Before you upgrade your PC hardware it’s best to search all
options and ask for advice. Only after this you can go and buy a
new component. It’s also useful to check if you really need an
upgrade.
Do not upgrade your very old PC because it would cost a lot of
money. It’s cheaper to buy a new computer in such cases because
they are easier to upgrade later.
Upgrading the hard drive:
The majority of people do not really need to upgrade their hard
disk, unless they use it for playing a lot of music, movies, and
games. A 20 GB hard drive is sufficient to keep new office and
internet applications, and all your files and data.
A medium sized hard drive would be around 40 GB and the maximum
would be around 60 – 80 GB.
Before upgrading your hard disk it’s best to do a complete disk
checkup including disk scan, defragmentation, etc. If you happen
to be an average user and need more storage you can add an
additional drive to the existing one. Before an upgrade, be sure
to back up your files.
Upgrading the RAM:
RAM or Random Access Memory is the short-term memory of the PC.
It keeps data that is being worked on now and may or may not be
transferred to the hard drive that represents the long-term
memory of the computer.
Current processors can perform an enormous number of operations
per second. The hard drive, on the other hand, is significantly
slower to handle so much information. This is where a high-speed
RAM memory comes in. RAM needs a power supply to keep data. Once
the power is turned off the data is lost.
Almost all PCs have 64 MB RAM and often 128 MB. If you want to
run newer applications on your PC then you must upgrade to
128/256 MB RAM.
A lot of people who upgrade from 98 to Win 2000 discover that
their computers lock up very often. This is because they don\’t
have enough RAM.
CPU upgrade:
If you choose this upgrade, you will have faster execution of
instructions but it leaves the RAM and hard drive capacity
unchanged.
This sis the most cost effective upgrade and can increase the
efficiency of your computer considerably. Seek a professional
help before you take a decision.
Motherboard:
Upgrading motherboard is not such a good proposition unless you
replace the CPU and the RAM as well to achieve greater
performance levels. You upgrade the motherboard either because
the current one doesn’t support a faster CPU or the CPU requires
a different socket. It could be very expensive. Think about
buying a new PC.
Ports:
Ports are sockets at the back of your computer where you plug in
external devices. Older PCs work on “parallel” ports. If you
need to work a lot on peripherals such as digital cameras,
digital camcorders, CD burners, and scanners then you need to
upgrade to USB and Firewire ports if you are not using them
already.
Both tend to be cheaper than the “parallel” and SCSI devices
they replace. Always make sure that there are no compatibility
problems with other devices in your PC when you plan to upgrade
any hardware on your machine.
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