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Computer Hardware Tips

Computer Hardware Tips
Most of the time, we are configuring software or fine tuning settings to get the maximum out of our computer but not all the issues are software related. One should have enough knowledge of PC hardware to identify and resolve common issues. Also, knowing your hardware, helps to identify hardware bottlenecks hampering your PC’s performance and then you precisely know what to upgrade or replace. Computer has many hardware parts. We will be discussing some of them below:

Installing RAM: Installing additional RAM (Random Access Memory) is the easiest, most effective and cheapest hardware upgrade that will improve your PC’s performance. Before installing additional memory, make sure that the new chip is of the same type and speed that is already installed in your machine.

Do not exceed motherboard RAM limit. Always turn off power and unplug the machine before any such installation. While installing RAM, make sure it is facing the correct direction. It will be keyed accordingly and will click into place as you install it. After installation, turn on the system to check for any errors and confirm that the additional memory appears in the memory check.

Replacing Power Supply: You may require a power supply replacement if there are random reboots or the system is not coming on at all. First you need to select the correct power supply for your motherboard i.e. its connectors’ type should match the ones on your motherboard and should be sufficient in number. Also it should provide enough power to handle all the components of your PC. 300W to 400W power supply is sufficient for regular home use PCs.

To replace the supply, first unplug the power cord. Then remove the cover and take off the power connections from the hard drives, CD ROMs, Floppy drives, motherboard etc. Now take out the screws from the back of the power supply and take it out of the casing. Do the reverse procedure to install the new one.

Graphics Card Selection: When choosing a video card, you must first decide what you do with your PC most of the time; Surfing the net and doing e-mails, playing high end 3-D video games or editing photos and movies? Depending upon your interest, you may choose from the following three options:

• PCI: It is the oldest of the three types. It is the most affordable card for general purpose home and business computing. PCI uses a shared bus topology to allow for communication among different devices on the bus. PCI video cards can offer high performance if their onboard memory is increased.
• AGP: It was designed to handle 3D graphics. AGP uses a dedicated point to point channel so that graphic controller can directly access the main memory. To use an AGP card, motherboard must support it and must have an AGP slot on it.
• PCI Express: This doubles the standard data transfer rates on a PCI slot. PCI express is a two way serial connection which avoids performance problems that appear on a shared bus. It provides greater transfer speeds than PCI or AGP.