There are two items of good news for distributors who are looking to upgrade their computer systems for speed and capacity. Intel and other chip manufacturers are discounting their faster chips to computer builders. And the prices for machines with faster chips and larger hard drive capacity are going down all the time.

If you need new equipment, upgrade system components like monitors and printers that may need new PC cards to keep up with the speed of the chip you purchase. Very often, tripling or even doubling the speed of your processor can raise havoc with older hardware.

The apparent difference in processing speeds for most transactions on chips rated between 700 MHz and 1 GHz is unnoticeable, according to industry statistics.

When upgrading hardware, then, be sure to consider all the functions in your offices and be aware that peripherals are links in a chain: the oldest or weakest may well determine the performance of the overall system. You may have found out, for example, that the old, dot-matrix printer you had only ran so fast no matter what speed the data output.

According to www.Tomshardware.com, an upgrading and testing Web site, one sure benchmark for buying new components is this: buy components if your motherboard won't support the new chip and more RAM. If you need to replace the motherboard, due to capacity and power needs, buy complete systems. They allow you to add faster CD and DVD units, integral USB ports and capable power supplies.

An old graphics PCI board, according to tomshardware.com, will not run with an Athlon™ or Pentium™ III or IV chip. Likewise, older boards may not support additional RAM.

So, sell those old PC's and buy components that will make the most of your new processor's speedy power.