Basically, CPU power is now way beyond what most people require – if your machine is too slow, you probably have one or more of the following issues:

~ A virus/spyware/malware infection
~ Too much loading at startup
~ A hard disk, instead of a solid state hard disk

Amongst the racks of computing gear here at UKtech, I have a very old machine, running a very old processor. Why?

What do I use it for? Why don’t I upgrade?

Well, it’s actually performing as a network router – but the other day, I was obliged to use it for all my everyday tasks – while building some new rack space. It performed flawlessly on an old AMD processor – running multiple apps simultaneously, without a single hitch…

Intel, AMD and the like would want me to upgrade this machine, but now the choice isn’t which motherboard and processor – rather which disk? As solid state hard drives (SSD’s) become cheaper, though reliability appears to be an issue, you want to see what happens when you hook one up to an old processor, previously thought useless.

The difference between an old hard drive and an SSD is simply awesome.

Mechanical hard disks, though at the peak of their development, are slow. A replacement has long been overdue – longevity and reliability issues aside, once you have switched, the only thing you will regret is a) it’s reliability and b) that you missed your last backup!

Other than that, when the technology settles down in a year or two, we will all be blasé about Windows booting in 20 seconds!