 Processor Power - A good general rule when buying a new
PC is to buy the highest performance that is generally available but a few months out of
the slot. In todays' market that would be approximately a 333MHz Pentium. Although
Pentiums are now available at 500mHz or more, the price accelerates rapidly beyond 400MHz.
Of course that will change soon as the P6 becomes readily available. Determining which
processor to buy must be done by research since the best price performance point is always
shifting. The first of these links is to the Intel site which has a lot of good
information about the Pentium processor and processor performance. Take a look before
making a buying decision. Upgrades are a also very viable option if not too much needs to be done. If you're handy enough, just sticking in a new motherboard is not hard. However, consider whether your other components are up to today's level, before jumping in. Things like RAM, hard disk drives and contollers, and video cards may not work from older PC's and all components must be modern before a high level of performance can be achieved. However, something like a Pentium 100 with 16mB of RAM and 1Gb hard drive is a good candidate for some upgrading. Of course just adding RAM, which is relatively inexpensive, is the easiest. See below for more information on that and check these links for suppliers of upgrade motherboards. |
 Random Access Memory - Trying to use a windows operating
system without enough RAM results in the biggest of performance deficits. While both
Windows 3.1 and 95 will operate well on 16mb, Windows 95 really starts to hum at 32mb. The
current price of RAM is truly amazing with 16mb selling for near $100. If buying a new
system make sure to get a least 32mb of RAM and if upgrading consider the same. RAM comes
in small modules called Single Inline Memory Modules (SIMM's).
Older computers used 30 pin modules but 72-pin has been the standard for several years
now. This is an important consideration when upgrading. Also many motherboards require
SIMM's to be used in banks of either 2 or 4 so be careful to determine this before making
a purchase. Check out these links to information about RAM available on the web. |
 Hard Disk Storage - These days, hard disk
storage is inexpensive and available in large sizes. When buying a new system get at least
4Gb. When upgrading do the same and pay attention to the access time, the lower the
better. We've had good luck with the Western Digital drives. They're easy to install, have
the information written right on the drive, and have been very reliable. A good trick when
upgrading is to format and install the OS on the new disk, then set it up as a slave and
copy all files from the old disk to it. However, to do this you'll need to know the jumper
configurations for each drive. Here are links to most of the disk manufacturers where
jumper settings may be found. |
 CD Rom - links available soon. |
 Video - links available soon. |
 Sound - links available soon. |
 Communications - links available soon.
|
These links were all checked when they
were added to this page as to their presence and pertinence. However, things change
rapidly on the Web. If you find a link that is not there, has moved, or is not pertinent
to this page, we would appreciate your letting us know. If you would like to suggest a
link, we always welcome hearing about new ones.
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