Desktop upgrade help

[PhilTheFragger]

Futureproofing is easier now as hardware is way beyond what software requires of it (unless in specialist areas). Which is why my PC, due to be 8 years old in Feb, will last me until 2018 (10 years old) or even beyond!

Yes but only because you did some major hardware upgrades on the way. like more RAM and 3 SSD hard drives, if you hadnt it would just be another old slow PC,
But agree that if you buy the right spec now, (with an SSD hard drive) then why shouldnt a new PC last a lot longer than the regulation 5 years

 

[BubbaP]

Trigger:
And that's what I've done. Maintained it for 20 years. This old brooms had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in its time.

 

[Foxholer]

My pc has ground to a halt (slow to start up and generally slow) so I'm thinking of trying to do an upgrade.

Is there a program that will scan my system and suggest improvements that I can make.

I replaced the graphics card last year so am fairly confident I could attempt this.

Have you run CCleaner and DeFraggler?

Those free progs could well speed things up and save you loads of dosh!

The CPU may be old, but it's still fast enough for much of the things that a PC is used for. Upgrading the memory (to 8GB at least) will help considerably - especially if you have a 64bit system (not just the chip!). SSD can be great, but is quite expensive still - but will likely get much cheaper quite soon!

Also check what's in your Startup ! Some of the anti-virus progs are particularly cumbersome!

 

[PhilTheFragger]

The price of an SSD drive is dropping through the floor, £65 for a 256 GB drive.

Also it's a bit dangerous suggesting that the Anti Virus program shouldn't be in the start menu, asking for trouble.

Windows 7 and onwards defrag themselves automatically and whilst defraggler is better at it, you won't notice the difference, it's just another program to run in the background using resources.
Cc cleaner is useful, but you must ensure it is off the start menu otherwise it will use more resources than it saves , use occasionally .

Having put SSD drives into both Zoostorm and Dell machines, it is so much easier with Dell, you have to apply to Zoostorm for a system recovery disc and it's a pain in the doo dah

You can pick up a dell Inspiron with an Intel I3 4 th gen CPU , 8 GB ram and 1 TB hdd for £369
Add in a SSD and you have a pretty decent system.

To be frank, anyone who doesn't consider an SSD option when looking at a new PC /laptop has a screw loose

 

[rulefan]

No need to be worried about windows 8, download Classic shell, it gives you back the conventional start buttonas in xp/7 etc

Windows 10 is a few months off but will feature a normal start button as native
Depends how dead your system is as to whether you upgrade now or wait

No problems with W8 or 10.
I run W8 as XP as does my son with W10.
No old software problems. I'm running Quicken 98, Lotus Smartsuite 2000 and Microsoft Office 97. All hunkydory.

 

[brendy]

W8 and 10 are pretty well protected with defender built in.
With ref to adding ssds, on machines that have no recovery options, I use acronis true image and just clone the drive over. Works a charm.

 

[Foxholer]

The price of an SSD drive is dropping through the floor, £65 for a 256 GB drive.

Also it's a bit dangerous suggesting that the Anti Virus program shouldn't be in the start menu, asking for trouble.

Windows 7 and onwards defrag themselves automatically and whilst defraggler is better at it, you won't notice the difference, it's just another program to run in the background using resources.
Cc cleaner is useful, but you must ensure it is off the start menu otherwise it will use more resources than it saves , use occasionally .

Having put SSD drives into both Zoostorm and Dell machines, it is so much easier with Dell, you have to apply to Zoostorm for a system recovery disc and it's a pain in the doo dah

You can pick up a dell Inspiron with an Intel I3 4 th gen CPU , 8 GB ram and 1 TB hdd for £369
Add in a SSD and you have a pretty decent system.

To be frank, anyone who doesn't consider an SSD option when looking at a new PC /laptop has a screw loose

That's good news about about SSDs, though much better (value) to wait a tad until they stabilise at around their 'low' value rather than 'overspending' now imo.

Wasn't suggesting having Defrag constantly running - just using it occasionally as it does a far better job than the O/S seems to do! Nor ditching any a/v in Startup (it should the very first entry!). But Norton (and MacAfee?), for example, can take forever at times - doing tasks without informing you - so perhaps consider either using a 'lighter' one, or turning automatic scans, for example, off. There's also often some other detritus hanging around in Startup that doesn't get removed by lousy 'uninstall' processes!

Simply throwing over £400 (and several hours) at the problem will work, but doesn't seem particularly smart to me!

 

[ScienceBoy]

Yes but only because you did some major hardware upgrades on the way. like more RAM and 3 SSD hard drives, if you hadnt it would just be another old slow PC,
But agree that if you buy the right spec now, (with an SSD hard drive) then why shouldnt a new PC last a lot longer than the regulation 5 years

The RAM was 6GB to 16 and I started with an SSD for the OS (its still working!). I did have to upgrade the PSU though as the original had a fault, installing that was fun .

The early i7s like mine are still going strong in many rigs, the bottle neck for performance has always been the GPU, still is now. If I had not upgraded from my 4870 to a 6870 then now to the R9 870 then I would be stuck playing games from 2010 at best.

The rest of the rig is solid, cools well and is lovely and stable at 3.8GHz.

I think the overclock is helping with the longevity however, I have never run it at the stock 2.66 longer than needed for overclocking so I don't know the difference!

I think this rig can get me into 2018, I take care of it, redo the thermal past annually, clean it fully inside every 3 months and ensure it is well ventilated.

The "5 year" cycle still holds true for budget hardware and most laptops I would guess.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

The "5 year" cycle still holds true for budget hardware and most laptops I would guess.

I would say that an SSD drive could push the lifespan beyond 7 or 8 years.

The mistake that many people make is that they are totally price lead, rather than being spec lead and then finding that spec at the best price.

A £299 bargain from PC Universe is priced at that point for a reason

Look at it another way, if you spend £440 on a basic desktop and a SSD drive assume that this unit lasts 7 years, that equates to 18p per day

Considering how much we use these things that it pretty good value

 

[Taz]

How about something like this :

http://h22175.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P1J82EA&opt=ABU&sel=DTP

 

[PhilTheFragger]

How about something like this :

http://h22175.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=P1J82EA&opt=ABU&sel=DTP

Thats a very good spec for the price, would have preferred a 256 GB ssd, as 128 is going to be a tad tight over the lifespan of the machine, but a very good buy indeed

 

[Taz]

Thats a very good spec for the price, would have preferred a 256 GB ssd, as 128 is going to be a tad tight over the lifespan of the machine, but a very good buy indeed

Sadly out of stock

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Sadly out of stock

Not surprised, they would go like hot cakes

But with the reduction in price of SSD drives, you are now going to start to see them in mid level laptops and PC's

 

[Taz]

Sadly out of stock

Pushed the button, also hope to get an extra 4% back with quidco

 

[kinjo]

i'm looking for a new 128 GB SSD,
can anyone help me to find the best one?

 

[ScienceBoy]

I'm looking to sell my PC now, not that's is slow but because I fancy a new one.

Also I don't think it can handle 4K gaming and that's my aim.

EBuyer and overclockers are good for price, try the today only section on Scan too

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Question
why do you want a 128 Gb SSD,?

presume its for a machine that wont be carrying much data

You can expect Windows plus programs and future updates to take up in excess of 50Gb of your drive .
you might be better off with a 256 one

Anyway, Ebuyer have the Samsung 750EVO 120Gb for £50.04 http://www.ebuyer.com/747868-samsung-750-evo-120gb-2-5inch-ssd-mz-750120bw
or the 850EVO 250Gb at £88.97 http://www.ebuyer.com/695890-samsung-850-evo-250gb-2-5inch-ssd-mz-75e250bw

Ive been using these drives (in the 500Gb flavour) for a while as options on machines I supply and can vouch for their speed and quality

PM me if you need any help

 

[Pants]

Question...

Why would anyone join a golf forum and resurrect a year old thread about an out of date (?) SSD ??




Maybe Phil's leg end has preceded him :lol: