Upgrades

Note: If you're going to be working inside your computer make sure you are properly grounded (a grounding strap is one way). A discharge of static electricity can fry a chip. Also make sure everything is unplugged and never use excessive force. Finally, record everything you do in case you need to undo it (or explain it to someone else).

RAM

Probably the most common upgrade for a computer is adding RAM. More RAM allows you to have more applications open at once and can increase the speed of your computer if your machine was running short on RAM. RAM comes in many varieties. Don't cut corners and get the "cheapest" RAM. RAM should have a lifetime warranty and you should be able to exchange it if it fails in any way. Consult your manual for what type of RAM your machine can use. For an in depth discussion on RAM see: http://www.tomshardware.com/guides/ram.html

Hard drive

Sometimes your hard drive is not large enough to hold all your applications and files. A larger hard drive will allow you to store more on your computer. Don't forget to backup though. Good hard drive mechanisms come from Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital.

Terminology

RAM:

ROM:

CPU:

Motherboard:

ISA:

PCI:

SCSI:

IDE:

SIMM:

DIMM:

EDO:

DRAM: