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This is the brain of your computer. Your CPU processes tasks and instructions given to it by programs and files. It works in steps. It starts by finding instructions to run the program you ask it to. It then decodes the program into binary which the CPU can use and change to apply instructions you give it. After that it executes commands and then writes back what it's changed to memory. This is a cycle it repeats over and over again constantly and it does it for every small instruction given to it from the time you turn your PC on until it's off.

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RAM; or Random Access Memory, is super fast memory designed to save information that your computer uses often for your processor call fast. RAM stores information in capacitors using binary. A powered capacitor represents a 1 in Binary and a non powered capacitor is a 0. An easy way of thinking of it is RAM is your coat pockets compared to a backpack. You put your important items there that you want to use a lot for fast access. Saving time by having it close to hand. Whenever you load a program it's stored in your RAM so you can access it zippy fast.

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The motherboard is the most important part of a computer. Every other computer part connects to the motherboard. If the motherboard does not work, none of the other parts will either. It's what ties all your other components together and makes them work in sync. It's a very large PCB that unifies your computer; sending data and power where it needs to go.

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You can think of your GPU as a secondary CPU for your computer, which is completely dedicated to the graphics side of things. An external graphics card has a processing core and memory designed to complete tasks like rendering images and textures for games and such fast; taking the load off of the CPU and letting it worry about calculations for physics and mechanics of the games rather than imagery. The PCB of the graphics card can be thought of like a small motherboard, this is what's known as a daughterboard.

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A hard drive is a mechanical drive that uses spinning disks known as platters to store information. Information is written and read from these drives using a mechanic arm known as an actuator arm. An SSD on the other hand stores information electrically and has no moving components. This allows for faster read and write speeds as well as potentially longer life span. They're more expensive because of this fact.

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The Power supply takes AC power (wall power) and converts it into clean DC power and distributes it to all the different components in your Computer.There are lots off different kinds of power supply, Non modular, semi- modular and modular. With Non modular Power Supply you cannot remove the cables that go to the different components. A Semi- Modular Power Supply allows you to remove just the extra cables like SATA power but you cannot remove all the necessary cables such as 24 pin motherboard cable. A fully Modular power supply allows you to remove everything. there are different advantages and disadvantages for each of the different types of PSU. there are also rating's that come with your PSU they are (from worst to best) 80+, 80+ bronze, 80 + gold and 80+ Platinum , and 80+ Titanium

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An optical drive reads and writes data from Optical Disks however they are slowly becoming less and less relevant as technology and internet speeds progress. These allow users to read / write content to disks such as movies and songs or even games.

Cleaning your computer is a task that is easy and fairly quick but can make a pretty large difference in performance and acoustics. Imagine your computer is a pipe, flowing critical water to your whole town. You don't want that pipe blocked and limited do you? Cleaning your computer internally is fairly straight forward.

Go to your local PC shop or even online and pick yourself up a can of [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] . Once you have one of these unplug your computer, take it outside or somewhere you don't mind dust getting (Garage, shed) and open her up. Take your compressed air (DON'T SHAKE IT) and start blasting away at your components and motherboard. Get into all the nooks and crannies. If you have a radiator take it off and get inside of it with the can, remove fans if you can and give them a blast. Take out your GPU and get inside the cooler good and deep and give it a good spray to clear out the heatsink.

Just never shake the can and never hold it upside down otherwise it releases moisture and you don't want that. If you have stubborn dust that is clinging to all the pointy bits on your components you can take a small makeup brush like [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and use that to get in there and loosen it up, just don't be too vigorous with it. I'm sure your girlfriends or your mom has one around. Be nice and clean it for them afterwards!

Your computer will have a lot of temporary files and a lot of unnecessary files that are just there for no reason. They don't do much to affect your PC other than take up storage space. It's good habit to clean these. I recommend installing a handy program called [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] . This program will allow you to clean up your startup and your drives of all that unnecessary gunk in a fast and efficient manner.

Once you have it installed, open it up and you will be greeted to a screen like this -
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Go ahead and hit analyse and you will see a screen letting you know all the stuff that's there including the size of it. In my case it's 2,566MB right now. Hit run cleaner and let it do its thing. It will prompt you to close programs it needs to clean so go ahead and do that. Afterwards you will have a nice pretty window like this -
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Now we can move on to start up programs. These programs will slow your boot time as well as can slow your computer down for a few seconds to minutes after boot. CCleaner can help you here also. Go to Tools > Startup and take a look at the Windows tab.

Go through the programs on that list and disable any ones that you don't need to launch at the start of your computer by clicking it in the list and hitting the disable button -
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A lot of the time there will be programs in there you don't use or that you forgot to untick "launch at startup" on when installing and all of these will have an effect on your boot times. Think about what you want to launch at the start and if you don't want it; disable it. It's that easy.

On Windows 10 this is an automatic feature however it's worth checking out anyway to ensure it's set up correctly. Go to your search bar and search for 'Defrag and Optimize drives'. Once you're there if you have an SSD, ensure that it's listed as SSD. The cleaning protocols for SSD and HDDs are different and if you run a HDD Defrag on an SSD it's not going to be good. Under media type it will say either Hard Disk Drive or Solid State Drive.

Next, you can select each drive one by one and hit 'Optimize'. This will TRIM your SSDs and Defrag your Hard Drives. Once that is done we can set it up to automatically do this for us to ensure happy drives.

Under Scheduled Optimization hit Change Settings; I recommend setting it to weekly like so -
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After that you're all good, your drives now have freed up space and have been cared for.

Your computer should always have an anti-virus on it. Whether it be a free one or a paid one; it needs to be there. If you pay for an Anti-Virus a lot of them are going to do the same thing, I personally recommend either Avast or Kaspersky if you're paying for one. However if you need a free anti-virus I'd recommend AVG Free. You can find it [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and it will help keep you nice and clean.

If you have a mechanical keyboard on your computer then I'd recommend monthly cleaning of it. It's not a big deal with cheap membrane keyboards and is honestly more work than it is worth but if you have a mechanical it's straight forward and good to do.

Take a keycap remover (One of these should have came with your keyboard, if not buy one or make one) and use it to remove every keycap from your keyboard. I'd recommend using a camera to take a photo of your keyboard or looking it up first so to make assembly easier

Once they're all off, take your air in a can or a Q-Tip and get in there and remove all crumbs and hair and debris from in your keyboard. Once you've got it all, you can lubricate your switches using special lube but it's not necessary. Put it back together and you're good to go.

Clearing your CMOS is a good thing to do whenever upgrading any component along with troubleshooting problems with your PC. It is pretty simple to do also.

Look around your processor and you should find a battery that looks like this -
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It could be anywhere but it's most likely near your processor. Once you find it, ensure your computer is unplugged from the wall and turned off and remove it using a flat head screwdriver. It could take a bit of force so be careful.

Once it's out, leave it out for around 30 seconds to a minute and pop it back in. You're now able to boot your PC and you've cleared your CMOS.

Upgrading your processor isn't the most common upgrade for a computer but it has to be done. To start you're going to need to do some research about your current processor. Find out what it's socket is; or it's Land Grid Array (LGA). For example, my i5 4690K is LGA1150. This is important.

Once you have that you can look for other processors using that socket. If you're going for a processor that is unlocked such as the K edition of Intel's CPUs then make sure that your motherboard can handle overclocking. You don't want to spend extra on a chip you can't utilize.

But what if your computer is old and your CPU socket doesn't have good options? In that case the bad news is you have to upgrade your motherboard to get a better processor. The good news is, you have infinite choosing on where you want to go with it; you're not locked by socket.

Once you have found what processor you want to go with your socket type and motherboard, it's time to make the purchase. While you're buying it, go ahead and buy Thermal Compound and Thermal Compound Remover. Both of these are going to be necessary.

Once your parts arrive, start by taking apart your computer, unplug it, take off both side panels and move it somewhere you can work on it. Remove your current processors heatsink; making sure to undo the screws diagonally (Top left; Bottom right; Bottom left; Top right etc) and you will be able to see your current chip seated in the motherboard. Now is a good time to crack out the Thermal Compound Remover. Read the instructions and clean off all compound from the CPU in the socket and your Heatsink.

Once both are clean you can lift the tension arm on the socket found [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] and with it the CPU cover should lift right off.

You're now safe to remove the current CPU from the motherboard, lift it from the sides; never the bottom and once you've got it out sit it somewhere safe. Be careful if the chip is AMD because it will have pins sticking down from the CPU and you don't want to damage these. Also inside the motherboard socket you will have pins, be careful around those too.

You can now take your new processor and seat it in the socket. It can only go in one way so look for the groove on the chip itself and align it with the socket shown [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] although yours could be different. Sit it in nicely, but don't push on it. Use the cover and the tension arm to slowly push it into place and lock it in. It might take a bit of force to get it locked so don't be worried.

You can now apply thermal compound to the chip. Only ever apply a small pea sized amount in the center of the chip, doesn't have to be a lot at all. You can now seat the heatsink onto the processor. It should go on roughly the same way it came off. Again, make sure to tighten diagonally so you don't put uneven pressure down.

Once it's on good and snug, you can reset the CMOS as found in the PC Maintenance section and you're good to go.

RAM is one of the easiest components to upgrade in your computer. And is fairly cheap to do so also. But there is some research you might need to do.

If you're going to upgrade by adding another stick to your existing RAM you need to make sure the stick you're getting is the same type you're currently using as well as the same clock speed. For example; if I'm upgrading my Kingston 4GB 1600Mhz to 8GB, I want to add another Kingston 4GB 1600Mhz.

That is very important so make sure you check that out first. If you're replacing your RAM then you don't have to worry about that at all. Make sure your PC is turned off and start by taking out your current sticks (or leave the one in if you're adding to it). This is done by undoing the two clips on either side of the memory. These just pop up and is very simple to undo.

Once you're done that, you can insert your memory into your motherboard. Take care to put them into Dual Channel mode or Quad Channel if there is more than one stick. To do this take note of the colored slots that the memory goes into. There will be two different colors, put the sticks in the same color slots and they run in dual channel. If using 4 sticks, unless your motherboard has 8 RAM slots then you can just fill all 4 with it.

To insert the memory, line it up correctly as it can only go in one way and push down evenly from the top. You should feel clicks and hear them as the clips you opened earlier snap down. This can take a bit of force.

After both sticks are inserted in the right slots, clear the CMOS and you're good to go.

Upgrading your GPU is pretty easy. Start in Windows where you're going to download a program called DDU or Display Driver Uninstaller found [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] . I'd recommend putting it on your desktop.

Next up you're going to boot your PC into safe mode. To do that press Windows Key and R and type 'msconfig' and hit enter. Go to the boot tab and hit the checkbox called safe boot -
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After that restart your PC, you should boot into safe mode and everything will look a little weird; that's fine. Run Display Driver Uninstaller and hit Clean and Shutdown. Once that's done you can unplug your PC and begin uninstalling.

Open both side panels and locate the brackets holding your current GPU in place -
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and unscrew the thumb screws and remove them.

Next unplug the power cable/cables -
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Now on the PCIe slot there will be a clip latch like that on your RAM. To undo this push it down in towards the motherboard. Once it's out you can safely lift the old graphics card out.

To install your new GPU look at the bottom of the card and the PCI socket and line them up then push until you hear an audible click; applying even pressure on both sides as you push down. Then plug in the power cable/cable and reinstall the thumbscrews you removed earlier and it's installed.

Next up you clear the CMOS as found above and it's safe to plug in and boot your PC. Plug your monitor directly into your new graphics card.

Once in Windows find the correct drivers for your card. Google is your friend here and you should have no problems finding them. Install them and you're good to go.

Upgrading Motherboard is going to be the hardest and most time consuming part to upgrade on your computer. It's the hub for everything which means a lot of unplugging and plugging back in and a lot of parts. I'd only recommend upgrading your motherboard if you need a new CPU socket, your old one breaks or you need more RAM / Video card slots.

To start you're going to have to unplug your computer and take it apart.Take off both side panels and get some tools handy, You're going to need just a Philips head screwdriver most likely but it's good to be prepared. Now you can start by unplugging all cables from the motherboard. 24 Pin power, 8 Pin CPU, all fans, all hard drives etc. Once you're confident everything is unplugged you remove the graphics card as found above. You don't have to take the CPU cooler out yet but I recommend doing it at this stage to make it easier on yourself. Just unscrew the screws on it diagonally and remove the cooler; leave the CPU in the socket for now.

Now you can locate your motherboard screws, these will typically be around the edges with one or two in the middle and hold your board to the case.They are screws with a little circle flat top -
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I'd recommend having the computer on it's side for this part. Unscrew the motherboard; put the screws somewhere safe and then lift it out of the case slowly and straight up. Don't let it scrape too much off of anything.

Once your board is out you can now clean and remove the CPU as found above and remove your RAM as well. Now is a good time to clean the case in the hard to reach places to get dust out if you want. Before you start messing around with your new motherboard take a look inside your case and note the motherboard standoffs which are in your case. There will be two kinds, either rubber standoffs built into the case or more likely the regular screw type which look like this -
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These are used to stop your motherboard touching and contacting the metal of your case so it doesn't short. That's important; you DO NOT want to screw your motherboard anywhere that isn't a stand off when you're putting it in.

You can start assembling your new motherboard now. Put your CPU in (make sure it's cleaned of thermal compound) and your RAM in. I'd recommend leaving CPU cooler until it's in the case but that is preference and you can put it on at this step if you want. Just make sure to replace the thermal compound with a pea size amount!

Once those parts are on, look in your motherboard box and you should have a rear IO panel made for that motherboard; it looks like this -
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Your old boards one should pop right out (might take a bit of effort) and you can stick the new boards one in. Once it's in you can start lowering your motherboard into the case. Careful not to scrape the bottom of it on the standoffs and make sure it's slotted into the rear IO panel correctly otherwise you'll have a hard time hooking stuff up to it. This step can be awkward but have patience and you'll get there.

At this point the board is sitting in your case on the standoffs, so start screwing. If the board is the same form factor as your old one you should be able to just screw it right in through any holes on the board but just verify there is standoffs where you're screwing.

Once it's screwed in, you can now mount the heatsink if you haven't already using new thermal compound and start plugging in cables and routing them. Start with the 24 Pin power as it's the most awkward, plug in your 8 Pin CPU, your fans and your drives. Once they're in; you can stick in your graphics card and plug it in too.
Don't forget to plug in your front panel IO cables. You will have to refer to your motherboard manual to find where these go in correlation to the pins on the motherboard but it's an easy task.

After you've got every cable plugged back in and every part back in, you can try booting it up. I personally recommend ONLY plugging in the hard drive / SSD that has Windows on it for now until it's booted and plugging the rest in on next boot. It might take a little while to boot and you will probably get a boot screen that says something like listing your hardware and drives etc; this will prompt you to hit a key to boot so go ahead and do that.

Congratulations you've just replaced your motherboard.

Adding new hard drives or SSDs to your system is incredibly straight forward. All you have to is unplug your computer, open it up, plug in the SATA data and power cable for the drives to your motherboard and your PSU and mount them in your case and you're good to go.

If you're replacing a drive then it's a little more annoying. If you want to keep data off an old drive which you're replacing you can move it to a USB or another drive or upload it somewhere to download again later. If you're replacing your drive you have Windows on you will have to go through the whole Windows installation process again so make sure you have your product key ready.

The first step to upgrade your PSU is to open both side panels and take note of if your current power supply is modular or not. A modular power supply can have its cables unplugged right from the PSU which means you don't have to unplug them from the computer itself. This allows changing PSU to be a really easy task; simply unplug all the cables from the PSU and plug them into the new one.

If your PSU isn't modular then start by unplugging the 24 Pin Power Cable leading to the side of your motherboard.

After that look somewhat near your CPU and you should see either a 8 pin or 4 pin cable that is your CPU power; unplug it.

Now for drives, simply find and unplug the SATA power cable leading to the PSU.

Now for GPU, unplug the PCIe Power Cables running to it.

After that take all the cables and and route them back to your PSU.
then remove the screws on the outside of your case holding your PSU in place then make sure you got all cables removed then just take it out from your case

Now grab your new PSU and place it in the same place your old PSU was then screw it in they same way your old one was. With some cases it may help to route and connect cables with the PSU outside the case then screw it in later.

Now just place all the cables back and flip the switch on the back of your PSU; then plug in your computer and try to power it on if it doesn't work go through all the cables and make sure you didn't miss any and none are loose.