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“…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
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 19th edition of this book in printable form, plus extensive technical reference material, a comprehensive glossary, and more!
A Look at the 64-Bit ARMv8 Architecture
Backup Your Computer and Save Your (Computing) Life, Part 1
Before the PC: Remembering Kaypro and Osborne Computers
Catching Up with PC Backup in 2012
Choosing a Network Storage Appliance
Choosing and Using an Ultra-Fast Flash Drive
Finding Uses for Old 2.5" Hard Drives
Free Tools for Troubleshooting and Fixing PC Issues
Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC): The PC Re-Imagined
Is 8-12 GB the "New Normal" for RAM Size, or Should You Go Bigger?
Moving Your Operating System to Your Solid State Drive Using Paragon Software's "Migrate OS to SSD"
On Gadgets & Hardware: Converting from PATA to SATA (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Installing a Multi-I/O Bay (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Installing a SATA Hard Disk (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Installing a USB 3.0 Card (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Installing a USB Header Cable (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Installing Dual-Channel Memory (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Setting Up SLI Video (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Upgrading Laptop Memory (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Upgrading Your Laptop’s Hard Disk (video)
On Gadgets & Hardware: Upgrading Your PC’s Power Supply (video)
Secunia PSI: The Best Software Update Tool You've Never Heard Of
Solid State Disks: Now and In the Future
The BBC Micro: Why It Mattered
The Dark Silicon Problem and What it Means for CPU Designers
The Intel Driver Update Utility: An Occasionally Great Tool
Understanding Hardware Transactional Memory in Intel's Haswell Architecture
Working with a Windows RAMDisk
Working with SSDs in Windows 7 and 8
Upgrading & Repairing PCs: Optical Storage
Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 11 and Index)
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