More RAM vs a new desktop

[Superhero 8827]

I’m still clinging onto an OLD Dell XPS desktop from 2011. It has an Intel i7 2600 chip with 8GB RAM. I put in a GeForce GTX 1060 card several years ago to play BF1. It actually works great except for slow load up time.

I know it’s old, but still runs a lot faster than my much newer work laptop with an i5 7000 series chip. Fast enough that I use it a lot for work instead of breaking out my laptop.

I think if I spend $60 to upgrade to 16GB, it might last me a few more years. Versus getting a new Dell desktop for about $800 with a faster chip and 16GB RAM (but no dedicated graphics card).

I’m leaning toward just upgrading the RAM, but would get a new rig if I can get one under $500 and I can put it my 2 year old graphics card.

So thoughts on keeping the old rig, or recommend me a new desktop.

 

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

I'm a PC gamer, so a 2011 big-brand desktop is a relic from the way, way back. Heck, the rig I put together two years ago is starting to seem long in the tooth.

Ultimately, I'd say go with your need/use. Do you use the desktop a lot? Do you ask much of it when you do use it? Do you have a couple thousand bucks burning a hole in your pocket?

If the answer to any of those is no, then maybe stick with what you have and drop in a second stick of RAM to keep it going a little longer. Tbh, your "new" graphics card isn't that great (and wasn't ever great), and Dell desktops usually aren't a very good bargain.

If the answer to all three is yes, then maybe consider building a new PC. It's a long, dark rabbit hole to jump down, but you could end up with something pretty powerful for relatively little cash, especially if you wait for the next-gen GPUs to come out (which means prices for current-gen ones will plummet, if they're still available).

This thread would be a good place to start your research:

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21871]

I'd probably just drop in some more memory, a SSD, and clean off all of the bloat.

[Superhero 8827]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I'd probably just drop in some more memory, a SSD, and clean off all of the bloat.

This is what I’m thinking as well. The most taxing thing I do is run BF1, otherwise it’s just some 1-2MB spreadsheets, a PowerPoint or2, and Chrome.

I was thinking of giving it to my kids, and getting a Mac for myself. But with Macs going through hardware changes, I may just want to keep this PC on life support until I pull the plug in 2022 or so. That would be a solid 84 in dog years. 

[Horn_Spanker 524]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

I'd probably just drop in some more memory, a SSD, and clean off all of the bloat.

SSD is the answer.

[Ignatius 4017]

Yep; for your usage, upgrade the memory and drop an SSD drive in to run Windows and all of your applications, and use the existing drive (after wiping it clean) as file storage and a place to  store backups of the OS/app drive.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Ignatius

[elfenix 34221]

5 hours ago, Superhero said:

slow load up time.

SSD is what fixes that.  just get whatever 1 TB SATA drive you want.  if you're in houston or dallas you can get a house brand from microcenter.  8GB of ram should be fine with that CPU and GPU. 

[Superhero 8827]

In fact at a Microcenter now getting more RAM. $60 for 16 GB. I have 4 sticks of 2 GB in the computer, so this was probably the easiest way to go.

Not going for a SSD. It takes me maybe 30-40 seconds to boot up. I think I’ve put enough money into the computer for its lifetime. 

[davidg 4036]

A SSD will probably do more for your performance than that memory upgrade.

[Sam Lin 3550]

Echoing everyone else, SSD. Skip the RAM, while 8gb isn't perfect, it's plenty. HDD is your bottleneck right now.

[atomheartbevo 89621]

8 hours ago, Superhero said:

This is what I’m thinking as well. The most taxing thing I do is run BF1, otherwise it’s just some 1-2MB spreadsheets, a PowerPoint or2, and Chrome.

I was thinking of giving it to my kids, and getting a Mac for myself. But with Macs going through hardware changes, I may just want to keep this PC on life support until I pull the plug in 2022 or so. That would be a solid 84 in dog years. 

SSD man.  You can get cheap ones off of Amazon.  It makes old laptops and desktops feel like new.

[Superhero 8827]

Okay. So I got the extra RAM. It’s made a bit of a difference. Less stuttering now.

So about the SSD. It seems cheap enough. But how easy / difficult is it to clone the HDD and have the .... whatever it’s called to boot up using the new drive?

 

[Sam Lin 3550]

The only thing to watch out for is make sure you buy the correct connector type SSD to work with your system. (SATA is most likely given the age, but make sure.) As a desktop you're unlikely to have an M2 slot.

 

Many SSDs come with a utility to clone the hard drive over to the new drive. There are also free utilities available to do this. You'll connect your new SSD and keep your original HDD untouched. Then run the clone utility and it'll clone the drive over. Then remove the HDD and move the SSD over to the connector originally used by the HDD. And away you go.

What you're asking is for the operating system to boot from the new drive.

Here's one writeup, the Macrium utility they show is a good one:

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstall-5837543

[elfenix 34221]

10 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Many SSDs come with a utility to clone the hard drive over to the new drive.

note: you usually have to check the manufacturer's website for that. 

[AUinHsv 579]

I would hope you have backups of your important stuff. The you just move things over to new computer. Never liked cloning between totally different computers versus a new install. If you don't have backups then now is a great time to do it - hard drives fail all the time

Edited September 8, 2020 by AUinHsv

[DougO 5243]

The biggest reason I hate thinking about getting a new PC is I absolutely hate Windows 10.

 

 

[Superhero 8827]

So I actually got a small 500GB SSD. I backed up all my important stuff onto an external SSD, and purged everything else on the HD. I'm using have about 380GB of the 2TB HD.

Now onto the task of cloning a 2TB HD onto a 500GB SSD. The Acronis software that Crucial recommended doesn't work. Any suggestions on free software to do the clone from large HD to small SSD? 

[TexasEd 8066]

I bought this for the cable a few months ago. If the software is any good. I’ll send it to you. 

 

I bought a Samsung drive and used their software with this cable for my laptop. 

Edited September 28, 2020 by TexasEd

[CooterBrown 18002]

Bought a warrantied refurbished Dell Optiplex on Amazon for $299. Added 64 GB RAM, a SSD, and a good graphics card. I think about $400 in upgrades. That thing has been going strong for 5 years and shows no sign of slowing down.

 

Don’t image from an existing hard drive. Do a fresh clean install of the OS without any of the bullshit. Same with all your apps. That’ll do more for performance than anything.

[elfenix 34221]

32 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Don’t image from an existing hard drive. Do a fresh clean install of the OS without any of the bullshit. Same with all your apps. That’ll do more for performance than anything.

urban legend in my experience.   i've actually benched this and found it not to be the case.

though i did just have a hell of a time getting an nvme drive cloned off a (probably failing) sata ssd.  part of that was uefi weirdness with drives disappearing, boot loops, and bcdedit seemingly not working. 

Edited September 28, 2020 by elfenix

[Superhero 8827]

Sheeeeit. I was able to find a free software to clone the hard drive. So far so good.

Took out hard drive yesterday and replaced it with the SSD. Got a "BOOTMGR is missing  message". I took out the SSD and put the HDD back, still get the "BOOTMGR is missing" message. WTF do I do now?

[52-80 19142]

2 hours ago, Superhero said:

Sheeeeit. I was able to find a free software to clone the hard drive. So far so good.

Took out hard drive yesterday and replaced it with the SSD. Got a "BOOTMGR is missing  message". I took out the SSD and put the HDD back, still get the "BOOTMGR is missing" message. WTF do I do now?

buy a new computer

[Superhero 8827]

3 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

buy a new computer

Yup. I'm heading that route. I can probably sell the RAM and graphics card, but the rest is 10 year old technology and can go in the dumpster.

Now onto the next dilemma. PC lets me play some FPS games, but I can complete the ecosystem with a Mac. Decisions decisions.

[AUinHsv 579]

4 hours ago, Superhero said:

Sheeeeit. I was able to find a free software to clone the hard drive. So far so good.

Took out hard drive yesterday and replaced it with the SSD. Got a "BOOTMGR is missing  message". I took out the SSD and put the HDD back, still get the "BOOTMGR is missing" message. WTF do I do now?

Before throwing everything out - try a couple of things

1. Make sure all cables are connected. Then disconnect devices not needed like CD drive etc

2. Boot into the BIOS (maybe F1 key after powering on) and check the boot order. You want the new disk drive to show up at top

3. If this fails then google the error - there are a couple of pretty simple solutions. The problem is that this is not a specific error other then bootmgr is missing. There are different reasons it could be missing. One is you didn;'t define the new drive as bootable. Again the solutions are a lot easier than new computer

4. This is also why several people recommended reloading windows - it avoid this issue

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by AUinHsv

[Superhero 8827]

I'll ask my nephew to see if he can revive my PC. He just built his own gaming rig, I'm sure he has a copy of windows floating around somewhere.

[TexasEd 8066]

1 hour ago, AUinHsv said:

Before throwing everything out - try a couple of things

1. Make sure all cables are connected. Then disconnect devices not needed like CD drive etc

2. Boot into the BIOS (maybe F1 key after powering on) and check the boot order. You want the new disk drive to show up at top

3. If this fails then google the error - there are a couple of pretty simple solutions. The problem is that this is not a specific error other then bootmgr is missing. There are different reasons it could be missing. One is you didn;'t define the new drive as bootable. Again the solutions are a lot easier than new computer

4. This is also why several people recommended reloading windows - it avoid this issue

 

 

#3 got me.  I had to make sure that even after the drive was mirrored that it was set to bootable.  Might have been a BIOS setting I don't honestly remember where I had to change it.  Make sure you don't have any USB sticks or other things plugged in.