Building Your Own

I am amazed at the low price for large hard drives. Yes, you can now afford a hard drive well over 10 Gb. What does this mean to the novice looking to upgrade their old hard drive?

If you are going to upgrade to the larger hard drive (over 8.4 Gb), there are some things you will need to know before you do the upgrade. Drives over the 8.4 Gb limit may be difficult to configure and the documentation included with the drive will be sketchy at best. Some of these drives will not work unless their jumpers are set to single drive setting and the drive is the only device connected to the IDE cable. I expect many people will be frustrated when they attempt to install the large hard drives. If you are one of the people who have a large hard drive and cannot get it to work consider sending me an email before you box it up and return the drive. The manufacturers should think about including better documentation with their drives, as I feel they must be dealing with a large volume of returns of non-defective drives.

Having problems with your hard drive? Check to see if it is still under warranty. Contact the Manufacturer and request a Return Authorization and send it back if it is still under warranty. Most hard drives have two to three year warranties. Check the Manufacturers web site for warranty information. If the drive is one or two years old and is failing, get a replacement drive and if the old one is under warranty, send it back. You can add the replacement drive to your system as an additional drive. You may be able to use it to improve your system performance.

Anyone who owns a computer eventually will want to upgrade their computer. It may just be adding more memory, adding a larger hard drive, changing a video card, or changing to a new modem. There are many computer stores which will do this type of work for a nominal fee, but you have to bring the computer into the store to have it done. There are also consultants who make a living upgrading computers, but you do have to find them.

Many people are first confronted by the upgrade situation when they attempt to run that new software (often the latest and greatest game) and find out that they overlooked or did not understand some of the fine print on the attractive packaging. The typical system requirements usually reads as below.

This software requires Windows 95 or higher, SVGA video card with 4 Mb of video RAM, Sound Blaster compatible sound card, 32 Mb of RAM, 75 Mb of free disk space.

If the video card only has 1 Mb of video RAM or the computer only has 8 Mb of RAM, the software will not work. The choices are upgrade the computer, try to return the software (which can be almost impossible), or leave the software on the shelf. The idea of upgrading seems to be very expensive to most people. There are a number of factors to consider in upgrading your computer.

My feeling as far as upgrades go, are if the computer is a 486 or less, then it is time to consider replacing the computer. The 486 may have a few years service left in it, but we have reached a point in time where the 486 is not up to the modern applications. Windows 98 will not install on less than a 486 dx2 66Mhz. Pentium and Pentium II systems are available now at well below half the cost of the 486. The performance improvements, additional hard drive space, memory and additional features make the computer replacement well worth the investment. I would say even if you have one of the earlier Pentiums consider replacing the computer.

If you already have a Pentium system then you might consider changing the video card, adding additional memory, or adding a larger hard drive. If you decide later to move to a better computer, the hard drive, video card, or sound card can be added to the new computer. To save money on my last two upgrades I purchased bare bones computers. These are basically computers without a hard drive. I moved my hard drive from my old 486 computer to the bare bones Pentium 233 Mhz system. The bare bone system cost me $250 at a local computer show. I added $100 for additional memory since the memory in the 486 would not work in the Pentium. If your hard drive is less than 2Mb then it is time for the hard drive to be replaced as well.

MEMORY

Memory comes in many sizes and shapes. Most Pentium Class computers are using 128 pin DIMMs which come in 66 Mhz and 100 Mhz speeds. Some of the Pentium Class computers come with Slots for the 168 pin DIMMs and 70 pin SIMMs (for performance you should not use the SIMMs). The newest Pentium and Pentium II computers use the 100 Mhz DIMMs. The best suggestion I can make here is if you are going to add memory to your computer before you buy it, ask your computer manufacturer what type of memory you need. Remember there are stores which will do the upgrade for you.

HARD DRIVES

The price of hard drives has dropped significantly in the past year. Very large hard drives are available for very low prices. You need to know that right now the only operating system capable of using hard drives larger then 8Gb is Windows 98. You can still use the drive but will either have to live with only using 8Gb of the hard drive or consider purchasing additional software such as Partition Magic to enable the hard drive beyond the 8 Gb limit.

Hard drives now come in two basic types: SCSI and IDE. The IDE hard drives are less expensive than the SCSI hard drives. Most people will have satisfactory results with the IDE hard drives. The latest IDE hard drives are achieving comparable speeds to that of the SCSI hard drives.

SOUND CARDS, VIDEO CARDS, MODEMS

There are a number of different Card slots in your computer: ISA, PCI, and AGP. You need to know if you have an available card slot for the upgrade. Sound cards, video cards and network cards can be ISA or PCI.

Ask questions! Pick up the phone and call that technical support number for the computer manufacturer. Check the computer manufacturer's web site. Ask your friends questions. If all else fails, drop me an email. Check back here for further information. This is only the beginning of this section of my web site. I will add more details soon.

Overheating causes numerous problems for your computer from applications not responding as they normally should to equipment damage. Strange things start happening as the temperature of the processor and other components rises. The Pentium (and clones of the Pentium) and Pentium II processors produce a substantial amount of heat which must be dissipated to insure proper operation and long life.

How do we prevent overheating problems? First we need to know what is producing heat in our computer. The main sources for heat in the computer are the processor and the power supply. The other thing we need to know is that we are using air to cool the components in the computer. Restrict the air flow and we make the heat build up. Air cooling systems rely on heat sinks to pull the heat away from components.

Insure that the processor has an adequate heat sink that is properly mounted on the processor (yes, that heat sink compound applied between the processor and the heat sink is important-it increases the effective heat transfer from the processor to the heat sink). Most heat sinks for Pentium and Pentium II processors include fans to provide additional cooling.

The power supply is the next source of heat in the computer. It is the most often overlooked source for overheating problems. Power supplies come in many different price ranges and designs. When I selected the components for my Pentium II computer I did a great deal of research on the motherboard, processor, video card, sound card and network adapter, but neglected the power supply. I was using the power supply that came with the case I had chosen purely for esthetics. The design of the power supply had a fan on the bottom forcing air through the power supply directly toward my processor. I have done much research on power supplies and have seen this type of design advertised as increasing the CPU cooling by directing more air over the CPU. I question this as hot air rises and you are heating the air through the power supply and then directing the hot air down. The hot air then rises and goes back through the power supply heating it even more. For this idea to work you must have good heat sinks in the power supply and effective fans exhausting the air through the bottom of the case. I tried everthing from adding additional fans and making sure the air flow was directed from the top to exhaust through the bottom of the case, with out much improvement. I even tried turning the power supply upside down and reversing the flow of the air, again without much improvement. My research into power supplies led me to PC Power and Cooling, INC. I ordered their Turbo Cool® 300 ATX power supply via the phone as their website did not have online ordering. I chose next day delivery and was shocked that the power supply arrived at 8:05 on the morning they said it would be delivered. I installed it that evening and my computer is now running cool. The cost was $119 for the power supply which includes a three year waranty. The shipping cost was $32, but I asked for the overnight service. Cheaper shipping is available. I know this was well worth the money.

The next step is to insure there is an adequate flow of air into and out of the case. My suggestion is the air flow should flow into the case from the bottom and exhaust from the top of the case (remember hot air rises). I have a great computer desk which has a compartment for my full tower computer. This compartment worked fine for my old 486 computer which had vents on the front and back of the case, but my new case has vents on the sides which were obstructed by the compartment. I drilled holes through the compartment at the level of the vents in the case. Adding additional fans can also help to increase air flow.