If you, like many people, frequently chant "More megahertz!" you may think the best way to speed up your sluggish system is to swap in a new, faster CPU. Before you crack open the case with race-car driver dreams, think twice. The central processing unit (CPU) is the brain of your PC, and you should not tamper with it lightly.
Compared with memory and hard drive upgrades, CPU upgrades are a lot more involved. CPUs can be complicated and expensive, and the speed increase varies with the system's configuration. Don't let a weak system steal the improvements a new CPU can offer.
Before you decide to upgrade a CPU, see that your PC already has an ample amount of RAM256MB or more. If you're using disk-intensive applicationsperhaps for image capture and editingit might also be worthwhile to upgrade the hard drive. (For guidelines, see the previous section of this story.)
Gamers and others who use graphics-rendering software should consider installing a new graphics adapter based on a current chipset like the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. For more on this, see the graphics card story in our issue of December 24, 2002.