Upgrading a PC vs. Buying New
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It's that time again; once again the computer industry has rapidly changed hardware and left your current computer in the dust. It seems like you just bought that computer, doesn't it? Heck, my old $20 Wal-Mart blender works the same way it did years ago, but my $1,000 computer isn't cutting it two years later. So what can you do? Keep reading to examine your options.
There are two options you have when you want a zippier computer. You can either go out and buy a whole new PC, or you can upgrade your original PC to something a little more powerful. Deciding which option best suits your needs can be tricky and difficult. I'm going to help you decide what the right route is for you.
Before you begin
There are a few different things to consider carefully before you start. These decisions will shape what you do with your money. First, how much do you plan to spend? Typically upgrading is cheaper than buying a new computer. Depending on what hardware you have now, it might actually be cheaper to buy a whole new computer instead of upgrading your old one. At this point it is better to buy a new computer than upgrade.
When upgrading, there are other things to consider along with whether it would be beneficial to your computer. When upgrading your video card, consider the power supply you have in the computer. Typically OEM PCs don't offer a very powerful PSU, so make sure that there will be enough juice to power your upgraded PC. Some OEMs don't use standard layouts and connectors, so a different PSU or motherboard might not fit in the existing case. If you have to upgrade your PSU, motherboard and case, it's going to be a lot easier to buy a new computer than to spend the money and time on upgrading your current one.
The next biggest factor is hardware compatibility. I'm sure you know that you simply can't put an AMD CPU into an Intel socket and vice versa. Back in the day you could, but not anymore. If you don't plan on upgrading both your CPU and motherboard, then you should stick to what you have already. If you aren't sure about your hardware's compatibility, you can download a free program called CPU-Z. This will tell you everything you need to know about your CPU. Take note of the socket of the CPU and also the chipset of your motherboard as this will determine your upgrade path.
Once you figure out the chipset, you can start looking. Since most chipsets only support one CPU socket, it's best to start there. There are multiple chipsets that support the same socket, but not all the CPUs that fit in the socket are compatible with the chipset. Check the motherboard compatibility with the CPU; you may need a BIOS update, but that should be simple. AMD is better with single chipsets supporting a variety of CPUs, but with Intel, you really need to do your homework.
Other than the CPU and motherboard compatibility, there are a few other hardware technologies that you need to be aware of before upgrading. Memory is a lot more standardized. In most computers that were made under a few years ago, it will probably have DDR2 memory, though you might find some DDR or RDRAM computers still. DDR and DDR2 are pretty cheap and easily upgradeable. RDRAM is totally different, if you can still find it; it's going to cost you an arm and leg. Hard drives are most likely going to be PATA or SATA, and both can be easily found.
Now that I have given you some things to look into before upgrading your computer, I'm going to take a look at some popular older computers and see how we can upgrade them.
Next: Upgrade Time or Buy New? >>
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