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Crucial Personal Computer Updates

The purchasing of a new Computer is an important decision in this hugely wired, technological time of ours. Before you've even brought it home and out of the box, something fresher and quicker has struck the marketplace. It makes sense to do a bit of forward planning and get a computer that can continue to be important and reliable with respect to your specific requirements for at least a few years. Besides the proper attention and routine maintenance, there are a few important PC improvements that every pc operator should think about to maximise the functionality and extended life of a computer to stave off obsolescence and extend the useful life of the machine.

The first and most critical upgrade for any PC is Random Access Memory. Nothing bolsters operation like putting in all the RAM that the PC can handle. Just be alert to the fact that 32-bit operating systems can just address 4 GB of memory, so if you need to go beyond that you'll need to switch to a 64-bit platform. One more simple up grade is the Graphics Card. They're a snap to install as they simply plug into any PCI Express slot on the motherboard and can considerably improve media and graphics rendering.

In addition, switching the original hard drive to something quicker with extra space is a good idea as hard drives or HDDs are rather cheap nowadays. Installment packages with all the required tools to upgrade are available from a range of distributors such as Seagate, Western Digital and OCZ. Although more expensive than traditional disk drives, solid state drives have the benefits of working with a reduced amount of power, being less noisy and more rapid, as well as being more shock resistant. While you're tinkering with the hard drive, you may also think of grabbing a Blu-ray player for media. They're not that expensive and can be had for £100 or so.

If you have made a decision to up grade to new, more powerful graphics cards, a second monitor is the perfect way to capitalise on the extra rendering capability. Two screens support more efficient multitasking and efficiency and give you more space to work with. Like pretty much every other component, monitors are becoming more of a bargain every day and a decent quality screen shouldn't run more than £150.

Last but not least, the best upgrade of any personal computer is the motherboard and the CPU. This is often the best course of action for older hardware that's seriously starting to show it's age. Today's CPUs from AMD and Intel are incredibly easy to exchange out and the speed enhancements are absolutely worth it.

XFX Radeon HD 4870 1GB DDR5 750MHz 256-bit PCI-E 2.0 CrossFi

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