I’m not very tech savvy so please bear with me.
I bought a premade in 2018 and I’ve only updated the graphics card and ram since then. I’m using a 55" Samsung TV as a monitor. It’s really starting to get sluggish/finicky. Gaming example: it can run BGate3 on medium but starts having issues any higher.
- Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 Coffee Lake CPU, 4 Cores, 3.6GHz
- Graphics Card NIVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8gb
- CPU Cooler: Intel Stock CPU Cooler
- Motherboard: ASUS Z370-P Motherboard
- Memory: 8GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory (2 x 4GB Sticks) + Crucial Ballistix BL2K8G36C16U4B 3600 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, Desktop Gaming Memory Kit, 16GB (8GB x2), CL16, Black
- Hard Drive: Seagate 2TB Firecuda Hybrid Hard Disk
EDIT for more info
It’s hooked up to my TV because I use it for everything from simple browsing, YouTube, streaming TV/movies, to gaming. For games the most taxing is something like BG3, but I can’t think of anything else in terms of taxing programmes.
I don’t think I’d have a use for it if I kept it. Even if I kept the hard drive I’d have to research How and What To Save To Which Drive On Your PC, but if that’s what y’all recommend then I can.
I’m not against investing a few grand if it’s the right money spent at the right time, if that makes sense? My worry about changing individual parts is the standard worries about installation and compatibility, but if it’s too soon to be changing the whole rig then I can get over that
Honestly that should still be holding mostly fine at 1080p. Your ram being at mixed speeds is gonna slow things down a tiny bit though. Also going from a hybrid hdd to dedicated ssd for the system will help a lot.
So just updating to a SSD might be sufficient? I was worried it was too late to be changing individual parts as the remaining parts wouldn’t be able to support them, but maybe not?
Yeah it’s worth a shot to start with an SSD worst case if it doesn’t work well then you’d have a ssd for the next system.
Definitely get an SSD. Honestly I’m surprised it’s that recent and doesn’t have one.
I’d definitely keep the HDD as a data graveyard of course, since for your in-use drives you’re using solid state drives nowadays but those while large now are still small-ish and games are huge.
Other than that, depends on what you want to do. For 1080p at 60 FPS, that sounds fine, so I’d keep the geforce at first. Replace MoBo+RAM+CPU, then later replace the graphics card and the monitor.
I’m currently using my TV as monitor because I use the pc for everything, I don’t watch regular TV and anything I do watch I stream. Is using a TV as a monitor a bad thing?
Also make sure you’re not running into thermal throttling.
Open hardware monitor is my go to for that.
https://openhardwaremonitor.org/
Depending on who made the pre-built it’s not uncommon to start running into that at this age. If you are then solving it could be very cheap.
Interesting, what kind of temps are a bad sign?
Depends on a few variables. But the pattern is the same, track on a graph both temps and usage of your CPU (might as well do GPU as well) and if you see one of two things:
First frame rate drop and then come back look at the graph, did usage drop and thermal drop and once temp got to a given level performance came back. To fix start with blowing everything out with canned air and ensuring all the fans are working. Fix any that aren’t and see if that helps. If it doesn’t help and it’s the CPU look into redoing the cooler on the CPU.
Second thing you might see is performance is better and then drops and sustains at the lower level once thermals hit a given level. This is most common on mobile devices like a laptop but has been seen on pre-built PCs from some vendors (Dell, CyberPower, most often) in which case upgrading the cooling after the above.
In the end this is unlikely but start looking at the least expensive route first (like this) and then look into upgrading.
As the other responses point out mix-matching RAM speeds isn’t a good idea, most mother boards will just run both sets at the lower speed and it’s not a problem just not optimal. Some custom boards (Dell most often) aren’t smart enough for this and it’ll introduce extra stuttering.
In the same app you can track ram usage, if the stuttering is worse when you use more than half than less than half this is most often the cause and replacing RAM so they’re both the same speed (preferably from the same company) is the most frequent fix.
Upgrading the GPU is probably next if the above isn’t the issue or doesn’t get you the performance you want. If you do make sure your PSU can handle the extra draw. Pre-builts (Dell mostly) often put in PSUs that are just powerful enough barely run what’s installed and things will start to fail if you exceed it’s power output.
Most pre-builts are just fine, don’t let elitists convince you otherwise. A few are known for taking shortcuts but most are just fine.
Good luck!!
Appreciate this, thanks
You’re welcome!
Edit: didn’t think to mention it because it’s so obvious to me, but you said you’re new, so I’ll mention it. Before you do anything below, make sure your heatsinks on your CPU and GPU aren’t clogged with dust. Blow the case and fans out with compressed air if needed. Once that’s done then proceed with my original reply below.
First off, pull the 8GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory because it’s slowing your faster RAM down. All of the RAM in a system will run at the rate of the slowest stick. You’ll be better off with 16GB 3600 than 24GB 2400.
A better GFX card will make a huge difference. Your CPU will be a bottleneck, but still, upgrading the GFX card will make a difference. For that matter, see if you can get an i5 or i7 for your generation socket on the cheap. Don’t spend a lot of money on a CPU though, because you won’t be able to move it to a new computer because of the socket.
Some people have recommended an SSD. That’s a good idea, but if you have an extra PCIe port then I’d recommend an NVMe drive with the PCIe adaptor. It still won’t be as fast as a native NVMe, but it’s around 3-4x faster than a SATA SSD.
If your TV has gaming mode, make sure you use it. It turns off a lot of the upscaling and processing that TVs do, and optimizes it for refresh rate and response time. That alone will make your computer feel more responsive.
Order of priorities:
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Pull RAM
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TV gaming mode
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NVMe drive
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Better GPU with the idea that you’ll move it into your next computer when you rebuild.
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Cheap i5 or better
4 and 5 are interchangeable. It’s hard to say which you should do first. I’d lean towards a GFX card if you’re rebuilding in the next year, or the CPU if you’re not.
Edit 2: if you threw that 1070 into a cheap pre-built, I’ll bet you $5 the PSU isn’t outputting enough power. If the 1070 came with the computer then it’s probably fine, but I can’t imagine a company was selling a 1070 with an i3, and if they were, avoid their computers from now on. Use a PC power requirement calculator online, and figure out if you have enough power for the parts you currently have. A system without enough power will run like shit, regardless of how good the components are.
Thanks for checking on the basics. I do have and use compressed air but I literally had no idea that my TV had a gaming mode, which I’ve just discovered it does
The RAM I bought was recommended by a friend but perhaps they didn’t know they had to match idk.
I appreciate the order of priorities, that helps a lot
It doesn’t have to match, but it’ll all run at the rate of the slowest stick. I just added a note about your PSU too, so check the bottom of my comment if you didn’t see it already.
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Hmm, I bought a prebuilt in 2019 and the most annoying thing about upgrading it was that it had a custom motherboard, power supply and the case wasn’t compatible with anything else. I read the thread but missed who your prebuilt was from, as that might have a lot of bearing on how customizable your system is as a platform.
What’s your budget look like? Because if you don’t have much to spend, you’re best off just tossing an SSD in as your boot disk. That’ll help significantly. After that, I’d grab 32GB of matching RAM(make sure it’s DDR4, not DDR5) and try that.
After that, you’re basically building a new PC because to significantly upgrade your CPU- which is the next thing you’d want to- you’d need at minimum a new motherboard as well and probably a case since prebuilt cases can have proprietary layouts and be weird.
If you wanna build your own PC, but can’t figure out what parts would be good/what you actually need feel free to reply with a budget and your general location- country is good enough- and I can send you a link to a part list. I used to hang out in /r/buildapcforme and I kinda miss it lmao
Very kind of you I use it for everything (I’ve edited the post to give more info) so I’m not against spending a few grand (UK£) if now is the right time to do so. If it’s not the right time then I’m trying to work out what I can replace that will be compatible and easy for a noob to install I guess
If the most resource intensive thing you’re looking at is BG3 @ 1080p/60fps, you definitely won’t need to spend a few grand. Now is a great time to build. You can get pretty great price/performance at the moment.
Here’s a link to a build, I’d suggest buying the SSD in that list, and replacing your hybrid drive. You can keep the hybrid as a spare, if you want, but you don’t have to. If that solves your issue and gets you the performance you want, cool.
If it doesn’t solve your issues, you can just buy the rest of the parts in the list and build a new PC. It’s a PCPartPicker link for the UK, so it’ll tell you the best places you can order each part in your country. Alternatively, you can buy a prebuilt- probably wanna aim for $1000 USD or so for a prebuilt. I can’t really help you with that, not my thing.
If you do end up building your own there’s an extremely helpful very long Linus Tech Tips video that breaks down how to assemble the whole thing.
Wonderful, many thanks
It’s a six year old system. Optimistically you’ll be able to salvage the PSU, case and storage. Whether you should salvage the PSU and case is up to you, prebuilts aren’t known for picking the best of these.
Personally I’d use the machine for something else (or sell it to someone for $300-400) and build what you want. (Edit: I’ve had good results moving the core system components into a USFF or NAS case and repurposing as a home server. That’s a pretty typical end of lifecycle role for an aging gaming desktop.)
I’ll Google “what does a home server do” and get back to you, ha
