Upgrading
by Scott M. Mueller
Category: Computers

For 25 years, Upgrading and Repairing PCs has been the world's #1 guide to PC hardware: The single source for reliable information on troubleshooting and fixing problems, adding hardware, optimizing performance, and building new PCs. Now, better than ever, this 22nd edition offers beefed-up coverage of the newest hardware innovations and maintenance techniques, plus more than two hours of new DVD video. Scott Mueller delivers practical answers about PC processors, mother-boards, buses, BIOSes, memory, SSD and HDD storage, video, audio, I/O, input devices, networks, Internet connectivity, power, and much more. You'll find the industry's best coverage of diagnostics, testing, and repair-plus cutting-edge discussions of improving performance via overclocking and other techniques. Mueller has taught thousands of professionals in person and millions more through his books and videos-nobody knows more about keeping PCs running perfectly. Whether you're a professional technician, a small business owner trying to save money, or a home PC enthusiast, this is the only PC hardware book you need! NEW IN THIS EDITION Detailed information about the Intel Turbo Boost and AMD Turbo Core built-in overclocking technology found in many new processors. Coverage of the new inexpensive "hybrid" hard drives, combining Solid State Drive (SSD) and magnetic storage technology in the same high-performance drive. Coverage of the latest USB 3.0 chipsets, drives, and other peripherals. Coverage of the latest 50Mbps and faster internet connection speeds and the hardware you need to fully take advantage of them. Coverage of the latest high-performance Solid State Drives (SSDs) and SSD technology. Technical details about the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) BIOS, which is required for motherboards to be able to boot from drives larger than 2TB. Detailed information about the new 4K physical sectoring advanced format used on the highest capacity hard drives. Technical details and information about the latest 32nm and 45nm multi-core processors from Intel and AMD. Detailed information about the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) available as an optional built-in feature in some new processors. Coverage of the latest motherboard chipsets, including support for SATA 6Gbps. Coverage of the latest SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) 4.0 and later high capacity and high performance flash drives. Detailed information about the 6/8-pin PCI Express graphics power connectors required to support the latest high-end video cards. Information about the 80 PLUS standards for highly efficient power supplies, and how this combined with proper power-management settings can save a tremendous amount of energy (and money) each year. ON THE DVD Get 2 hours of up-to-the minute, studio-quality how-to videos-all playable on your DVD player or computer! In this edition, Scott Mueller offers true insider information about several of the key components in a PC, including motherboards, solid-state drives, and more. You will see a detailed tour of a modern high-performance motherboard, showing all the components from the processor socket and CPU voltage regulators to the audio and network chipsets, and more. You'll learn how all the devices on the board are interconnected, so you can more easily understand their importance. There is a detailed segment comparing solid-state drives (SSDs) to conventional hard disk drives (HDDs), explaining all the differences and similarities between them in an easy to understand fashion. Finally, there are several segments on building a state-of-the art system from scratch using a high-performance overclockable motherboard and processor combination. You'll see tips on how to best prepare the components, how to assemble the system properly, how to make the front panel connections much easier to deal with, and finally how to route the cables for maximum airflow and ease of future upgrades or repairs.