Upgrading a PC(2)

DCFC79

Problem you have made there was looking at PC World, it could end up with you tearing your hair out when you get a problem. 

forgotmyname

Had no issues with a cheap Sunbow? SSD in one PC double sided sticky tape to the bottom of the case. 4 years and no

issues at all. That SSD has now gone into building a retro gaming PC.

getmore4less

That should have said can't do 2x4GB.
Must proof read more, I wrote it then found the manual then change it for 1 slot but missed the 't. 

Just one memory module. 8GB £20 or maybe ebay. 


Extra data on the SSD won't effect performance, 

If you do change machine in the future it will be reusable anyway so not totally sunk money. 

I run an older machine(2008)and it is fine with 8GB and SSD. 

getmore4less

That should have said can't do 2x4GB.
Must proof read more, I wrote it then found the manual then change it for 1 slot but missed the 't. 

Just one memory module. 8GB £20 or maybe ebay. 


Extra data on the SSD won't effect performance, 

If you do change machine in the future it will be reusable anyway so not totally sunk money. 

I run an older machine(2008)and it is fine with 8GB and SSD. 

TheRightOne

Laptop memory in a PC...nice  
Also noticed that Low Voltage RAM has been recommended even though it's a 1.5v slot. But Crucial Low Voltage is Dual Voltage, so it will run at 1.5v anyway.

Personally I would start with just the SSD and see how you get on with that firstly. If you decide that the PC still isn't good enough with the SSD upgrade, then you can perhaps think about getting a PC with a more powerful CPU and popping the SSD you bought for the old PC into that. No need to buy a new PC. Almost any modern CPU is going to be a lot better than a Pentium J2900.
You can spend around £150 on a decent device; such an an Optiplex 3050, 5040 or 7040. Though your current PC fitted with an SSD will be fine to use as a simple office device. Do you run very large spreadsheets or nothing out of the ordinary?

Cisco001

Cex sell used ram cheaper than ebay.
Get an external hard drive enclosure for your existing HDD. 

fenwick458

still trying to figure out what to do...
option A, 500GB Crucial SSD £60 and 8BG RAM from CEX £24. then I have to install it, and do a clean install of the operating system (which looks daunting), and then re-install all my programs which could take quite some time, and theres no guarantee it'll ever work again, and then it might only be slightly faster.
option B, buy one of these for £270
https://www.ebuyer.com/1139358-t1a-refurbished-lenovo-thinkcentre-m93p-mt-core-i5-8gb-ram-240gb-ssd-d-m93p-mu-t009
https://www.ebuyer.com/1139359-t1a-refurbished-dell-optiplex-9020-usff-core-i5-8gb-ram-120gb-ssd-d-gx9020-mu-t010

fenwick458

Ok, so after a few days of thinking about this, I've found the main culprit that slows the my PC down;
I have a Hikvision CCTV system, used to have 2 cameras for ages but I have just got a 3rd. now as soon as I log into my NVR  using Internet explorer (which I hate it seems to be the only way) when the 3 cams populate on screen everything slows to a snails pace and it's very hard to get back out of it. it just seems to go between the spinning wheel, the greyed out page, and not responding. I seem to have got the hang of clicking on the stop button as soon as it appears when I first login, and then selecting just one camera view as it works fine with one. if I accidentally go to all cameras, it just slows right down. it worked fine with 2 for ages too but 3 seems to have tipped it over the edge. 
so what exactly is it lacking there, why does it slow down like that? will more RAM help it, will an SSD help it, or will it need a faster processor?

Neil_Jones

It'll be the plug-in/technology used to show the cameras.  They tend to be old and obsolete in the first place.

If its to watch the steams live VLC should be able to play them:

https://www.use-ip.co.uk/forum/threads/hikvision-rtsp-stream-urls.890/

Jeepers_Creepers

I'm not at all an expert in this, tho' I understand the basics.

I think that handling video is generally considered a quite intensive use of RAM memory, so having your PC run vid from 3 cameras would quite likely be struggling with 4GB.

Try 'Alt-Ctrl-Del' and select 'Task Manager' and then 'Processes' (might be under 'More Details'). This will show you what %-age is being used of the CPU (the Pentium), Memory (RAM), Disc (your hard drive) and the other one to look at is GPU (your PC's graphics capability - which might be struggling with 3 cameras).

This might show what the bottlenecks are.

See how the figures change as you go from 2 cameras to three - you say that this seems to tip your PC over the edge! I would hope it would be clear which of the above components is shouting 'enough already...'