[SOLVED] Can my PC cope with SSD?

[jamie007]

Hi,
Bit of a newbie when it comes to tinkering with the inside of a PC.
I think I know what to do...but want to make sure this will work before I buy.

Looking at buying this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-SS...543472&s=computers&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sr=1-4

My PC only has a HDD currently.
I've opened the case and can see additional SATA ports. I can also see 2 additional spare power cables for the SSD. However they are linked off the current HDD.

Question 1: Will that SSD work and not cause any issues with PSU etc.
2: Should I switch the power cables so that the SSD is first, or does that not matter?
3. Does it mater which spare SATA port I use?

PC Spec: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03824427

Also, it has x4 4GB RAM cards. Would it be ok for me to upgrade x2 of them to 8GBs, providing i get the same spec?

Thanks

 

[Lutfij]

You should be fine to install the SSD to improve the speed of your system. Now, how old is the unit(the system and it's PSU)? Do you have any aftermarket GPU's in the prebuilt apart from the GTX660? If your prebuilt came with 16GB's of ram, leave them be.

Moved thread to Prebuilt & Enterprise.

 

[jamie007]

It's about 4 years old. It's running fine though. Never had any issues. Minimal software on it. Adobe suite, VideoStudio, MS office, dropbox....thats about it! Boots in about 60 seconds.
Slight bit of lag sometimes on Photoshop and VideoStudio but nothing major......when it's not been shutdown for a few days.
So yes, really its just to improve the speed and performance.

No, nothing has ever been modified, overclocked or anything.

Why do you say stick with 16GB?

 

[SkyNetRising]

1: Will that SSD work and not cause any issues with PSU etc.

Will work, but I'd suggest 860 evo instead of 860 qvo. Or Crucial Mx500.

2: Should I switch the power cables so that the SSD is first, or does that not matter?

Doesn't matter.

3. Does it mater which spare SATA port I use?

All ports should be sata 6gbps, so it wouldn't matter.

 

[jamie007]

Will work, but I'd suggest 860 evo instead of 860 qvo. Or Crucial Mx500.

Can I be thick and ask what the difference is between EVO and QVO

 

[SkyNetRising]

QVO has much lower endurance ratings than EVO.

 

[jamie007]

QVO has much lower endurance ratings than EVO.

Thanks. Which would you suggest the EVO or Crucial Mx500 ? Not a lot in price difference.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Either if fine. Choose whichever costs less.

 

[jamie007]

Thanks.
I guess this upgrade alone will help with speed but why would it not be good idea to upgrade x2 ram sticks?

 

[SkyNetRising]

With ram upgrade, if you're mixing different ram kits, you may run into problems.
It may be necessary to adjust ram parameters in BIOS manually.
But different ram kits might also refuse to work together at all. This is pretty rare, but still possible.

 

[lynx1021]

Thanks. Which would you suggest the EVO or Crucial Mx500 ? Not a lot in price difference.

The Samsung drive comes with cloning soft ware, Samsung Magician so you can clone your old hard drive to it, don't know about Crucial' s (Crucial furnishes a OEM Acronis software). I just cloned two of mine to SSD's. I Put the mechanical drives on the shelf for back-Ups. My laptop was 82Mbps, now 586Mbps read speed.

 

[jamie007]

Ah ok.
What would the usual process be? I have Win10 on bootable USB.
Install the new SSD, enter bio and change 1st load device to USB.
Install Win10 to SSD. Then I will have the old 2TB HDD to simply format from within My Computer?
Transfering any files across before hand?

 

[lynx1021]

Ah ok.
What would the usual process be? I have Win10 on bootable USB.
Install the new SSD, enter bio and change 1st load device to USB.
Install Win10 to SSD. Then I will have the old 2TB HDD to simply format from within My Computer?
Transfering any files across before hand?

No, You don't want to have to reinstall all your programs do you? You make a cloned copy of your existing hard drive. Look on YouTube. Even if your mechanical drive is larger you can still clone just the data as long as it is not larger than the new SSD.

 

[SkyNetRising]

What would the usual process be? I have Win10 on bootable USB.

This depends on capacity of new SSD and used space in HDD.
If SSD is large enough, then perform cloning.
If it's too small, to fit everything, then

disconnect hdd first,​

connect ssd only,​

boot from usb flash drive containing windows install media and install windows,​

reconnect hdd only after everything is done. All your old files will still be there, but you'll have to reinstall all your software.​