This is one of those how long is a piece of string questions we get asked a lot at Townsville computer repairs Nerds.

Without knowing exactly what you need to do with your computer it is always hard to ask such an personal question.

However, there are some basics we can run you through, and what yo might need from your computer specifications for different circumstances.

Most computers these days are fast enough for general using.

Internet, e-Mail, Word Processing and Watching Movies

The majority of people who use computers we see are general users who either use their computer for basic productivity, or for person requirements such as banking, internet browsing, Facebook or watching movies.

For the most part if you are just surfing the internet or answering your email, anything made in the last 10 years will do the job.

If you have a 10 year old computer and it is unable to do these basic things, it could be a symptom of other things going on liek failing hardware, bad updates or virus/corruption etc.

Most of these are easily fixed.

An 13 Processor with standard hard drive and only 4GB of memory is sufficient for basic using.

Video Editing and Software Compiling

If you are editing video or writing and building (compiling software) your computer is going to need a lot more power to handle the number crunching faster.

For things like this you will definitely need at least 16GBs of Memory, maybe a graphics card and at least an i7 Processor.

These sort of things are very CPU intensive and require the computer to do a lot of thinking.

At the same time your memory can become full much faster and you software your using might need to access the hard drive much faster also, meaning you might need a SSD (Solid State Hard Drive).

3D High Definition Gaming

Computer gaming, playing games vs the computer or other people is a lot more hardware intensive on your computer.

In addition to needing lots more memory, a faster hard drive and better CPU designed for games, you will also need a much better/faster graphics card for your computer to render the games in real time and for you to be able to play unhindered.

There are many types of games you can pla on computer that do not require such hardware requirements.

But if you are buying specifically a gamming computer it needs to be fast and it needs to have a great graphics card.

There are many different graphics card out there, but to know what you need specifically you can usually look at the box or gaming designers website to see the exact requirements you need for each game in your computer.

Updating Can Slow Things Down

A warning when updating an older computers software!

Software updates usually require more recourses from your computer. If you have not upgrading your computer to meet your new updated software requirements your computer might start running slower.

Its not that your computer has become slower, it is because your software is putting more pressure on it.

Kind of like having the same horse in the race, but suddenly a much heavier jockey.

Other software which can slow your computer:

• Viruses can slow your computer. Malware can significantly slow down your computer as it is designed to disrupt. Also a lot of Malware is poorly written with bugs in it itself which slow down your computer or make it hard to use.
• Corrupt software/Bad Updates can slow down your computer. When your software is not working properly it can pause, slow down or shut your computer off completely. Corrupt softer has also been known to damage computers.

Solid State Hard Drives

A great way to speed just about any computer up is by replacing an old mechanical hard drive with a much faster SSD (Solid State Drive).

Solid State Drives have no moving parts and can be anywhere from 5 to 15 times faster than your existing hard drive.

In the past to achieve these speeds you needed to buy a new state of the art, expensive, computer. But solid state hard drives changed all that and at a fraction of the price.

No matter if it s general day-to-day computer, a business machine or for gaming, a solid state hard drive will speed up just about any computer and anything you throw at it.