Thinking about giving your computer a boost? You’ve got some choices, like adding more RAM or creating a cool custom case for your DIY liquid cooling system. The best upgrades depend on your PC. What’s it got under the hood right now? Are you into gaming, editing videos, or just cruising the web?

Add a Solid-State Drive

  • Device type: Desktop or laptop

This is the classic rudimentary upgrade that makes a dramatic difference—especially for aging systems. If your laptop or desktop computer is running off a hard drive, then grabbing a 2.5-inch SSD will make a big difference. Your PC will feel more responsive, and boot times can shorten dramatically. Given the current state of flash storage, you’re probably better off with a triple-level cell (TLC) drive than quad-level cell (QLC).

If you’re already rocking a 2.5-inch SATA-based SSD, the next step would be upgrading to an NVMe M.2 drive. This will also improve general responsiveness and boot times, but not as dramatically as with a hard drive.

M.2 drives come with one caveat: Your PC needs a special M.2 PCIe slot. Most modern desktop motherboards should have it, but laptop capabilities will vary a lot. Check your motherboard or device manual to see if your system supports these drives.

More RAM

  • Device type: Desktop or laptop

Should you add more RAM to your setup, or will it be a pointless exercise? That depends a lot on what you’re doing. If you use a PC to stream video, write documents in Microsoft Word, and edit the occasional photo, then 8 gigabytes (GB) might be all you need. Gamers will often be happiest with at least 16GB, especially when playing modern video games. Some AAA games have pushed the recommended amount of RAM to 32GB. Any media rich tasks, like video editing, will probably call for at least 32GB of RAM these days too.

Given the relatively lost cost of RAM, 64GB setups are increasingly common on high end systems.

The bottom line is there’s an optimal amount of RAM your system needs to do its job. If you add more RAM beyond that, you won’t see much improvement, if any.

Using these general guidelines, you should be able to estimate how much RAM you need. If it’s not enough, then try doubling it and see how that goes.

Also consider the limits of your motherboard and CPU. They can handle only a certain amount of RAM—though it’s usually quite a bit. Remember that when you buy new RAM, it must all be the same speed (measured in MHz), or you’ll have to do some fiddling to get it to work. That means unclocking or overclocking one set of RAM to match the speed of the other set. Ideally, replacing your PC’s RAM should be easier than that. Do yourself a favor and just buy matching RAM from the outset—it’ll save you some trouble.

Once you’re organized, changing RAM on a desktop is as simple as slotting in the new RAM modules and turning on the machine. Laptops are a little more complex and usually require opening an access panel on the bottom, or sometimes removing the keyboard. Be aware that some laptops cannot accept RAM upgrades at all because the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard’s PCB.

Swap Out Your Graphics Card

  • Device Type: Desktop PCs

If you have the right amount of RAM in your system and your games are running off an SSD, the next step to improving performance is to upgrade the graphics card. Before you swap your GPU, ask yourself what resolution your monitor is. If you get a graphics card that’s awesome for 4K gaming but you only play at 1080p, then you likely could’ve done with a far cheaper graphics card.

There is one noteable exception: high refresh rate screens. It is fairly common to see screens with 144Hz and above these days. If you want your FPS to be good enough to take advantage of those refresh rates you’ll need a more powerful GPU than if you were playing at only 60Hz.

If you’re looking at buying a GPU for AI or machine learning tasks, like Stable Diffusion, keep in mind that the amount of video RAM your GPU has is critical. You could easily use 16GBs, and you’ll want 12GB as a minimum.

If your CPU is particularly old, you might need a newer one before upgrading your graphics card. However, you can get surprisingly far with an older CPU combined with a newer graphics card. Besides, if it’s time to upgrade the CPU, then it’s likely time for a total system overhaul.

Once you’ve got a new card, undo the slot latch, remove the old card’s power cable and take it out, slide in the new one, and reconnect the power, if your card requires it. Then you just have to install the card’s new drivers and you’re off to the races. For a more detailed look at the upgrade process, check out our tutorial on how to upgrade and install a new graphics card in your PC.

Upgrade Your CP

  • Device Type: Desktop PCs

Upgrading your CPU is not difficult, but it’s harder than slotting in some new RAM modules or changing your graphics card. Before you decide to get a new CPU, check which models are compatible with your motherboard. The motherboard CPU socket must be compatible with the processor you want—the socket is the space where the CPU fits on a motherboard.

Beware, however, that CPU makers (particularly Intel) can have different versions of the same socket type. A SkyLake-compatible LGA 1151 socket, for example, is not compatible with the LGA 1151 sockets that Coffee Lake processors use.

In general, it’s better to upgrade your motherboard and CPU at the same time. However, at times, it will make sense to just upgrade the processor. For example, you might catch a really good CPU sale.

If you don’t upgrade your motherboard when changing the CPU, there are often some trade-offs—especially if the newer processors have more advanced features. Anyone with an AMD X470 motherboard, for example, could use a Ryzen 3000 CPU. However, they would lose out on PCIe 4.0 which both the CPU and motherboard must support.

Changing the CPU is a little different depending on whether you have an AMD or Intel motherboard. Essentially, however, all you do is remove the old CPU, gently drop in the new one, and secure it. Then it’s just a matter of attaching your CPU cooling fan or liquid cooling solution.

Optimize Your System with a Professional Tune-Up

In today’s digital world, a fast and reliable computer is crucial. Over time, PCs can slow down due to a variety of reasons such as cluttered storage, registry errors, and outdated applications. That’s where a professional tune-up comes in. With the help of a certified technician, you can optimize your system’s performance and get it running like new again. Our expert team at ARVITAL offers a comprehensive tune-up service that covers everything from malware removal to disk cleanup and registry scans. Get in touch with us today to schedule your tune-up and unlock the full potential of your PC or laptop.

Delete old files

Details and Information heading Remove unwanted Softwares

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Details and Information heading Upgrade old hardware