The
newest and best computer is right around the corner, and with every new release
of an updated model, your current computer becomes just a little more dated.
Whether it’s a personal desktop computer, an ultraportable laptop, or a
high-powered server, sooner or later it’s going to be phased out. That’s
unfortunate, considering that all of these computers were and remain major
investments. So what do you do when you need to boost your computer’s performance
to keep pace with the rest of the industry standards? If you’ve got a budget in
mind, you may not be able to do a complete renovation on your computer, so
we’re not talking a brand new configuration inside an old case. You may only be
able to afford a single upgrade for your computer. So the question remains:
which computer component warrants the investment? Here’s a short list arranged
by priority, with an explanation as to why.
First And Foremost –
The Processor
If you’re intending to upgrade a laptop, this one can be a
bit of trouble. A lot of laptop boards integrate their processor with the board
or have very restricted socket types. It’s easier when it comes to desktops and
server computers. The processor will show the most flat out improvement in power
and efficiency. Multi-core processors or multiple internal processors will
allow your computer to handle more in a shorter time. Look for a processor with
a high clock speed, and ideally, the ability to overclock. If your server is
running a lot of processes, multiple cores are especially important.
Second – Storage
Some people might think it strange that storage comes in
second. After all, it’s just a matter of capacity, right? That’s part of it,
but not nearly the whole story. Upgrading your storage can result in increases
in performance, provided that you make the right
upgrade. Look for a hard drive which has a higher spindle speed than your
current drive. This offers faster data writes and retrievals, so anything
stored on the drive offers faster access. If you’re looking for reliability and
speed, consider upgrading from a traditional magnetic hard drive with moving
components to a solid state drive, which currently offers the industry’s
fastest performance.
Third – The Memory
Expansion
For personal computing, RAM is often heralded as one of the
most important upgrades. For most people, you can scoot by with four to eight
gigabytes of memory. Memory is especially important if you intend to do a lot
of multi-tasking. If you only run three or four applications at a time, you
won’t see a great increase in performance from adding RAM, as most applications
don’t eat up anywhere near a gigabyte of random access memory. However, in
server applications, a lot of RAM is very
important – one of the reasons why my number one priority in upgrading my
server was the addition of Sun Microsystems 8GB servers memory upgrade. As
servers are tasked with multiple processes at once, sometimes number in the
several dozens, the additional RAM does produce a noticeable increase in
performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment