Can anybody walk me through the steps of upgrading my computer?

Question

I would like some instuctions to upgrading a desktop computers harddrive, ram, and processor.
I would like them to be easy to understand for somebody that does not know very much about computers. They need to be in a,b,c form.
Thanks.

Answer 1

I agree with Jeffery, if we don't know where you are starting from then we do not know what to suggest. For example if your motherboard is very old then rather than wasting money on more RAM for an old motherboard, buy a new motherboard and new RAM, but then your old power supply and maybe case will not work for the new motherboard and so on..... Do you see the problem?

Answer 2

First of all, you need to see what is the utility of your upgrade. To do this, ask yourself the question "What do I use this for?"

If it's for Internet Browsing, chatting online and doing a few letters once in a while, then you really may not need to upgrade at all!?

If, however, you are into graphics and want to use the latest graphic applications and audio video editing softwares; play a lot of online games and so on and so forth; then, the upgrades are worth it.

Now, first of all, when you take the upgrade option, please remember that, if you'd had the old 32 bit technology, you're talking in terms of a jump to double the capability with 64 bit technology.

The chip is the core of this and hence, naturally needs to be changed or upgraded.

But then, the chip sits on the motherboard and therefore, the old 32 bit technology motherboard cannot feed nor take the optimal output of the chip; so, you need to change this too.

The old 32 bit RAM needs also to be changed because, otherwise, you'd get a bottleneck here. Besides, you'll now be running a lot of heavy softwares, vis a vis the general usage guy; so your RAM needs increase exponentially.

These new softwares also hog up a lot of space, so, you need to increase your HDD size too.

All this new equipment needs more power, so, you'll need to upgrade to a higher capacity SMPS to provide requisite Power Supply!

So, let's see now, how much of your old computer infrastructure has remained unchanged? Just the Cover! The tower shell!

Heck, you might as well just go trade in the old one and get a new one, 'cause you ain't saving much on this deal!

The keyboard and mouse and speakers etc are really too cheap to consider a saving and the monitor is the only thing that's worth keeping; but then, the Advanced Graphics use you want wouldn't look so good on the old monitor, so, you might as well change that, too.

Like I said before, you might as well give your old comp in a trade in and buy a new system itself!

Now, that's expensive! So, ask yourself, is it worth it? If you aren't going to be using all the potential of the new system; why waste good money on it?

If you're using Windows XP, then the RAM requirement for this alone is 512 MB, you'll need 1 GB RAM. But if you're just using it for mundane work, then all the additional features of XP are a waste!

Actually, it depends entirely on the utility.

You'd do well to consider that before thinking of "upgrading"! "Upgrading" for what?

All the best.

Cheers

Answer 3

lots of questions have to be answered. like what kind is it and do you have any of the paperwork on the motherboard or can you look it up online. Memory is an important upgrade to any computer.

Answer 4

It seems as if you don't know much about upgrading PC hardware so I would recommend finding someone that can do it for you or taking it somewhere such as a PC store where they can do it for you.

If you don't do some upgrades correctly you can seriously screw up your PC.

Answer 5

A: Look at PCs processor speed, if not 1.5 gig or higher, scrap it for parts!
B: If processor is higher than 1.5 gigahertz add ram. If ram is full, scrap it for parts!
If either of the above end in "scrap for parts", New case, new mobo, new processor, new ram!

Answer 6

you may as well buy new puting new parts on a old motherboard not good

pc number
a1650 series
AMD dual-core processor options to handle multi-tasking and photography
Windows Vista Capable

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/compare_category.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops/hp_pavilion&catLevel=1

Answer 7

A) make & model of computer you want to upgrade. (Motherboard, Processor, Dell, HP, etc)

B) budget - low budget, high budget

C) economy, high performance, mid-range (what are you planning on using it for)

D) integrated graphics or graphics card

E) integrated sound or sound card

Answer 8

ok...

a) Get off your computer

b) go too a computer store

c) buy a new better computer

d) hook it up and ask more questions on yahoo answers :)

Answer 9

checkthis out www.hardwareanalysis.com my spelling mightbe off

Answer 10

http://www.directron.com/driveupgrade.html