Computer Upgrades
Overview
Want your computer to run blazing fast? Most likely it needs an upgrade! Even computers that are brand new often have software and hardware that cause it to run at far less than optimal speeds.
Some places claim that if you run their special software tools you can "double your speed," but if your computer is currently at a 2 out of 10 and it is doubled to a 4 out of 10, it is still slow! Our experts look at the system's software and hardware to recommend a solution that can bring that number to an 8, 9, or even 10 out of 10!
We Recommend
There are some costs involved with bringing your computer to its optimal speed, so we have listed some of the top upgrades with the most effectiveness.
IMPORTANT NOTE: When we perform any upgrade, we will take a complete image backup of your computer so you can rest assured that none of your data or settings will be lost during the upgrade!
- Add a Solid State Drive (SSD) as your primary hard drive:
Imagine your computer booting in 10-15 seconds instead of a minute or longer. Imagine opening applications almost instantly instead of waiting, and waiting, and waiting... If your current hard drive is typical, it will have one or more platters in it that spin with one or more arms that physically move to different locations in order to read and write data. If this drive uses SATA as its interface to the motherboard, we can add an SSD as your primary drive to GREATLY INCREASE YOUR COMPUTER SPEED. SSDs have no moving parts so they are not nearly as limited as standard drives as described above. As of this writing, a typical drive will have a transfer rate of around 80-100MB/sec where SSDs are showing transfer rates of over 200MB/sec! - Switch your operating system from 32-bit to 64-bit:
If your computer hardware supports it, we highly recommend moving to a 64-bit version of Windows 7 (unless, of course, you have a Mac). First off, if you have Windows Vista you should upgrade to Windows 7 NOW! You will thank us later. Secondly, if your computer is capable of 64-bit and it is running 32-bit, you will definitely see a speed increase. Besides many other factors that can be highly technical, 32-bit Operating Systems are limited to effectively using 2GB of RAM. With 64-bit you can upgrade to 4GB, 8GB, 16GB or even more! Imagine have every application on your computer running at once and still having RAM to spare! Speaking of RAM upgrades... - Increase your computer's memory and lower the latency:
This upgrade really has three options. First, we can increase the available RAM (or memory) on your computer to make it run faster and use standard RAM chips. Second, we can simply replace your existing RAM with low-latency RAM on your computer to make it run faster. Third, we can replace and increase the available RAM with low-latency RAM for an even bigger speed increase! If you are unsure whether you need more RAM, check out our "Did you know???" section below. As far as latency goes, most computers come with RAM that has a standard latency measured in CAS. Installing RAM that has a lower CAS rating can increase the speed of the computer. To determine if this would make a difference, we will look at your current RAM's CAS rating and compare it to what is available for your computer.
- Initial Consultation and Design: As with all of our products and services, the initial consultation is free! Additionally, if we need to customize the design to your specific needs, there is no additional charge!
- Product Costs:
- Installation Services:
- Training Services: We will provide a single on-site training session (up to 4 hours) with the person responsible for using and/or maintaining the system at no extra charge. Of course we will be happy to answer any basic questions that may come up after the training session via phone or e-mail for free as well!
- Support Services:
Warranty Support- Includes replacement of hardware through an RMA process with the manufacturer. Labor costs are not included in warranty support unless the product fails due to our mistake (which is very rare). Labor pricing is based on whether or not you choose one of our support plans.
Non-Warranty Support- If the product warranty has expired and the manufacturer will not provide an RMA, we will provide a quote for the total cost of replacing the product (including labor and materials). Once again, our labor pricing will depend on whether or not you choose one of our support plans. - RAM vs Hard Drive, what is memory? - A lot of people seem to be confused about what memory is on a computer, so we wanted to clarify this here with a short tutorial... Simply put, when someone asks how much memory your computer currently has, they are talking about RAM. While hard drive space is technically memory, it is standard practice to ask how big your hard drive is if that information is desired. So what's the difference? From your computer's perspective, a hard drive is a giant storage area for everything your computer needs to remember. However, it is very slow in comparison to just about everything else on your computer. Additionally, things that are stored on the hard drive are considered "permanent" because they will remain in storage when your computer is turned off. In comparison, RAM (or Random Access Memory) is a smaller storage area that is much faster (like 10 times faster) than the hard drive. However, RAM is much, MUCH, more expensive per GB than a hard drive and everything that it stores vanishes when the computer is turned off. So, whenever your computer needs to run something (like parts of your operating system, applications, etc.) it will grab what it needs from the slow permanent storage area (the hard drive) and place it into the fast, yet non-permanent storage area (the memory or RAM) so it can run faster. So how does increasing RAM help speed up your computer? Since RAM is so expensive, it usually is limited to a few GB of storage. If you have enough things running in RAM to fill it up (which is easy to do these days), then the computer is forced to use the much slower hard drive like it would use RAM. This is called using virtual memory and it can really slow down your computer as well as significantly reduce the life of your hard drive (the hard drive has to work MUCH harder if it is being used in this way). So, the more RAM you have available, the less likely you are to ever use virtual memory and slow your computer down!
Pricing
We want you to be as informed as possible while making a decision about obtaining a product or service from us. That is why we have included the pricing information below. Prices listed here are typical and can vary based your unique situtation.
Did you know???
Check out the following tidbits of information related to this technology or service! The more you know about something, the more likely you are to make good, informed decisions when it comes time to implement it!
