How to Improve Computer Performance | Which Hardware Should Be Upgraded First?

You may use your computer all the time or occasionally. But if the computer cannot give you your desired performance, it is so annoying. If the condition is like that, then your computer needs to upgrade. The upgrade can be of two types: software update or hardware upgrade. This article is going to show you how to improve computer performance by upgrading your computer’s hardware.

Before You Upgrade

At first, you have to be confirmed whether your computer needs hardware upgrade or not. Your computer’s operating system or other software can slow down or sometimes cause hang your PC. First, re-install the operating system on your computer and make the computer like as it was new (no software installed except operating system). It will help your PC to give the best performance that your PC can possibly give in its present condition. Then if you find that your computer cannot give you the desired performance, you should upgrade your computer’s hardware.

How to Upgrade PC Components

If you have built your own desktop computer, then you need not be worried. You know the answer. But if you have bought a pre-built desktop, you can upgrade almost all the components by just replacing or adding the components with the new components. If you have a laptop computer, then the upgrade has some limitations. All the laptops do not give the opportunity to upgrade hardware. It is the best option to find whether your PC supports hardware upgrade or not by asking or searching on the company’s website from which company you bought your PC. They will give you the information about what you can upgrade and what you cannot.

Which Hardware Should Be Upgraded First? Choose the Right Upgrade

If you are confirmed that your PC needs and supports hardware upgrade, then it is now your choice which hardware component you want to upgrade. Because it depends on how you use your computer. The following section is going to give information about some PC components. Read this and you’ll be able to decide which component you need to upgrade.

RAM

Ram or Random Access Memory is most probably the easiest and cheapest upgrade you can make. You can add additional ram to your computer including almost all the desktops and laptops. If you use your computer for normal purposes like net surfing, watching videos, then 4 GB Ram is quite enough for you. But you cannot do a lot of multitasking having this amount of Ram. If you are a gamer or a graphics designer or a user who uses some heavy software like Solid Works, Photoshop, then 4 GB Ram is not enough. You can go for 8 GB or 16 GB Ram. This amount of Ram will allow you to do multitasking and other jobs without thinking so much. And the good news is Ram is so cheap with respect to its performance.

Graphics Card  

Are you a gamer or a video editor or a graphics designer? If the answer is yes and if you have already upgraded your RAM, then it is the second thing you want to upgrade. All the Intel processors come with internal(integrated) graphics card. But it is not enough for gaming or graphics designing. You may have an older or new but less powerful graphics card. If it is the condition, then you must have a powerful graphics card from NVIDIA or AMD. But you should keep it in mind that graphics cards are quite costly. An example can be given. If you buy an NVIDIA GTX1060 by spending around 300-400$, then you can use your computer for gaming and graphics designing quite comfortably.

Hard Drive

You will upgrade your data drive for two reasons: if you are running out of space or if you want to speed up your PC. You can add an additional hard drive to your PC if you are running out of space. But if you want a faster PC you must have a faster data drive.

Suppose you have a 5400 rpm HDD (Hard Drive) which has a speed of around 100MBps. If you want to speed it up, you can upgrade to a 7200 rpm HDD to achieve the speed of 150MBps. A huge amount of speed can be achieved by upgrading to an SSD (Solid State Drive) and can achieve the speed of 500 to 700MBps. The speed of data drive is so important. Speeding up your data drive will lessen the boot time of your PC. Your other software will be started in a short time. If you use some heavy software like Photoshop, Solid works or some heavy games, then you will find a significant change in the start time of that software. But having the same amount of storage, an SSD cost much than an HDD.

Optical Drive

The ODD or optical disk drive is a drive which uses a laser to read and write data from/to an optical disk. Recently, its usage has been lessened because of versatile use of USB flash drive. Though a lot of people fond of using the optical disk for various purposes. Its read and write speed is not that much (generally below 10 to 15 MB). But new optical drives are found which are much faster. Nowadays, USB optical drives are available which are much faster and easy to install and use. You can always use them and carry wherever you go. We suggest you have a USB optical drive.

Processor

Unlike upgrading Ram and Hard drive, Processors are not that easily upgradable. It requires suitable setup for upgrading processors. If you have built your own computer, then you have nothing to worry. You can always upgrade your processor having the same socket type. Some laptops and pre-built desktop support upgrading processor. You should upgrade your processor if you do processor intensive work like encoding video or audio or play heavy games. Now, most of the processors are multicore which helps you to do better multitasking. But it will cost you much (about 200-250$) to have a powerful processor.

Upgrading The Power Supply

After upgrading several components, you have to look forward to upgrading your PC’s power supply. As you have upgraded your components like the graphics card, your PC requires more power. But your old power supply may fail to supply the required power. Thus, your PC fails to perform. You can use Asus’s “power supply voltage calculator” to determine the condition of the power supply whether it is capable of supplying the required power or not. If it is capable, then you don’t need to upgrade the power supply. But if not, then you must upgrade to a more appropriate power supply. It will make your System faster and give better stability.

Which One is First

Upgradation serial is fully depended on your choice. If you want a lot of multitasking, then you should upgrade your ram first. This will help you in every task. If you are a gamer or a graphics designer, then you must upgrade the graphics card. It is better to upgrade graphics card after upgrading the ram. Then if you feel that your PC cannot perform at your desired speed, you can upgrade the processor for smooth performance. Actually, it is all about your experience. That means how you like your PC to perform.

Do You Have Technical Knowledge?

If you have built your own PC, then you know how to install new components. But if you have a laptop computer or a pre-built desktop computer, then you must have some technical knowledge for installing new components. Installing hardware on a laptop computer is quite complex than a desktop computer. However, it is not that hard to install new hardware on the computer whether it is a laptop or a desktop. If you don’t have that technical knowledge, you can just search on Youtube typing “how to install hardware (the hardware you want to install i.e. ram/processor) in laptop/desktop”. You’ll find a lot of videos there to give you a proper solution.

Summing Up  

After reading the whole article, you must know the general purposes of various PC’s components. If you are sure of that your PC needs hardware upgrade, then you shouldn’t wait. We hope that this article has given you the perfect direction for your PC’s hardware upgrade. After reading the article on how to improve computer performance, we hope you’ll be able to improve your PC performance by upgrading the appropriate hardware.