By Levy Vargas
May 2006
Two or three years ago, your PC was a fire-breathing monster. These days, however, the trusty rig performance is noticeably sluggish and unsatisfying, and you池e starting to run low on storage space. Before you ditch the machine, however, consider these upgrades—you might be able to squeeze a few more good years out of it.
the clips snap into place.
When your open apps run out of RAM, your PC has to transfer data between its actual memory and the virtual memory on your hard drive. This malady, known as thrashing, slows down your PCs operation considerably. Adding RAM is a quick, easy way to eliminate it.
Before you order new RAM modules, however, get some details on your existing RAM, including the number of modules installed, the capacity of each module, the number of slots you have, and the maximum RAM speed and capacity your PC can handle. You can check how much RAM is installed by right-clicking My Computer and selecting Properties, or by watching the screen during your PCs power-on self test (POST).
A physical inspection can answer these questions and more, however. Shut down your PC, unplug the power cord, and open the case. Ground yourself by touching metal before you touch the modules. Remove a module by pushing down the clips on either side of its slot and pulling the module straight up. Then, look for a label on it that identifies its speed and capacity.
Now check how many free slots you have, if any. The number of modules youll have to replace will depend on the capacity of the existing modules and the maximum capacity each slot can accommodate. You can find out that info when you enter your PCs make and model number into the fields at the memory providers site.
When selecting RAM, make sure its at least as fast as your current RAM, and install the fastest memory your PC can handle if you want to achieve a noticeable performance improvement.
Installing the new RAM is simple: Just push the module straight down into the socket until the clips snap into place. You know youve done it right when the BIOS and Windows report the new amount.
open AGP or PCI Express slot.
Memory demands are highest for tasks such as video editing and gameplay. That痴 why graphics cards have their own onboard memory. If your existing card doesn稚 have enough memory—or is a motherboard-based solution that lacks a dedicated chip—performance can suffer. Upgrading to a fresh, dedicated graphics card can not only help, but it can add some prime features, too.
Look for a card with a faster GPU (denoted by its clock speed in megahertz), and shoot for twice as much memory as your current card has. To check these numbers, reboot your machine and watch the screen carefully for this information during the POST. If your PC is a couple of years old, it probably has an AGP slot, so make sure you don稚 select a card with the newer PCI Express interface. Also, you may want to consider a card with a built-in DVI port (for digital connection to an LCD) or TV tuner.
To install the new card, follow the same procedures for powering down and grounding yourself. Remove the old card (a screw may be holding it in place), and push the new one firmly into position. If the card has a power-input cable, connect it to your PC痴 power supply. When you reboot, Windows should detect the new card, and you値l be able to install its drivers. (For more help upgrading your graphics card, check out �Get the Power to Play� in the June 2005 issue.)
The performance of older, slower hard drives worsens as they reach capacity. Speed things up and gain some much-needed space by installing two new hard drives in a RAID array. This is also a good opportunity to upgrade to the Serial ATA (SATA) drive interface, which is faster than conventional IDE and uses smaller cables for less clutter. You can configure RAID in several ways; we recommend RAID Level 1, which writes to both drives simultaneously, creating a mirror image of your data. This way, if one drive fails, your data is safe on the other. When shopping, look for identical or similar drives, with spin rates of at least 7,200rpm and minimum caches of 16MB for improved performance.
If your motherboard doesn稚 support RAID, you値l need to install a RAID controller card in a free PCI slot. If you池e going the SATA route, note you may need a floppy drive to install the drivers. (If your PC痴 a few years old, you probably still have one.) And, obviously, you値l need two free 3.5-inch drive bays for the two drives. Other considerations: the length of cable you値l need, available power-supply connectors, and the software that comes bundled with the drives you choose. In the last case, you値l want data-backup and -migration utilities. Also, utilities accessible from the BIOS are valuable should problems arise.
Once you have everything you need and you致e installed the PCI card, position the two drives in their bays, secure them with the included screws, and connect the appropriate cables to the controller card and power supply. The next time you power up, Windows will detect the new drives. You can now copy the entire image of your old drive, OS and all, to one of the new drives using the bundled data-migration software. Next, power down your PC, remove the old drive, and power back up. Before Windows boots, enter the RAID card痴 BIOS to create a RAID 1 array using your two new hard drives. (For more info, see �Double Up Your Data� in the January 2006 issue.)
the new sound card into a free PCI slot.
If you enjoy listening to music, watching movies, or playing the latest games on your PC, integrated audio or an aging sound card may not meet your needs. Many outdated boards and chips don稚 support surround-sound speakers or encode popular audio codecs (such as AAC, MP3, or WMA) without offloading the heavy work onto your processor.
When selecting a new card, consider your speaker system, and make sure the connectors match. Installation is straightforward. If you池e replacing a dedicated sound card, just remove it and drop in the new one, paying attention to where any internal connectors go. If you池e upgrading from integrated audio, restart your computer and disable this chip in the BIOS. (For more advice, check out �Immerse Yourself in 7.1 Sound� in the August 2005 issue.)
