- Printed in the United States. - TECHNOLOGY ADVICE YOU CAN TRUST TM ◆ WWW.PCWORLD.COM ◆ PC WORLD MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS. - To make sure you’re getting the full benefits of AGP 4X, go into your CMOS setup program and make sure your PC is set to run at AGP 4X rather than 2X.. - Load the latest AGP drivers onto your PC. - The AGP drivers that come with Win- dows 9x are limited, and systems using AMD’s Athlon CPU don’t work well with older drivers. - But we’ve found a handy work- around: Just use Alex van Kaam’s Moth- erboard Monitor freeware utility to keep watch over your PC’s fans, voltages, and temperatures. - Should I have waited for the AGP 8X cards to come out?. - FIGURE 1 shows the max- imum transfer rates of the AGP versions.. - A Cool Breeze Keeps Your PC’s Innards From Frying. - biggest temperature changes occur when you turn your system on and off, so leave your PC on but use its power-manage- ment functions to keep its innards as cool as possible when it’s idle. - Listen to your fans: Your PC keeps cool by blowing a constant stream of air through its case. - Clean your PC’s fans and fan intakes regularly, especially if you hear a change in the fans’ one-note whir.. - (A heat sink is a metal plate with fins or spikes intended to dissipate heat.) If your CPU’s fan or heat sink stops functioning properly, a CPU failure won’t be far behind.. - Never leave the case off your system while it’s running. - Mercury rising: Most PCs made in the last few years monitor and report on the state of their case, CPU, and power-supply fans. - do the cold, dark days of winter have you dreaming of tropical beaches, sunny deserts, and the inside of your PC? You read right. - (Check your system documentation to find your PC’s exact range.) Internal tem- peratures over 110 degrees can stress del- icate circuits and electrical contacts, which may substantially shorten your computer’s life. - Avoid ups and downs: Sudden changes in temperature are just as harmful to your PC’s circuitry as high temperatures. - DOES YOUR CURSOR sometimes appear and disappear, move in the wrong direc- tion, or change size and shape? It could be a sign of mouse trouble, which is often due to a conflict with your graphics card’s driver. - If you use Windows 9x or Me, there may be a solution simpler than installing an updated driver. - Speed: A USB 1.1 controller transfers data at up to 12 mbps, or about four times faster than the speediest parallel port and 100 times quicker than a serial port.. - Portability: All USB devices can be hot- swapped, which means that you can plug a piece of hardware into your PC, or un- plug one, while your system is running.. - One port, many devices: With the use of a USB controller, a single USB port can theoretically support up to 127 different devices, although practically speaking, it’s unlikely you’ll ever run more than ten. - Every day we’re bombarded by ad- vertisements hawking systems that are faster and cheaper—so much so that it’s easy to lose sight of really useful improve- ments, like the Universal Serial Bus.. - USB is the way to connect anything to your PC. - And with USB 2.0, the spec gains even more advantages. - All the devices connected to a USB 1.1 controller have to share its 12-mbps bandwidth. - If you need to run multiple devices that eat up more than 12 mbps, you can use a PCI adapter card to add a USB controller to your PC.. - Belkin sells a USB 1.1 PCI adapter card for $39 and a USB 2.0 version for $59.. - Easy linking: If you’ve ever tried to chain together two devices—such as a printer and a Zip drive—you know it can be a real nightmare. - So you’ll never have to crawl under your desk to reach the back of your PC when attaching a peripheral.. - If you don’t already have one of these, consider buying a dedicated USB hub. - Belkin’s four-port USB 2.0 hub, for exam- ple, costs as little as $52 online (see FIG- URE 1. - For- tunately, you can avoid power problems by using the right type of USB hub.. - WHEN YOUR PC uses the same chunk of data over and over, it often stores that piece of information in fast memory, or cache, where it can retrieve the data faster than it can off a hard drive. - Stor- ing the right amount of data in the cache can improve your PC’s performance.. - If you buy a self-powered hub, make sure it provides a full 500 mA to each port—some don’t. - If your PC originally shipped with Windows 98 or later, it almost certainly has a set of working USB ports. - the back of your PC for two narrow, rec- tangular openings. - If you have an older system without USB, an adapter card should get you up and running. - If that’s what you’re using, consider an OS upgrade.). - Many PC peripherals now support the USB 2.0 specification. - USB 2.0 devices can run more than 40 times faster than those using USB 1.1. - The top USB 2.0 data rate is 480 mbps, which is faster than the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ports that run hard drives, digital still and video cam- eras, and CD-RW drives (see FIGURE 2. - USB 2.0 products are backward com- patible, so you can use older USB devices on a USB 2.0–equipped PC. - So what’s the catch? USB 2.0 products are a bit more expensive. - Also, the selection of USB 2.0 devices is limited at present, and they re- quire a USB 2.0-ready PC to run them.. - Look for the first USB 2.0–ready moth- erboards and systems to hit the mar- ty from the incoming USB connector and. - Self-powered hubs draw their own power or, in the case of the root hub in your PC, get it from the PC. - FIGURE 2: USB 2.0 HARDWARE MOVES DATA slightly faster than devices using an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection, but it can be more than 40 times faster than USB 1.1 devices. - USB 2.0 IEEE 1394 (FireWire). - You can add USB 2.0 functionality to your system now by using one of the adapters mentioned above. - But before buying a USB 2.0 prod- uct, check with the vendor to confirm the availability of USB drivers for your oper- ating system. - I opened up its case to add the AGP 2X graphics card I took from my for- mer computer, but the AGP slot in the P-III PC is much longer than the slot in my old system. - There are three different types of AGP slots: the original AGP 1.0 1X/2X slot, the AGP 2.0 2X/4X slot, and the AGP Pro slot. - From your description, your PC proba- bly has an AGP Pro slot. - Because the AGP Pro slot is backward compatible, a 1X/2X or 2X/4X AGP card will work in the slot. - But take care when inserting a 1X/2X card to avoid incorrect- ly inserting it into the AGP Pro extension.. - Also make sure your graphics card and. - The original AGP 1.0 spec called for motherboards and cards that operate at 3.3V, and the AGP 2.0 spec added sup- port for operation at 1.5V. - If your old graphics card operates at 3.3V, you’ll need a motherboard that supports 3.3V AGP.. - Will a New CPU Give Your PC More Vroom?. - That’s because other components play a big role in determining your system’s overall performance. - And adding a topflight graphics card to your PC can dramatically improve the look and play of many games.. - But if you’re on a tight budget and you need a moderate, across-the-board perfor- mance boost, adding a new CPU can be worthwhile. - Our rule of thumb: If you’re staying in the same processor class, buy a CPU upgrade only if it will at least double your current clock speed—from 400 MHz to 800 MHz, for example. - If you have an older system, keep in mind that powerful new PCs are cheaper than ever. - Here’s what you need to know about your PC before you buy a new CPU:. - What’s your PC’s chip set? The chip set your motherboard uses determines what types of CPU, RAM, hard drive, and other hardware will work with your PC. - To dis- cover what chip set your PC uses, look in your system’s manual or download and run a hardware diagnostic program such. - i f y o u t h i n k you can feed your need for PC speed without investing in a whole new system, simply by replacing your old CPU with a newer and faster one, you’re right—probably. - A CPU upgrade can be a cost-effective way to boost PC perfor- mance, but it’s not for everyone. - You can find a CPU upgrade for almost any PC—from systems based on Intel’s ancient 80486 chip through today’s Pen- tium III models. - A new processor running at twice the clock speed you’re used to won’t come close to doubling your system’s per- formance. - Visit find.pcworld.com/11881 to get it.. - Does it use a socket or a slot? The type of CPU connector your motherboard uses determines which CPUs can connect to your system. - FIGURE 1 lists information to help you determine what your PC uses.. - The same sys- tem can run a Pentium II-266 CPU if you change the multiplier from 3.5 to 4. - What is the voltage? If you’re adding a standard CPU rather than an upgrade processor, make sure your motherboard’s CPU voltage matches the voltage needs of your new CPU. - IF YOU FREQUENTLY use a removable storage drive—such as an Iomega Zip or Jaz drive—you can speed up data writing to the drive by enabling write-behind caching. - Remove the device’s driver.. - System, choose the Device Manag- er tab, double-click the device’s category, select the device you’re uninstalling, and click the Remove button. - Note: To remove the driver of a graphics card (Windows calls it a “display adapter. - Shut down your PC.. - Open your system’s case, and remove the old device. - If you’re upgrading your graphics card, put the new one in now.. - Install new devices one at a time, and use your PC for a few days between each installation to give problems time to reveal themselves. - Some drivers have their own installation programs that are best run independently of e v e r y t i m e y o u crack open your PC’s. - case to add or remove hardware, you’re rolling the dice. - Maybe you’ll slip that new modem or ethernet card into its slot and watch Windows seamlessly install its driv- ers. - These installation guidelines should help keep your system running.. - By default it stores the last five backups in the Windows\Sysbckup folder as .cab files named rbxxx.cab, where xxx is the number of the backup—. - If you need to restore a backup file, restart your system in DOS mode and run regscan.exe—running it from a DOS ses- sion in Windows won’t work.. - Last, make sure that you’re electrically grounded. - Even a small static charge on your body can damage your PC’s delicate circuitry. - If you want to abort an installation, finish the procedure com- pletely, and then uninstall the driver.. - ABOUT THE ONLY time you need your Win- dows CD-ROM once your PC is running is when you install hardware. - If you can’t find the disc, or if you can’t get your CD-ROM drive to work, you could be stuck. - They occupy about 275MB, but it’s space well used, even if you only need the files once.. - Your PC’s Case:
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