Computer performance is based on a large number of factors, many of which business owners mistakenly believe they have no control over. While replacing all the computers in an enterprise with more expensive and/or faster performing models can be effective, it can also be wasteful and cause dramatically higher expenses in other areas of the company, some of which may completely offset the performance gains that are actually achieved. As it turns out, maximizing performance for businesses is remarkably similar to the same task at home.
RAM
Dollar for dollar, the least expensive way to improve performance in a PC is to add RAM. This has been true since very early versions of desktop operating systems and hardware. The reason it is so effective has much to do with the way PCs operate internally. With the most recent versions of computer software advancing to 64-bits adding more RAM can have a dramatic effect, especially if your systems are required to work with large-scale files and data.
Network
An astounding number of small and medium-sized businesses have very likely not taken advantage of the incredible speeds available both on internal and external networks. Off-the-rack hardware is now more than capable of providing gigabit network speeds desktop-to-desktop and business class Internet access can do the same across town or across the world. While faster networks will have little effect on the PCs themselves, a wide and super-quick network will certainly help them do a large number of important things a lot faster.
Storage
Most PC owners have hesitated to upgrade their mechanical disk drives to solid state drives for one important reason, and that is cost. Companies like Ottawa IT support know mechanical drives are lightning fast considering they still rely on geometry, rotation speeds and a physical head to read data. All that said, an SSD will easily increase data access speeds by an order of magnitude or more under ideal conditions. If the expense justifies the upgrade, swapping out mechanical storage for digital storage will make a dramatic difference.
Like most other things in business, upgrading computer hardware is always a tradeoff. Unless you can measure your gains day by day, it can often seem a fool’s errand to try and chase better performance, since many business owners simply don’t have the time to tinker like hobbyists and gamers. That said, with the right combination of upgrades, even older PCs can turn into screaming fast rigs overnight.
