现代计算机的优点之一是它们的模块化程度。尤其是台式(Desktop)计算机，可以相对简单地将几乎任何组件换成更好的组件。
但是，计算机是一个复杂的系统，那么您应该如何知道哪些组件需要升级呢？您应该在 PC 上升级什么？
最薄弱的环节(The Weakest Link)
理想的计算机是由相互匹配的组件组合而成。您不希望出现一个组件因为无法跟上而阻碍整个系统的情况。
这个问题是预制计算机的祸根，尤其是预算模型。系统(System)制造商将预算分配给主要组件，例如CPU和其他组件，以保持低于目标价格。
最终结果是一台非常不平衡的机器。或者，您的计算机在最初构建时可能还不错，但现在一个或多个组件无法跟上新软件的速度。
我们将依次检查每个主要组件，看看如何知道它是否需要升级。然而，升级并不总是唯一的出路。查看其中一些RAM、GPU 和 CPU 调整实用程序(RAM, GPU and CPU tuning utilities)。
中央处理器(The CPU)
CPU 或中央处理器(Central Processing Unit )执行计算机的所有通用数字运算。计算机所做的一切都在某种程度上取决于CPU。你怎么知道你的CPU是否功率不足？
最明显的方法是让您要使用的软件成为您的指南。应用程序和游戏通常带有最低和推荐的CPU规格。如果你的CPU低于最低要求，那是一个相当明显的迹象，你需要一些新的东西。
不管纸面上的要求如何，要弄清楚你的CPU是否阻碍了你，你需要两件事。第一个是CPU使用监视器，第二个只是你自己的眼睛。我们要做的是查看在您开展业务时使用了多少CPU容量。(CPU)
对于桌面应用程序，您可以简单地使用Windows 任务管理器中的内置性能监视器(built-in performance monitor in Windows Task Manager)。这将显示正在使用的CPU容量的百分比。如果您是Windows游戏玩家，那么您可以使用Windows 游戏栏(Windows Game Bar)（在游戏过程中holding Win+G）并将性能小部件固定在屏幕左下角，这样您就可以在您玩游戏时查看系统正在发生的事情玩。
这是一个棘手的问题——在运行期间将CPU固定在 100% 并不一定表明它需要升级。有许多任务（例如视频转换或渲染）将始终使用 100% 的可用CPU容量。无论(Regardless)您拥有世界上最快的CPU还是最慢的 CPU。唯一的影响是在较慢的CPU(CPUs)上完成这项工作需要更长的时间。
如果这是您需要CPU完成的工作，那么您将必须决定当前硬件所花费的时间是否可以接受。对于时间就是金钱的专业人士来说，将生产时间减半可能比升级成本更有价值。
糟糕的CPU性能真正伤害的地方是实时计算机使用。如果您的CPU在使用应用程序时显示出较高的使用率并且系统响应能力较差，那么获得更快的模型可能是个好主意。
面向游戏玩家的 CPU 升级(CPU Upgrades for Gamers)
对于游戏玩家来说，它有点复杂。理想的情况是“GPU 受限”。也就是说，您的视频游戏的最大性能应该受到您的图形芯片而不是CPU的限制。
在Windows Game Bar性能小部件中，您希望查看 100%（或接近它）的GPU使用率和低于 100% 的CPU使用率。如果情况相反，那么您将遇到卡顿和可能无法接受的帧速率。
您可以通过各种方式解决此问题，而无需进行硬件升级。使用GPU(GPU)实用程序、游戏内设置或简单的Vsync限制帧速率可以减轻CPU的压力并使游戏流畅。您还可以尝试将游戏图形设置增加到GPU成为限制因素的程度，从而给CPU一些喘息的时间。
RAM – 随机存取存储器(RAM – Random Access Memory)
RAM是(RAM)CPU在处理数据时使用的快速存储空间。正在运行的应用程序在使用时驻留在RAM中，这意味着您需要足够的内存来容纳您想要一次运行的所有程序。
如果您没有足够的RAM来保存正在运行的应用程序，则会严重影响计算机的性能。由于计算机被迫使用称为“分页文件”的东西将溢出存储在您的硬盘驱动器上。由于硬盘驱动器（甚至SSD ）比(SSDs)RAM慢得多，您会真正感受到性能影响。
你怎么知道你是否遇到了这个问题？好吧(Well)，检查正在使用的RAM量实际上并没有多大帮助。这是因为现代操作系统试图预测您接下来要做什么，并在预期中将数据预加载到RAM中。(RAM)
相反，更好的选择是检查您正在运行的应用程序的实际RAM使用情况，看看它加起来的RAM是否比您拥有的更多（或几乎一样多）。
升级不是自动的答案。一方面，您可以决定不一次运行所有应用程序。例如，如果您是游戏玩家，您可以尝试在玩游戏时关闭应用程序（例如浏览器），而不是让它在后台吸收系统资源。
您可能还想知道RAM速度。这几乎从来都不是问题(almost never a concern)，并且为了自身的利益而放入更快的RAM很少会产生任何实际的影响。但是，如果您要将当前的RAM换成容量更大的新记忆棒，您不妨选择与主板额定速度一样快的单元。
图形处理器(The GPU)
GPU 或图形处理单元(Graphics Processing Unit)是处理计算机上的图形渲染任务的专用芯片。它可以内置到您的CPU封装中，作为单独的单元焊接到主板上（就像笔记本电脑一样），或者存在于自己的单独扩展卡上。这是台式电脑的标准。
虽然GPU旨在处理图形渲染工作，但它还可以执行其他更通用的工作。如今，它通常用于快速执行CPU(CPUs)不擅长的某些类型的计算。例如，视频(Video)编辑程序通常包括让GPU加速视频渲染的选项。
当涉及到这些通用作业时，确定GPU是否足够快的工作方式与使用CPU相同。您需要确定完成工作所花费的时间是否足以满足您的目的。
对于视频游戏等实时渲染应用程序，我们希望看到在给定分辨率和细节级别下足够高的帧速率。
什么是好的帧率？嗯，这在很大程度上是个人喜好。一个常见的目标是稳定的每秒 60 帧。由于大多数消费者显示器以 60Hz 刷新图像，因此渲染高于该数字的任何帧都被浪费了。
话虽如此，现在有刷新率远高于 100hz 的专用游戏显示器，在这种情况下，如果可以的话，您实际上会受益于让您的系统推出更多帧。如果您是游戏玩家，那么购买不会被现有CPU拖累的(CPU)GPU非常重要。查看我们的GPU 瓶颈(GPU bottlenecking)指南，了解有关此问题的更多信息。
硬盘驱动器(Hard Drives)
您需要升级计算机的硬盘吗？这实际上是一个非常复杂的问题。如果您只是在当前拥有的驱动器上用完了空间，那么删除一些东西可能会更简单。卸载您不使用的程序。
清除您的回收站和释放空间的方法列表中的所有其他东西。如今，借助廉价的云存储，您甚至可以使用DropBox之类的服务将数据转移到云中。这(Which)肯定比购买新硬盘便宜得多（而且安全）。
然而，硬盘驱动器不仅仅是存储空间。硬盘(Hard)驱动器也有不同的性能水平。在几乎所有存在的家用计算机中，硬盘驱动器是最慢的组件。使用旋转盘片和磁读取头的机械硬盘驱动器在从这些盘片中查找、读取和传输信息的速度方面受到物理定律的限制。
具有更多盘片、更快转速和大数据缓冲区的驱动器将运行得更快。现代固态驱动器(Modern solid-state drives)( SSD(SSDs) ) 根本没有移动部件。他们可以比任何机械驱动器更快地找到和传输数据。
如果您的计算机将机械硬盘驱动器作为主驱动器，那么升级到SSD(SSD)几乎总是值得的。事实上，它是对旧电脑最有影响力的升级之一，在整体系统响应能力方面产生的主观性能提升比你能做的任何事情都要大。
让软件成为您的向导(Let The Software Be Your Guide)
归根结底，计算机只是达到目的的手段。换句话说，它是我们真正关心的软件。这意味着升级计划的主要驱动力应该是您要运行的应用程序的系统要求。
在尝试决定在您的 PC 上升级什么时，最好至少以推荐的要求为目标，而不仅仅是最低要求。由于最低要求通常意味着严重影响用户体验。
What Should I Upgrade On My PC? Investing In The Right Hardware
One of the best things about modern compυters is how modular they are. Desktop comрuters in pаrtiсυlar make it relatively simple to swap out just aboυt any component for a better one.
However, a computer is a complex system, so how should you know which components need upgrading? What should you upgrade on your PC?
The Weakest Link
The ideal computer is built from a mix of components that are well matched to each other. You don’t want a situation where one component is holding the entire system back because it can’t keep up.
This issue is the bane of pre-built computers, especially budget models. System builders will allocate budget to headline components such as the CPU and the scrimp on other components to stay below a target price.
The end result is a pretty unbalanced machine. Alternatively, your computer may have been just fine when it was first built, but now one or more components can’t keep up with new software.
We’ll go over each major component in turn, looking at how to know if it needs an upgrade or not. However, upgrades are not always the only way to go. Check out some of these RAM, GPU and CPU tuning utilities.
The CPU
The CPU or Central Processing Unit does all the general-purpose number crunching of the computer. Everything the computer does depends in some way on the CPU. How can you know if your CPU is underpowered?
The most obvious way is to let the software you want to use be your guide. Applications and games usually come with a minimum and recommended CPU spec. If your CPU falls below the minimum, that’s a rather obvious sign you need something new.
Regardless of on-paper requirements, to figure out if your CPU is holding you back you need two things. The first is a CPU usage monitor and the second is simply your own eyes. What we want to do is see how much of the CPU’s capacity is being used while you go about your business.
For desktop applications, you can simply use the built-in performance monitor in Windows Task Manager. This will show you the percentage of your CPU capacity in use. If you are a gamer on Windows, then you can use the Windows Game Bar (by holding Win+G during a game) and pin the performance widget on the bottom left on the screen, so you can see what’s happening with your system while you play.
Here’s the tricky bit – having your CPU pegged at 100% during operation isn’t necessarily a sign that it needs an upgrade. There are many tasks (such as video conversion or rendering) that will always use 100% of the available CPU capacity. Regardless of whether you have the fastest CPU in the world or the slowest. The only effect is that the job will take longer to complete on slower CPUs.
If this is the sort of job you need your CPU to do, then you’ll have to decide whether the time it takes with your current hardware is acceptable or not. For professionals for whom time is money, halving production time may be worth far more than the cost of an upgrade.
Where poor CPU performance really hurts is for real-time computer use. If your CPU is showing high levels of usage when using applications and system responsiveness is poor, getting a faster model may be a good idea.
CPU Upgrades for Gamers
For gamers, it’s a little more complicated. The desirable situation is to be “GPU-limited”. That is, the maximum performance of your video games should be limited by your graphics chip and not CPU.
In the Windows Game Bar performance widget, you want to see 100% (or close to it) GPU usage and sub-100% CPU usage. If the situation is reversed, then you’ll experience stutters and possibly unacceptable frame rates.
You can work around this in various ways without a hardware upgrade. Limiting your frame rate using your GPU utility, in-game settings or simply Vsync can take some stress off your CPU and smoothe out the game. You can also try increasing game graphics settings to the point where the GPU becomes the limiting factor, giving the CPU some time to breathe.
RAM – Random Access Memory
RAM is the fast storage space your CPU uses when working with data. Running applications reside in RAM while in use, which means you need enough of it to fit all the programs you want to run at once.
If you don’t have enough RAM to hold your running applications, it can seriously impact your computer’s performance. Since the computer is forced to store the overflow on your hard drive using something called a “paging file”. Since hard drives (and even SSDs) are much, much slower than RAM you’ll really feel the performance impact.
How do you know if you’re running into this issue? Well, checking the amount of RAM in use doesn’t actually help much. That’s because modern operating systems try to predict what you’ll want to do next and pre-load data into RAM in anticipation of this.
Instead, a better option is to check the actual RAM usage of the applications you are running and see whether it adds up to more (or nearly as much) RAM than you have.
Upgrading isn’t automatically the answer. For one thing, you can decide not to run all your applications at once. For example, if you are a gamer you could try closing applications (such as your browser) when playing, instead of letting it soak up system resources in the background.
You may also be wondering about RAM speed. This is almost never a concern and putting in faster RAM for its own sake rarely makes any sort of practical difference. However, if you are swapping out your current RAM for new sticks with more capacity, you may as well opt for units as fast as your motherboard is rated for.
The GPU
The GPU or Graphics Processing Unit is a specialized chip that handles graphics rendering duties on your computer. It can be built into your CPU package, soldered onto the motherboard as a separate unit (as is usual with laptops) or exist on its own separate expansion card. Which is the norm for desktop computers.
While the GPU is designed to handle graphics rendering work, it can also perform other more general-purpose jobs. These days it’s often used to quickly perform certain types of computations that CPUs aren’t great at. Video editing programs, for example, often include the option to let the GPU accelerated video rendering.
When it comes to these general-purpose jobs, determining if a GPU is fast enough works the same as with a CPU. You need to decide if the time taken to complete the job is fast enough for your purposes.
When it comes to real-time rendering applications such as video games, then we want to see a frame rate that’s high enough at a given resolution and detail level.
What’s a good frame rate? Well, that’s largely personal preference. A common target is a stable 60 frames per second. Since the majority of consumer displays refresh their image at 60Hz, any frames rendered above that number are wasted.
That being said, there are now specialized gaming monitors with refresh rates well over 100hz, in which case you will actually benefit from letting your system push out more frames, if it can. If you are a gamer, it’s pretty important to buy a GPU that won’t be held back by your existing CPU. Check out our GPU bottlenecking guide for more info on this issue.
Hard Drives
Do you need to upgrade your computer’s hard drive? It’s actually a pretty sophisticated question. If you are simply running out of space on the drive you currently have, it might just be simpler to delete some stuff. Uninstall programs you aren’t using.
Clear out your recycle bin and all the other things on the list of ways to free up space. With cheap cloud storage these days, you can even shift your data into the cloud using a service like DropBox. Which is certainly much cheaper (and secure) than buying a new hard drive.
There’s more to hard drives than just storage space however. Hard drives have different performance levels as well. In just about every home computer that exists, the hard drive is the slowest component. Mechanical hard drives, which use spinning platters and magnetic read heads, are limited by the laws of physics when it comes to how quickly they can find, read and transfer information from those platters.
Drives with more platters, faster rotational speeds and large data buffers will perform more quickly. Modern solid-state drives (SSDs) have no moving parts at all. They can find and transfer data much, much faster than any mechanical drive.
If your computer has a mechanical hard drive as it’s main drive, it’s almost always worth upgrading to an SSD. In fact, it’s one of the most impactful upgrades for older computers, producing a bigger subjective performance increase in overall system responsiveness than anything else you could do.
Let The Software Be Your Guide
In the end, a computer is only a means to an end. In other words, it’s the software we really care about. Which means the primary driver of your upgrade plans should be the system requirements of the apps you want to run.
When trying to decide what to upgrade on your PC, it’s better to aim for at least the recommended requirements, rather than just the minimum. Since minimum requirements often mean a significantly compromised user experience.
