Buying a New PC: Upgrading or Recycling Old Parts to Save Money?

It’s not an uncommon thing for someone to scrap their old computer and use some of the parts in a new machine that they plan to either build or buy. Not only can you save a lot of money that way, but it can make the transition of data from the old computer to the new one a lot easier. This article will cover some of the basics of what parts you can recycle and which ones you ought to replace.

If you are using your old parts to build a new computer, the main thing you are upgrading is the processor and motherboard. In doing so, there’s a good chance that your old RAM won’t work on the new motherboard, as these are the three main things that will determine the speed of your computer. Sometimes your old motherboard will take a faster processor than what you already have on it, so this is an avenue you can explore if you are able to identify the model of your motherboard. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend upgrading the processor unless it is a big change in speeds. With the way that processor speeds are determined, you may hardly notice any difference between, for example, a 3.0 and a 3.1 GHz processor.

Because RAM comes in different speed ratings, your new motherboard may be able to use your old RAM, but it may not run as quickly as the system is capable, so you’d be shortchanging yourself. Be sure to look at the specs on whatever motherboard or system you choose to make sure you buy the fastest possible RAM that will work with your PC. If you are buying a PC from a company like Dell or HP, check the system specs of the machine to determine what RAM is needed. Sites like Crucial.com will let you look the computer up by model number, which greatly helps.

For more advice and guidance on RAM, CPU & Motherboards visit the CPU, Graphics & Memory catalog.

The hard drive and DVD/CD drives are always salvageable from an old computer, and this can make it so much easier to transfer data. Depending on the age of the hard drive, it is usually best to get a new hard drive for your new computer and just use the old one for data backup or as a spare drive. My reasoning behind this is that hard drives are mechanical devices that slow down over time and can eventually fail. An old, worn-out hard drive can drag down a system and potentially lead to data loss. Besides that, you can buy a brand new hard drive with hundreds of gigabytes of space for less than a hundred bucks nowadays. That extra drive is great for things like your browser cache or the Windows swap file for virtual memory. DVD and CD drives will work in most any computer, so no big worries there.