help: thinking of a few upgrades...

[koishkim]

Hi all,

I have a very old PC, and it's slow.

Here are some specs:
CPU Athlon 64 x2 4400+
RAM DDR2 PC2-6400U 2G x2 = 4G
VGA GeForce 8500 GT NVIDIA
OS Windows 8.1 on HDD

I'm thinking of replacing the HDD with an SSD. Do you think it's going to be usable again with normal usage: web surfing, movie watching, document editing?

I asked this question to others a couple times, and they say that the CPU is what is causing the slow feel. Given that the motherboard doesn't support any better CPUs, I think I have little chance to upgrade the CPU part.

My rationale is, I buy an SSD and use this old PC with it 2-3 years more (hopefully). And I can buy a new PC that is reasonably good, and use it for the next coming 5-6 years.

Looking forward to your advice.
Thanks!

 

[MongGrel]

Just add a SSD for starters, it seriously wouldn't hurt if you put the OS on it.

The price on the Samsung EVO's have dropped over time, I'd recommend something along those lines.

Yes, it's definitely reusable, I have two RAID arrays in this one, one with a add card using two EVO SSD's in RAID 0 and a Hardware one that still uses 4X1TB WD HDD's in RAID 10 for storage.

You don't have to replace the HDD, you could still use it for storage.

 

[koishkim]

Just add a SSD for starters, it seriously wouldn't hurt if you put the OS on it.

The price on the Samsung EVO's have dropped over time, I'd recomend something along those lines.

You don't have to replace the HDD, you could still use it for storage.

Thanks for the reply.
I will get an SSD and install Win 8.1 on it.

Am I going to get a reasonably good system with it?

 

[MongGrel]

It will speed things up, depends on your definition of good I guess.

A SSD will be better.

 

[koishkim]

It will speed things up, depends on your definition of good I guess.

A SSD will be better.

Well, my definition of "good" here is that it doesn't stop for a second or two sometimes while I'm doing near to nothing.

Will it do this?
Thanks for your kind replies again.

 

[denis280]

A SSD will be better.

This

stop for a second or two sometimes while I'm doing near to nothing.

for that

 

[Ketchup]

Well, my definition of "good" here is that it doesn't stop for a second or two sometimes while I'm doing near to nothing.

Will it do this?
Thanks for your kind replies again.

There could be several reasons for this, your hard drive activity light will you if it's the hard drive.

The SSD is a good first step though. Samsungs are great, but the new Crucial MX100's are a great buy. Very close in speed and a good bit less expensive. The 256 GB is $115 on Newegg right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148820