How often do you upgrade your Personal Computer ?

Tired of your out dated personal computer configuration? Think your computer is no good anymore?

Read on to understand the kind of performance an average computer user actually needs from his machine.Then evaluate if you really need an upgrade.

Hard drives

There isn't much to choosing or upgrading a hard drive. When you fall short of storage on your machine, which is sooner rather than later, just get a new 160 or 300 GB disk.

Go for companies like Seagate, Western Digital or Hitachi since they have well-established dealer networks in most Indian metros. A 300 GB, 7500 rpm hard disk should cost you between Rs 4,400 -- 4,700. Once bought, just complete the formality of partitioning it to facilitate storage of programme files.

Motherboard

Look at the right reasons before upgrading your motherboard. One of the primary reasons for the upgrade could be the fact that you want a more responsive, faster central processing unit, CPU. Perhaps your present motherboard needs a new socket, or does not adequately support the speed. In case of an upgrade, go for a motherboard with integrated sound, video, network and modem. This will free up quite a few slots to help you upgrade to perhaps a, 8X AGP adapter.

Remember that upgrading your motherboard is quite pointless unless you simultaneously upgrade your CPU and random access memory, RAM, too. Upgrading your AGP card or getting PCI Express means an additional expense on a DDR2. Once you reach the point where the only old components on your machine are the drives and the peripherals, seriously consider getting a new machine.

CPU

Let's get it clear what a CPU upgrade practically means:

• Your motherboard has to support it first, and it needs to be at least 40-50 per cent faster than your earlier CPU for you to even notice the difference.
• The memory and hard drive will be running at an unchanged speed.
• A CPU upgrade means more on-chip cache, and faster command execution.

A CPU upgrade makes a lot of sense if you manage to get a substantial upgrade in the chipset and the CPU at under Rs 3,000. Also socket compatibility and compatible chip set models are factors you should ascertain prior to upgradation.

RAM

This is the best value for your buck as far as improving performance is concerned. Anything under 256 MB surely needs an upgrade. Most softwares and applications today struggle to run smoothly on machines with 128 MB RAM, say for example running Windows XP. Upgrade over 256 MB at your own discretion in case of usage of heavy applications like graphics-heavy games, animation software or speech recognition.

It is recommended to replace your entire RAM with the new one at the time of the upgrading. Do not upgrade just the required additional RAM over your old one. It leads to complications, and quite simply for the marginal cost difference, it's not worth the trouble.

CD ROMs

Some points to remember:

• Faster CD or DVD drives do not affect any application or program that you run. So whether the player is a 16X or a really old 2X, there isn't much to gain with a faster drive.
• Choose to go for a DVD burner upgrade over a CD burner. The cost difference is negligible for the advantages.
• Check for software compatibility with the drive upgrade as that is the area of highest concern while upgrading.
• Upgrading from an existing burner to a faster burner is pointless, unless you plan to burn CDs or DVDs for commercial purposes in large quantities.

Video card

An AGP adapter or a top-end PCI Express can cost you more than your entire machine at times. Similarly, a Rs 25,000 video card in a Rs 20,000 machine will not make your machine gain much performance edge, besides bettering the 3D effect a little bit. If you are into hard-core gaming, make sure that you have an AGP slot and not onboard video before you go for an expensive video card upgrade.

Sound card

Keep a few pointers in mind:

• There is no 'ultimate' sound system. It depends whether you want your speakers to produce 3D surround effect for games or a home theater effect or rather take the place of your music system. Choosing a sound system is one of the most subjective calls you could take among all hardware choices for your computer.
• For 3D surround sound in games, first check if you have a 3D sound card installed before installing the four speakers. It is the card that actually gets you to hear enemies closing up on you from behind, not the number of speakers.
• If you are simply interested in recording music, go for a sound card with a good A/D conversion. Choose a top shelf card if you want to compose music on your machine.
• Dolby Surround Sound is the same as 3D surround, and usually most motherboards support 6 channel speakers (5.1 audio) that come with a sub-woofer.

If the cost of an upgrade exceeds Rs 15,000, don't even consider an upgrade; go for a new machine. If the cost for upgrading is between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, take a call on how old your machine is. If it exceeds 3 years, you might consider buying a new one.

Don't upgrade your machine in a hurry. Understand and list your needs of a computer. Check your current system configuration and check if you are really falling short of an upgrade. Most times, upgrading your machine might not be worth it in terms of time and efforts required, since new ones cost so little.

Keep in mind that system crashes and software failures might just mean you need to clear some memory space, curb a few applications or defrag your machine; not that your machine is 'out-dated' for your needs.

well, i never upgrade it, and if i had money i'd have a million computers by now, i just always get pissed at it and format the harddrive. alot.:lamo: :vertag:

whenever it need, never had any problem with my computer so far, soon if my computer break down, or it just got old, then new computer :bleh: :thumbup1:

According to me within 2 or max 3 years you feel the need to upgrade your computer!
I have upgraded my machine only in 2 years after the purchase.
But I still think its more depended on your need not on the timespan. :)

Whenever it reminds me of updating information, I will click "yes, right now"

When it reminds me of updating information, I will click "yes, right now" if I am in good mood. :)

I build my machine in 2007 with following config:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 [2.4 GHz]
Motherboard: MSI P35 Platinum Combo Series
RAM: 3GB DDR2 800MHz [Kingston Value RAM]
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 320GB

And even today I feel my machine too powerful. :ohyeah:
I normally use my machine for development activites [Tools Used are Eclipse, Netbeans, .NET, Weblogic Servers, Oracle Server, ..... , .......].

So last week I unclocked:thumbup1: it to 1.6 GHz [267 * 6 @ 1.1625]. Even at this speed I hardly notice any performance lack. If you are not using it for Movies Encoding... where you will notice the performance issues. but for 95% of times you will not notice it.

Looking at current requirement I don't think I might need to update for atleast next 5 years. Even if condition raises I can overclock it. As you now Q6600 G0 is one of best processor when it comes to overclock.:cool:

I noticed 128mb ram on Windows XP mentioned. Well the last time I read that sentence was 7 years ago. Upgrading to 160GB or 300GB Hard disk? Maybe 2 years ago but today if you are upgrading it should be no less than 500GB. I even suggest 1TB because the price difference isn't much.

To answer the question, I usually upgrade my PC every year depending on which part I need to upgrade. Usually RAM is the first thing I upgrade followed by hard disk and then processor. Sometimes I sell the whole PC and just get my self a new one.

Hi Folks,

I feel one should upgrade the PC only when it is highly needed, because every day new technology comes & then we repend.

BG

whenever it needs

often, whenever it needs