What should I upgrade on my computer?
If your computer is slowing down and isn't fast enough for what you need, you can no longer run the latest games, or seems to have difficulty multitasking, it might be time to upgrade your computer. Instead of buying a whole new computer, you can upgrade components like random access memory (RAM), storage, and even graphics cards to improve performance.
Here are three of the most important PC upgrades and other upgrades you might want to consider, along with tips for speeding up your PC.
Adding more RAM or upgrading to faster RAM is often the most cost-effective way to upgrade your PC. It offers the best return on investment in terms of its cost versus potential performance gains, and it's useful for gaming, media creation, and multitasking, so everyone can benefit.
If your computer is running slowly, switching between windows, or freezing or crashing frequently, upgrading your RAM may solve the problem. Editing images and videos, gaming, working with spreadsheets, and other memory-intensive activities speed up when enough RAM is available and slow down when the system is low on memory.
Adding more RAM is one of the simplest upgrades you can perform on a desktop computer, and one of the only real upgrades you can perform on a laptop (if your laptop has replaceable RAM). RAM comes in the form of a stick or a small circuit board with chips that plug into the PC motherboard.
If you're not sure about your RAM situation, first check how much RAM you have. You can then determine if you have enough RAM or if you need more. Here are some rough guidelines:
- Basic usage : If your computer has less than 4GB of RAM, you should upgrade. Even if you only perform basic tasks such as surfing the Internet and sending emails, you will need at least 4GB to complete the most basic work.
- Gaming and media creation : If you play games or use image and video editing software, you'll need at least 8GB of RAM. This is usually enough for mid-range gaming and photo editing, but if your system slows down or freezes a lot, you may need more.
- More intensive uses : For high-end gaming and large media editing projects, you'll need 16GB or more.
Graphics cards are essential for mid- to high-end gaming and media creation, so if you're a gamer, 3D animator/modeller, or video editor, a graphics card should be on your upgrade list. This is an expensive upgrade that not everyone will need, so it's important to consider how you'll use your computer before investing in a new graphics card.
PC manufacturers often save money by using lower-end graphics cards or even relying on integrated graphics. That's because basic integrated graphics offer high enough performance levels for basic tasks and activities like web surfing, streaming 4K video, and even low-end gaming. If you don't need to play the latest games at the highest settings or use 3D animation and modeling software, then you probably won't benefit much from this upgrade.
If you're a gamer and find that you can no longer play new games at the highest settings, a graphics card update is just what you need. Upgrading your graphics card can also speed up video editing, using 3D design software, and even running AI models like Stable Diffusion.
If you're experiencing slow performance issues or running out of storage space, installing a new storage drive is a great upgrade option. The benefits you see from this upgrade will depend on the type of storage you already have, but replacing a slower hard drive or adding a faster, larger second drive will always result in a performance gain.
If your computer only has a hard disk drive (HDD), upgrading to a solid-state drive (SSD) will improve performance. SSDs are much faster than HDDs, so you'll notice faster loading times for Windows, apps, and games, and better performance for apps that handle large files like photos and video editing. If you already have an SSD, adding a faster SSD like N2 NVMe will improve your overall performance, but not as much as switching from an HDD to an SSD.
Your operating system should be installed on the fastest drive for best performance. So if you have an old HDD and add an SSD to your PC, and your operating system remains on the HDD, you won't see a huge improvement in performance.
One money-saving strategy is to equip an SSD for operating systems, games, and applications that require fast data access, and then store media and other large files on a slower drive. If you can't afford a large-capacity SSD, hybrid drives also offer a good balance between speed and storage size.
This upgrade can provide a huge performance boost, but it's more expensive and challenging than other upgrades, and isn't always an option. To upgrade your processor, you'll need a motherboard that can accept a more powerful processor, but that's not always the case. To determine if this is an option, you need to find out what motherboard you have, see what chipsets it accepts, and then investigate the available CPU options. Then you need to compare processors to see if the performance increase is worth the investment.
If you already have the most powerful processor your motherboard can handle, upgrading your processor also means upgrading your motherboard. This is a very complicated upgrade because the new motherboard may not work with your existing RAM, and you'll also need to transfer your storage drives, graphics card, and any other expansion cards from the old motherboard to the new one.
Upgrading software (such as from Windows 10 to Windows 11) doesn't always improve performance. However, it's crucial to keep current software updated, as incremental updates often provide bug fixes and other changes that can help improve performance or at least prevent performance degradation.
If you find that your computer is slowing down over time, it's worth checking to make sure your operating system, applications and utilities are up to date. If you haven't upgraded yet, you can also tweak Windows 10 to make it faster.
You can upgrade many other PC components and add a lot of hardware to your PC, but they don't all improve performance. For example, upgrading your motherboard gives you access to more expansion slots, allows you to install a more powerful processor, and provides other benefits, but adding a new motherboard won't by itself improve your performance.
If you're looking for additional upgrades, you may want to consider how you use your computer and what improvements you're looking for. If your computer doesn't have enough ports to accommodate all your peripherals, you might consider adding an expansion card with more USB 3.0 ports; if you're a gamer or artist, you might consider upgrading your monitor; if you're a music lover, New speakers or subwoofers can be added, or upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 if your home network supports it.
