by Eric Puravs

Created on: January 03, 2011   Last Updated: January 04, 2011

Desktop computers are easy to upgrade, laptop computers and all-in-one computers do not usually have room for upgrades. Some parts of a desktop computer are easier to upgrade than others. Before you start on a hardware upgrade, you should see if all that is needed is a software upgrade. Many software programs, including Windows, Firefox, and Adobe Flash check for their own upgrades. If you are having trouble with a game, check the manufacturer’s website, they may have a patch that fixes the problem.

External hard drives are great for adding extra storage, they work with any computer that has a USB port. And if you get a new computer later, you can just connect the external drive to the new computer. If your computer is very old and doesn’t have USB 2.0 ports, consider an expansion card such as the StarTech USB 2.0 5-Port PCI Expansion Card. If you want to add an internal hard drive, you need to know if your computer has IDE or SATA connections, and if you have a space inside for the new disk drive. If you want to replace your primary hard disk, you will probably also have to reinstall your operating system. There are utilities to let you clone your old disk if you have space to have both disks connected. But either way, replacing your primary hard drive is more complicated than adding a second drive.

Memory is the easiest internal part to upgrade, and is usually possible even for computers which don’t have room for any other internal expansion. Increasing the memory will make your computer faster if you are running short of physical memory. Check the task manager, if the amount of available physical memory is low, buying more memory will speed up your PC. Look up what type of memory your computer takes in the manual or on the web.  Then figure out how much extra RAM you have room for. Even if all your memory slots are full, you might be able to upgrade by replacing the chips with higher capacity chips. The chips have notches, so they will only fit in one way. Just push the chips in and snap the clips at the end of the slots into place.

Gamers often want to upgrade their video card. Another reason to upgrade would be to get a graphics card with a TV tuner. But upgrading video cards is more complicated because you have to get a card which fits your slot, and some cards take up two slots and have high power requirements. The slot types are Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Advanced Graphics Port (AGP), and PCI Express. PCI is the type used for most expansion cards of all types and is the oldest. PCI Express is the newest, and most current expansion graphics cards use it.

Upgrading a CPU requires research into what type of CPU socket and CPU you already have. Unless you have a socket that takes many types of CPUs, and the one you have is one of the worst available for that slot, it probably won’t be worth the effort to upgrade.

To change the motherboard, you must remove your expansion cards from the old one, and disconnect your disk drives and power supply. You will probably also need a new CPU and new memory chips if the motherboard you are replacing is old. And you will probably need to reinstall your operating system, so be sure to back up all your data before trying the replacement.

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