- Super-Charge Vista! Or at Least Give It a Prod
- Hardware Requirements: The Basics
- Hardware Upgrades for Vista Bliss
- More Memory: Cheap, Easy, and Quick
- Bigger, Better Video Card
- Installing a Faster CPU: Not an Easy Upgrade Option
- Andy's Recommended Upgrade Plan
- Boost Vista with Your USB Key
- Tweak Your OS
- Boost Your System with Basic Maintenance
- The Fruits of Your Efforts: Performance Monitoring
Installing a Faster CPU: Not an Easy Upgrade Option
Depending on the age of your computer system, you may be tempted to upgrade your computer's processor, also called a CPU. Be forewarned: It can be a much more involved process than a simple RAM upgrade.
A newer, faster CPU will have to be compatible with the motherboard, or you'll have to upgrade the motherboard too. And if you upgrade the motherboard, it will have to be compatible with the RAM, power supply, and graphics card, or you will have to upgrade those, too.
Unless you consider yourself a super geek, I don't recommend this gruesome upgrade process unless you enjoy the occasional pine cone up the nose.
Have I convinced you to not bother with this yet?
If you're running a machine that's more than a year or two old, you'll find it more cost-efficient to buy a new machine that's already optimized for Windows Vista, rather than spending a ton of money and effort to upgrade everything.
That said, just for fun, you might want to find out what CPU your system has on board:
- Click on the Windows button.
- Type System in the Search box and click it when it appears.
- Look under the section labeled System for the Processor listing (see Figure 4.11).
Figure 4.11 Find the make, model, and clock speed of the CPU installed in your computer in the System applet.