What is the first thing I should do when upgrading a computer?

Question

My dad's friend built him a desktop a while back. I'm not sure what OS it's running. I think it's called Ubuntu I don't know how to check what it's got under the hood. in Windows just right-click Computer and hit properties.
I plan on getting windows 7 on there, and just upgrading it as I go along. My question is, what is the first thing that I need to do/check.
I'm having a hard time explaining this, I would provide pictures but the computer is not with me.

Answer 1

The most important thing you can do is check to make sure that the parts you want to upgrade to are compatible parts.



Secondly, if you install a different cpu, you will have to reinstall Ubuntu. Linux builds the kernel during installation around the specific processor in place.



Third, install Windows FIRST, so this means, wipe the hard disk. Windows will NOT recognize a Linux installation. But Linux will detect a Windows installation.



If you want to dual boot, make sure that the boot manager resides in the BOOT partition in the MBR of the first partition...typically, this is GRUB boot manager for Linux.

Answer 2

open a terminal and type "sudo lshw" (Application>accessories>terminal)



Which roughly translates into superuser-donextcommand listallhardware, and after you enter your password to get superuser privileges, it will list every piece of hardware on the system.



If you type "sudo lshw > somefilename" it will create a text file with the output of the command. (carefull, as this will overwrite anyfile that happens to have that name so make sure it's unique by typing "ls" first)



Just about anything that runs Ubuntu comfortably will run windows 7 32-bit (though not necessarily as comfortably)



Probably the most noticeable upgrade would be to get a dedicated graphics card if there isn't one already, and the second is to increase RAM.

Answer 3

It really depends on whats already in the computer, what you plan to do with the computer and how much money you want to spend.



A new video card is generally a good upgrade if gaming is what you plan to do. But of course if there is already a mid range video card in there, upgrading would be almost pointless.



Adding more RAM is really easy to do and once again, depending on how much ram is already in there and what OS you have (32bit or 64bit) it could be a a good or pointless upgrade.



Upgrading a processor can be a good idea. But you need to know what CPU and what socket and mobo is in there already. For all you know it could be a quad Q9400 cpu, which means there is no point in upgrading since its one of the last LGA775 socket cpus and that socket has pretty much been abandoned for the newer i5/i7 builds.



Those are just some of the upgrades you can do. But basically you need to figure out whats in there first and also do some researching. Buying that latest hardware doesn't mean its going to be a cost effective and worthwhile upgrade. Its more complicated than that.

Answer 4

Your first step is to find out what capabilities the physical components (hard drive size, amount of RAM, video capabilities, ethernet, etc) the computer has. Being this is an unknown OS, the best way would be to get into the setup information when the system boots, and see what it tells you.



Once you know the computers existing capabilities, you can plan what you need to upgrade in order to install the OS and software you want .

Answer 5

Its much the same way with Ubuntu, right clicking on the computer icon. Ubuntu gives you a little bit more detail has to what the hardware is up to, then Window 7 will.

Answer 6

Ubuntu is a free, lenox based system that can be downloaded online and doesn't need a license key. Takes some time and fiddling to get use to it. If I were you I would start by installing a fresh copy of windows 7 and deleting the Ubuntu. Then go to wrh on the rest of the hardware that you want to replace. Good luck

Answer 7

1. determine what OS is currently installed.

2. determine: RAM, CPU and Video.



Based on the above, and current computer prices, decide if the machine is worth upgrading.



For Windows; 4GB of RAM is desirable, though it will run with much less. A separate video card is also desirable; 1GB of Video RAM is nice to have, 256MB can leave mouse tracks if you try to do too much at once. The processor is not so important for the vast majority of applications.

Answer 8

back up date e.g. files

Answer 9

If you have to upgrade $400 worth, it's better to just buy a new one as everything is faster than a real old one. First thing to do is deciding if it will be worth the cost.