is this pc still worth upgrading?

[Rickolo]

my dad is constantly complaining about is pc being slow, i have done several things to boost its speed, i tried deleting unnecessary programs, turning off unneeded auto start programs, dafrag using mydefrag, i checked for malware and viruses, all the usual stuff.
still, it won't get that much faster and it is still quite slow.
this is the hardware:
Motherboard: MSI G31TM-p35
CPU: intel pention E5300 dual core
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 8400 GS
RAM: 2GB DDR2 with DRAM freq at 400MHz
HDD: not sure what model it is but it's 320GB 3,5 running at 7200rpm (about 130gb of which is free).
i was thinking of maybe upgrading the cpu to a Core 2 Quad Q8400 and upgrading the stock cpu cooler, also i wanted to fit in a new ssd for the OS and maybe a new PSU (i think the current one is about 6 years old), and getting some more ram.
this will cost me about €160-€200 depending on what ssd and ram but i don't know if it is worth upgrading or if i should just build a new system.
will the upgrade be worth it or should i build an entirely new system?

 

[Tradesman1]

What OS is it running? Could upgrade DRAM to 2x4GB or CPU (check the compatibility list for the mobo)

 

[GhislainG]

What is slow? Loading applications? Depending on the purpose of that PC, an E8600 may be a better CPU and a SSD is a major improvement over a HDD. Unless he still uses XP, adding memory will help. You could replace the PSU, but it won't change the system's performance and a 6 year old PSU isn't necessarily bad. I gave away a 12 years old quality 460W PSU that still works fine and several of my PSUs are that old and I have no plans to replace them.

 

[Rickolo]

What OS is it running? Could upgrade DRAM to 2x4GB or CPU (check the compatibility list for the mobo)

currently running windows 8.1 but i was thinking of reverting it back to 7, not sure if that will help that much thought.

 

[Wolfshadw]

If you don't mind used components, I'd consider going with the Q8400 (compatible) and upgrading the RAM to 8GB (2x4GB DDR2-800).

That will speed things up quite a bit.

-Wolf sends

 

[Rickolo]

What is slow? Loading applications? Depending on the purpose of that PC, an E8600 may be a better CPU and a SSD is a major improvement over a HDD. Unless he still uses XP, adding memory will help. You could replace the PSU, but it won't change the system's performance and a 6 year old PSU isn't necessarily bad. I gave away a 12 years old quality 460W PSU that still works fine and several of my PSUs are that old and I have no plans to replace them.

the overall performance is just really bad, things like browsing the internet (i tried both chrome and firefox), moving files, installing and uninstalling software, boot time, my dad also uses it for downloading movies.

 

[GhislainG]

If you need to upgrade everything, then you may as well build a new one. Since he obviously is not gaming, I suggest a G3258 and an inexpensive motherboard (or an AMD build), 8GB of memory and a SSD. He probably doesn't even need a GPU; Intel Graphics should be enough to meet his rquirements.

 

[Tradesman1]

DRAM upgrade would help, 2GB isn't really enough to run 7 or 8 effectively

 

[geofelt]

1.

2gb is really too small these days.
Ram is cheap. Buy 2 x 2gb kit of supported ram. Speed does not matter.
Go to a ram site like Kingston and enter your motherboard. You will get a list of supported kits.
If your os is 32 bits, 4gb is all you can use.
If you have a 64 bit os, a 2 x 4gb kit is the max you can use.

2.

For a very dramatic increase in performance, replace the hard drive with a ssd.
A SSD is 50x faster than a hard drive in small random I/O. That is what windows does 90% of the time.
It will be 2x faster in sequential operations, even with your older sata2 interface.
Look at a Samsung evo of 250gb.
Use the Samsung ssd migration tool to clone your current os.
When done, repurpose your hard drive for bulk storage of videos.

 

[monkeymanz]

Fitting an SSD into that build is like fitting a turbo charger in a 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer; it's not going to help much and you're going to be bottlenecked by literally every other component of your PC.
I suggest building a completely new PC, as while it may cost a bit more than upgrading, the performance increase will outweigh the extra cost...by a lot.

 

[geofelt]

Fitting an SSD into that build is like fitting a turbo charger in a 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer; it's not going to help much and you're going to be bottlenecked by literally every other component of your PC.
I suggest building a completely new PC, as while it may cost a bit more than upgrading, the performance increase will outweigh the extra cost...by a lot.

I converted the hard drive to a ssd in a number of very old laptops. The performance improvement is remarkable.
It is THE best performance improver anybody can make for desktop applications.
Once you have one, you will never go without.

 

[GhislainG]

I also added a SSD to all my desktops and I'll never go back.

 

[monkeymanz]

Fitting an SSD into that build is like fitting a turbo charger in a 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer; it's not going to help much and you're going to be bottlenecked by literally every other component of your PC.
I suggest building a completely new PC, as while it may cost a bit more than upgrading, the performance increase will outweigh the extra cost...by a lot.

I converted the hard drive to a ssd in a number of very old laptops. The performance improvement is remarkable.
It is THE best performance improver anybody can make for desktop applications.
Once you have one, you will never go without.

Using a SSD only improves what you put in it. So the best it can do is improve boot speed, application run speeds, and read and writes of documents and files but only if you choose to save/install them to the SSD. The actual process of using the computer, such as clicking on a new tab in IE or pressing the start menu will have no performance benefit. Yes the computer will improve significantly in those areas where it does benefit them, but in the areas that it doesn't, which is more important and significant in day to day use, it doesn't even move a feather.

 

[geofelt]

Fitting an SSD into that build is like fitting a turbo charger in a 1980 Mitsubishi Lancer; it's not going to help much and you're going to be bottlenecked by literally every other component of your PC.
I suggest building a completely new PC, as while it may cost a bit more than upgrading, the performance increase will outweigh the extra cost...by a lot.

I converted the hard drive to a ssd in a number of very old laptops. The performance improvement is remarkable.
It is THE best performance improver anybody can make for desktop applications.
Once you have one, you will never go without.

Using a SSD only improves what you put in it. So the best it can do is improve boot speed, application run speeds, and read and writes of documents and files but only if you choose to save/install them to the SSD. The actual process of using the computer, such as clicking on a new tab in IE or pressing the start menu will have no performance benefit. Yes the computer will improve significantly in those areas where it does benefit them, but in the areas that it doesn't, which is more important and significant in day to day use, it doesn't even move a feather.

Windows is constantly accessing the catalog, logging things etc. files open instantly.
Look at photos, and the thumbnails are there instantly.

Ignore boot times. It is better to use sleep anyway. It takes 3 seconds to sleep/wake.
The cost of a ssd is much cheaper today so it is not hard to put everything on the ssd.
A 240gb ssd will hold the os and a good number of games.
Only video files are truly large and are better kept on a hard drive.