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Speeding up your computer by upgrading computer parts

Updated on January 23, 2016
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I write articles on desktop computers related to maintaining, upgrading, and repairing a desktop computer. I also writ articles on tablets.

Speeding up your computer by upgrading computer parts

By just upgrading your RAM which cost 30 dollars or less if you install your RAM yourself, you could have a computer which is a lot faster and more stable.

Learn how to change a few parts like Memory/RAM, hard drive, video card, and power supply inside your computer for faster performance by reading this tutorial.

After a few years, new software especially computer games, video editors, photo editing, and multimedia editing software becomes more system resource dependent meaning software uses more CPU resources, RAM, Hard drive space when you install new software to your computer. If you have a slower computer with slower computer parts, you may not be able to run newer software because your computer does not meet the minimum system requirements to install newer software onto your computer, or your computer meets the minimum system requirements, but do not run very well since your computer does not meet the recommended system requirements for smooth operation of the software you want to use according to the box for the software programs recommended requirements section printed on the side or the back of the box.

Buying a new computer is expensive and can cost hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars. However, upgrading a older computer is less expensive. You can sometimes spend less then 100 dollars to make your computer fast enough to run a larger selection of software and games by just adding more RAM/Memory and a faster video card to play newer computer games or run other graphic intensive files and discs like Blu-Ray and DVD discs.

By learning to upgrade a few parts, you can have a faster computer in an hour or less, and spending only 100 dollars or less depending on how many parts you need to upgrade on your older computer.

Buy more Memory/RAM for faster speeds. - Adding more RAM will make your computer launch programs and run them faster.

First you need to figure out what kind of RAM you have like DDR, DDR2, DDR3, RDRAM and SDRAM, and what speed of RAM your computer using.

The reason RAM will make your computer faster is because more of your programs can run off of your RAM which is super fast compared to running programs off of your much slower mechanical hard drives.

Before you begin any upgrade make sure you have enough power from your power supply

Without enough power your computer won't turn on or you end up blowing your power supply.

You may need to upgrade your power supply as well if you are upgrading your video card, CPU, memory or adding multiple hard drives to your computer. Newer and faster computer parts typically uses more power then your older computer parts.

You may need to open up your computer case to see how much wattage does your power supply uses. I recommend a 450-500 Watt power supply if you are upgrading your video card to a more power intensive and faster video card and CPU.

Usually the box for the parts you are buying will list the recommended power supply wattage for your computer to run the part well.

80Plus power supplies are the best power supplies I recommend since they are 80% power efficient which means they use less electricity, and do not run as hot as regular low efficiency power supplies which are found on cheaper power supplies.

If you find 80Plus power supplies too expensive, you can buy a 65-70% power efficient power supply. Be sure to buy a power supply which comes with a good warranty which will replace your power supply if it fails within the first 2 or more years, so you know you be getting a good power supply since the warranty covers any repairs to your power supply.

Videos on Upgrading your computer power supply for more power - Watch Youtube users teach you how to change a power supply.

Watch people showing viewers on YouTube how to change out a power supply.

How to install RAM on your computer video - Watch videos of people installing RAM on their computer.

Watch step by step videos on how to properly line up your RAM, and insert it into your computers circuit board.

A Faster video card would make your games and video programs run faster.

If you are a computer gamer, upgrading to a faster video card will make your computer look better and run faster.

You need to buy a video card which is compatible with your mother board with a AGP video card or PCI-Express video card. An AGP video card would not fit in a PCI-Express car, and PCI-Express cards will not fit on a motherboard with a AGP Port.

PCI video cards are the slowest, and don't fit on either PCI-Express or AGP motherboards.

Most video cards and motherboards these days use PCI-Express which is a lot faster then AGP.

Make sure your motherboard has either PCI-Express or AGP video card slot on it before you upgrade your video card. I don't really recommend upgrading to a PCI video card if your computer don't have a PCI-Express and AGP video card port on the motherboard. PCI video cards are generally really slow and out dated.

For faster start up times, and applications times, upgrade your hard drive to a SSD or faster hard drive. - Upgrading your hard drive to a solid state hard driv

A Solid State Drive/SSD has almost no lag when running and launching programs. By installing your operating system to a Solid State Drive it would load a lot faster. A SSD uses flash memory like the type in your USB Flash drive which means there is less slow down because everything is electronic, and requires no moving parts. However, a SSD is more expensive, and offer less space then a traditional mechanical hard drive.

If you need more space, and don't mind the extra noise, upgrading to a 10,000 RPM hard drive would make your computer run faster compared to using a 7200 RPM standard hard drive since the drive can read and write data faster then a 7200 RPM drive because the drive data platters spin faster. A 10,000 RPM drive is not as expensive as a SSD when you compare price per Gigabyte of storage, but is still more expensive then a 7200 RPM hard drive.

Upgrading to a Solid State Drive Video - Videos showing you how to upgrade to a SSD.

People installing a Solid State Drive on a computer.

Upgrading your motherboard and Processor will also make your computer even faster!

Newer Motherboards, and CPU supports faster speed, more cores for computing data fasters.

If your computer is very old, you need to upgrade your motherboard and Processor/CPU. By upgrading your CPU, you can have faster clocks speed and more cores which means your computer can compute more data faster.

However, if you are using a older CPU, you most likely need to upgrade your motherboard, so your faster CPU will fit on your motherboard. If you are using a AGP video card, it may not work on your newer motherboard since newer motherboards for newer CPU models don't usually have a AGP slot for AGP video cards. Most new motherboards, use a PCI-Express video card slot which is only compatible with PCI-Express video slot.

Upgrading your motherboard and CPU is not a simple tasks, and you should only upgrade your CPU and motherboard if you are very knowledgeable and skilled in changing computer motherboards and CPUs. If you do not feel very confident in changing your motherboard or CPU, it is best to hire a professional computer technician.

Sometimes, it might be more worth it just to buy a new computer with better parts then upgrading your motherboard, RAM and CPU since it can get very expensive if you hire someone to help you upgrade your parts.

Installing a CPU and CPU cooler on a computer.

Watch videos of people installing a CPU Processor on their motherboard, and CPU cooler to cool the CPU on a PC.

Installing a motherboard on your computer video

Videos of people installing a motherboard on a computer case.

Thin Client computing is the way to go if lots of computers you own are slow - Thin client computers run the operating system off a powerful server to your clie

Thin Client computers work great if you have a lot of slow computers at home or office since your desktop computer does not have to be fast to run computer resource intensive software like media players since your programs, operating systems, and files are run off a powerful server which can stream your programs to multiple slower and cheaper computer saving you time, money, and maintenance hassle.

Thin client computers are great for database entry, and office jobs.

working

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