Azam writes, "It's time to upgrade my computer, but since I'm on a tight budget I have to do it slowly. Right now I'm focusing on getting either a faster hard drive, or more memory - which one should I get first?"

When you're upgrading your computer you need to keep in mind what's going to happen when you upgrade each component.

When you upgrade your hard drive, 9 times out of 10 you're doing it to get more storage space. A faster hard drive is nice, but you're only going to notice a difference when loading games and levels - not while you're playing a game.

On the other hard, adding more RAM is probably not going to help your game speed either. When you add mroe memory you add the capability to store more ... well, memory, which allows you to run more programs at the same time without making use of your swap space (which slows down your computer).

Which one should you start with? If you have under 6GB of memory, start with that. Put at much memory into your system as your motherboard and processor can handle. After that, you might want to think about upgrading to a faster hard drive, but even before a new hard drive, I'd consider getting a faster processor and video card first.

Do you have a question you need answered? E-mail me! lordkat@gmail.com

Click here to check out How to Build a Gaming Computer for Under $1000.

Be safe,

Jason