I Currently have the Skytech Archangel (2019) GTX 1050 Ti, Ryzen 1200 3.1 GHz, Quadcore, 1 TB HDD on Windows 10. I upgraded the RAM to 16gb 3200 from 8gb 2400
This PC has put in some good work for me but it is becoming noticeably slow. The RAM upgrade helped a bit but I still see the disk is frequently at 100% usage with slow load times. I am having to run games on much lower quality than prior to make a smooth experience. Overall it is just much slower than before to the point I am thinking of upgrading.
I have heard that an SSD might help but I really don’t know much about PC upgrades. Does my computer have good enough bones to warrant upgrading? If so, what should I look for that would fit this computer? Or should I just be looking to get a newer computer and start from there?
Once again I’m not very knowledgeable so any advice would help, thank you!
This is 2023, you should not be running your primary computer with a standard HDD. SSD’s are cheap now and so incredibly faster, its a night and day difference. The first thing I would recommend to juice up an old computer would be to replace the HDD with an SSD. Upgrade to SSD as soon as possible.
What are you using the PC for mostly?
That might be built in 2019, but those are 2013 parts at best.
SSD would be a huge improvement in general usability that’s well worth doing now that reasonably large SSDs are so cheap now, but it’s generally not going to improve performance for gaming once you’re already loaded into the game, your GPU’s the limiting factor there.
First thing you’re gonna want to do is find out which motherboard you’ve got, that’ll determine if you can use modern M.2 stick SSDs or if you need to go traditional 2.5" SATA SSD. (and will also see what CPU upgrades might be possible if you’re interested in upgrading that too)
The motherboard is a A320M by ASRock. Will that be able to use any of the modern SSDs? And yes I would be interested in some upgrades. I plan on getting a new computer in the next 2-3 years as I can’t right now so I’m just trying to bridge the gap. Some upgrades to performance would be nice If possible.
SSD will certainly speed up your computer, but for gaming experience there will be limiting factors, mainly cpu.
If your mb is Asrock A320M, it should support at least ryzen 3xxx processors, that would make it viable for another few years (secondhand ryzen 5 3600 can be found for 30-50€).
Yes it is that motherboard, Ryzen 5 is an SSD I should be looking for? Are there any other upgrades I can do for like under 200$ that would help with performance? Nothing major but I want to keep this computer for 1-2 more years and a boost in performance would be nice.
Ryzen 5 3600 is cpu, 2 generations newer than your current cpu, and with more cores (6 cores/12 threads, compared to 4/8).
As for the ssd, you can get either m.2 nvme drive, or standard 2.5" sata drive, and keep current hdd as extra storage.
Other upgrades…well, I don’t know what your primary usage is, if it is for gaming, look for computer requirements for specific game you would lake to play.
It is hard to make future proof computer, there always will be some programs/games that will be slow even on the latest and greatest components, such as city skylines 2, 60fps on rtx 4090…