Best PC Upgrades

With a little know-how and some good advice, making the right upgrade can keep your hot-rod PC blazing or extend the life of your wheezing workhorse system. We have the information you need for either goal, in sections that bring you up-to-date on all the major components and offer comprehensive, step-by-step guides to upgrading.

CPU Upgrades: Intel's hot new Core 2 Duo processors are the latest and greatest CPUs here. For an older PC bump-up, we show you what you can expect from a Pentium 4 upgrade in an older computer, as well as providing a step-by-step upgrade guide.

Graphics Board Upgrades: SLI and Crossfire are the new technologies for our video card section. We run through four different upgrade scenarios--two for an older AGP system and two for a new system with on-board graphics--along with our step-by-step guide.

Memory Upgrades: DDR3 memory is coming, and we let you know what to expect. Also, learn the benefits of an easy, inexpensive memory upgrade, and check out our step-by-step guide.

Hard-Drive Upgrades: Perpendicular recording and hybrid hard drives get the spotlight in the hard-drive section. Once again we offer a step-by-step guide--this one focuses on adding a new drive and discusses SATA.

Optical Drive Upgrades: Are the new Blu-ray optical drives worth the hefty price tag? Probably not--but much more reasonable DVD upgrade options are available.

Upgrade, Build, or Buy: To wrap up our coverage, we help you answer two critical questions: Is it time to get a new system instead of upgrading, and are you better off buying a new system or building it?

And don't miss our handy extra tips and guides:

• Step-by-Step: How to Install a New Power Supply
• Step-by-Step: How to Keep Your PC Cool
• Tweaking Tips: Make Sure You Have the Tools You Need
• Tweaking Tips: Gauge How Hard Your System Is Working
• Tweaking Tips: Set Up Your PC for Multimedia Entertainment

CPU

Intel's new Core 2 Duo chips shook up the CPU market this July. Our first tests of Core 2 Duo systems yielded the highest WorldBench 5 benchmark scores we've ever seen, easily outshining the best marks from systems running on AMD's available dual-core offerings. If you're shopping for a new PC, a dual-core chip is a good idea, whether it's one of Intel's new screamers or an AMD Athlon 64 X2 or FX. But Core 2 Duo is the chip that looks like a breakthrough product.

In our tests of similarly built reference PCs, a system configured with a 2.93-GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor turned in a blazing WorldBench 5 score of 160. An AMD Socket AM2 FX-62 PC equipped with a 2.8-GHz Athlon 64 FX-62 lagged a good distance behind with a score of 137. For further test results on these and other comparable machines, see "Intel's New Core 2 Duo Processors Run Blazingly Fast in PC World Tests."

The bad news is that you can't just pop a Core 2 Duo chip into your existing motherboard. The chips use the same socket 775 as existing Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors, but they require additional hardware support in the form of a new chip set and a specially designed motherboard. Meanwhile, AMD's latest dual-core chips use a new socket called AM2, which means that you can't move up to those chips without either swapping out the motherboard or buying a new PC.

So what can you get that works with your current motherboard? Well, that depends in part on your CPU socket. Older Pentium systems use socket 478 processors. Recent Athlon systems use either socket 939 or socket 754. Check your system or motherboard manufacturer's documentation or Web site to find out which socket type you have, or download one of the time-saving system utilities we look at on page 108.

Once you know your socket type, you can check to see what compatible options are out there. Good places for shopping include Newegg.com, PCMall.com, and shopping metasites like DealTime.com and Shopzilla.com. Just remember that the older the chip is, the harder it will be for you to find a suitable upgrade. Plenty of upgrade processors are available for recent systems using socket 754, 775, or 939.

We tested many different upgrades to see how much life we could wring out of a two-year-old test PC; the CPU swap offered the biggest gains for any single upgrade in our WorldBench 5 tests. If you're thinking about swapping out your CPU, look for an improvement of 1 GHz in clock speed to justify the cost. And whenever possible, buy a retail package kit--not just the CPU--since you'll get a much longer warranty as well as the appropriate heat sink and fan.

Saving an Old System

Our older custom-built PC had 512MB of system RAM, a Gigabyte motherboard, and a 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 CPU. The upgrade window on socket 478 Pentium systems is closing rapidly, but we found a 3.2-GHz Pentium Extreme Edition chip that we could plug in.

The $300 chip we used isn't cost-effective if your CPU already runs at 2.8 GHz or better (though you can save about $100 by getting a slightly lower-power, non-Extreme Edition 3.2-GHz Pentium 4). But even the 600-MHz increase in our test system provided nice results. The upgraded PC bumped up a healthy 17 percent on WorldBench 5 from a score of 75 to 88--comparable to today's all-purpose laptops.

To figure out whether your CPU could use a power boost, hit <Ctrl>-<Alt>-<Delete> in Windows to call up Windows Task Manager (or see "Gauge How Hard Your System Is Working," for a more advanced performance tool). The green box in the system tray provides running commentary on how hard your processor is chugging away (alternatively, you can look under the Performance tab in the Task Manager window for a more precise display of data). Run through your normal tasks, and keep an eye on the tray icon, especially when your system feels slow. If the processor is regularly running full-bore for extended periods, you'd likely benefit from a CPU upgrade. Note that some tasks, like running a full virus scan, will push just about any processor. One tip: If you want to keep the Task Manager from cluttering your taskbar, choose OptionsHide when minimized. You can bring it back by double-clicking the system tray icon.

CPU Upgrade Boosts Speed
CPU	WorldBench 51
Before: 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 (socket 478)	75
After: 3.2-GHz Pentium 4 EE (socket 478)	88
Chart Note: Our test PC has 512MB of RAM and a Radeon 9600 graphics board with 128MB or memory. 1Overall test score; higher is better.

Step-By-Step: How to Install a New CPU

Replacing a CPU is a fairly involved PC upgrade; but done right, it's relatively painless. Here's how to proceed:

[1] Run your PC for about 15 minutes to heat up the thermal paste between the heat sink/fan and the CPU. This should make it much easier to separate the heat sink from the processor.

[2] Turn off the PC and remove its cover. Touch a metal part of your PC's case or use an antistatic wrist strap to equalize charge and ground yourself.

[3] Detach the power cable connecting the heat sink/fan to the motherboard. Carefully remove the heat sink/fan from the CPU. Some types are locked down with a lever, others are attached with screws, and still others use clips to attach directly to the CPU socket.

[4] Remove the CPU by unlatching and pulling up the little lever handle on the side of the socket, thereby releasing the processor. Label the CPU and tuck it away in the new CPU's box.

[5] A notch or an absence of pins on one corner of your new CPU will show you the one way to line up the new chip in your CPU socket appropriately. Gently position it in the socket, and then swing the lever handle over and down to lock it into place.

[6] Most retail CPUs come with thermal grease preapplied to the accompanying heat sink. If yours doesn't, follow the included directions for applying a small amount of thermal compound over the CPU die or the heat spreader on top of the new chip. A small packet of the paste should have been included with your new CPU kit.

[7] If your kit came with a new heat-sink-and-fan assembly, and you haven't yet upgraded to a more powerful cooling kit, use the new parts. Your faster (and likely hotter) upgraded CPU may require additional cooling. Otherwise, reattach the old heat sink and fan.

[8] Turn on the PC, and launch your system's setup program (watch the screen to see what key you should press at the start of the boot sequence). Check to see whether the system is running the new CPU at its correct speed. If it isn't, you may need to update your BIOS version or change some of its settings. For instructions, check the documentation accompanying your motherboard, or consult the maker's Web site.

Graphics Card

A new graphics board is especially worthwhile if you're looking for a performance boost in 3D apps and games. Windows Vista will use the 3D hardware in modern graphics cards to accelerate many of its fancy desktop features, including Flip3D and other cool Aero Glass transition effects. But if you aren't running Vista, the biggest reason to upgrade your graphics board is to enhance your gaming experience.

If you want to run eye-popping games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion on an aging PC or to improve their performance on a more recent box, there is no more effective upgrade you can make. If you've been using low-end integrated graphics, even a $100 midrange card can boost your graphics performance tremendously.

Today's hottest competing technologies are CrossFire from ATI and SLI from nVidia. Both let pairs of graphics boards work together to produce extraordinary graphics processing power. To use either one, you'll need a motherboard that has two PCI Express slots and that supports either SLI or CrossFire. Compatible graphics cards are by no means cheap, and using two of them can seriously spike your power usage (see "How to Install a New Power Supply"). But the performance these setups dish out makes enthusiasts drool.

At the extreme cutting edge is Quad-SLI, which uses two nVidia-based graphics cards, each of which has two graphics processors (GPUs). For $1200 or so (the price of two GeForce 7950 GX2-based boards), you can luxuriate in superb performance and display quality with even the latest games. That $1200 doesn't include the cost of the motherboard, of course. And if you're going with a setup like this, you'll need a heavy-duty power supply (typically over 500 watts) that's rated to handle the load. Slightly less radical gamers can buy one 7950 GX2-based board, which shines at higher resolutions, and use it with a standard PCIe system. See our test report summary, "eVGA e-GeForce 7950 GX2," for our latest assessment of this hot-rod card.

Testing the Upgrades

A new graphics board can pay huge dividends in 3D performance, even if you don't go high-end. Our tests confirm that an old AGP card or even newer on-board graphics won't cut it with current games. Integrated graphics save cash on a PC purchase; but if you try to run a demanding game, you'll quickly realize what your money didn't buy. And improved performance is only half the story anyway. Older cards can't handle the most realistic graphics effects, or even run some of the most graphics-hungry games, like Oblivion.

On our brand-new Polywell 945GX computer with a 3-GHz Intel P4 processor, 1GB of memory, and Intel 950G integrated graphics using main memory, even somewhat older games like Doom3 crawled along at 9 frames per second at 1024 by 768 resolution. A $170 eVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT KO PCIe card, though, generated a respectable 68 fps in Doom3 at 1024 by 768 resolution, and 64 fps at 1600 by 1200. Fear, a newer and more demanding game, showed a huge boost, too (see the accompanying chart). A PNY GeForce 7900 GTX delivered great performance, particularly at higher resolutions, but you'll pay a hefty $480 premium for the added power.

Though PCIe has become the standard for graphics cards, there's still hope for your older AGP system. Both ATI and nVidia are continuing to make new AGP cards, even if they're usually PCIe cards with AGP translators. On our test computer, we ran through two upgrade scenarios, starting with an older, once-popular 128MB Xtasy ATI 9600 board: a midrange 256MB Sapphire ATI Radeon x1600 Pro card ($100), and a high-end 256MB eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GS KO ($380 list).

With the Sapphire ATI Radeon x1600 Pro, performance nearly tripled in Doom3 at 1024 by 768 resolution, from an unpleasant 15 fps to a palatable 44 fps. Fear showed a similar improvement at the same resolution, from 11 fps to 34 fps.

The 256MB eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GS KO packs a bigger punch--for your PC and your wallet. The almost five times faster performance for Fear at 1024 by 786 resolution would make any gamer smile. But unless you're really attached to your AGP system, you're probably better off putting the money toward a new PCIe-equipped computer.

Before/After: New Cards Improve Picture
A new graphics board can make a huge qualitative difference for games and 3D programs if you're starting with an old card or underpowered built-in graphics.
Graphics Board	Price	Gaming Tests (Frames Per Second)
		Fear	Doom	Far Cry
AGP System1		1024 by 7682	1024 by 7682	1024 by 7682
Before: VisionTek Xtasy ATI 9600 (128MB)	(Original card)	11	15	26
After: Sapphire ATI Radeon x1600 Pro (256MB)	$100	34	44	53
After: eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GS KO (256MB)	$380	53	57	55
PCI Express System3		1600 by 12002	1600 by 12002	1600 by 12002
Before: Integrated Intel 950G4	n/a	2	3	5
After: eVGA e-GeForce 7600 GT KO (256MB)	$170	40	64	57
After: PNY GeForce 7900 GTX (512MB)	$480	64	68	62
Footnotes: 1 Two-year-old AGP system with 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 512MB of RAM. 2 Screen resolution used in tests. 3 PCIe system with 3.0-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 1GB of RAM. 4 On-board graphics, uses system memory. Tests conducted by PC World Test Center. For details, see PC World Test Center How We Test. All rights reserved.

Step-by-Step: How to Install a New Graphics Board

Done properly, installing a graphics board is simple. Here's how:

[1] Download the latest driver from ATI or nVidia. It's possible to use the driver CD supplied with your card instead; but unless your board doesn't work with the regular ATI or nVidia driver (check your documentation to find out), you're better off heading online to download the most up-to-date driver.

[2] Uninstall the old driver using Add or Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel. It should be conveniently labeled 'nVidia Drivers' or 'ATI Drivers.'

[3] Power down the computer.

[4] Open the case, and disconnect the power cable (if there is one) from the old video card.

[5] Remove the old graphics board. Most AGP and PCIe slots have a small lever or clip at the end of the slot that you'll need to release first.

[6] Insert the new board. If appropriate, make sure that the lever or clip latches the board in place once more.

[7] Reconnect the power cable.

[8] Power on the PC; but leave the case open for now, in case you need to reseat the graphics board.

[9] When Windows finds the new hardware and prompts you to install a driver, choose Cancel.

[10] Double-click the driver that you downloaded in step 1 (or use the driver CD) and follow the on-screen instructions for installing it.

[11] Reboot, reconfigure your desktop display settings, and enjoy your card.

Memory

Computer memory may not get worse with age, but it does get outmoded. Older DDR SDRAM is rapidly being supplanted by DDR2 memory, which in turn will be overtaken by faster DDR3 memory when it becomes available within the next couple of years. As with processors, each type of memory requires a motherboard with a compatible RAM socket, meaning that you can't just pop DDR2 memory into a computer designed for DDR SDRAM memory. But regardless of what type of RAM your system uses, adding more remains one of the cheapest and most effective upgrades.

Faster memory is desirable, but the most important thing is having enough. PCs slow down drastically when they run out of real memory and have to start swapping data into much slower virtual memory on your hard drive. That situation often arises when you run many applications at once, or when you use video-editing or other programs that shuffle a lot of data. Our tests, which involve working with images and using Nero Express to burn CDs, ran one-third faster when we upgraded from 512MB of RAM to 1GB.

Generally, 1GB of memory is enough for Windows XP. But if you want to use Vista with your existing system, you may need more memory. Because of new features like SuperFetch and larger overall memory demands, most analysts agree, Redmond's new OS will be happiest when working with 2GB or more.

For a quick, informal check of your memory needs, open a typical set of applications. Then open the Task Manager and click the Performance tab. Look at the line for 'Available' under 'Physical Memory (K).' If things feel sluggish and the reading is near zero, you need to shop for more RAM.

Before you buy, use a tool such as Sandra Lite (see "Gauge How Hard Your System Is Working") to figure out the type and amount of memory your computer currently has. Or head to a site such as Crucial.com or Kingston.com, enter your motherboard or PC model number, and receive an automatic ID of the type of RAM your system takes. Most PCs being upgraded today use dual-channel memory, which must be installed in pairs for maximum performance; so be sure to buy two matched chips when arranging for your upgrade. Typically, you'll have to install the RAM in alternating slots--1 and 3, or 2 and 4--to use dual-channel memory access.

Since most motherboards have a maximum of four sockets for memory, you may have to pull out some (or all) of your existing memory before adding new modules. Also, check your current memory's speed with Sandra or another diagnostic program. Though many faster chips may be compatible with your system, they will all operate at the slower speed if you use a mix of slower and faster memory modules.

Discs Burn Faster
Memory1	WorldBench 52	Nero Express 6.0.0.33
Before: 512MB DDR SDRAM	75	954
After: 1024MB DDR SDRAM	78	617
Footnotes: 1Test system with 2.6-GHz entium 4 CPU. 2Overall test score; higher is better. 3Timed subtest (in seconds); lower is better.

Step-by-Step: How to Install New Memory

Swapping out memory is among the quickest and easiest of PC upgrades. Here's how to do it:

[1] Power down your PC, open its case, and ground yourself as usual by touching the metal case or using an antistatic wrist strap.

[2] Find out whether and how your memory sockets are paired, and maintain that arrangement for best dual-channel performance. The pairing is often designated by color or a graphic on the motherboard itself.

[3] If you need to remove an existing module, gently push down on the clips on either side of the RAM socket. The module will pop up slightly and should be easy to pull out.

[4] To install your new memory, line up the notch at the bottom of the memory chip with the corresponding bump in the memory socket.

[5] With your fingers positioned at each end of the module, gently but firmly push down on it until the latches click into place.

[6] Close up your system, power on, and confirm that the PC recognizes the new RAM. If it doesn't, power down and reseat the modules.

Hard Drive

Hard drives keep growing, and we keep finding more ways to fill them up. For data pack rats, a new type of storage technology called perpendicular recording enables users to pack much more information into new drives, by arranging the data bits so that they align perpendicularly to the magnetic media.

Seagate's 750GB Barracuda perpendicular desktop drive costs about $420; the first 1-terabyte desktop drives should show up next year, along with 500GB laptop drives. These drives require SATA, the preeminent hard-drive interface for desktop systems, but no special drivers.

You'll need to be running Windows Vista to reap the benefits of another new type of drive, called a hybrid hard disk. Such drives mate 128MB or 256MB of high-speed nonvolatile flash memory with the spinning disks of a regular drive. Hybrid hard disks offer speed and power improvements, rather than additional space, and will primarily benefit laptops.

By writing to the drive less frequently and in larger chunks, a hybrid unit can significantly extend a typical laptop's battery life, according to Samsung. In addition, both Vista and Vista-optimized applications will be able to load faster with hybrid drives because they'll store part of the OS in flash memory; and disk reads and writes in general will be faster with the hybrids.

SATA for Your Upgrade

If you're going to add a new drive to your system, go with a SATA drive, even if you have to buy a new SATA controller card to accommodate it. The extra $25 or so for the card will pay off when you move to a new PC and you can easily reconnect your new drive to that machine. SATA drives are generally easier to install than their IDE predecessors, with thinner cables that allow better airflow inside your system. We've seen little performance advantage in using a SATA-300 drive rather than a SATA-150 drive, so take your pick.

When you buy, calculate the price per GB for each of several drives in the capacity range you're considering. The latest, supercapacity drives, like Seagate's 750GB monster, will always carry a significant price premium, but the sweet spot for hard drive value jumps around quite a bit.

Step-by-Step: Hard Drive Upgrade

Serial ATA drives are much easier to install than their Parallel ATA predecessors. You don't have to fiddle with master/slave jumpers or fret about which drive goes first on the channel--each SATA drive connects to an individual SATA port via its own cable. Here are the basic steps:

[1] Before doing anything else, make sure that you have the thin black 15-pin SATA power connector and a slim 7-pin data cable of the type used for SATA drives. Both differ from the corresponding components used for IDE drives. Many SATA drives ship with adapters that you can use if your power supply doesn't include SATA power connectors.

[2] Power off your PC and ground yourself as usual.

[3] If you're installing a SATA-300 drive and your system supports only SATA-150 (check your system or motherboard documentation to find out), consult the drive manufacturer's directions to see whether your drive is set to the correct mode. For one of our test drives, a jumper already in place had set the mode to SATA-150. To run the drive at SATA-300 we had to remove the jumper.

[4] If you need to install the drive in a 5.25-inch bay instead of a smaller 3.5-inch bay, add adapter rails to the drive. Many modern cases use a removable tray to accommodate the hard drive. If yours does, remove the tray and screw the drive into it.

[5] Slide the drive (or the drive and the tray) into an available bay, leaving as much space as possible between it and other installed drives, for maximum cooling. If your case doesn't use a removable tray, screw the drive securely to the case (but don't overtighten it).

[6] Connect the power connector and the data cable to the drive.

[7] Connect the data cable to your SATA port.

[8] Turn on the PC and look for the new drive in the boot-up messages. If you don't see it, hit the displayed boot-up key (usually something like <F2> or <Delete>) during system startup to head into the BIOS configuration, and look for an option there that will let you enable SATA overall or for the ports you're using. Check your motherboard documentation or the maker's Web site for instructions specific to your BIOS type.

[9] The easiest way to install a new drive is to retain your old disk as your boot drive and use the new drive for data storage. If that's your plan, simply start Windows and use the vendor's disk management software to partition and format the drive as you like.

[10] Some OEM drives don't ship with disk management software. If yours didn't, you can use Windows' built-in tools to partition and format your drive. Select Start**Control Panel**Administrative Tools**Computer Management**Storage**Disk Management. Select your new drive, and right-click to add partitions. Once you're done, format the partitions.

[11] If you'd prefer to use your new drive as a boot drive, you'll need to use configuration software and take some extra steps. Follow the instructions and use the software that came with your drive, or head to the support section of your drive maker's Web site.

Optical Drive

You've probably heard about the ongoing format battle between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, two competing (and incompatible) high-capacity blue-laser technologies. Both promise to pack far more data onto optical storage media than older technologies do--25GB or 50GB onto a single disc for existing PC-ready Blu-ray drives, and 15GB, 20GB, or 30GB for HD DVD discs when rewritable drives arrive. Dell, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, and a slew of consumer electronics makers are backing Blu-ray technology; Intel, Microsoft, and Toshiba are promoting HD DVD.

Living-room players for high-definition movies have been released in both formats, as have dozens of movie titles. But right now the only high-density drives you can get for your PC are rewritable Blu-ray. One of those will set you back a whopping $750 or so, with correspondingly expensive media as well. And until the format war is decided, any given drive has the potential to become the next Betamax. If you're a graphics artist or someone else who has heavy storage needs, this option might well be worth pursuing. Otherwise, this is one hot technology you'll want to let simmer awhile. As a hedge, some vendors are talking about making drives that can handle both formats. But none has yet announced any definite plans.

There are other alternatives for an optical drive upgrade, though, particularly if you don't already have a rewritable DVD drive installed (or if your current drive is several years old). For less than $50, you can purchase a newer optical drive capable of writing at 16X speed to 8.5GB dual-layer media. Plextor's internal PX-760A drive is relatively expensive at $100, but it's also one of the few current models that claim 18X write-once DVD speed, and it was quick to install and burn in our tests. Working with its bundled software, it took the drive 16 minutes to burn a 2.15GB movie, and less than 4 minutes to write 7.66GB of various-size data files from the hard drive.

Here's a burning tip: If you frequently back up to optical storage and you want the best bang for the byte, use plain old 4.7GB DVD-R media. At today's prices, you'll pay just 13 cents per GB, versus 22 cents per GB for dual-layer DVD+R storage. Seemingly dirt-cheap CD-Rs actually run 56 cents per GB, and 25GB Blu-ray BD-R discs cost 80 cents per GB.

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.

Cumulative Results: Add-ons Make a Difference
To gauge the value of an upgrade, we compare the running cost and performance boost of three consecutive upgrades against the cost of a brand-new PC.
System Upgrade	WorldBench 53	Cost
Base System 2.6-GHz Pentium 4 512MB DDR-400 RAM VisionTek Xtasy ATI 9600	75	N/A
CPU 3.2-GHz Pentium 4EE	88	$300
CPU + RAM 1024MB of DDR SDRAM	91	$360
CPU + RAM + Graphics Sapphire ATI Radeon x1600 Pro	91	$460
New System	WorldBench 53	Cost
Velocity Micro Vector GX1	117	$1100
eMachines T65322	91	$870
Chart Notes: 12.13-GHz Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, 1GB of DDR2-800 RAM, eVGA GeForce 7600GS graphics board. 22.2-GHz Athlon 64 3500+ CPU, 1GB of DDR-400 RAM, integrated nVidia GeForce 6100 graphics. 3Overall test score; higher is better. Tests conducted by PC World Test Center. For details, go to PC World Test Center How We Test. All rights reserved

Step-by-Step: How to Install a New Power Supply

As you add beefy graphics boards and other energy-hungry upgrades, you can easily bring your stock power supply to its knees. If that happens, say hello to system crashes, the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, and sluggish performance in general.

To figure out whether your power supply can keep up with your planned upgrade, check out OuterVision eXtreme's excellent PSU Calculator. If you need more juice, take heart: Swapping in a new power supply is easier than you might think.

The majority of today's PCs use standard ATX power supplies. The important thing is to match the design you currently have. The online Power Supply Selector shows diagrams of different power-supply designs as you work through it, so you'll know what to buy.

When you've nailed that, shop for a supply that tops the suggested wattage by 50 or 100 watts so you'll have some room for future upgrades. Then, to install the power supply, follow these steps:

[1] Disconnect the main AC power cord.

[2] Open your case, and disconnect all of the power connectors. Trace all of the cables coming from the power supply to confirm that you haven't missed any.

[3] Unscrew the old power supply (see picture), slide it out, slide in the new supply, and screw it in.

[4] Reattach the power connectors.

[5] Check the voltage switch on the back of the power supply. It should be set to 110/115v.

[6] Reconnect the power cord, and you're juiced!

How to Keep Your PC Cool

It's critical to keep your system cool, particularly as you add newer--and potentially hotter--upgrades. Overheating can not only crash your system, but permanently damage your CPU and other components.

The solution, aside from your CPU heat sink, is fans, fans, fans. Properly installed, they pull cooler, outside air into your computer and exhaust hot air from near the top of the case.

To figure out how toasty your PC is, Robert Bruce Thompson, author of Building the Perfect PC (O'Reilly), recommends starting by measuring ambient room temperature with an ordinary thermometer. Then measure the temperature of air that's being pushed out by the system fan at the back of the case (not the power supply fan). If the exhaust air is at least 9 Fahrenheit degrees hotter than the ambient temperature, it's time to take action.

[1] Blow the dust away. Accumulated fuzz seriously hampers your heat sinks and fans. Use a can of compressed air, a computer brush vacuum attachment (less than $10), or a minivac (between $5 and $15) to get the gunk out.

[2] Bundle your cables with tie-wraps to make sure that they don't block the flow of air.

[3] If your PC is still too hot, add more fans. Check the Web sites of Zalman, EndPCNoise.com, and Quiet PC for selections. Grab the largest, with the highest rpm, that fits in your case. Quiet fans are spec'd at 30 decibels or lower.

[4] Last but not least, the excellent and free SpeedFan places a configurable temperature monitor in your system tray.

Tweaking Tips: Make Sure You Have the Tools You Need

Head off upgrade anguish by having these low-cost tools on hand before you start.

>> An inexpensive ($10 to $30) precision tool kit can simplify your life. Thin-handled screwdrivers make reaching inconveniently situated screw holes much easier. Tweezers or long-nose Pliers are good for picking up fallen screws, and a magnifying Glass helps you see small parts. A regular-size Philips-head screwdriver and standard needle-nose pliers will help you get by.

>> Keep a cup or small container nearby to hold screws, jumpers, spacers, and other small parts. A shallow tin with a cover (approximately the size and shape of an Altoids tin) works best.

>> Use sticky labels or a wax pencil to mark every drive, card, bracket, and cable you remove from your PC, to enable you to keep track of which part it is, where it connects, how it should be oriented, and so on. Being methodical is especially hair-saving if an upgrade balks and you need to put everything back the way it was.

>> Keep a can of compressed air or a computer vacuum brush attachment at the ready. If you're opening your case anyway, take time to remove harmful dust. See "How to Keep Your PC Cool."

>> Take full advantage of your collection of old antistatic bags, extra cables, power connector splitters, and other pack rat gear. Having the right miscellaneous extras helps you avoid aggravation.

>> Use an antistatic wrist strap. It's good insurance, though it isn't essential if you remember to touch the metal PC chassis frequently and if you take care not to scoot your shoes on the carpet.

>> Get invaluable backup by consulting reliable reference materials. My faves for upgrading include PC Hacks, Windows XP Annoyances for Geeks, and Repairing and Upgrading Your PC (all from O'Reilly Media).

Tweaking Tips: Gauge How Hard Your System Is Working

These utilities can help you assess your PCs innards without cracking the case.

>> Sandra Professional 2007 ($30 and up; free Sandra Lite version; www.sisoftware.net) details the BIOS, the motherboard chip set, PCIe slots, and more. It can also run grueling burn-in tests (to see whether a component will fail) and performance analyses.

>> CPU-Z (free) offers in-depth info on your CPU, motherboard, and memory, from the chip's code name to the motherboard chip set.

>> PowerStrip ($30, free demo) pinpoints a variety of details about your graphics card and monitor, and enables you to control a wide range of settings.

>> Nero's Infotool (free) finds out everything about your CD and/or DVD drive, such as firmware versions and supported speeds and media.

>> Spinrite ($89) analyzes your hard drive and controller right down to the bits, and can even revive some damaged drives.

>> Sysinternal's Process Explorer (free) is like Windows Task Manager but with more muscle. Dig into your CPU and memory usage, and get details on every running process.

>> FreeRAM XP Pro (free) displays a running total of your memory usage as a system tray icon. It can also free up physical memory by forcing programs into virtual memory.

Tweaking Tips: Set Up Your PC for Multimedia Entertainment

You've upgraded for power, but what about for pleasure? Go for pure entertainment with these upgrades.

>> Bring HDTV to your PC. A TV tuner card such as the $99 ADS Tech InstantHDTV Pro can delivers high-def TV to your desktop by capturing analog and digital over-the-air TV signals. The bundled BeyondTV Express software automatically records shows for later viewing. ATI's new TV Wonder 650 ($129) captures analog and digital TV signals, and has an FM radio tuner.

>> Step up to Big-League sound. Hearing TV audio on a PC over substandard speakers is like listening to wet cardboard get whacked with a stick. Klipsch's $100 ProMedia 2 Ultra speakers are a big improvement. The two-speaker set lacks the vein-busting bass of more-expensive models equipped with subwoofers, but they generate clear, sharp sound. You'll still need a decent sound card (most integrated PC sound devices don't qualify). The $79 Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Roadie is a USB audio card the size of a playing card that can drive up to 7.1-channel surround-sound speakers. It also supplies digital connectors to use with a home theater system.

>> Get surround sound (almost) without antagonizing others. If you want surround sound but some people you share your life with don't, LTB's USB M headphones will help you coexist: The six speakers built into the $79 headphones don't work as well as a true surround-sound speaker set, but they won't have people banging on the walls, either. And since they plug straight into a USB port, they act as their own sound card. An included microphone allows you to use the headphones to make VoIP phone calls.

Richard Baguley