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More RAM vs a new desktop


Superhero

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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.

 

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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:

 

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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. 

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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 by Ignatius
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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. 

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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.

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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

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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 by AUinHsv
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  • 3 weeks later...

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? 

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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.

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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 by elfenix
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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?

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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

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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.

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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 by AUinHsv
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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.

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