When to upgrade your PC’s hardware

All computer parts age and slow down over time. Heat, dirt, hair, dust and especially the heat… did I mention the heat? …will speed up the aging process and cause parts to fail or noticeably slow down. It is a good idea to keep your computer clean and the area around the computer free of clutter. Never store your computer on the floor! If you cannot help having it on the floor, make sure to open the case and clean it out weekly.

So, you keep your computer clean and happy but it still seems to be slowing down? Not handling tasks the way it used to? It may be time to upgrade a few things. Upgrading a few key pieces of hardware can turn a sluggish older machine into a speed racer again!

1.) Memory

Memory upgrades are the easiest and cheapest way to make your computer work better. The one question we get a lot is how much RAM do you really need? We tell everyone that 4GB would be the bare minimum… but we suggest nothing lower than 8GB. If you have 8GB and things are still slow – bump it up! You really cannot have too much memory.

2.) Storage

If you fill your hard drive, things will dramatically slow down. The easiest way to keep all of those important documents, photos, music and what-have-you is to buy a large external hard drive and store everything there. Keeping your main, internal hard drive free of clutter to allow it to run your OS and programs will really speed things up.

3.) CPU and Motherboard

These are the two most vital parts of our computer. They provide the machine’s brain and interconnects everything else the computer uses.

When to upgrade? With something heavy duty running (like streaming Netflix) give your CPU a quick check. Bring up the Task Manager (right-click on the Taskbar and select it) you can navigate to the ‘Performance’ tab and right-click on the CPU graph to ‘Display logical processors.’ This will show the load levels across your processor’s multiple cores and threads. If things are being pushed to the max, it is time to upgrade.

A big note on upgrading your CPU and Motherboard… sometimes these components cannot be upgraded alone. If your computer is really old or if it is an integrated system – you will need to simply get a new computer.

Questions? Need assistance? Contact TeCHS!

~Your TeCHS