I’ve had my PC for three years and gradually I have been upgrading and adding various parts. First some more usb plug ins, then a firewire card, a DVD Writer, and recently more memory. Now I am thinking of getting a bigger internal HD.
It got me wondering if I should be investing all this in my current computer. At what point does it make sense to just get a whole new computer? Or is that even being done anymore? Perhaps, upgrading individual components is the way to go.
What are the pros and cons of adding and upgrading components? And are there any advantages to buying a whole new computer?
What should I do next, keep adding to my current computer or stop now and save up and wait till I can get a completely new one?!
invest in a mac. they don’t get viruses, they’re being outfitted with an intel chip, they are really well built, and the OS is really well programmed. still, if i were you, i’d wait another six months or so. they’ll get the programs ready for the intel. right now they’re bound to be screwy cuz they haven’t made them for the intel chips yet. macs cost more $$$ but in the long run are cheaper.
You’ll reach a point that your current motherboard can’t sustain the better hardware and you’re left making sub-standard upgrades because the mobo isn’t up to snuff.
For instance, the max BUS speed on memory on your mobo is likely lower than the current highest available. This can have a huge impact on high-write memory applications.
What is the max AGP speed on the mobo? Make sure if you buy a new vid card that the vid card’s speed will fully be utilized. Otherwise you’re spending a lot on an upgrade that you’ll get a fraction of the performance from.
Also, take disks into consideration. SATA, despite the higher price, give more throughput than IDE at the BUS. A 3 year old mobo probably only has IDE channels. You could get an SATA card and go that route, but that seems pointless to me.
Then of course you have the processor - how much would it cost to get the fastest proc for the mobo vs just getting a new barbones system with a better mobo/proc/memory setup?
In my opinion, when you ask “should I upgrade or buy new?”, it comes down to the motherboard - because that’s where you’ll be able to assertain how far you can go with future upgrades and decide how much more time you can live with it and how much money you’ll sink into it in the long run.
This isn’t true - a Mac is able to get a number of viruses. Many of which are mundane macro-type viruses, but they are in no way immune to viruses. Virus writers simply don’t target them because Macs make up a very small percentage of the market share. If you’re going to attack something, attack something that you have a higher chance of finding in a random search.
This comes from about 3 years providing enterprise level technical support for anti-virus and anti-spam software.
they CAN get viruses, like you said, but it’s faster to say they don’t without explaining the whole thing good of you to clarify, though.
they ARE cheaper in the long run, however, because they won’t crash as much as PC’s, don’t need parts replaced as much, and are less prone to hackers and viruses.
Hardware is independent of the OS. Besides, my girlfriend’s parents have had to have mac replace their machine about 3 times in 6 months because it continues to break down (hardware, not software). At this point, aside from the proc and mobo, most hardware is completely interchangable between Mac and PC.
Viruses are easily thwarted with AV software and any degree of firewall - be it at your gateway or a desktop firewall. Anyone running a Mac is silly not to do the same. This is recommended computing practices for all computers.
“Hackers” in the traditional sense are rarities these days. The worse you can get “hacked” is through keyloggers - which any half-way decent AV program will detect and remove. The idea of someone remotely accessing your computer and magically finding CC#'s, your home address and SSN is largely fiction.
What people have to worry about is social engineering hacks where you receive an email and are asked to enter bank information or other personal info. These are OS independent and can work on anyone that’s not saavy enough to catch them and provide the information to the malicious parties.
Hard to say, but if you’re interested in Vista (the next Windows due out at the end of the year) it might do you well to stop buying upgrades and save up for a new computer at the end of the year once Vista ships. You can add a lot of the extra stuff you have from your old computer to the new one. You’ll save money by getting Vista preloaded on your new computer rather than paying money to upgrade to Vista.
I just got a new HP Pavilion with a funky fast AMD Athlon X2. The prebuilt computers like the Pavilion are a good buy. Cheaper than building your own from parts. Get the prebuilt computer, upgrade a few things to suit your needs, and you’ve got a decent computer.
I changed the CPU heat sink on mine because the stock heat sink is a bit noisy. Then I added a DVD-ROM drive that I already had because the computer came with only one DVD-RW drive. Then a $20 PCI serial port card because the computer didn’t have a serial port (for my GPS). At that point I’m good. Oh, and I got an external HD that connects via SATA (Serial ATA) so it’s really fast (just as fast as an internal drive and much much faster than USB or Firewire). The external HD supports SATA and USB. Neat.
I’ll be upgrading to Vista. When Vista ships I’ll see how the builtin graphics chip handles the 3D Vista eye candy. If it’s not up to the task I’ll buy a graphics card, but I think the integrated graphics chip will handle Vista (Nvidia 6150 LE).
The CPU needs to be cooled or it will cook itself to death (a desktop CPU like the Athlon or Pentium IV gets very hot). A heat sink is attached to the CPU to cool it. Most heat sinks have a fan on top to force additional air through the heat sink to cool it better. That fan can be noisy. There are heat sinks designed with extra quiet fans so they are quieter than standard heat sinks. So I got a big ass heat sink with a quiet fan.
I use the computer to listen to music so I want to computer to be reasonably quiet. I did a stress test on the computer to get it hot and then listened for the noisiest bit. The noisiest bit was the heat sink fan. I’ll see how it is now and attack the next noisiest source if necessary.
Bought one that’s water cooled? That takes away all the fun.
I will never buy a Mac because of the huge cult of Mac users out there. They’re like unicyclists except worse.
I, personally, get a lot of satisfaction out of building a computer from scratch. I learned a lot building my first computer, and I have lots of fun playing with and tweaking my current one. (Can you say 2GHz Athlon 64 @2.95GHz?) That’s something you don’t get from a pre-built.
Having said that, to build your own computer is generally no cheaper than getting a pre-built one, and it’s usually more expensive, plus you don’t get all that tech support stuff.
Also, if your comp is more than a year old you don’t have any chance of upgrading it into something current (what those guys said about the motherboard). Toss it out the window and buy a new one.
Macs are great and never crash because you can’t run any third party application software on them. No one writes it. Mac users believe that if you put a peripheral device next to it, it does a Vulcan mind meld and you don’t have to do any installation work. Are there a string of Mac jokes out there?
The “costs less in the long run” myth comes from believing that PC users spend gobs of money having someone else repair their computer or they lose “valuable” time after they crash. A PC might not be as stable as a unicycle but it’s still rideable.
I used to belong to the “build your own PC” club, and in that group, even when your MB can no longer support the CPU you want, you can at least reuse your drives and peripherals (maybe video card) and save a few bucks. If you go this route, you get to pick and choose the best components. Also, your system stays up to date.
The other philosophy is the “just buy a whole new machine” club. The advantage here is that although you don’t get to hand pick each component, you usually get a better price on the system. The other advantage is that you keep your old PC whole and keep it as a second or donate it to a friend/loved one. The disadvantage is that your PC is pretty pathetic by the time you retire it, or you lose all the $$ you put into keeping your old system up to date.
I now belong to the “just buy a whole new machine club” because I’m not as interested in “building systems” and the technology changes so quickly that it’s nice just to refresh the entire system.
I’ll pretend i’m spudman! I’m really his dad, the IT guy at home here. spudman’s computer started life in 2001 as a mostly new system built of parts ordered over the internet. Generic case, cheap socket A mobo, 1g Tbird cpu, 128m ram, and a 40g drive. The cd and floppy drives were ones I had laying around.
Since then it’s had a new video card added, new dvd drive, and a hand me down 80g hard drive…and then a new motherboard with a free used 1.5g athlon, and 256m ddr ram. Somewhere along there it was upgraded from win95 to 98 to 2000 (licences? uhh…). spud’s little brother got the older mobo and cpu, to upgrade his 333 mhz IBM from 1998 (!).
My own machine gets a new mobo/cpu every couple years, and a bigger hd (old one gets handed down to the kids). I’m at a 2.4g p4 now, I figure $100 is about all that one should spend on a cpu.
If you’re into working on computers, and the box in question has a case that will accept a new psu and mobo, and has enough room in it for the drives you need, then consider just upgrading stuff as needed. otoh, if you actually LIKE having the newest MS OS crap, and all the good BS that the computer companies install on their products, then you would be better off just buying a new cheap box every few years. I personally can’t deal with any version of windoze that’s less than 3 years old…gotta give them time to get the bugs out, you know.
One neat thing about buying new is adding your old one via home network. Lots of neat ways to use that - having computers in different rooms, playing network games with the relatives, sharing printers and scanners, that kind of thing.
That is by far the largest, most rediculous heat sink I’ve ever seen.
As far as whether to upgrade or buy new, it completely depends on the hardware that you have now and what you’re looking to upgrade to, and how long you are willing to wait with your upgrades before buying new. When I buy a new computer, I buy parts and assemble it. If you were to go this route, I’d suggest getting parts that can accommodate upgrades, such as a large tower (I have an Antec server tower that can hold up to 8 HDs and 4 CD drives). Once you have a tower, it’s easy to upgrade parts as necessary. Basically, you can upgrade all you want until your mobo can’t handle any more (RAM, cpu). If you’re looking to always have the latest and greatest, plan on getting a new motherboard and cpu at least once per year (if you’re like that). Otherwise, like myself, I’ll buy a mobo and cpu and use it for 2+ years and upgrade from there to the top of the line at the time.
That doesn’t help you right now, but maybe next time you’re looking into a new setup, leave space for upgrades.
It is large, but there are some that are more rediculous.
I looked at Silent PC Review and went with what was recommended for a quiet heat sink for Athlon X2 systems.
It cools great and is quiet even at its fastest fan setting.
Upgrade? Why? If I feel my PC is sluggish, I prefer to put more efficient software on it. I’m on my 2nd PC since 2000 but only because I needed Windows DRM functionality. Otherwise I’d still be running my Athlon 650. When replacement parts become hard to find, then it’s time to upgrade.
The most important question ( and the green question ) is “Do you need it?”
If you need more disk space then surely a bigger hard disk ( or another hard disk) is the cheapest and easiest way to go, and solves the disk space problem. If your CPU/Mem speed, graphics etc etc are not causing you lost time or lost capability, then why waste money on a new machine?
Even motherboards are cheap and easy to replace, provided you a) do not have a laptop, B) bought a clone rather than one of the bespoke manufacturers’ machines.
It is usually only the very latest games that render your PC incapable of coping with the pressure, and even then, most of it will still be vastly underused. On the other hand, having TWO machines can be a distinct advantage in keeping kids off your PC. They will define which one is yours of course.
good of you to clarify, though.