Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 20th Edition

About

Features

• Beefed-up coverage of the latest hardware, plus two hours of all-new Scott Mueller how-to videos on DVD
• Cutting-edge coverage of the latest processors, chipsets, motherboards, graphics cards, and more
• The de facto standard hardware guide for PC professionals and enthusiasts alike - now better than ever!

Description

“…a comprehensive resource for PC enthusiasts and professionals alike. Packed with the latest speeds and feeds, you’ll want to keep this book on-hand as an authoritative technology reference.”

–Chris Angelini, Managing Editor, Tom’s Hardware

For 20 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 20th Edition offers beefed-up coverage of the newest hardware innovations and maintenance techniques, plus more than 90 minutes of new DVD video.

Scott Mueller delivers practical answers about PC processors, motherboards, buses, BIOSes, memory, 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

• The newest processors, including Intel’s 2nd generation Core i3, i5, i7 plus the Atom, and AMD’s new VISION series CPUs
• 3TB (and larger) disks, 4K sectoring, partition alignment, faster SATA disk interfaces, and SSD (Solid State Drive) hard drive replacements
• New firmware innovations, from full UEFI BIOS support to built-in motherboard flash BIOS upgrade utilities
• Integrated video and audio, including 5.1/7.1 surround sound, HDMI, and DisplayPort connections
• Updated PCI Express and Power Supply specifications for powering high-end video cards
• Emerging interfaces such as USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt
• Updated coverage of building PCs from scratch–from choosing and assembling hardware through BIOS setup and troubleshooting

ON THE DVD

Get more than 90 minutes 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 hard disk drives, power supplies, motherboards, and more.

You will see hard drives completely dissected–even see an open hard drive in operation–so you can observe exactly what happens under the covers. One of the most common causes of failure in modern motherboards, power supplies, and many other PC components are bad capacitors–otherwise known as the capacitor plague. Mueller will show several real-world examples of this “disease,” so you can easily identify and perhaps even repair the problem. Finally, because external hard drives are now commonly used for supplementary storage and backups, you’ll find a complete discussion of several alternatives on the market. This includes tips and tricks for building or assembling your own flexible, high performance and highly reliable external storage drives, with several examples shown. This DVD also contains the complete 19^th edition of this book in printable form, plus extensive technical reference material, a comprehensive glossary, and more!

Sample Content

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 11 and Index)

Table of Contents

Introduction     1

Book Objectives     1

The 20th Edition DVD-ROM     2

My Website: informit.com/upgrading     2

A Personal Note     2

1 Development of the PC     5

Computer History: Before Personal Computers     5

   Timeline     5

  Electronic Computers     10

Modern Computers     11

  From Tubes to Transistors     11

  Integrated Circuits     13

History of the PC     13

  Birth of the Personal Computer     13

  The IBM Personal Computer     15

  The PC Industry 30 Years Later     16

2 PC Components, Features, and System Design     19

What Is a PC?     19

  Who Controls PC Software?     20

  Who Controls PC Hardware?     23

  White-Box Systems     25

  PC Design Guides     26

System Types     27

System Components     28

3 Processor Types and Specifications     31

Microprocessor History     31

  The First Microprocessor     31

  PC Processor Evolution     34

  16-Bit to 64-Bit Architecture Evolution     36

Processor Specifications     37

  Data I/O Bus     42

  Address Bus     43

  Internal Registers (Internal Data Bus)     44

  Processor Modes     45

  Processor Benchmarks     49

  Comparing Processor Performance     49

  Cache Memory     54

Processor Features     60

  System Management Mode (SMM)     60

  Superscalar Execution     61

  MMX Technology     62

  Dynamic Execution     64

  Dual Independent Bus Architecture     65

  HT Technology     66

  Multicore Technology     67

Processor Manufacturing     68

Updates

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