Which components should I upgrade in order to speed up my system?

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jameskennedy

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Oct 19, 2013
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Hi, i have had my current pc for a while now and i have just recently upgraded my GPU from two gtx 660's to one gtx 1060, however my current system is getting a bit slow in general and when loading applications it also freezes a lot. So i'm not entirely sure which component'(s) I should replace to speed it up, i was thinking the CPU or the swapping my HDD's for a faster SSD but i don't want to waste money on something that will only give me a marginal improvement. If you could give me advice on how to upgrade my system that would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

System specs:
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6
CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K
RAM: (DDR3), Corsair 4GB (X2), Kingston 2GB (X2)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
HDD's
WDC WD5000AZRX-00A8LB0 (500GB)
WDC WD15EADS-00S2B0 (1.5TB)
(C drive) ST1000DM003-1ER162 (1TB)
OS: Windows 10
 
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LanzoCommando

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Feb 21, 2016
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SSD for sure. What are the timings/speed of the RAM?

Also, maybe the most important, what is your budget for upgrades?
 
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jameskennedy

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Oct 19, 2013
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My RAM timings are
Corsair:1600 MHz
Kingston:1333 MHz
My budget is £250-300 max for CPU and £150-200 for one or two SSD's
 
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The Paladin

The Paladin

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1.run some chkdsk on your drives to make sure no bad sectors are showing up
2. defrag your drives.

Since your thinking of upgrading, I would suggest;
Looking into ram upgrades, your board supports: 4 x DDR3 DIMM slots, DDR3 2800+(OC)/2400(OC)/2133(OC)/1866(OC)/1600/1333/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered, I would get rid of your 4gb and 2gb and put some fresh 16GB 4x4gb DDR3-1600 in there having a mix of ram is not optimal. A nice 4x4 set will be much smoother and lower your pagefile.sys file on your hard drive in size thus making it run smoother and faster.something like CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 for 121.99$
an SSD would make your OS snap that o/s so very true, clone you current drive to it and be done! 500gb aren't all that expensive especially if you wait for a special, SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 500GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E500B/AM 182.99$
Last I would consider a CPU upgrade not that there is anything wrong with your I5 3570K but you could get more power ouot of an Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637I73770K for 453$

just thoughts on your question. you failed to mentioned your power supply what is it looking like ?
 
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Sam Hain

Sam Hain

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Get the same brand-same speed of RAM always, to avoid issues... Your system is more than likely running at the lower, 1333. Not bad but also not great by any means. Check this link out as a ref for RAM choices, BUT can probabaly be found cheaper on eBAY in the UK: http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/compatible-upgrade-for/ASRock/z77-extreme6#memoryResults

I'd recommend 8GB min, 16GB is the "new" ideal amount for any gaming rig now. 1600 speed will do, as the difference between it an DDR3 1866 is not substantial enough to warrant paying a much higher price if you're on a budget.

And yes, a SSD for your OS will improve things and then dividing/placing the non-OS programs/folders/items on the remaining drives you have. You may want to run ERROR-CHECKING on those other drives firstly, especially if they are dated... Also, doing some Windows OS maintenance will help on your existing drives by running the following on ALL DRIVES; Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter and download and run CC Cleaner.
 
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jameskennedy

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Oct 19, 2013
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Thanks, for the detailed reply, I have run chkdsk and all of my drives are healthy with no bad sectors, i have Glary utilities that defrags my drives every week so they are fine. i'll probably go with your recommendation of switching to the vengeance RAM, however what real world improvements will I actually see from this upgrade, I mainly browse on chrome and game. I'm not going to upgrade my CPU to the i7- 3770K as it's quite expensive. The samsung SSD looks affordable but would it be worth switching it for a 1TB version with the extra price. My PSU is a EVGA 750W SuperNOVA NEX750B Bronze.
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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before every just assumes its ram because they're running 2 different kinds, that doesn't automatically mean its the RAM. Honestly, I've ran miss matched ram sets with more success than failure for almost 30 years. if you're convinced it's the ram, they could remove 1 chip and try the solo chip. Everything was fine before they upgraded GPu's, so not sure why everyone is focused on their mismatched RAM chips.

What PSU do you have? Did you uninstall your old drivers before putting the new card in?
 
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jameskennedy

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I'm probably going to upgrade to the RAM anyway, but do you think i will get noticeably better performance from the upgrade, i.e. better FPS in games and more chrome tabs open.
I have a EVGA 750W SuperNOVA NEX750B Bronze. I believe I did not uninstall the drivers before installing the gtx 1060 however, I think geforce experience did that for me when I installed the new driver.
 
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LanzoCommando

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Feb 21, 2016
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Agree with this.

1. SSD with a fresh install of OS / current drivers (DONT install a VGA driver, just use your GPU's current release)
2. Then RAM. *get faster RAM, 2X4 or 2X8, or a second match set of 1600mhz to match the higher speed you have now, not a fan of mixing RAM brands/speeds/etc
3. Then if still no go run the monitoring software to branch out and try to find the issue.

I don't think you'll make it to step 3 though if you do 1 and 2. Good luck!
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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Yet everyone insists buying more ram will fix your problem. The difference between 1333 ram and 1600 ram in gaming? Zero. None. But I'm in the minority here and everyone is fixed on your ram being the issue, so your call. I'm done fighting the majority mob.
 
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LanzoCommando

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^ LoL.

He says his system is slow IN GENERAL and freezes trying to start applications (RAM or disk errors). Nobody is talking about the difference in FPS between 1333 and 1600 RAM.

What we are saying is maybe mixing RAM isn't the best idea? Or at least I am. And why would you match the slower set? I can promise I noticed a difference in my GENERAL SYSTEM SPEED by going SSD and 2400 RAM.

But hey. That's just me.

1. SSD with fresh install of Windows.
2. RAM
3. Troubleshooting.

ZERO to do with games.
 
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DSzymborski

DSzymborski

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Correct, mismatched RAM *does* frequently work together. But someone who is posting here with a problem *already has a problem*. The number of people having heart attacks right now is a very low percentage, but the percentage of people currently in emergency rooms with chest pain symptoms that are having heart attacks right now is a much, much higher percentage. When X person is in a hospital with severe chest pain, "most people aren't having heart attacks!" is not a very good diagnostic procedure.

In this case, we know *something* is wrong because the person is posting about a problem. In that case, we go from the most likely/least expensive solutions before we address the less likely/most expensive ones. The first obvious thing to look at is mismatched RAM timings as it's both the most likely problem from the behavior given and likely the least expensive problem that is the easiest to test. This is how triage is supposed to work for PC repair.

So the fact that mismatched RAM will work together very frequently is irrelevant when faced with an actual problem. *Every* part in a PC is less likely to fail than work properly, should we send the OP on his way saying "most computer components work, so you probably don't have a problem?"
 
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LanzoCommando

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I wouldn't buy RAM first either, and definitely dropping the 2X2 mismatched set, and seeing what happens, would be a good idea, BUT he is asking what are ways to speed up his general system stuff, meaning more "snappy" type applications and quicker loading, so what are the best ways to accomplish this?

SSDs and FASTER/BETTER RAM.

So, logically, if a dude is asking what to upgrade, that's what we would recommend no?

 
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getochkn

getochkn

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Faster RAM isn't going to speed the system in any measurable way. Do you think 1333 vs 1600 is something anyone notices other than some synthetic benchmark? I'd reinstall windows honestly as the first step. Considering they have a 3xxx series chip, it may have been a while since they wiped their system. They didn't even uninstall the old drivers first as stated between video card swaps.

anyways, I'm done.
 
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LanzoCommando

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Feb 21, 2016
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Of course not, but if you're going to match the RAM why would you go with the lower speed? Will I notice a difference in 2400 and 1600? Pretty sure, but I already answered that above as well.

You took on this whole RAM war yourself.

1. SSD with a fresh Windows install and only the 8GB 1600.
2. Not "snappy enough" then speed up the RAM or get some with better timings.
3. Move on into other options or upgrades.

1 and 2 are the cheapest options with the largest effect.



 
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jameskennedy

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Oct 19, 2013
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I've just bought a Corsair Force Series LS 60GB SSD, and i'm planning to migrate my OS to it and use it solely as a boot drive. I'm also going to ditch the slower RAM for another set of Corsair 2X4GB and see how that goes.
 
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LanzoCommando

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125 or so. SSDs work better with headroom anyway and those size drives are not expensive. Buy it now or pay the price later...in frustration AND money.
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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Ya, I have 120 and almost wish I went 250GB. Even with 120 you have to be careful that nothing gets downloaded to it, all your pic's and documents are switched over, etc.
 
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