• PC World
• »Upgrading

Upgrade, Build, or Buy?

The question is almost as old as the original IBM PC: Should you upgrade an aging computer or get a new one? And for the willing and able, there's a follow-up: Are you better off buying a ready-made PC or building your own custom machine?

Consider these four queries: Is the cost of the upgrade reasonable? How long will the upgrade will take? Do you have the technical expertise to perform the required work? And will your tinkering yield a fair payoff in increased performance? Upgrading a single component is usually a lot quicker and cheaper than buying a new PC, setting it up on your network, moving all your data, and reinstalling and reconfiguring all of your programs. But if you're looking at a complete overhaul--with, say, a new processor, memory, graphics card, and hard drive--the time and money you'll invest might be better spent on a new PC.

Target Your Upgrade

If you just want to improve an aging PC's performance, a well-targeted upgrade can go a long way toward extending its life. The difference between too little RAM and enough RAM is like night and day, and adding memory is often the cheapest and easiest upgrade option. A new graphics card can make your games purr (and may be necessary for playing the latest and greatest titles). And if you have enough memory--and a compatible motherboard--a new CPU can provide a welcome boost, for a lot less than you'd spend on a brand-new PC.

But a component upgrade will take you only so far. Ultimately, you're limited by performance constraints on the motherboard, such as bus speeds. And as noted previously, your motherboard's chip set, sockets, and interfaces limit the type of upgrade you can make and the availability of new parts. Socket 478 CPUs, like the one on our older test computer, are rapidly becoming scarce. And AGP graphics cards are a dying breed, though you can still find some good ones.

Here's a rule of thumb for the average PC: If you're thinking of replacing three parts that have a combined cost of $400 or more, put the money toward a new system instead. To help you make more-specific decisions, we've assembled a chart listing the cost and performance of the upgrades we made to our two-year-old test system versus the cost and performance of a new PC (see the chart below). Just keep in mind that the scores reported reflect general performance, rather than the specific type of upgrade you might need (like a graphics board for games).

If upgrading doesn't seem worth it, the critical decision to make in selecting a new PC involves the motherboard. One approach is to decide on the CPU and the memory type you want, and then pick a matching motherboard (Intel's Core 2 Duo wouldn't be a bad choice right now). The motherboard should be the latest model from a name manufacturer like Asus, Gigabyte, or MSI, with a name chip set such as ATI, Intel, nVidia, SiS, or Via. Make sure it supports any technology you may want to use now or down the road, like RAID for your hard drives or SLI for graphics.

Equipped with this information, you're ready to tackle the question of whether to build or buy your next computer. Cost is an important factor to consider, as is time. But the decision ultimately comes down to whether you like to tinker.

Cost cuts both ways. You can shop around and get a bargain on a PC from a major manufacturer, but you can also get good deals on individual parts. The debate rages back and forth as to whether you'll obtain more computing power for the money in a ready-made or a custom-built. But in the end, a difference of $100 either way is less important than whether getting exactly the PC you want justifies the extra time and effort you'll invest.

If it does, and you already know or are willing to learn how to build your own PC, the payoff can more than match the time expenditure. The perfect (for you) case alone can make a big difference in how much you'll enjoy your new computer, and everything inside will be exactly what you want. You can tailor your PC to be a hot-rod gaming box or a high-capacity family media center PC. And you can load Windows without all those obnoxious free offers and desktop icons. Of course, you'll also forfeit the right to call one number for all your technical support, and you won't be able to buy an extended warranty.

But what do you do if you want the benefits of build-your-own customization, and yet don't feel qualified (or don't have the time) to build your own PC? Simple: You cheat, and let someone else do the work.

With your motherboard and CPU type chosen, head to a PC site like Cyberpowerpc.com, Ibuypower.com, or Polywell.com. Each of these sellers lets you select the various components of a system that the company will then build for you. Bounce between a few sites to see which ones offer the component choices you want and also to compare prices. Then pay online and wait for delivery.

You might not be able to specify all the custom parts you want, and you'll pay more than you would if you bought all the parts at optimum price and did the assembly yourself. But to get most of the benefits of build-your-own with the just-give-it-to-me advantages of buying a ready-built model, this is the way to go.