[SOLVED] Please HELP

[newtechuser]

Hello
I currently have a Full size Cooler Master HAF X case with the following build components
ASUS P9X79 Pro motherboard
Intel i7 3820 3.6 GHz. CPU - Socket 2011 LGA
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 gpu - 2 GB
2 X 4 GB sticks of Kingston DDR3 RAM - 799 MHz
1 TB Western Digital Hard Drive - old and tired
Running windows 10 64 bit OS

The system is slow and cranky
Applications take too long to start and respond

I am not at all hardware savvy or software savvy

I do NOT have any security software protection at all

I run Registry Mechanic and Glary Utilities often

I am NOT a gamer - do NOT play at all

But I use my computer a lot for business and surfing

I need it to be very very RELIABLE and FAST

I DO use graphics software like Corel Draw and sometime Adobe graphics products to fix graphics files

I use a lot of office productivity tools and Customer Relations Management software

I use Acrobat Pro to create and edit pdfs and a lot of graphics file edits

I surf a lot with literally 30 windows open all at once

BUT my computer seems very tired and I think I need an upgrade

I am very confused about whether I should change my entire system or just upgrade

PLEASE advise with detail suggestions on specific hardware

I do NOT mind USED components

I am on a BUDGET

Thank you

Yacob

 

[cdrkf]

Your machine should be fine for the tasks you do - the issue will be the old HDD. Invest in a new Sata SSD and do a fresh install of Windows and that should be a nice performance boost.

The other thing you might want to look at is the memory - that processor / motherboard support quad channel memory, however you only have two memory sticks installed which is limiting the memory bandwidth to half what it could be. You should be able to buy another 2 x 4gb sticks of ram and get it working in quad channel, although these need to ideally be the same make / model as the current ones. Alternatively you could buy a new 4 stick matched set of memory to be certain it will work.

The process, graphics card and such should be fine for what you are doing. The only other thing to check is that the cpu cooler is working well and keeping temps down - over time the thermal compound between the cpu and the base of the cooler can dry out, with a machine this age that might be an issue. You can use a free utility such as HWMonitor to see what the temps of the cpu are - ideally they shouldn't go over 70C, if the temps climb up too high the cpu will be forced to throttle it's speed down to compensate which will make the machine feel slower.

 

[USAFRet]

I do NOT have any security software protection at all

That is not good. It NEEDS an antivirus. Unless you have purposely turned it OFF, Windows Defender is in there and running.

I run Registry Mechanic and Glary Utilities often

Stop doing that. Registry cleaner things often do far more harm than good.


Your hardware isn't that bad.
"slow" may be a lot of things. One of which might be some virus lurking in the background.
Or...when was the last time you did a full OS reinstall?
What are the CPU temps while you are running your normal stuff?

 

[iPeekYou]

I'm partial to the SSD answer. A new, high capacity SSD is costly, but you can always get a 500 or 250GB ones to load your Windows install and work-critical apps onto. It's an easy, surefire way of giving an old PC a new lease on life.

Use the HDD (assuming it's still good) as dump storage --old projects, non-critical/personal files, the odd movie or app installer you might have.

New OS install might help, but HDDs are plainly too slow for Windows 10 these days.

Add RAM also if your budget allows, 8GB is plenty for multitasking office work and media consumption, but for your use case where a lot of apps are open at the same time, more RAM is really helpful. 16GB in total should be plenty for a lot of users, although admittedly I'm not familiar with what kind of RAM usage is expected out of your softwares.

Adobe Graphics suite and Corel Draw isn't all that heavy. Especially Corel Draw. Photoshop or video editing would be heavier on CPU, but a 3820 should do that just fine. I can run Photoshop on my i3 550 easy, for instance.

Acrobat stuff I found to be surprisingly memory hog, even more with a lot of documents open.

No idea what the CRM software will take, though. I assume it's still within reason unless the developer is really lazy and ended up with memory leaks (basically using RAM ineffciently).

DDR3 used is dirt cheap in my part of the world. people been selling their 8GB kits (4GB x2) for under $20 consistently. Most expensive ones I see are still under $30.

Also,

That is not good. It NEEDS an antivirus. Unless you have purposely turned it OFF, Windows Defender is in there and running.


Stop doing that. Registry cleaner things often do far more harm than good.


Your hardware isn't that bad.
"slow" may be a lot of things. One of which might be some virus lurking in the background.
Or...when was the last time you did a full OS reinstall?
What are the CPU temps while you are running your normal stuff?

Crikey. Turn on the Defender, OP. Common sense is still the #1 antivirus, but a second wall of defense that's literally free and (relatively) lightweight is a no brainer. And registry cleaners do more harm than good. They're last ditch solutions that doesn't work a lot of the time.

 

[geofelt]

I would first of all change from a HDD to a ssd.
It is one of the best performance upgrades around.
The change can be easy.
Buy a samsung 2.5" 870 EVO ssd large enough to hold the used contents of your 1tb HDD and then some for expansion. A 1tb unit will be about $115.
https://www.newegg.com/samsung-1tb-870-evo-series/p/N82E16820147793?quicklink=true
Install it in your pc, possibly using a 3.5" to 2.5" adapter, about $5.
Download and run the Samsung ssd migration app.
Instructions and app :

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

When done, remove the HDD and repurpose it as an external usb connected backup.

Do the SSD first; I suspect it will do what you want.

If, in time, you do an upgrade to a stronger pc, a SSD can be easily transported.

Lots of open tasks require sufficient ram to hold them.
Insufficient ram will show up as hard faults in task manager memory section.
If you see anything much over zero, your processing is being delayed while windows swaps in code to/ from the page file. A very slow process on a HDD. On a SSD it is some 40x faster,

8gb is likely too small.

Consider a 2 x 8gb DDR3 ram kit with the same specifications as your current ram.
speed, voltage, and timings.
CPU-Z will identify exactly what you have.
This ram upgrade will guarantee you 16gb of working ram.
Then try adding in your current 2 x 4gb kit.
If it works, fine, you have 24gb.
Alternatively, buy a 4 x 8gb kit in the first place.

If, after all this, you want something much faster, you will need to change not only your cpu but your motherboard and ram also.

For reference, your I7-3820 has 8 threads and a passmark rating of 5730.
That is when all 8 threads are 100% busy.
The single thread rating is 1751. Single thread performance is important for desktop quickness.
The total rating is more applicable for batch processing of multithreaded apps.

A modern I5-11400 processor selling for about $200
will have 12 threads and a rating of 17761/ 3052.
A B560 based motherboard will be <$100.
A 2 x 8gb DDR4 ram kit will be $75.

Conversion may not be trivial if you need a clean install(recommended) and reinstallation of apps.

Lastly do take the time to activate windows defender.
Do so in windows security settings.
Defender is one of the highest ranked anti virus apps for detection of known viruses.
It is very low impact and is automatically updated by windows.
Other more impactful antivirus apps try to detect "in the wild" viruses.
That is viruses that have not ever been seen before.
Most viruses come in via social engineering.
If you do not visit nasty porn sites or click on email links you are quite safe.

Have a plan for EXTERNAL backup of what you can not afford to lose.
That no longer needed HDD in a usb enclosure would be a good start.

 

[USAFRet]

Download and run the Samsung ssd migration app.

Actually, in this case I probably wouldn't recommend a migration.

SSD, yes. Absolutely.
Migration, no. It sounds like his current software stack has a lot of underlying issues.
This would just be migrating those problems to a faster drive.

 

[geofelt]

Slow and cranky gets much improved with a ssd.
My thought is that migrating is likely to be sufficient, particularly with
An inexperienced user.

I did not see software issues. OP states primarily a performance issue.

The fallback to a clean install is always possible.

If the current windows is not logically clean then the move will fail and resorting to a clean install will be required.
At that point, a lot of other advice will be in order.

 

[USAFRet]

I did not see software issues. OP states primarily a performance issue.

This is what prompted my comment:
"I run Registry Mechanic and Glary Utilities often "

What has that Mechanic screwed up?

Anyway, yes, an SSD will make the whole system faster.
And the migration will likely work.

 

[geofelt]

Ah!!
I thought Registry Mechanic and Glary Utilities were apps.
Sounds like the OP thought they would fix performance deficiencies.
Such apps at best can be harmless, at worst a vehicle to insert malware.
As was suggested, it is best to avoid such.

I might suggest a one time run of the free trial malwarebytes app.
downloaded only from the source.

Malware Protection for Home 2023 | Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes 2023 protects you and your home against malware, ransomware, malicious websites, and other advanced online threats. Download the latest version here.

www.malwarebytes.com

There could be software issues of course.