Radified
Upgrade Guide
a
PC upgrade strategy for computer hardware
Posted: 14.may.2001
Some upgrades are more
satisfying than others. Nobody enjoys spending their
hard-earned money on upgrades that provide meager improvements, only to
discover later they could've realized better results from a different
course
of action. This guide presents an upgrade strategy designed to maximize
satisfaction.
Specifics vary
from person to person, making it difficult to craft a guide that
covers every situation. Therefore this guide represents a general
strategy.
The best course of action will vary from user to
user. It depends upon
your
current PC configuration & what you do with your PC. Since you
found
your
way to Radified, I'll assume you're not very different from me.
***
Upgrades fall into one
of two categories:
1. Features
- for example, if you upgrade your CD burner to a DVD burner,
you'd be upgrading your system's features.
2. Performance - if you replace your Pentium
III 1GHz, with a Pentium 4 3Ghz
you'd be upgrading your system's performance.
Typically, Features upgrades are easier to justify than Performance
upgrades,
but Performance upgrades tend to be more prevalent .. hence the need for
a
strategy.
***
* The biggest bottleneck (cause for waiting) with today's PC is the internet
connection, especially for those with a dial-up connection (called a 'skinny
pipe').
Therefore
a broadband connection is usually the single best upgrade most users
can
make. Unfortunately, Cable or DSL service is not available in many
areas.
I know people who make
broadband availability a key factor in their home-buying
criteria. If you've never used a broadband connection, you cannot imagine the
difference it makes. You'll think you died and went to bandwidth heaven.
I prefer Cable over DSL, but, admittedly, I've never used DSL. Either one will
be
light years ahead of dial-up. Cable depends a lot on your particular area.
Some
areas have great service, while others suck. Try to ask people in your area
who
have the service to see what they think of it.
Some Cable providers get greedy and put too many users on each node. I
have
Cox @Home in Southern California, and love it. Great service, great support.
Easy
to recommend.
I can download at 500KBps (B = Bytes, not bits), or fast as they can send
it to
me. I can up at ~35KBps. I used to be able to up at 60KBps, but I
think they've
since capped my up.
After your first week with a broadband
connection, you'll look back and ask yourself,
"What the heck was I thinking?" =D
I don't know anyone who regrets getting Cable or
DSL. I even know a few decadent
folks who have *both* Cable & DSL in their homes .. just in case one goes
down.
Must be nice.
It took me a few months to learn how to get maximum use from my broadband
connection. After only a month, most
broadband users cannot imagine life without
a 'fat-pipe' connection.
* Monitor - the
primary analog gateway to the digital world. As such, it's a crucial
component. It's the thing you stare at whenever you use your PC. The monitor is
the last place you want to skimp, which is why some people offer the
following
strategy for selecting a monitor:
Find the best monitor you can afford. Buy the next-better model.
A few things to consider when selecting a monitor:
Size
- A larger monitor offers more desktop real estate, allowing you to be
more productive. Currently, 19-inch monitors hold the size/price
sweet
spot. If you have a 17-incher, consider an upgrade. If you have a 15-
incher (or less), strongly consider an upgrade. Some may even want
to consider a dual-monitor configuration.
Image quality - a better quality monitor typically delivers better image
quality.
Image quality is subjective,
so try to view for yourself a
monitor before upgrading. Note that graphics card will also
affect image quality. Monitors come in three styles:
Shadow mask - most monitors are shadow mask. These typically excel
in producing sharp text.
Aperture
grill - these monitors excel at reproducing color, and are
typically more expensive than shadow mask tubes.
Flat
panel - these types are typically much more expensive than the
the other two, but require much less desktop space, and
they look cool.
* CD/DVD Burner
- If you don't have one, a CD/DVD burner will add another
dimension to your
PC, especially now that the prices of blank discs are so cheap.
There's no
reason not to have one. Most new PCs come with a DVD burner pre-
installed. Note that
the burning software you use is at least as important as
the
burner you select,
and probably more so.
Nero,
CDRWin,
Fireburner,
Feurio,
and CloneCD
all make good burning software,
each with it's own strengths and weaknesses. Plextor
makes the best burners.
Teac, Yamaha & Ricoh also make good burners. See here
and here.
As you can
see, not everybody agrees on everything.
* More RAM
is usually a good upgrade decision, especially if you have less than
512-MB, and definitely if you have only 256-MB. It depends what
you do with
your PC, but generally, you want at least 512-MB. 1-GB is
not
unreasonable in
some situations (Photoshop, video-editing, audio-editing).
RAM is pretty cheap
right now.
* Hard drive upgrades fall into two categories: disk space and performance.
Disk space - If
you're running out of room to store files, you can buy
a
larger drive (more capacity).
Performance - Whilst the performance of RAM & CPUs are measured in nano-
seconds, the performance of hard drives is measured in milli-
seconds. In other words,
today's hard drives are a million
times slower than than your RAM/CPU .. which means,
whenever your system has to read to or write from the hard
drive, it doesn't matter how fast your CPU is .. the system is
dependant on the speed of the hard drive (the bottleneck).
This is why most people
typically notice a greater performance improvement from a
faster hard drive, than a faster CPU. Look for a drive with a low seek
time and fast
spindle rpm when upgrading your hard drive - both increase hard drive
performance
(and therefore system performance). See the SCSI
guide to maximize disk drive perf.
* Graphic card - A
graphics card can make a big difference in the image quality your
monitor presents. As with everything else on this page, it depends on
what card you
currently have. But you shouldn't skimp on your gfx card. Note that some cards
are
good at 2D (where you are now), and suck at 3D (gaming). Other cards excel at
3D
while offering poor 2D performance. So tailor your selection to your particular
uses.
* CPU - CPU
performance is typically one of the more overrated upgrades. I recently
upgraded my P3-700 (@938MHz) to P4 1.6a (2.1-GHz) .. representing a CPU clock-rate
increase of over 100% .. and was disappointed with observed real-world performance gains.
If your CPU is less than 500MHz, consider an upgrade, especially
since
prices are dropping
so low, as clock-rates have blown past the 3-GigaHz barrier.
PC manufacturers like
Dell & Gateway tend to categorize PC performance by the CPU
included in their offerings. They tout, "You're getting a 3-GHz
machine." A few years
ago, this practice made more sense. But ever since CPUs reached the 2-Ghz
mark,
this has become is a deceptive misnomer.
A 2-GHz machine is not
twice as good as a 1-Ghz machine. Most mass-manufactured
machines are ridiculously over-powered in the CPU dept, with under-powered
components. Balance is
the key.
As indicated above,
there are many other factors more important than CPU speed.
This is not saying that CPU speed is unimportant, but it's certainly no longer a
prime
consideration. CPU power is more important for 3D games, and CPU-intensive
apps
such as rendering, encoding, compiling.
Update: 22oct2001 - If you're interested in purchasing a new CPU, you may want
to
review my findings on the
Intel
Prescott Pentium 4 CPU.
* Speakers - most
PC speakers sound terrible. You can get great-sounding speakers
for cheap these days. If you spend a lot of time listening to music on your PC,
this item
should be moved up a few notches. If you have a broadband connection, it's more
likely
that speakers will be more important, cuz you'll be more likely to listen to Internet
music.
Of course, upgrading your skills
will always pay the richest digital dividends.
Don't forget a comfortable chair, and other ergonomic factors.