System upgrades - adding hard disk and more RAM

[sharath_83]

Hi all,

Am looking to add an 2TB internal Hard disk, and upgrade RAM to 16GB from current 8GB. Here is my CPU Hardware details:

• Intel i5-4440, 3.10 GHz LGA 1150 processor
• Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H motherboard
• Corsair vengeance 4GB X 2, 1600 MHz PC3-12800 RAM
• Samsung 250GB EVO 850 SSD HDD (Using it for C drive only)
• Toshiba MK1002TSKB 1TB internal hard disk
• Sapphire R7 260X 2GB DDR5 graphic card
• Using 2 external HDD

Am working as a Graphic/Web/UI designer, and am expanding by business in terms of having more projects here on wards, so is the reason am looking to have more Space and more RAM.

My question here is will my PC above slows down, if i add an additional 2TB internal hard disk? Also since i have 8GB of RAM which is being fully utilized, adding extra 8GB RAM, will it utilize the complete 16GB RAM?

Also would like to know in future, if i can upgrade my Processor and Graphics card, for the same Gigabyte motherboard?

Awaiting for an response, thank you.

 

[asoroka]

If you are making money then consider a full upgrade to a more modern CPU/MOBO and DDR4 RAM. Its not really worth keeping your old 1150 Motherboard and trying to overclock/upgrade the CPU. Any expenses should be written off against income.

More memory is not a bad idea, but if you can, I would build a new rig rather than invest in old technology,

A new 2TB disk will not slow you down, you are already using a 1TB hdd.

The answer to your question is yes, you can upgrade. However if this is for professional work, I would look at whether you can stretch your finances to a new CPU/MB and RAM rather than upgrading your current system RAM.

 

[greentent]

Good questions! So in regards to adding a 2tb hard drive:

--It wont slow your system down. Just remember that hard drives take longer to access data than ssd's. So technically it will not slow your system down, but if you move a program from your ssd to your hard drive, you would notice a decrease in speed on loadings and such. So you want to keep your most used programs on your ssd and leave your hard drive your files and things like that.

---- also pay attention to the type of hard drive you buy. There are different ratings that can influence performance of the drive ( i.e. green drives are focused more on less power consumption so they would perform lesser than say a black drive (western digital))

As for the added ram:

-----You wont lose performance if you arent maxing out your memory. You Dont want to utilize all of your memory because that means you are bottlenecking yourself (it only uses what it needs, if it isnt using all of it, thats good news ) But yeah you definitely need that added

As for the gpu and cpu upgrades later:

-----There are some contingencies with that. As long as you upgrade to a cpu with a 1150 socket youre fine. And note that you have a Z series board so you can get an unlocked cpu (k) since you have the ability to overclock. If you do that you would have to get a decent cooler for it.

-----And you can definitely upgrade the gpu on that board, just pay attention to the wattage and make sure you have a sufficient psu

For those 2 upgrades, you can get a rough estimate at pcpartpicker. You can pick your motherboard and it will narrow your choices to hardware that is compatible with that board.

 

[USAFRet]

1. Adding another internal HDD will have no effect on performance

2. Adding another 8GB RAM may or may not work. RAM should always be bought and installed as a kit.
No guarantee of working.

3. Future CPU. Only another Socket 1150 CPU can go on that motherboard. Possibly an i7-4790k.
For any meaningful change, new motherboard as well as new CPU.

 

[sharath_83]

thanks everyone for the reply.