[SOLVED] RMA or CPU Upgrade for my dad's beast of a machine!

[Noki0100]

Hi All,

looking to give my dad's PC a bit more oomph, I want it to be a little cheap upgrade to tide him over. This is his machine:

CPU	Intel	G3220 Pentium Dual Core 3.0Ghz
Internal Storage	Intel	X25-M Mainstream (OS Drive, Mint 19.1)
Internal Storage	Seagate	Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS (Home Drive)
Mainboard	Asus	HB1M-Plus
RAM	Corsair	XMS3 CMX4GX3M1A1600C11 4GB (1 stick)

Now given he only has a single stick of RAM, I could pair it with another for around £22 and give him 8GB of dual channel, I'm sure Chrome would like that.

Or I can get him a new CPU, something like a Intel Core™ i5-4430S Processor for around £40 (I'm hoping).

Getting both seems a little decadent for a PC like his. I could also get a GPU (anything for £40 on eBay would be an upgrade I think), but he doesn't game too much so would be a bit wasted, perhaps.

For someone who web browses mostly, and plays some basic 3d games (Poker Night 2 mostly) what would people recommend would give me the most bang for buck, or just noticeable improvement in performance?

Thanks in advance.
Noki

 

[WildCard999]

I'd get him a SSD for the OS.

 

[Noki0100]

Is the X25-M not a good drive anymore then?

 

[colin_west]

I would go for the cpu.

 

[WildCard999]

Is the X25-M not a good drive anymore then?

Sorry, I overlooked that SSD, nvm. Either the CPU or RAM would be the next best thing.

 

[geofelt]

How large is the X25-M? How full is it?
If a ssd gets to 90% full, it starts to slow down and wears out faster.
The X25m was launched a long time ago and small capacity units may be close to their endurance life.

I would not look at a S suffix processor; they are low wattage processors and have lower performance.
You would be getting two more threads, but the processing power of each thread would be comparable.

I suggest adding ram.

The added ram would buy you two things:

1. Chrome uses lots of ram; 4gb is simply not enough these days. I assume you have a 32 bit windows to be able to use more than 4gb of ram.
2. Dual channel ram greatly helps the performance of integrated graphics.

Be careful to buy a second stick that closely matches what you have.
Such an upgrade is not 100% guaranteed to work, but Intel is quite tolerant

 

[Noki0100]

How large is the X25-M? How full is it?
If a ssd gets to 90% full, it starts to slow down and wears out faster.

I know it's old but it hasn't seen a tonne of use, plus the OS takes up less than a third so i can extend it's lifespan.

I would not look at a S suffix processor; they are low wattage processors and have lower performance.
You would be getting two more threads, but the processing power of each thread would be comparable.

Good advice, thanks for that. I wasn't aware.

The added ram would buy you two things:

1. Chrome uses lots of ram; 4gb is simply not enough these days. I assume you have a 32 bit windows to be able to use more than 4gb of ram.
2. Dual channel ram greatly helps the performance of integrated graphics.

Be careful to buy a second stick that closely matches what you have.
Such an upgrade is not 100% guaranteed to work, but Intel is quite tolerant

I actually just found an identical stick for less than £10. If I win that a CPU may also be an option (or a cheap GPU).

Thanks everyone for contributing!

 

[Noki0100]

BOOM, RAM for £10.40p!

I missed out on a 500ti for less than £20 which is a shame, that would have been a solid addition.

 

[Noki0100]

The extra RAM is very noticible. Though usuage seems to stick to around 40% the extra speed provided by the Dual Channel is amazing.