So you want to replace or add hardware to your system. Cool! But also very demanding. Here you have two options: trust someone else to do it for you; or trust yourself to do it. I'm uncomfortable with both options; so I take the second option and spend time instead of money. One overall benefit of upgrading to new hardware is that you usually get a very good manual. The few (and brief) manuals I have received with PC systems do not compare to ones included with new hardware.

Tip One: Check your service agreements and warranties first. Many proprietary systems such as Dell, Compaq, and Packard Bell are with agreements that include their exclusive right to maintain the components of your system. If you open your case with some of these types of computers you are throwing your agreements to the wind.

Tip Two: When purchasing external components for your system like disk-backups, printers, etc.; keep in mind you will be using them well into the future. They can not be upgraded like your PC can; which means you will either be stuck with them, or satisfied with them. I know several bargain hunters who are often very negative about their bargains in the long term. Don't buy no ugly (cheap) PCs, components, or pieces parts.

Tip Three: Hardware Upgrades - Before purchasing, research the issue of compatibility with your motherboard and other hardware components in your system. Research what components fit your application and needs. You can do damage to your hardware, damage software files, and lose settings if you don't do this research.

Tip Four: Central Processor Unit (CPU) upgrades - Research to find out what kind of CPU your motherboard is compatible with. Intel, Cyrix, and AMD CPUs may be in your options. Intel is generally more expensive, but they do design and make thier own. AMD use to design and make Intel's chips, then they designed and made their own CPUs, but now they subcontract. Cyrix does their own thing; which (from what I've heard) usually performs as well as the others.

Tip Five: Tailor your system's RAM memory. When you are running an application it uses RAM memory to work with data toward an objective (hopefully a desired one). When I got my first PC five years ago, it had SIMMS chips for RAM memory. Now there is SIMMS, EDO, VRAM, WRAM, DRAM, SDRAM, GRAM, SGRAM, DIMMS (a few dozen more will surely be available in a few days). I have tried to keep up with motherboard, video, and soundcard RAM; and failed. I can simply put it this way; more is better to a degree.

My current system has 16 megabytes (mg) of SDRAM on the video card, 512k of RAM on the sound card (which swaps to the mother board RAM) and 64mg of EDO SIMMS on my mother board. I finally put 64 mg of DIMMS RAM on my mother board and went through 4 months of trying to figure out which component of the system was conflicting. One of the DIMMS was for the newest of machines (100mhz bus) and blew my DIMM sockets!

An illustration of what RAM is about may give you insight about it's usage and why you may need more. When you see or hear something on your PC, it has been (and is being) processed through RAM memory. A swap file throws data back and forth to the RAM memory. SIMMS RAM takes the data in, processes it, and then spits it back out. EDO RAM takes the data in, processes it, and then spits it out a different direction; which increases the processing speed up to 15%. SDRAM takes the data in, processes it on the fly, and allows it to flow on out; which increases the processing speed very well. SIMMS are cheap, EDO is getting cheaper, the others are expensive.

Since I have the slowest RAM process, I potentially may need more than someone with SDRAM; and ultimately may have to get a motherboard which can handle newer RAM. Although I was running many programs with 24mg of SIMMS and had no problems, I went ahead and put more in do to the increasing need for RAM, and due to its low price.

RAM memory is the easiest hardware to upgrade. Installation includes popping it in. Your machine does the rest with no assistance from the operator. Real cool!

Tip Six: Buy a large hard drive; but more importantly, buy a very fast one. Size means a lot; but speed means much more. Faster is better since you use a hard drive for all applications. Even if you are running something from a floppy disk drive or CD-Rom, you are using your hard drive to administrate the programs through your operating software.

I have seen many ratings on hard drives which include different aspects of data transfer and "seeking" (looking for data). Even some of the top brand name hard drives are slow in comparison to others. Remember, the larger the hard drive, the more potential for winding up with one that is relatively slow. My 540mb IBM hard drive had a seek time of 10 nano seconds (ns); which was very good at that time. My 2.1gb Western Digital Caviar hard drive has a seek of 14ns (so, so), and my 5.7 Maxtor/CompUSA hard drive has a seek of 9ns; which is excellent for such a large drive.

Tip Seven: I grew up finding that brand names were usually more expensive (and often not of more benefit) than generic. With PC hardware this is true to some extent; but not as much. With hardware brand names you also get the benefit of having the hardware most likely supported by a third party software application. I found this to be especially true with soundcards. "Sound Blaster compatible" translates to, "It works as well...", "It may work as well...", "It will work to a degree...", "It wasn't designed to do everything in the virtual universe and you are flat outta luck..."! Consumer Reports is on-line. Go there and research the components which best suit your needs and applications.

Hardware I use includes the hard drives and memory mentioned above, a CTX 17" monitor, Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, Alps Glidepoint (I am too physically demanding on mouses, dislike the dragging, dislike the clicking, and dislike carpel tunnel syndrome), Mitsumi 12x CD-Rom (the next one will be a Sony), Intel 430-VX motherboard, Intel P-200MMX CPU, Diamond Viper V550 SDRAM video card, DTV2000 video capture card, Monster II soundcard, Zoom (Rockwell based) modem, Canon printer, CH Pilot flight yoke and peddles, Gravis Phoenix joystick (for DOS) and a Microsoft Sidewinder joystick for Windows 95. Other high quality brand name hardware I've researched include: Phillips monitors, Sony CD-Roms, ADM motherboards and CPUs, and US Robotics modems. The above mentioned hardware components are NOT the only quality brand names available which function very well and are worth one's attention.

For the record, my machine was purchased in 1994. The original parts only include the case and the power supply. The upgrades to date were to replace hardware that was no longer working or not adequate for getting the most out of software. In each upgrade I evaluated new hardware to be feasible if I could afford it, and if it would keep up with present usage well enough. This research took a lot of time in some cases. During the research time I put some money aside for the purchase, and the prices usually fell a little. My latest purchase was the EDO RAM. If I had purchased it was first available, I'd have paid 25% more.

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