Upgrade Computer Hardware or Buy New Computer Hardware ?

Step 1 - Planning your Computer Hardware Upgrade

Have you ever had the thought, "I really need a new computer, but how much do I put into my current computer or do I build or buy a new one ?".  In this article, I hope to answer some of those questions and help you decide whether it is time to upgrade or buy new.  In the coming segments, I will be posting future articles on both upgrading, building, and buying new.  Before you decide to upgrade, buy new, or build your own, you must carefully plan your build it is very important to make sure everything will work together when you are finished and you achieve the desired result.

The first question we need to ask is, "How old is my current computer ?"  The second question is, "What is the primary function of my computer ?", whether it be for personal use, games, school, or work ?  The answer to both of these questions will play in important role in deciding whether to purchase a new computer or upgrade an older one.  It has been my experience that if your computer is more than 5 years old, most likely the time has come to go with a brand new machine.  The function of the computer is also a factor in deciding to upgrade.   For example, if you use the computer solely as a word processor and e-mail for school, then you might be able to get 6 or 7 years out of a computer.  On the contrary, if you primarily use your computer to play the latest games, use it for high-end graphics, and complex calculations, then you might want to upgrade every 1-1/2 years.

So you've decided to upgrade your computer instead of buying a new one, since your computer is only 3 years old and do a little word processing, web design, accounting for your business, and play a few games.  The next question is, "Where do I go from here ?".  Ask yourself what your budget is to spend on upgrading the computer hardware inside of the computer.  Computer hardware comes in a wide range of brands, quality, and pricing.  For the sake of this upgrade, we are going with a moderate budget of about $300 to spend to get our computer's hardware up to speed.  Here is a listing of what we currently have and a brief explanation of each computer hardware component.

Pentium 4 - 2.2Ghz Processor
        - Main brain of the computer it does all of the computer's "thinking".
Maxtor 40GB Hard Drive
        - Computer's main permanent storage facility, much like a large electronic file cabinet
Full Tower Case
        - Housing that house's all of the computer's internal components
1GB Memory
        - Computer's temporary storage, much like a desk with documents on it waiting to be stored.
DVD & CD-ROM Drives
        - Reads CD-ROM discs and DVD disc media, commonly used to store data or install programs from.
128MB AGP ATI Radeon 9200 Video Card
        - Display adapter that sends/receives to/from the monitor
Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Sound Card
        - Sound Card generates the sound that comes out of your speakers
10/100 Ethernet Networking Card
        - Most commonly used to connect to the internet or local network either at home or work.

Okay, now we have a grasp on some of the basic computer hardware components, it is time to go online and shop around for some computer hardware deals.  If you're curious on what is the latest & greatest review visit Dev Computer Hardware.   In our next segment, we will discuss how to select the right computer parts for our upgrade as we go shopping on Star Computer Parts website to show you exactly what you'll need to buy.