Whether you’re a bargain hunter who wants to get the most bang for your buck or a total techy who likes to outpace the Joneses – sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to go for a full computer upgrade. Sometimes, it does . If you’re like us and you don’t like to waste money: please, take these don’ts to heart.  

DON’T upgrade to a new Motherboard and CPU.  Why spend $1000 on a brand new CPU when your computer cost less than that?  Rather than upgrade the parts, you’re better off opting for a full computer upgrade.

DON’T add a new video card.  If you primarily use your computer to visit websites, check your email, and chat with friends on Facebook, the video card that’s already inside your PC is certainly more than powerful enough to perform those tasks with ease.  

However, if you play graphic-intensive games or want to connect an extra monitor or two to your current PC. By all means, invest in that video card — go for the computer upgrade!

DON’T replace your Internal Optical Drive. Like the floppy disk drive before it, the optical drive is headed for extinction. Thanks to the popularity of streaming audio and video, as well as instant downloads, optical drives are technically losing their relevance and use-value.

If you still find yourself needing to use an optical drive on occasion, instead of upgrading your computer’s internal optical drive to a newer and faster model, opt for an external USB 3.0 optical drive instead. You’ll thank us later.  

If you’ve got a little pocket change to spare,  here are a few DO’s for those who are determined to improve their computer’s performance without replacing it.

DO try an SSD.  Hands down, replacing your computer’s boot hard drive with a super-fast Solid State Drive (SSD) is the best upgrade you can make to your computer. Need a longer explanation? You’ll find it here. We’ve dedicated nearly an entire blog post to SSD drives – that’s how much we love them.

DO add Extra RAM. If your PC has both a 64 bit CPU and a 64 bit version of Windows, you should definitely consider upgrading your system RAM. The joys of extra memory speaks for itself.

DO add an Extra Monitor. With the low cost of LED monitors these days, it’s not a luxury anymore to have multiple monitors. All you need is a capable graphics card and the monitor!  Once you have your web browser in one monitor and your email open on another and not have to do the constant switching you wonder how you got along with just one monitor

DO add USB 3.0 Ports.  USB 3.0 is ten times faster than 2.0. If you use an external USB hard drive or optical drive with your computer, you’ll kick yourself for not upgrading sooner.

DO replace your old Wireless Router.  If you stream video from the Internet, visit high-bandwidth websites, and/or have several simultaneous Wi-Fi users on your local network, upgrading to a state-of-the-art wireless router will make your computers and mobile devices feel instantly “upgraded”.

And now you know! Questions or comments? Please, let us know if you’ve made a life-changing  computer upgrade recently, and we’ll add it to our list.