Upgrade Your PC

Processor & Motherboard & Memory

The first thing to consider is whether or not you want more processing power and memory. Processing power determines the overall speed of your computer. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is in charge of processing the instructions of the programs you use. Those instructions can be anything from telling the video card what to draw on the screen to doing a math calculation in a spreadsheet. RAM (Random Access Memory) is a temporary holding space for those instructions and those calculations. However, if all the programs you're running at a given time require more memory than what's installed on your computer, the operating system usually resorts to using Virtual RAM, which is nothing more than a file on your hard disk. Hard disk access is much slower than RAM access, and thusly your performance will be degraded if your computer must resort to using Virtual RAM.

CPU processing power is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz), which is 1000MHz. Currently, processors are available between 450MHz and 1.4 GHz. If you want to upgrade your processor, you should only buy a processor that has a megahertz rating at least 1.5 times that of your current processor. Otherwise you won't notice any speed increase. As you can see from the table below, after 800MHz, you really don't need to upgrade as you won't notice that much of a speed increase from the fastest processor available. After 1 GHz, there is no reason to upgrade.

Remember: Don't get caught up in the numbers! Just because a processor is 100MHz faster, it doesn't mean you'll gain anything from it. A 200 MHz processor may be twice as fast as a 100MHz processor, but a 900MHz processor is only 1/8 faster than an 800Mhz processor.

Sockets and Slots

A second factor that will greatly influence you purchase decision is the socket or slot that the processor fits into. In the beginning, (of PCs that are usable today, at least) everyone used Socket 7. But then Intel came up with a CPU design to include crucial L2 cache onto the chip. This made the chip faster but required a new motherboard-CPU connection Intel called Slot 1. AMD and Cyrix stuck to Socket 7 for the longest time, in response to the market's initial negative reaction to the new slot design requiring a new motherboard. Then one day AMD came up with a similar design called Slot A, breaking AMD into the performance market. A speed race broke out, Cyrix dropped out of the market, and Intel responded by trying to tap into AMD's budget market with the Celeron using the old socket "theory" using a new socket design -- Socket 370. Feeling the heat as Celerons slowly gained a foothold on the budget market, AMD produced a similar-looking Duron using a similar-looking Socket A. As processors reached the 1 GHz mark, Intel came up with cheaper and faster method to include L2 cache on the CPU using the socket design. Intel starting making Pentium IIIs for Socket 320, and AMD followed suit, making Athlons on Socket A.

So what does this all mean? If you plan on upgrading the processor, more than likely you will have to buy a new motherboard too.

Memory

The third factor in overall performance is memory. Basically, the more you have, the faster your computer can go because it won't have to access the hard drive. However, data in memory can only be processed as quickly as the processor can handle it. Also, once you add enough memory to stop hitting the Virtual RAM on the hard drive, you won't see any additional gain.

To determine how much memory you need, click on the Start menu and select Run. Then type msinfo32 in the text box and click OK. Here you will see Available Physical Memory, which tells you how much physical memory you have left, and Page File Space, which tells you how much hard drive space you're using for virtual memory. Take Page File Space and subtract it from Available Physical Memory. This is how much RAM you will need.

Remember that, nowadays, memory is sold in increments of 64MB, so if you only need 32MB, you'll have to buy 64MB.