Upgrading
your hardware is still the most efficient way to speed up your PC, and it doesn't have to be complicated. Swaraj Rai shows you how.
If
your PC is starting to feel little slow, there are lots of housekeeping tasks
you can carry out to reclaim some speed, such as uninstalling programs,
clearing clutter, defragging and optimizing your hard drive, and so on. But this
kind of basic maintenance can only give your computer a slight boost. To really to make a difference, you need to
consider a hardware upgrade.
Don’t
worry; I'm not talking about extreme actions such as installing a new
motherboard or swapping the processor for a faster one. There are several
simple, affordable upgrades you can perform that won’t cost you a fortune but
will breathe new life into your aging PC.
Take
precautions
When handling components
inside a PC, you need
to beware of static electricity, because this can damage fragile electronics. Turn your computer oft at the mains but leave it plugged in,
then briefly touch an unpainted metal part of the
computer case or another earthed object
(such as a radiator) to discharge built-up static. You can also
buy an anti-static wrist strap to ensure complete safety.
Add
more physical memory
Boosting
the amount of memory
in your PC is one of the easiest upgrades
you can perform and it can
significantly boost the speed of
a slow PC. You can’t just go out and
buy memory, though you need to know the type required by your motherboard. There are lots of different types available, including SDR, DDR, DDR2 and DDR3. Laptop memory
is also very different from the memory you put in a desktop PC.
What memory your motherboard will accept
Memory comes in all
shapes and sizes, so be sure to get the correct type for your PC. If
you’re not sure what type you need, use the Crucial System Scanner
(bit.ly/crucialscan330) to find out. Just download and run it and
it will tell you the type of memory
you have and need. It will recommend
memory to buy from Crucial, but you're under no obligation to purchase from
there, so shop around.
How
much memory you can add
The amount of memory you can add depends on two things: the
number of free slots on your motherboard
(you can always replace existing RAM modules with larger capacity ones) and the version of Windows you’re running. Windows XP and the 32-bit versions of Windows 7 and 8 can handle up to 4 GB (though the OS will only use around 3.5 GB). The
64-bit Home Premium edition of Windows 7 can use 16 GB. While the Professional
and Ultimate editions can access up to 192 GB. The 64-bit version of Windows 8
supports up to 128 GB while the 64-bit Windows 8 Professional supports up to
512 GB.
Note- It’s
best to use matched pairs of memory modules rather than using several
different types.
Add extra storage
Storage
is getting cheaper all the time. You can now pick up a massive hard drive for a
reasonable price expect to pay around
£70 for a 2 TB model (internal and external drives are similarly priced).
If you can afford it, it’s always worth buying one drive to go inside your PC and
another USB version
to use for back-up. As with buying memory, it’s safest to go for a drive from a named
manufacturer that you recognize, such
as Seagate or Western Digital.
Replace your old hard drive with a super-fast SSD
Solid-state
drives have no moving parts and use flash memory (just like USB flash memory
drives) which makes reading from and writing to them incredibly fast. It’s no exaggeration
to say that replacing a mechanical system drive with an SSD will make a
massive difference
to the speed of your, computer.
Windows will boot up in seconds not minutes, as will any programs you have
installed on it.
SSDs
are, however, much more expensive, and
come in smaller capacities, so you'll need a second, regular hard drive on which to store your data. SSDs also don’t last as long as mechanical drives, but if
you aim to never use more than
about 50 per cent drive capacity
(sticking to just your OS and important
programs) a decent SSD should last around 5 sears.
Kingston (bit.ly/king330) offers a range of SSDNow drives to silt different needs and
budgets. The V300 comes in capacities of
60 GB. 120 GB and 240 GB and with read and write speeds of up to 450 MB/s (around 10 times faster than
a 7,200 RPM mechanical hard drive) and can be bought with or without an Installation
kit (the attachments you may or may
not need to secure a 2.5in SSD into a 3.5 hard drive bay).
If
you're replacing your current hard drive, you'll need to make sure you buy an
SSD. which is much larger than the capacity of the used space on the drive
you’re replacing.
Replace your DVD with Blu-ray
Blu-ray discs
can hold 50 GB of data, much more than DVDs (4.7 GB). You can
also buy rewrite-able Blu-ray discs that
hold up to 25 GB. Replacing your
existing internal CD or DVD drive is just a matter of opening the case,
removing the cables from the back of the drive and then swapping It with the new model. A good internal writer will set you back between £60 and £100. You can also buy external drives.
Add a USB 3.0 interface
Modern
PCs come with USB 3.0 ports that offer a theoretical maximum transfer speed of
5 Gbps, which is much faster than USB 2.0's 480 Mbps and significantly faster
than USB 1.1's 12 Mbps. If you're thinking of upgrading to faster peripherals,
such as external hard drives, it might be worth getting the most out of it by
boosting your USB ports.
The
upgrade is simple enough: you just install a USB 3.0 PCI card by opening up your case and inserting it into a spare PCI or PCI Express expansion slot. You'll also need
to attach the relevant power cable.
That’s
all. Feel free to ask your doubts in comment section. Be happy and keep rising
& sharing.
