Upgrading PCs (General Comments on Computer Companies and Retailers)

Member Name: slackjack

Product:	General Comments on Computer Companies and Retailers
Date:	04/07/00 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper then buying new, choose the parts yourself.

Disadvantages: Not for technophobes

A few years ago, I was given an old PC - a 386. I used it for a while, but, as always happens with PC's it soon started to get out of date, and unless I wanted to play Lemmings forever I was going to have to get a new one. The only problem being that I was virtually skint. There was no way I'd be able to afford a new PC - even one of the cheap ones that I'd seen friends have a lot of trouble with. Besides, I had a perfectly good monitor, case, keyboard etc. So, scraping together a hundred quid I got my self a new motherboard with an at the time fairly reasonable 486 80mhz chip on it.

Opening up a PC is not scary at all. Unless your a total technophobe, you won't have to do anything when you're inside the case that's very much harder than connecting a video to your TV. If you've never opened a computer at all it's worth having a good look so that you remember what goes where, but in general you physically cannot plug anything in the wrong place, or put plugs in the wrong way around. It took me around 15 minutes to strip everything out of the PC case, then it was just a case of putting the new motherboard in, and putting all the bits and pieces back together. The whole job took about half an hour and cost about £100. That got me a computer that was approaching the spec of a friend that had just cost him £600.

Since then, I've always upgraded my old PC rather than buying a new one. Some PC parts can last a surprisingly long time too - I still use the case, power supply and floppy drive from my 386, and until about a year ago I was still using the monitor.

I would also argue that building it yourself gives you more flexibility, and the opportunity to end up with a higher quality system. I've known people who've bought cheap PCs from Dixons or mail order companies only to find the graphics card to be disappointing, all the memory slots to be full, or the motherboard incapable of taking basic upgrad
es (not to mention that 'bargain' PC's sometimes come with dreadful monitors). Building your own system means you can carefully consider which motherboard to buy and buy the parts of your choice leaving room for upgrading later, and is likely to give you a system that will last longer than a cheap ready built PC.

Don't be scared of getting inside your PC - you could end up with a better computer that'll last you longer, and you might even save a few quid too.

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