What's the first thing i should upgrade in my gaming pc?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
H

Happy12345

Reputable
Mar 14, 2015
1
0
4,510
Hello tom'sHARDWARE community,

So I bought a Alienware Aurora R4 3 years ago, around 2012 - 2013. Over time it has slowed down and there are lot's of errors. I might reinstall windows when windows 10 comes out, the apps don't work except for app store, but I can't download anything because it won't allow me to sign in. Everything used to work, now there are some errors for games and stuff like that. I have upgraded this PC twice, added 16gbs of ram, and a hard drive from my old laptop. I feel like its time for a new upgrade to speed her up, also I have never cleaned the inside of this PC. Which I feel like I should. Is it worth upgrading? Or should I buy a new PC? I run quad monitors (2 right now, since packing to move), 2 keyboards, 2 mice, 2 webcams, 2 headsets, 1 printer, 1 scanner. Idk if the printer and scanner effect anything but, yea. I also have a CRAP ton of usb hubs.

Specs:
GPU: GeForce GTX 660
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz
Memory: 20.00 GB RAM (19.92 GB usable)
Current resolution: 1680 x 1050, 59Hz
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8.1

Hope I can get some help
~Happy
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
bailojustin

bailojustin

Distinguished
Dec 7, 2014
2,145
1
20,465
Your current computer build looks fine, Only thing I would suggest to make it quicker would be possibly buying a 64g SSD boot drive, ONly put your OS on it for fast booting and access of OS files and operations.

And please link me your motherboard, you want to make sure you have your ram optimized because that looks a little off.

As far as upgrade, the only thing I would upgrade is your Graphics card, but this will/may require a new Power supply unit depending on your current circumstances.
But first ensure your MOBO is compatible with your 16g ram, Hopefully its 2x8, and put it into the highspeed slots. Then do what was said previously fresh install.

After all is done, You should be running like new and at high speeds.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
bailojustin

bailojustin

Distinguished
Dec 7, 2014
2,145
1
20,465
Also you said you added 16GB of ram, Can you tell me exactly what kind of ram it is and your motherboard.

Your old laptop harddrive that may be an issue as well. I recommend taking the information from your current harddrives and migrating it to a new one. Hard drives slow down with age significantly.

To fix a majority of the problems and to have it running like new I would suggest a Complete OS Reinstall, by using a windows 7 Disc from Microsoft if you have one available. Followed by correct installation of RAM, to ensure you do not happen to have a bottleneck anywhere.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Gam3r01

Gam3r01

Titan
Jan 12, 2013
25,417
976
115,440
Id say back up your data, and do a fresh install on some new drives. The lappy drive is likely 5400RPM, which is fairly slow.
Second I would just run 16GB of ram, its not a good idea to mix sets and sizes.
Lastly I would recommend an SSD, nothing below 120(8)GB, anything smaller will fill up with simply windows.

What is your upgrade budget?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Sync Hemp

Reputable
Mar 14, 2015
9
0
4,520
The absolute first thing should be your graphics card. The next thing should be the processor as long as you know that there won't be any bottlenecks but looking at your specs, you have a higher-end processor and a mediocre video card. But if you are experiencing those errors you are speaking of you may want to consider cleaning it out it WILL speed things up and if it is still slow, i recommend getting a small ssd about 30GB just to hold windows and use your HDD for everything else. Also a better cpu cooler might help because with intel, if it runs hotter than normal, it will slow down your processor and if it is running a lot cooler it could use the processor's turbo speed which is the max it can go but it only works when it is a lot cooler than usual. Just to be clear, the turbo speed is more than the actual speed advertised. Your best bet right now would be to clean it out because over time, cpu cooler fins collect dust making it harder for air to cool it making it run slower.
Hope this helps. :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Minuet

Minuet

Reputable
Mar 17, 2015
7
0
4,510
The most important component in a gaming setup is the GPU. If you had to choose one piece of hardware to replace or upgrade the GPU would be the one. Otherwise I would replace the RAM. But you already have 20GB and that should be enough for the foreseeable future.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom