Upgrade your computer yourself - read our 10 top tips on how to do it

As PCs age, their limitations become ever more apparent and annoying. That speed demon bought just a few years ago is now noisy and slow, the hard disk is running out of room, all the USB ports are occupied and modern games look awful.

If this sounds familiar, don’t despair. With some simple upgrades you might be able to put off buying a new one for a good while yet.

The beauty of desktop PCs is that almost every component can be upgraded, and often for surprisingly little money. What’s even better is that, in most cases, proficiency with a screwdriver is all that is needed and, while some planning may be required, the physical work can often be completed in just a few minutes.

Here you will find 10 of the most useful upgrades that could add years to the life of your PC. We have included links to our online tutorial videos where appropriate, and for a good overview of how all the parts of a PC fit together, see our PC-building articles.

MORE SPACE
Rating: Easy
Fitting time: 10 minutes
If a PC’s hard disk is reaching capacity, you should consider adding a second one before you run out of space to install new programs or store documents. To check the available space, locate the hard disk’s icon in Windows Explorer, right-click it and choose Properties to see the free space.

Adding a hard disk is not difficult, but there are a couple of things to check first. Most important is the connector type. Older PCs use IDE connectors, while newer use ones Sata, and the connectors are very different.

The motherboard also needs a spare compatible connector, a spare hard disk power connector and an empty drive bay. If you want to add a solid-state disk (SSD), you may need a 2.5in-to-3.5in drive bay adapter, as desktop drive bays are almost always designed for 3.5in hard disks. These, such as the OCZ model, cost around £7.

Methods for mounting the hard disk vary, but they are usually fixed in the drive bay with four screws. The drive bays themselves are secured with screws or simply clip in. Our video shows more details of the procedure.

IDE hard disks are less common than (and becoming more expensive than) Sata models, but Sata disks can be added to older IDE-only systems by using an adapter costing about £13 (such as this Startech model).

If there is no spare drive bay in the PC, it is more practical to add an external USB hard disk (you could even make your own using a USB hard disk enclosure costing around £12, visit the Upgrade Centre on our website.

FASTER USB PORTS
Rating: Medium
Fitting time: 15 minutes
PCs never seem to have enough USB ports. It is very easy to add more by using an external USB hub, of course, but this just creates more clutter.

USB3 (sometimes called ‘Super Speed USB’) is over 10 times faster than USB2, so if you want to add more internal USB ports to a PC why not jump straight to USB3? All your old USB devices and cables will fit and work, and you’ll be ready for the next generation of high-speed peripherals.

A two-port internal adapter costs as little as £9, for example, requires a free PCI Express slot on the motherboard plus a spare four-pin Molex power connector (the ones used for older hard disks and optical drives).

Windows does not support USB3 yet, so all adapters need drivers from the manufacturer. Normally these come with the adapter, but check the packaging and instructions.

After opening the PC’s case (disconnect the power first, of course), locate the empty PCI Express slot. It should have a corresponding external blanking plate in the case (often secured with a screw) that needs to be removed first.

Next insert the adapter squarely so it sits securely in the PCI Express slot before securing the top of the bracket with a screw and connecting the power cable.

MORE MEMORY
Rating: Easy
Fitting time: 5 minutes
Adding memory is the easiest and most cost-effective way to speed up a PC. If the hard disk light is constantly chattering away, and opening or switching between programs is slow, there is a good chance the PC is short of memory.

To check, with all your normal programs open press the Control (Ctrl), Shift and Escape (Esc) keys together to start Task Manager. Click on the Performance tab and look at the Available figure in the Physical Memory section.

If this is less than half the amount in the Total section, the PC will probably benefit from adding more memory. We recommend a minimum of 2GB of memory for all Windows versions for good performance, though most PCs can accommodate up to 4GB (or more, though you’d need the 64-bit version of Windows installed).

If you don’t have the PC’s manual, finding out what kind of memory it needs is easy using a dedicated memory-scanning tool, such as Crucial’s System Scanner. This will reveal exactly how much memory can be fitted to your PC and show all the necessary technical information, along with links to guaranteed-compatible modules if you wish to buy them.

Fitting memory is simple and needs no changes to the Bios or to Windows, but you do need to open the PC’s case. Carefully move any cables out of the way, taking care not to dislodge them. To remove modules, push the small clips at each end of the memory slot to release them.

To fit a new module (they only fit one way, so you can’t get it wrong) firmly and evenly, push it into the slot until the clips latch with a click. To see how it’s done, watch our video.

A QUIETER PC
Rating: Medium
Fitting time: 15 minutes
Desktop PCs can get noisier as they get older, as the cooling fans wear out or become clogged with dust. A squeaky or rattling fan can drive you to distraction, but the cure is cheap and surprisingly easy to do.

You should never try to replace the fan on the power supply or graphics card, and replacing the processor’s fan is a specialised job that we wouldn’t recommend in most circumstances. However, replacing ageing case fans can reduce the overall noise a PC makes and help it run cooler.

Budget for around £5-10 each depending on the size: they can be bought from sites such as Ebuyer.com and Quietpc.com or on the high street from Maplin or PC World.

Fans should always be replaced with identically sized models. Some fans connect directly to the motherboard, whereas others use four-pin hard disk power connectors. Most good-quality fans (Akasa, Zalman and Fractal Design are popular) come with suitable adapters, but if not they are cheaply available.

To replace a fan, make a note of where it connects before removing it, and check which direction the air flows (there should be an arrow marked somewhere on the fan). Unscrew the four mounting screws and fit the new one, matching the airflow direction.

Connect the new cables, making sure they do not foul the fan or other components. Small cable ties can help keep them out of harm’s way.

BETTER BURNERS
Rating: Easy
Fitting time: 10 minutes
Fitting a new or replacement optical drive is very easy and cheap to do. A basic DVD-burner costs around £15 (such as the Lite-On iHAS324), while a Blu-ray (BD-Rom) drive can be bought for about £50 and a burner (BD-RE) for around £80.

They are all installed in exactly the same way. If you are installing a Blu-ray drive, first check that the PC is capable of Blu-ray playback (an easy way to do this is by running the free Cyberlink BD Advisor tool, which can be downloaded here).

Almost all new optical drives have a Sata interface, so the PC needs a spare Sata port and power connector (see our hard disk fitting instructions earlier in this article for information about Sata-to-IDE adapters).

It also needs an empty 5.25in drive bay with external access – these are usually covered with a plastic blanking plate that simply clips into place. (If there is no spare bay, an external USB drive can be added instead, although these are more expensive.)

An optical drive is usually installed by screwing it into a removable drive tray or attaching mounting brackets to the sides of the drive. The drive is then inserted from the front of the PC before attaching the cables. For a full video tutorial, click here.

SMARTER GRAPHICS
Rating: Medium
Fitting time: 20 minutes
If your PC struggles to play DVDs, Blu-ray movies or video games, a new graphics card might help. With the right card, you can also add new features such as dual-monitor support, or an HDMI port for connecting to a modern TV.

PCs with integrated graphics are good candidates for an upgrade, but first check whether there is a graphics card slot on the motherboard. Older cards require an AGP slot on the motherboard and it is possible still to buy cards with this type of connector. However, most recent PCs use a slot type called PCI Express.

Some PCs don’t have much space inside, so check the card’s dimensions before buying. If your PC supports twin graphics cards, a second one can be added – although, typically, only games enthusiasts will find this useful. Either way, be sure to double-check for compatibility.

Installation can be a little fiddly; there is normally a locking clip at the interior end of the motherboard slot that can be a nuisance to unlatch, and a screw holding the case bracket at the other end. Some cards also have a power cable attached to the card itself. We have a helpful explanatory video which you can see by clicking here.

ROOM TO BREATHE
Rating: Challenging
Fitting time: 1 day
Many PCs can be transplanted into a brand-new case. This could be a larger case to give extra room for new components, or a smaller and quieter one.

In most cases it should be fairly straightforward but you need to do plenty of research to find a case that will accept all the components in the existing PC. Not only does there need to be room for the components, but the size of the motherboard needs to be known.

As a start, you can use the Belarc Advisor software to find out what components are in the PC and from there look into finding a suitable case. Good cases are not that expensive – budget for around £50 for a good brand. Ebuyer has a wide selection to suit most budgets, as does Dabs.com.

Allow yourself plenty of time and take it slowly. It’s too involved to cover the entire process here, but our recent series of articles and videos on building a new PC explain how all the components fit together.

A HEART TRANSPLANT
Rating: Challenging
Fitting time: 1 day
Upgrading the processor sounds like an obvious way to improve performance, but in fact it isn’t. There are so many pitfalls that we don’t recommend it unless you’re feeling adventurous.

However, upgrading the motherboard and processor together is definitely worth thinking about. For example, PC World sells a motherboard with a dual-core Intel Pentium processor as a packaged, for £100. It has integrated graphics (and a PCI Express graphics card slot), but does not include memory.

You should check the specifications of the motherboard to see whether existing components will fit; you might have to buy adapters for older hard disks or optical drives.

It’s also possible that the old PC’s power supply will be incompatible with a new motherboard, and a suitable power supply might not fit in the old case, so it could be a good opportunity to upgrade the case and power supply at the same time.
Installation is identical to upgrading the case (see above), but if you haven’t done this before, again we recommend looking at our online guides.

One final thing to bear in mind is that changing the motherboard will require Windows to be reactivated: if your PC has an OEM (or ‘bulk’) copy of Windows (rather than a retail version) installed, this is not permitted under the licence, unless the motherboard is an identical model. So you may need to budget for a new version of the operating system, too.

TV ON THE PC
Rating: Medium
Fitting time: 20 minutes
Adding a Freeview (DVB-T) TV tuner is a great way to turn a PC into a device for recording, rewinding and pausing live TV. Cards with two Freeview tuners that allow you to watch one channel while recording another can be bought for about £50 (such as Maplin’s model).

With Windows 7 or Vista you don’t even need to install any software – Windows Media Center supports up to three separate TV tuners. Freeview HD devices are also available, although only Windows 7 Media Center, not Vista, supports Freeview HD.

Adding a TV tuner card is exactly the same as adding any other expansion card, such as the USB3 adapter above. Tuners are available with PCI or PCI- Express interfaces, and if there is no room in the PC, USB models are an affordable alternative, starting from about £20.

In all cases, though, the PC needs to be within reach of an external aerial cable for best results (the miniature aerials that are typically supplied with TV tuner cards rarely offer reliable reception).

ADD A MEDIA BAY
Rating: Medium
Fitting time: 20 minutes
Fitting a media bay to your PC means that it will be able to read almost any type of memory card. Models are available to fit both 3.5in and 5.25in drive bays and they are very cheap.

At the time of writing We have a video showing how it’s done.

Repairing or replacing other components, such as the screen and processor, may be impossible or cost more than the notebook is worth.

However, USB ports and PC card slots (or Expresscard slots on newer machines) can be used for many useful upgrades, such as sound cards, USB3 ports, network adapters, TV tuners, memory card readers and so on.

Know when to give up
Although upgrading can usefully extend the life of many PCs, there comes a time when you have to admit defeat. Updating an ancient Windows 98 PC with a Pentium II processor and 64MB of memory, for example, is probably not worth attempting unless you can find parts for pennies at a car boot sale.

Parts for old PCs are often difficult to find, modern items are frequently incompatible, and compatible items such as memory modules can cost an awful lot more than their modern equivalents.

So if this sounds like your PC, we’d suggest bidding farewell and moving on.