Breaking the Computer Buying Cycle

Jacklyn J. Dyer February 23, 2024

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That New Computer Smell

If you are like most people when they exit and buy a new Personal Computer, you probably get excited when you take it out of the box, flip it on, and marvel at how rapidly it runs. When a computer is new, it always seems to run faster and boot up more quickly than your antique computer. The applications and games seem to run without any slow down, and while you get on the internet, the pages load immediately on display, and you can fast surf from one site to another. Over time, your computer can slow down and not run as quickly as it did while it was new.

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This sluggish down can occur for an expansion of reasons, and while it takes place, it may be frustrating and spoil your computing experience. Often, this can be corrected by cleaning up your hard force or walking some diagnostics. For example, perhaps the laptop has a virus, and when you dispose of the virus, overall performance can be restored. What do you do if you have accomplished everything and your computer continues walking slowly?

If your PC is running sluggishly even after removing any viruses and trying to enhance the system’s overall performance, it could suggest that the demands you are now putting on your computer have exceeded its capability.

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Using our computers, we tend to install new software packages and try to run extra programs concurrently. The new software we install can require greater computer sources, including more computer memory and a faster CPU or valuable processing unit to run the software program packages or games well.

If you’re like me, you like to have multiple software applications going for walks or a couple of net browser home windows open at an identical time. That may utilize more amounts of laptop assets as nicely. Of course, the more sources you operate, the slower the laptop will run.

This is a regular trouble in computing because the computer era doubles every 18 months. Software program developers create more useful resource-eating software packages in demand for greater characteristic-rich programs. To meet the extended needs of the software program, laptop producers continue to build faster, more highly-priced computers. In my view, this is a vicious cycle in which if you want to preserve quick and enjoyable computing, the PC user is forced to go out and purchase a new computer every few years.

Fortunately, I have never had to worry about that trouble. I am a certified computer expert and have been constructing and repairing computers for over 15 years. Therefore, when I need a quicker computer, I do not exit and purchase a new high-priced PC. I have discovered how to interrupt the new PC buying cycle by upgrading my laptop. I can make myself a quicker PC at a value fragment by upgrading my PC instead of buying a new one.

You can destroy the PC buying cycle, too, and you do not need to be a laptop expert like me to do it. You only need to recognize a few things about computer systems, be handy with a screwdriver, and be able to observe a few simple instructions; however, before you begin to consider upgrading your PC, it might be important to get a quick evaluation of how a computer works.

Computer Basics

Computers comprise a combination of hardware and software programs operating together. It could seem very complex when you aren’t familiar with how a computer functions. You can lessen that complexity after you apprehend how a laptop works at a primary degree.

At its maximum primary level, a computer gets input and produces output. A computer receives entry via entering gadgets, including the keyboard and mouse (hardware). Whenever we click the mouse on a hyperlink or pass the mouse through the screen, we give the laptop input or preparation to do something.

The PC receives the input as an electronic sign created via the mouse click or keystroke on the keyboard. This sign is transmitted through the computer and converted into digital records. It can be interpreted as instruction through the operating gadget, software utility, or recreation. (software program)

The PC approaches virtual training information and produces output as either an image or words on the PC screen or perhaps as a printout on a printer.

A laptop’s capacity to acquire, enter, and convey output quickly makes it rapid. There are numerous components for a computer to function. However, there are three primary components that at once have an effect on how fast a laptop can work.

The 3 primary computer additives that manage the processing of entering and make a laptop fast are the following:

Motherboard or Main System board
CPU or Central Processing Unit
RAM or Random Access Memory
The Motherboard

Without getting too technical, the Motherboard is the computer that connects all the hardware on the PC. So you ought to consider the Motherboard as a data freeway that hyperlinks together all of the additives of the computer and allows them to transmit data between every different and talk.

Every laptop factor on the computer connects to the Motherboard via being linked without delay to the Motherboard or connecting through a facts cable. The gadgets or components that connect with the Motherboard are the CPU, RAM Memory, Hard Drive, CD ROM/DVD pressure, Video Card, Sound Card, Network Card, Modem, Keyboard, Mouse, and Monitor.

There are extra peripheral gadgets that could hook up with the Motherboard and a spread of information ports related to the Motherboard, including a printer, virtual digital camera, microphone, and even an HDTV. These gadgets can connect to the Motherboard using one of the numerous ports such as a USB, Parallel, Fire-Wire, SATA (Serial-ATA), or HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port.

In brief, the Motherboard supplied the records with verbal exchange infrastructure, allowing communique between all gadgets. What makes one Motherboard quicker than any other is the number of statistics it can aid in being transmitted across what it refers to as facts BUS and the velocity at which it may share the data. One manner to consider it is in phrases of an avenue. Think of the records but as a street, and the facts are like motors used down the road. Older Motherboard’s verbal exchange became the equivalent of a two-manner, two-lane highway with a speed restriction of 25 MPH. Today, the new Motherboards are like eight-lane highways with 200MPH velocity limits.

New Motherboards are faster because they can permit extra information from site visitors at higher speeds.

The CPU

The CPU or Processor is the mind of the PC. The CPU incorporates all the commands you, with an Operating System like Windows XP or Windows 7, ask it to do. CPUs can handiest carry out one coaching at a time, but they do it so quickly that it looks like they’re doing more than one task at one time or “Multitasking.”

Newer CPUs are faster because their “clock speed” or “clock cycle” is faster. The clock speed is the velocity at which a CPU can perform instructions. You can think about clock pace just like the timing of a metronome, the tool that helps musicians hold the proper musical time. A metronome has a hand on its front, which swings from side to side at a timing c language you put. As it swings back and forth, it ticks like a clock. Like the metronome, the CPU additionally beats at a set c program language period, but a CPU ticks at an exceedingly rapid charge that’s measured in Mega or Gigahertz. Thus, the CPU consists of guidance on every tick of its clock cycle.

New CPUs can’t perform commands at excessive clock speeds but can also be made of a couple of CPU Cores. Each Core can carry out its own instructions. When you have a Dual Core CPU, it can carry out instructions simultaneously, and a Quad-Core CPU can perform 4. There are even six Core CPUs out now. Like the newer Motherboards, those CPUs also have a bigger Data BUS to send and acquire records faster through the Motherboard, improving the computer’s overall performance.

RAM Memory

RAM or Random Access Memory stores all the instructions you have requested the PC to perform. Every time we engage with our PC, we’re developing practice statistics for the CPU to a system, or even the best interplay, like transferring the mouse throughout the display, requires many unmarried instructions the CPU ought to carry out. You can believe that playing a PC game or strolling a utility like Adobe Photo Keep can create an excellent quantity of commands for the CPU. The CPU is speedy and can execute many commands quickly, but can not do them abruptly. That is why we need an area to keep the authorities till they may be processed. This is why RAM changed into created.

RAM is largely the storage vicinity for all the commands that can be finished via the CPU. You can now and again tell when you do not have enough RAM when you have clicked the mouse or hit the input key to provoke an application, and the hourglass just sits there spinning at the screen. It can seem that our PC has locked up or frozen, but what’s truly going on is the computer is completing the series of commands it has been given earlier than it could perform any similar commands. When this occurs, we see it as the pc in short locking up. It is likewise very frustrating.

The high-quality way to resolve this problem is by utilizing, in reality, greater RAM on your PC. Adding greater RAM is possibly the easiest way to boost the overall performance of your PC. In addition, increasing the quantity of RAM in your PC can assist your PC to run quicker because it allows your laptop to store greater commands. This lets the computer carry out quite a few orders while you continue to do your paintings, reducing the laptop freeze-ups.

The velocity of the RAM you operate can also assist the PC. If you use RAM that has a quicker Data Bus velocity, it could send the instructions it’s far storing to the CPU at a speedier fee. The faster the CPU gets the commands, the quicker it can convey them, and the quicker your laptop will run.

The amount and sort you can use are dictated by the kind of CPU and Motherboard you use. The Bus velocity of the CPU and Motherboard, as well as the capability of RAM the Motherboard can apprehend, will determine what form of RAM and what sort you may use.

Some Motherboards will assist you in installing as many as 32GBs of RAM, and maximum Motherboards will understand more than one Bus speed so you can use numerous exceptional types of RAM. Generally speaking, the quicker the BUS velocity and the larger the garage capability of the RAM, the faster your PC will perform. The crucial issue to don’t forget, although, is that better fees come with larger capacity and pace.

What’s a quality about upgrading RAM is maximum Motherboards can accommodate numerous one-of-a-kind speeds and capacities of RAM, so you can start off with a slower pace and smaller ability on the way to being less luxurious, reducing your preliminary improvement fee. Then, later down the street, you may improve your RAM to a bigger capacity and high velocity.

Replacing the Motherboard, CPU, and RAM is much less complicated than you imagine. WITHOUT DELAY, the CPU and RAM are connected to the Motherboard, so you can replace all 3 components simultaneously by virtually swapping out the Motherboard.

To do that, you must first determine what type of shape of Motherboard your modern computer helps.

The Motherboard Form Factor

Many PC manufacturers, including HP, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Emachines, and Acer, build their computer systems primarily based on 4 number one motherboard shape factors or layout specifications, and they may be:

ATX = Full-Size Motherboard generally located in full-size Desktop computers and Towers
Micro-ATX = Mid Size motherboard determined in Tower and Smaller Desktops
Mini-ATX = Small Motherboard located in Mid Towers, Smaller Desktops
Mini-ITX = Newest motherboard petite length observed in new smaller towers and desktops
These form elements are discussed with the scale of the Motherboard itself. The PC case is designed to deal with a selected length of Motherboard. Once you have determined your PC model’s shape issue, purchase the perfect shape element Motherboard that suits your computer fashion case.

It would work like this. Let’s say you’ve got an HP Pavilion 750n computer pc. This is an older computer with a single-core processor. It was a nice laptop when it first came out, but it was sluggish by state-of-the-art requirements. So you decide which you need to make it faster by upgrading it to a Quad-Core CPU; however, you want to determine if you can improve it.

You can decide whether or not you can improve that precise PC by going to the HP guide website. On the website, you’ll type in your laptop model and observe the hardware specifications for that PC. HP will list the shape aspect data in the specs manual. Having done this generally, I know the 750n uses a Micro-ATX form.

Each laptop producer I named has a support web page on their website to determine your fashion shape aspect. You can also search on Yahoo, Google, or Bing and ask what shape issue your computer model is. If that does not include paintings, in reality, e-mail me or leave a comment on this article, and I can help you find it.

Once you recognize the shape aspect your PC version supports, you’re geared up to determine what performance level you want to upgrade your computer to. The computer’s performance level is generally dictated by the CPU it uses. You may additionally recall I indicated the CPU is regularly known as the PC’s mind because it approaches all the commands. It sets the computer system’s typical velocity primarily based on clock velocity. Since the computer system’s universal pace is set by way of the CPU, you normally start your improvement by figuring out the CPU overall performance level you want.

How you decide which overall performance stage you would like to improve can be based on how you use your computer and what you need to spend to upgrade it. Generally speaking, if you use your PC to send and get hold of e-mail, browse the web, and store and proportion digital pix from a digital camera, you can best need to upgrade to a Dual Core CPU to noticeably improve your computing experience.

If you play many games, burn DVDs, edit films or sound documents, and work with high-decision images or photographs, you may choose a Quad-Core CPU to increase performance and improve your computing revel.

From a value perspective, you may count on paying more for a faster CPU than you would for a slower CPU, and Quad-Core CPUs are usually more luxurious than Dual Cores. But, as a rule, you should buy as much as possible for as little as possible to get the maximum of your money and won’t upgrade again for quite a while.

When you’re prepared to pick your CPU, you will have picks based on producer and kind, and there are also some differences between the various types of CPUs from each producer that you must be aware of.

There are 3 number one CPU manufacturers: Intel, AMD, and Motorola, but for this article, we will focus on Intel and AMD. Motorola is typically accountable for making CPUs for Apple Computers. Apple computer systems are a proprietary PC version, and it could be harder and more steeply-priced to improve an Apple computer.

This article is centered on helping the finance conscious, who personally what’s generally known as an IBM-minded computer, upgrade their PC without problems and inexpensively. IBM well-suited computer systems are identified as computer systems that commonly run a Microsoft Windows-based working machine, including Windows XP or Windows 7. In addition, Intel and AMD manufacture CPUs that guide IBM’s well-matched computers, so those are the 2 producers we can attend to.

For the cause of this article, I am now not going to enter first-rate detail about the differences between Intel and AMD CPUs. There is already a vast quantity of distinct statistics to be had at the net, which describes each manufacturer’s CPU chip structure and offers facet through side assessment.

I might invite you to research how every manufacturer’s chips are designed, after which you evaluate a website that benchmarks each CPU’s performance. There are many links on CPU layout, comparisons, and reviews on the web, which will help you make your CPU desired.

The triumphing sentiment concerning AMD vs. Intel is that both Dual or Quad Core configurations CPUs perform further, with Intel being barely faster. Intel CPUs have usually been related to executing commercial enterprise packages quickly, while AMD CPUs run multimedia applications fast. As you study their benchmark scores, you will see Intel on a graph seems to dramatically outperform AMD, but while you look at the duration of time among the two, it is minimal.

There is a vast difference between the 2 producers in value. AMD CPUs are nearly continually less high-priced than Intel CPUs. I always ask my clients, “Is a quicker speed difference worth an extra $two hundred or $three hundred more through shopping for an Intel CPU?” To me, it isn’t.

I am seeking a basic performance boom compared to what I currently use. Once you improve your computer, you aren’t evaluating it for every other laptop with the same overall performance; you may be comparing it to the speed of your final notebook. Suppose after you improve, you find your computer runs considerably faster than your last laptop, and it did not cost much to gain that overall performance boom. In that case, you will be satisfied with your upgrade, which is important.

CPU Cache

Earlier, I indicated that RAM stores all coaching facts transmitted to the CPU and laptop. The CPU Cache is any other shape of high-speed reminiscence, particularly dedicated to the CPU. It has been proven that a CPU can provide procedure data faster if greater of the information it ought to system may be saved on reminiscence positioned towards the CPU itself.

All CPUs include a cache; however, some more modern ones will have an additional one. This is quicker and might keep more facts in the direction of the CPU. Typically, CPUs operating at a better clock velocity and having an extra, faster cache will offer higher overall performance.

A good instance of this is the difference between the AMD Athlon and Phenom Series of CPUs. The Athlon and Phenom series are available in Dual and quad-core configurations; however, the Phenom Series has a further L3 cache, making the CPU faster. It also makes the Phenom series CPU more luxurious than the Athlon Series.

Another thrilling tidbit is there’s now a version II for each of the Athlon and Phenom Series. Version II gives a greater, quicker cache. Consequently, both CPUs are supposed to be faster than their predecessors; however, the benchmark numbers show a relatively small increase in performance.

Be sure to study the variations between the AMD and Intel CPUs and pick the only one you feel may be appropriate to your computing wishes while assembling your financial goals. Once you have selected the CPU you want, you may be able to determine the Motherboard that properly supports your CPU and your PC shape aspect.

One remaining issue concerning CPUs is that both AMD and Intel have extraordinary CPU shape elements, so while selecting a Motherboard for the shape issue that meets your computer’s specifications, you may choose the one that fits your CPU choice. This might also appear complex, but it isn’t that hard after you start searching at the Motherboard and CPU combos.

The resellers I have shown you have filtering options on their internet pages, which assist you in picking out Motherboards that can guide both AMD and Intel. You can also sift through each CPU and computer form thing properly, allowing you to narrow down your selection-making.

Once you have decided on the CPU, you want to pick the Motherboard, a good way to guide the selected CPU. As far as Motherboards move, there are numerous important manufacturers of Motherboards, and they all produce the 4 predominant styles of Motherboard shape elements. The main manufacturers are:

ASUS
Biostar
Gigabyte
MSI
Foxconn
ECSJetway
Zotac
This may seem like plenty to pick out from; however, as you begin to filter out on the CPU kind, you can narrow down your focus and simplify selecting the right Motherboard.

Each Motherboard will include not unusual features essential for popular PC operations, and some can consist of extra functions that could or may not be useful to you. The number one issue to don’t forget about the Motherboard is that each component connects to it, and you may pick to personalize your PC upgrade as a great deal or as little as you need, depending on the Motherboard you purchase.

For example, you should purchase a Motherboard with the video and sound card incorporated into the board. This saves you both money and time as it gets rid of the want for you to pick out a video or sound card; however, if you want a selected video or good card, you may pick a Motherboard that does not come with those incorporated components and then choose the video and sound card you would love to put in as add-in playing cards onto the Motherboard.

Here is a list of not unusual Motherboards capabilities:

Keyboard and Mouse input is frequently referred to as a PS2 connector
USB – Universal Serial Bus ports for connecting PC peripherals (Keyboard, Mouse, Printer, Digital Camera, outside Hard Drive, and many others…)
Parallel Printer Port (not as much in more modern motherboards as printers use USB)
Local Area Network or LAN connection for a network or internet connection
Dial-up Modem (now not as common in more recent boards due to high-speed net connections)
Optional Motherboard Features:

1394 or Fire-cord connection (higher speed statistics connection)
External SATA or Serial-ATA connection (better pace information connection designed to connect external SATA devices consisting of a Hard Drive)
HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface to attach an HD Monitor or TV or to an external High Definition Audio factor
We touched on RAM earlier and realized that the RAM you select needs to be supported utilizing the CPU and Motherboard you choose. To make it simple, it breaks down like this when upgrading. The CPU determines the kind of Motherboard you must pick, and your computer model determines the type of Motherboard shape factor you choose.

The Motherboard will dictate what sort of RAM you can use to make your selection easier. The simplest thing you’ll determine in terms of RAM is the scale of RAM, which means the number of Gigabytes, Gigs, or GBs of RAM you choose and the RAM pace you choose.

One different aspect you must be aware of is that the newer Operating Systems, such as Windows Vista and Windows 7, require at least 2GBs of RAM to run nicely, so you must pick out a minimum of 2GBs of RAM when you upgrade. Knowing this can make your selection regarding the amount of RAM pretty clear-cut. The velocity of RAM you pick out will depend on the speeds the Motherboard will assist, the amount of performance you need, and what sort of you’re inclined to spend.

Regarding determining the velocity of RAM, your Motherboard will aid that it is not difficult to decide. As you look at Motherboards, you may see they surely specify the kind and speed of RAM they said.

I have protected several pieces of information so far, and I hope you have abetter know-how of what is required to pick out the Motherboard, CPU, and RAM additives you would want to improve your current laptop. Buying those components and upgrading them yourself is some distance less costly than going out and buying a brand new laptop, and I am assured with these facts as a place to begin, you too can keep cash purchase upgrading the computer yourself.

There are but two crucial extra portions of the information you should recognize before upgrading your laptop.

1. Before you upgrade your contemporary laptop, you should again up all of your essential facts directly to an external storage device, including an external hard pressure, USB soar pressure, or burn it onto a CD or DVD.

This is critical because when you improve one’s additives, you may be pressured to reinstall the running system and, on the way, erase all the present-day records for your hard pressure. In addition, if you do not have an installation disk in your current running device, you will want to buy a new replica of Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 to put in as soon as you have upgraded the additives. This won’t truly be a prime problem if you have already considered upgrading to a more recent Windows model. Also, I allow you to find a cheaper reproduction of the Windows operating device.

2. The new additives you may need to install in your modern PC can be superior from a strength intake point of view, and upgrading them will,, in all likelihood, require you to boost your electricity delivery.

The improvement is not costly and is completely smooth to perform. You’ll want to choose the kind of electricity supply that may be roughly 400 watts as a minimum and will need a 20×4 pin or 24-pin power supply. This is the form of strength delivery supported through the more moderen Motherboards. Again, the Motherboard specs will indicate the energy delivery requirements.

To make your PC quicker, you only need to improve the Motherboard, CPU, and RAM. You begin by identifying the form of the Motherboard form issue your modern computer will guide and the overall performance level you need to improve. Then, you purchase the CPU that suits your general performance desires in conjunction with the Motherboard and RAM that suits each computer version and CPU specifications.

The one issue I did not cover is the actual setup of these components once you have purchased them and are geared up to put them in. To an excessive degree, the method is not anything extra than:

Unplugging the laptop and disconnecting all peripheral additives along with the keyboard, mouse, and monitor from the case
Before you open the computer, discharge yourself electrically or buy a static strap to floor yourself to the chassis. This may help you avoid static discharge, which can fry a laptop aspect.
Removing the face cover of the laptop case
Disconnecting all the strength cables and Data cables from the old Motherboard
Unscrewing and doing away with the vintage Motherboard from the case
Unscrewing and removing the antique strength deliver
Install the brand-new electricity delivery
Install the new Motherboard into the case
Reconnecting all of the electricity and recording cables
Powering the computer back up and listening for the correct publish sound
Now you are prepared to install the running gadget
I recognize that as soon as you decide to start this method, you’ll have many questions, which is why there may be one closing aspect I could suggest you do before you begin upgrading your PC.

Many do your own laptop restore and improve manuals available online, and they can provide you with the help you need to enhance your laptop. Many books will offer little explanations on how to replace just about every issue on your computer and provide you with particular diagrams so you can see a way to perform the removal or installation. I could suggest you make small funding and buy this sort of book.

If I could endorse any do-it-yourself computer manually, it might be “Self Computer Repair Unleashed.”This book covers all components of PC improvement and restoration in a clean, concise format. It provides complete color diagrams and step-by-step commands to help you via any computer upgrade or repair. I can not suggest this book as sufficient. I have provided a hyperlink to this e-book on the hyperlinks page of my internet site below in my signature. I thank you for studying my article, and I hope it has inspired you to exit and address what you may have initially thought changed into an impossible project. You can upgrade your laptop yourself and keep your money, too.