motherboard 2 (€183-€159=€24 Cheaper) and is very close to it
reviews wise

Processor
 Processor 1

Processor 2

Processor 3
I am going to choose Processor 3 even though it is the
most expensive its reviews are amazing.

Graphics Card
 Graphics Card 1

Graphics
Card 2

Graphics
Card 3

I am going to choose graphics card 2 as it is only (€378-

€360=€18) more expensive than graphics card 1 and has
better reviews.

RAM (Memory)
 Ram 1

Ram 2

Ram 3
I am going to choose RAM 1 as it is (200-160=€40
Cheaper) than the most expensive one (RAM 3) and has
better reviews than it.

Storage
 Storage 1

Storage 2

Storage 3
I am going to choose storage 1 as it is the cheapest by
(€150-€100=€50) and has the best overall reviews out of
the three of them

Fan
 Fan 1

Fan 2

Fan
I am going to choose fan 1 as it is the same price as fan 3
and has better reviews than it.

Adding it all up
Case=€54
Motherboard=€159
Processor=€175
Graphics Card=€378
RAM (Memory) =€160
Storage Device=€100
Fan=€100
€54+€159+€175+€378+€160+€100+€100=€1126

The graphics card that I have chosen is expensive I am

going to choose one which is (€1126-€1000=€126)
cheaper than my current one so I am within budget.

New Graphics Card

This is the new graphics card that I have chosen it is
€230 which is (€378-€230=€148 Cheaper)
We are now in budget by (€1126-€148=€978) (€1000-
€978=€22)

Comparing the cost of pre-built computer

vs custom built computer
The pre-built computer cost a total of €1,070 compared
to the custom built computer which cost a total of €978
this means that the custom build computer was (€1070-
€978=€92) cheaper than the prebuilt computer

Comparing the parts of the pre-built

computer vs the custom build computer
*=It’s the better of the two (I only compared the parts I
could I find with pre-built computer)
Type of computer Pre-Built Custom-Built

Price €1070 €978*

RAM 16GB 32GB*
Processor Corei7 4.9 (GHz)* AMD Ryzen 5 (4.4
GHz)
Storage Device 1TB 4TB*
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX GeForce GTX
1060 6GB 1660 6GB*
Winner Lost Winner
Why This computer is more This computer is
expensive than the cheaper and has
custom built overall better
computer and the parts than the
parts inside of it pre-built
aren’t as good. computer
Comparing my chosen computer to my
current computer.
(I will only compare the parts that I could find for my
current computer.)
*=It was the better out of the two.
Computer Type New Computer Current Computer

Processor AMD Ryzen 5 (4.4 Intel Core i5 (3.10

GHz)* GHz)
RAM 32GB* 8GB

Case Aero Cool RGB Mid ASUS Essentio

Tower with 2015 Case
Window 2019*
Storage 4000GB* 909GB
Graphics Card GeForce GTX 1660* GeForce GTX 650
As I can see from this table the new computer is a big
improvement over my current computer and has much
better parts. All of the parts are better than my current
computer.

Comparing my results to my assumptions

1. For my first prediction “I predict that the custom-made
computer will be cheaper than the pre-built computer
and have better parts overall inside of it because the pre-
built computer includes the price of someone else
building it and shipping a big object.” I was right the
custom-made computer was cheaper and had better
parts in it.
2. For my second prediction “I predict that I will be able
to stay inside my budget for both of my options because I
am buying these online and can check my prices.” I was
wrong even though I was able to say inside my budget
for the custom-built computer by changing my graphics
card (Because it was 33% of the overall cost) for the pre-
made computer I went with a more expensive one
because the option that was in line with the budget
didn’t have good enough parts inside of it to be a big
enough upgrade over my current computer.
3.And for my third and final prediction” I predict that
both options will have better parts inside of them than
my current computer because I am going to ensure that
they do because I want this computer to be a better
overall computer than my current computer. “I was right.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths
 The final answer I got was very accurate as during
the investigation I used a lot of pie and bar charts to
find the best possible parts
 I made a pie chart to show how much each of the
parts were a part of the total cost in the custom-
built computer as it showed me that my graphics
card was to expensive (33% of the total cost) and
was causing me to go over budget which made me
find a cheaper one and helped me keep in budget.
Weaknesses
 I had to create a lot of pie and bar charts to make
sure my answer was correct which was a lot of work
 Even though I have to cost of my building the new
computer I assumed that all these parts would work
with my old stuff and work together which might not
be the case in real life.

Does my answer make sense?

Yes I do think that my answer makes sense. I think this
because I used a very trust worthy site to make find all
the parts I needed for the computer

Did I make any changes?

Yes. During the process of making it I changed the
graphics card I used as I learned that it was too expensive

Websites I Used
The websites are used are
 Amazon.com for the parts are they also have reviews
and show percentages for all of them
 Metachart.com to create my bar and pie charts so
they would look more presentable in the
investigation
 Cgdirector.com to figure out what parts I needed to
create the computer as they are a very trust worthy
website.
 Examination.ie to look at other students examples so
I can august mine to cover all required category’s
Goodbye.
Thank you so
much for
reading my
CBA. Hope you
enjoyed.