Upgrading a PC Volume 1

Computers are constantly in a evolutionary stage that is almost exhausting to

keep up with. At some point a computer system must be upgraded with various
components to
keep up with the demand of the user and the massive amount of information that
will be stored and processed by the computer. Upgrading is necessary to shift
existing resources
to newer technologies thus, increasing features. After completing this tutorial
you will be
able to do the following:
Identify the issues that must be considered before upgrading your compute
system.
Identifiy how and when to upgrade system components.

THE MOTHERBOARD:
Probably the most important component of a computer system is the motherboard.
Without the motherboard, the components would be nothing but expensive paper
weights for the most part. The motherboard is basically the heart and soul of any
computer system because computers would not exist without it.
The motherboard is referred to by many names: The system board, main board, and
the proper name the planar board. The motherboard contains numberous components
including the chipset, which control essential functions inside the computer. The
key
components of a motherboard are the CPU socket / slot, BIOS-ROM chip, Chipset
(North
/ South Bridge or memory and I/0 controller hubs), Expansion slots, and Memory
area SIMMs (Single Inline Memory Modules) or DIMMs (Dual Inline Memory Modules).
The motherboard directly interacts with other components of the computer, and is
responsible for the stability, feature support, expandability and upgrading
ability of any system to a maximum extent. No matter what upgrade you consider,
the motherboard
must be taken into consideration FIRST. It must be checked whether the motherboard
supports additional memory and whether it supports latest processor and hard
drives.
The most important question you need to ask yourself first is does it have the
spare slot
for the upgrade?

You might be asking yourself when do I need to upgrade my motherboard?

A motherboard, along with a high speed processor and a good amount of RAM (random
access memory) dramatically improves the the system's performance. Your existing
computer's motherboard need to upgraded when you want:
A high end processor and the current motherboard does not support it.
More physical memory than supported by the current motherboard.
Faster bus technologies such as AGP, PCI, PCI Express.
Advanced performance and features available in the latest motherboards.
High end ports like Firewire, Blue tooth, etc.

When you need to upgrade a computer to a newer or faster processor and any other
components, you should check whether the existing motherboard supports them. You
can refer to the motherboard documentation for technical specifications. You also
might
want to take into consideration that when you do replace your motherboard, keep in
mind any future requirements that you may wish to add.
The most important things that must be considered while upgrading a motherboard
are:
1. Motherboard chipset- It is the backbone of a computer. If you want a high
performance computer then you should choose a chipset that supports DDR SDRAM or
RDRAM.
2. Processor- A modern system should use a socket based processor with a L2 (level
2) cache and with the highest speed CPU bus (FSB or front side bus).
3. Processor Sockets / Slots- In order to get good performance of the system,
socket type
processors should be preferred against slot based processor types. Socket 939 and
Socket 754 for Athlon 64, Socket 478 for Pentium 4 and Celeron processors are
abundantly in use today.
4. SIMM/DIMM memory- Motherboards should support either standard or DDR (double
data rate) DIMMs that contain SDRAM (synchronous dynamic random access memory),
DDR SDRAM, or RDRAM (rombus dynamic random access memory) repectively. SIMMs is
old fashioned by today's standards, so any boards that use them should be avoided.
5. Bus Type- Latest motherboards are not incorporating ISA (industry standard
architecture) bus slots, instead using one to five or more PCI (peripheral
component interconnect) local bus slots.
6. Form Factor- Mini or baby ATX are commonly used form factors for personal
computers, which can support Pentium 4 class processors, replacing the old AT form
factors that mainly supported the 386 class processor.
7. Built in interfaces- Motherboards should contain as many built in standard
controllers
and interfaces as possible. Built in sound card and video adapters are the
standard in most motherboards in use today. This is also commonly referred to as
on board capabilities.

Let us talk a bit about the relationship between cache memory and the
motherboard.
The latest computers use a very small amount of very fast memory that is know as
cache memory between the CPU and the main memory. In most computers, there are two
types of cache memory available. L1 (level 1) cache is found in the advanced
processors like
Pentium III and IV. The L2 (level 2) cache memory (optional) found on the
motherboard
are found in the most advanced processor based systems.
The performance of the cache memory is measured by how fast it can access the
information. Running the memory at the same speed as the processor bus reduces the
need to have a cache memory on the motherboard. Some latest computers use
processors with intergrated cache while some ahve cache directly on the processor
chip for maximum speed.

MEMORY:
Now that we have went over a few details concerning the motherboard, lets move
on
in our discussion and talk a little about memory. When should I upgrade my
computer's memory? Current processors can perform numerous operations per second.
The hard drive, on the other hand, is significantly slower to handle large amounts
of information. This is where a high speed RAM memory comes in.
One of the most cost effective ways to boost the computer's performance is to
add RAM.
If you are using any computer running Windows 95 or greater and have less than 64
MB (megabytes) of memory then you will notice a performance improvement by adding
more memory. If you add or upgrade the memory to 64 MB or 128 MB, the computer
will show a visible improvement in performance, which includes faster application
start up time.
Microsoft recomments 128 MB as a minimum amount of memory for running Windows XP
on the computer. For running today's computer software and operating system, 1- 2
GB (gigabytes) of memory is better and more often you will see computer systems
starting out at a minimum of 512 MB of memory.
 The memory used in older computers is 30 pin or 72 pin SIMMs, where as, DIMM
modules are used today. Fos some motherboards, DIMM memory can be installed in
any available expansion slot. Others may require the memory to be installed in a
particular sequence based on the modules capacity. Check the computer's operating
manual to determine the correct installation sequence for configuration.

PLACEMENT OF THE MODULE:

It is important ro remember that RAM modules are keyed to fit the slot / socket
and will
only fit into it properly in only one direction. You want to place the RAM module
into the
slot / socket gently and evenly, then apply firm but even pressure on both ends of
the
module until you feel or hear it click into place. Do not force the module because
this could cause damage to the delicate copper pins if you have the module the
wrong way.
Once the module has been seated properly, make sure that the locking tabs are in
place
(they will usually snap into position when you seated the module), but you need to
check
manually to ensure you have secured the module completly. NOTE: When working
inside
a computer case it is important that you always wear or use antistatic device such
as
an antistatic wrist strap to ground yourself. This will protect your delicate
components
against ESD (electro static discharge) which could damage intergrated circuits,
the processor, ram modules, etc. Removing RAM modules are done in the reverse
order, push the locking tabs outward and the module will loosen and pop up a bit
so you will
be able to pull them in a straight, upward motion.
Whew! that wasn't so hard was it? If you are a new user to computers and have
never worked inside the computer case this may seem like a sensitive case of brain
surgery, but
it really isn't. Just remember that taking the proper precautions to protect
yourself and your system components ie: antistatic devices, being careful, never
forcing components into slots or sockets, etc you will be able to continue to
upgrade your system with ease and as you do so, your confidence will grow.

DOING THINGS THE HARD DRIVE WAY:

Hmmmmm, when should I upgrade my hard drive? Well, the answer to that question
is when the amount of information has almost reached the capacity of the hard
drive. If you are the type of person who likes to download games, install games,
download music, or tons of your favorite information from the internet and store
it on your system, then you will find very quickly that your hard drive runs out
of storage capacity rather quickly.
The storage capacity of hard drives have grown exponentially over the years. In
the early 1990s, hard drives were around 1 GB or slightly greater capacities. As
of early 2005, the simple desktop hard disk in production has a capacity of 40 GB
and continued to grow. Now days you can find hard drives with litterally hundreds
of GB capacities with no problems. As far as PC history is concerned, the major
drive families have been MFM, RLL, ESDI, SCSI, IDE, and now SATA.
A normal home based computer with a minimum usage like office applications, e-
mail, and internet requires a hard disk of atleast 4 GB and sometimes more. In
this day and age you really should purchase a system that has at the very least a
20 GB hard drive, especially if you are going to be using the most recent
operating system like Windows
Vista because of all the media features it has like playing dvd movies and such.
UPGRADING THE HARD DISK:
Before upgrading your hard drive it is best to do a complete disk checkup
including disk scan, de-fragmentation, etc. If you happen to be an average user
and need more storage
you can add an additional drive to the existing one. Before an upgrade, be sure to
back up your files (this is very important because you want to ensure that you do
not loose any of your data). Whenever you add or upgrade a hard drive to a system,
mostly the new drive should be installed and configured to the boot drive.
Generally the new hard disk will be bigger and faster than the one your PC
currently has in use. Because of this reason it is better to make the new drive
your primary drive where the operating system and applications reside. You can
attach the old drive as a secondary hard disk and use it for archives and less
frequently accessed data. This is an idea that should be considered when you are
thinking about upgrading your current hard drive to a newer model.

THE CPU (Central Processing Unit)

If the motherboard is the heart and soul of a computer system, the CPU is
considered the brains. It is the one that makes all the deceisions as to how data
is processed and which device gets priority to use the operating system.
The speed of the porcessor depends on many different factors, some of which are
related to the architecture of the processor itself that controls the internal
timing requirements which limits the maximum speed a processor can handle.
Manufacturing factors relate to the process technology used, circuit size, die
size and process quality.
A compter system's clock speed is measured as a frequency, usually expressed as
a number of cycles per second. A typical computer system runs millions of these
cycles per second, so speed is measured in megahertz (MHz) which basicall blances
out to equal (One hertz is equal to one cycle per second). Modern systems use a
variable frequency synthesizer circuit usually found in the main motherboard
chipset to control the motherboard speed and CPU speed.
The leading manufactures of computer processors for all the architectures of
Servers and Workstations are Intel and AMD; there are a few others like Cyrix,
IBM, Texas Instruments, and Rise Technology. The Processors designed by any o the
smaller players are generally competitive with equivalents manufactured by Intel
or AMD.

UPGRADING THE CPU:

How and when to upgrade your processor should be considered when the computer is
taking too long to perform a task or to load an application. It is important to
consider the cache when upgrading the processor. It is the specialized memory that
resides on or near the processor. As it effectively increases the speed of a
computer by fetching data from system RAM so the processor does not need to wait
to access data before performing a task or tasks.
When upgrading a CPU, the points to be considered are:
1. The maximum speed that the motherboard can support.
2. Is there a need for additional hardware when upgrading the CPU such as a Heat
sink (which disperses the heat away from the processor and is very important
because overheating will cause damage to any component of a computer system,
especially the processor)?
3. If you upgrade the processor, you will have faster execution of instructions
but it leaves the RAM and hard drive capacity unchanged, so it is a good idea to
consider adding at the very least newer and faster RAM and upgrading your hard
drive as well if you are going to change your processor.

This concludes volume 1 of upgrading, be sure and look for Volume 2 soon which
will cover BIOS, Adapter cards, and laptops.
Created by BobbyR1234 uploaded on Scribd on 3/11/08