Should you upgrade your PC?

Upgrading your PC, means to either add to or replace some component or software of your PC, thus lengthening its useful lifespan. Upgrading your existing PC may be the most economical solution depending upon several factors. Those factors include, how old is your PC, what are you trying to achieve by upgrading, are there other upgrades you are considering for later?

How Old is the PC?

In the business world, a PC has a useful lifespan of about 2 to 3 years. It may operate for more than 10 years, but speed, maintenance and compatibility make it obsolete much sooner. For most home users, these factors are not as important. It is not unusual for a home PC to be used for 2 or 3 times as long as it would be used in the business world.

Upgrading a PC can lengthen its useful lifespan. However, upgrading an older PC can have several drawbacks. First, the older it is, the more likely that some component is going to wear out. Just like an old car, at some point you have to decide whether it is worth spending any more money on it.

Second, one upgrade can cause a chain reaction of upgrades. Once you make one change, you may find that you have to make others. If you add up the cost of multiple upgrades, a new PC can become a more attractive option.

Third, depending upon the type of upgrade, it might not deliver the expected results. For instance upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows XP is likely to cause your PC to operate more slowly, instead of improving performance.

Finally, your PC may not be compatible with the upgrade you want to make
What are you Trying to Achieve by Upgrading?

Common reasons to upgrade include, increasing the speed, making it compatible for some new software or adding new features. Things are changing so quickly in PC related technology, that most things become obsolete fairly quickly. Adding a new technology to your old PC may not yield the results you hoped for.

Adding memory to a PC is the single most beneficial thing you can do to improve its operation, up to a point. Memory helps speed operations but at some point, more doesn't help. It doesn't hurt, but it just doesn't help.

Upgrading your CPU may seem like a good idea, but if the new CPU is significantly faster than the one it is replacing, then you have to consider replacing the motherboard too. If you do that, you might need a new power supply. The cost of all three might still make this a worthwhile upgrade, but you should weigh it against the cost of a new PC. Remember, you just need the PC, not a new monitor, printer or anything else.

Upgrading hard disk storage is usually an easy, straight forward upgrade. That is, if you are adding a second hard drive. If you plan to replace the hard drive, then remember that you will have to reinstall the operating system, all of your software and all of your personal files and settings. There are utilities to help make a copy from the old drive to the new one, but be sure to factor in that cost,

Upgrading the video card to work with the latest computer games may be desirable, but your CPU, motherboard and memory may still drag down its performance. The latest flashy video cards usually only work their best in newer PCs.

Upgrading the Operating System (OS) to gain performance, features or compatibility with other hardware and software may be a good choice. However, newer OS's require more from the system they run on. More memory, more storage and faster CPUs. So be sure that your system is up to the challenge on running the latest OS.

Are you Considering Other Upgrades?
If you are considering other upgrades down the road, you may find that adding the cost of all of the upgrades exceeds the price of a new PC. Furthermore, despite those upgrades, you still have some older components that weren't upgraded. Those older components still may pose a drag on performance and present a greater risk for eventual replacement.

If you Buy a New PC
You may find that a new PC with all of its latest technology is far superior to trying to catch your PC up with the present. Remember that a new PC is typically going to include the latest operating system, a faster CPU, faster memory, and the motherboard will have a faster bus and drive controllers. Many systems include some free or deeply discounted software such as Microsoft Office. On top of all that, everything is brand new thus reducing the risk of a serious PC crash.

Should you Upgrade?

We aren't trying to talk you out of upgrading. We just want to make it clear that with an appliance that evolves as quickly as does a PC, upgrades are not always the best choice. So should you upgrade? Absolutely, as long as it makes economic sense. We know of too many people who went down to the local computer store to buy some memory and came back with $500 of upgrades. It is easy to do.

Source http://www.acmehowto.com/howto/pc/articles/upgrade3.php