Is it worth upgrading my desktop PC?

poppellerant

fred246 said:

I am using a dual core processor from 10 years ago with 2GB of RAM and an SSD. I am quite capable of upgrading PCs and will do when I feel there is a need. I never have any problems. Everything is pretty instantaneous. Videos are fine. I sometimes wonder if it's how you use PCs though. I know what I need and don't download rubbish that will slow me down.

Right now I am using a little under 3GB with ESET antivirus, Firefox and one or two other small pieces of software.  I have 16GB of RAM which is frequently used with virtual machines and other tasks.

I wonder how much your pagefile is being used?  Although you will barely notice usage as it is SSD, they should never be seen as a substitute for RAM primarily due to the slower data transfer speeds and also because it can be detrimental to the life of the drive.

I know you say everything feels perfectly fine right now, but I don't think I could cope on less than 4GB even for basic usage.  A few tabs and a YouTube video increases my RAM usage to ~3.5GB.

TheRightOne

poppellerant said:

fred246 said:

I am using a dual core processor from 10 years ago with 2GB of RAM and an SSD. I am quite capable of upgrading PCs and will do when I feel there is a need. I never have any problems. Everything is pretty instantaneous. Videos are fine. I sometimes wonder if it's how you use PCs though. I know what I need and don't download rubbish that will slow me down.

Right now I am using a little under 3GB with ESET antivirus, Firefox and one or two other small pieces of software.  I have 16GB of RAM which is frequently used with virtual machines and other tasks.

I wonder how much your pagefile is being used?  Although you will barely notice usage as it is SSD, they should never be seen as a substitute for RAM primarily due to the slower data transfer speeds and also because it can be detrimental to the life of the drive.

I know you say everything feels perfectly fine right now, but I don't think I could cope on less than 4GB even for basic usage.  A few tabs and a YouTube video increases my RAM usage to ~3.5GB.

So what should he do if 2 GB of RAM is the max the device will accept?

R

womble12345

getmore4less said:

What are you going to put in a full tower that needs those bays?

Nothing really, I just like have a bit more room inside to upgrade and my desk layout means it will stand upright and if I have a desktop case then putting CDs in is hard with the CD drive being vertical. Not really compelling reasons I admit...

womble12345

poppellerant said:

womble12345 said:

My concerns recently are that I need to use MS Teams in Chrome on my PC (it wont work on the work PC) and this experience is very laggy as it seems to max out the CPU. I also note that checking my Gmail in Chrome takes CPU usage to 99%.

Have you tried another browser to see if you still get lag and high CPU usage doing the same tasks? If you use Windows 10, try Edge, otherwise try Firefox - I would normally advise against Internet Explorer, but for short term use as testing it shouldn't do any harm.

Yes I have tried the new Edge browser which was equally laggy. I think the CPU is just a bit slow for modern web sites/chrome.

fred246

I am on Windows 10 32bit. Is that the difference?

womble12345

TheRightOne said:

womble12345 said:

TheRightOne said:

womble12345 said:

I have an old Dell Inspiron 530 with an E2160 CPU, I bought it in 2008! I have upgraded it quite a bit over the years so it now has 4GB RAM, a 120GB SSD, extra PCI cards to add extra USB ports and also another very basic graphics card so I can run dual screens.
I work from home now (only ever did this once a week before coronavirus) and seeing as I remote desktop into a PC in the office using citrix my PC doesnt have to do a lot so that doesnt tax it at all.
My concerns recently are that I need to use MS Teams in Chrome on my PC (it wont work on the work PC) and this experience is very laggy as it seems to max out the CPU. I also note that checking my Gmail in Chrome takes CPU usage to 99%.
Are there any cheap upgrades that would be worthwhile or would that be throwing good money after bad and I would be better off with buying a refurbished Dell 7010 with a 3rd gen i5 for about £150? I can see I could upgrade the CPU to an E8400 for less than a fiver, would that help things? Or is it time to start again?
Thanks

Cost £100. If £150, you are paying too much. I have linked to one costing £100 recently. Check posting history.

 Intel® Pentium® Processor E2160 is from 2006 and is weak
Check your Motherboard part number to see which CPU it can accept. Some Core2Duo and some Core2Quad.

 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E8600 will be around £10.
https://www.dell.com/community/Inspiron-Desktops/Inspiron-530-CPU-Video-Card-and-RAM-upgrades/td-p/6061363

Thanks, your link was to a desktop case and I really fancied a full tower which seems to be more expensive but I am sure I can get one for about £125 if I hunt around.
Do you think the E8600 or E8400 will make much of a difference? I have looked at the Passmark scores which are 627 for my current E2160 CPU and 1158 for the E8400. Does that kind of difference make a change to everyday usage? Does that mean where my CPU is currently at 50% usage it would only be at 25% usage on the E8400 because it is about double the speed?
Thanks

Yes it does make a change to everyday usage. The E2160 is not even VT-x capable.
But seriously, we are talking about £5 to £10. Really not worth the agonising.
I have an old Optiplex 780. The E8400 does everything I need to do with an inexpensive graphics card on board and that is to play high quality Full HD media. YMMV.

Good point, I just ordered a E8400 for the grand sum of £2.65 posted! I will also need to buy some thermal compound as well I guess. I will see how that goes which will be less bother than buying a new PC and setting it all up.

dan958

fred246 said:

I am on Windows 10 32bit. Is that the difference?

When compared to 64bit? Yes. If you have a 64 bit cpu, you should really be using the 64 bit version of your OS. The 64 bit version will work faster, have access to more than 4 gigabytes of memory, and some programs may not even have support for 32bit anymore (especially video games)

poppellerant

TheRightOne said:

poppellerant said:

fred246 said:

I am using a dual core processor from 10 years ago with 2GB of RAM and an SSD. I am quite capable of upgrading PCs and will do when I feel there is a need. I never have any problems. Everything is pretty instantaneous. Videos are fine. I sometimes wonder if it's how you use PCs though. I know what I need and don't download rubbish that will slow me down.

Right now I am using a little under 3GB with ESET antivirus, Firefox and one or two other small pieces of software.  I have 16GB of RAM which is frequently used with virtual machines and other tasks.

I wonder how much your pagefile is being used?  Although you will barely notice usage as it is SSD, they should never be seen as a substitute for RAM primarily due to the slower data transfer speeds and also because it can be detrimental to the life of the drive.

I know you say everything feels perfectly fine right now, but I don't think I could cope on less than 4GB even for basic usage.  A few tabs and a YouTube video increases my RAM usage to ~3.5GB.

So what should he do if 2 GB of RAM is the max the device will accept?

R

I suspect it is 32-bit based Windows they are using.  Microsoft may stop offering 32-bit Windows 10 to consumers just as they have done with manufacturers, so the writing is on the wall if they intend to use 32-bit Windows 10.

"Current 32-bit users don’t have to worry, though (at least for now)." - Microsoft stops offering 32-bit Windows 10 to computer manufacturers - Engadget

poppellerant

fred246 said:

I am on Windows 10 32bit. Is that the difference?

Does your hardware support 64-bit?

fred246

poppellerant said:

fred246 said:

I am on Windows 10 32bit. Is that the difference?

Does your hardware support 64-bit?

Yes. I think when I installed Windows 10 I thought 32bit might be better with 2GB of RAM. I've got money and the skills to upgrade but I only upgrade when there is a need. I know on my kids PCs instantaneous is slightly more instantaneous than mine but not enough to make me want to upgrade.