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Khapheen
06-27-2008, 01:21 PM
Hello Everyone,

I've been looking over this site and the forums for a couple of weeks, and am excited to start working on my own PC. I do have a quick question, though: is there any part of a PC that is impossible/impractical to upgrade?

I'm looking at putting one together mainly following the recommendations on the main page. However, to keep the budget down and speed things up, I thought about following some of Wise Monkey's budget recommendations, and then upgrading parts later on as my time/budget allows. I wasn't sure, though, if things like motherboards, etc. are difficult/impossible to change out.

Some background in case it helps: I've never built a PC before, and this is all kind of new to me, but I think it sounds like fun. My computer would be mostly used for page layouts (mostly text in InDesign,) some light photoshop or web design, and a lot of voice to text. All of these strain my current system (a 2 year old Dell laptop) almost to the point of locking it up. I don't really play many games, although I like Flight Simulator, so I could envision upgrading enough to make that run well in the future. In the short-term, though, costs are a much bigger factor to me than playing any games.

Thanks for any answers, and for all th great info I've already found on these forums.

RickyTick
06-27-2008, 04:00 PM
For the most part, an upgrade would simply involve taking out the old part and putting in a new one. Its mostly that simple with things like the Video card, Power Supply, or ram. It may require a driver update, but thats about it. Changing out the processor or hard drive may be a little more involved, but still not overly difficult. Probably the most involved upgrade would be the motherboard, as it would require removing and reinstalling practically everything, but still not impossible to do.

Khapheen
06-27-2008, 04:08 PM
I'd assumed that it pretty much worked that way, but didn't want to be stupid about it and set myself up in a situation where I can't go further because I made a first choice based on budget. Thanks!