Upgrades (and Downgrades)
Real power users don't attempt to upgrade their PCs. They simply perform the task. We humbly present our guidance for upgrading the parts, performance, and functionality of your system.
Upgrading Your CPU
Can we boil down how to upgrade your CPU into three paragraphs? Yes. First, don't make the rookie mistake of assuming that because you have a square opening, any square chip will fit in it. If you have an LGA775 board, upgrading your chip will require a heavy amount of research before you can pull the trigger.
OK, so you know your board will physically work with the new chip. Now make sure the BIOS will, too. Many rooks drop in the new processor, turn on the power, and scratch their heads when their board won't POST. Another hour is then spent trying to troubleshoot when the issue is likely a conflicting or outdated BIOS.
More importantly, mind those pins. On AMD chips, you can easily recover from a bent pin. On any LGA-based socket-in use on all modern Intel boards-a bender on the motherboard can spell permanent disaster.
Upgrading Your Videocard
Like a CPU upgrade, the GPU upgrade isn't solely about spending your tax return on the fattest GPU you can find and hitting the power switch. Today's top-end GPUs are hot, heavy, and gulp power like a Lamborghini Murcielago motoring down the interstate. Single-card upgrades are simple but still require some foresight.
First, is your power supply up to snuff? To run Nvidia's GeForce GTX 480, you'll need a minimum of a 600-watt PSU that can supply 42 amps on the 12-volt rail. A Radeon HD 5870 needs a minimum of 500 watts and 40 amps on the 12-volt rail. Since you don't really know what other new components you'll stuff into your system down the road, we recommend buying more power supply than you need. A 750-watt unit is probably the sweet spot for price-performance.
Finally, power-hungry GPUs produce more heat than most CPUs, so factor that into your upgrade. You need adequate airflow to keep the card and the surrounding components cool post-upgrade.
Adding More RAM
Adding RAM isn't always as straightforward as you'd think, but here are the fundamentals:
• LGA1156 and LGA775 users should add RAM in pairs. The RAM should generally match, but most motherboards are smart enough to deal with DIMMS that don't have the same timing.
• Because of their reliance on the ancient front-side bus, older Intel chips with 8MB or 12MB of L2 cache aren't greatly affected by running in single-channel. So if you want to add just one DIMM for financial reasons, you can do so without suffering much of a performance hit.
• Chips with integrated memory controllers, such as any Core ix, Athlon II, or Phenom II, should run in dual mode. Of course, LGA1366 boards should be run in tri-channel mode if possible. We say if possible because some budget-oriented LGA1366 boards have just four DIMM slots. That fourth slot could be used to add RAM, but memory in that slot would not be running in tri mode.
Upgrading Your Boot Drive
There are many reasons to upgrade your boot drive: Maybe you're running out of room, or you're switching to SSD, or your boot drive is failing. Regardless of the reason, there are several ways of moving into the new digs.
First, consider backing up your documents and performing a clean install. It's good to make a fresh start on a fresh drive. If you don't have OS recovery disks or installation media for your programs, though, or you'd just rather not go through the hassle of reinstalling programs and drivers, you can use free trial software to copy your entire OS partition to a new drive.
Partition Wizard Home Edition is one of the few free partitioning programs that works with both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows. You can use it to resize your boot partition if you're upgrading to a smaller, faster drive.
You'll need the trial version of Acronis True Image Home 2010 and (optionally) a partition program like Partition Wizard. First, defragment your current boot drive. Then run True Image, select Utilities from the left-hand menu, then Clone Disk. Select the Manual button, then your source and destination disks. Depending on the size of your old and new drives, you may wish to use either the As-is or Manual option and manually resize your partition later with Partition Master or Partition Wizard. Start the image. You'll be prompted to reboot, after which Acronis will complete the image and let you know when the drive is ready. Then just swap it in and go! Acronis even copies the boot sector for you.
If you're switching from a mechanical drive to an SSD, you might have to use the partition tool to shrink your old boot partition to the fit on your new drive. You may also have to use a tool like SSD Tweaker to make sure your new drive is optimized. Don't forget to turn off defrag for SSDs.
Flashing Your BIOS
Motherboard vendors frequently release BIOS updates that add support for new CPUs (even whole new architectures), as well as enhance certain features and improve stability. Because flashing your BIOS can potentially brick your board, most vendors only advise it if your rig isn't working, probably to cover their own butts.
Different mobo manufacturers dictate different methods. Some offer a tool that lets you flash the BIOS from within Windows. Some offer executable files that automatically flash the BIOS when you run them, while some require booting from a floppy or USB. You can find instructions and downloads on your mobo manufacturer's website.
Improving Your Cooling
Proper airflow is important. In this case (Corsair's 800D), air from the PSU never enters the rest of the case. Cool air is drawn up from the bottom of the case into the main compartment, then exhausted at the case's top and rear. A separate fan cools the hard drives, then routes behind the motherboard tray and vents at the case's rear.
Upgrade Your Router's Firmware
Your router is outfitted with a CPU, memory, and an operating system, just like your PC. The router's OS is known as firmware, because it resides in and executes from flash memory. Over time, the company that manufactured your router will likely release updated versions of that firmware to fix bugs and increase performance. With few exceptions, you should take advantage of these releases.
Third-party router firmware sometimes delivers better performance and might even expose entirely new features of the hardware that the manufacturer, for whatever reason, decided to hide or ignore. In this example, we'll replace a Linksys WRT-600N's factory firmware with the free alternative firmware DD-WRT (download from www.dd-wrt.com).
First-party firmware updates will boost performance, while third-party updates may unlock new functionality.
Take care when updating your router's firmware, and always use a hardwired network connection to reduce the risk of bricking your router. The first step is to reset your router to its default values by inserting a paperclip into the reset hole in the back of the router. Then, open your router's web user interface by typing its IP address into a web browser. Since you've reset the router, the login-ID and password will have reverted to the factory default value (admin/admin in the case of the WRT-600N). The firmware update field is typically located in the router's Administration field. Once you've found that, click the Firmware Update button, locate the new firmware file, and click the Start Upgrade button.
It's critical that the update process not be interrupted-don't unplug the router, click the brower's back button, or anything else that might prevent it from completing. Many routers will display a message when the firmware update has been successfully completed. When the update is finished, re-enter the router's web user interface and begin exploring any new features that have been added. You might also need to re-establish wireless security and any custom settings you made to the previous firmware.
Use Network Jumbo Frames
Enabling jumbo frames can significantly increase your network's throughput while consuming fewer CPU cycles. This applies mostly to performing file transfers within your network. But you can only enable jumbo frames on gear that has a gigabit Ethernet interface, and any devices on your network in the path of the file transfers-your router, your PC, your NAS box, and any other switches in between-must all be capable of passing the same size frames.
If most of your network traffic is Internet-related (file transfers, email, web browsing, etc.), there's not much value in enabling jumbo frames because you don't have a gigabit connection to the Internet. If you use your network primarily for latency-sensitive traffic, such as VoIP or online gaming, enabling jumbo frames could cause performance issues because these apps generally perform better with smaller frames.
Click the Windows 7 Start menu and then right-click Computer and choose the Manage option. Click Device Manager in the left-hand column, click Network adapters in the center column, and then right-click the network adapter you're using to connect to your network and choose Properties. Click the Advanced tab and look for Jumbo Frame in the Property window. Now, choose the MTU size you wish your NIC to operate with. You'll probably want to experiment with these values by benchmarking how long it takes to transfer a large file. If you get a bump in speed at 4K, try 9K. If performance degrades at that size, dial it back until you find the optimum value.
If you want a better understanding of how jumbo frames work, check out this story.
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