Quick upgrade query

lozza23_uk · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:14

Afternoon all!

I am looking for some quick advise on an upgrade for a work machine the wife has for her business. It has become very slow with windows 10, before looking to throw it out and starting again I want to try upgrades if possible. 2nd hand to make it cheap.

Current spec is a Dell vostro, G630 2.7ghz dual core socket 1155 chip with 4 gig ram. on-board graphics (ram hungry I assume in windows 10)

Researching the max the mobo can take I can go to 8 gig ram and an i5 chip.

I could also look at an SSD. and a graphics card (assuming there is a slot).

Do you guys think that the chip/ram and or ssd would make a noticeable difference over the G630? It would only need to last another year before being transferred out.

Thanks in advance, any advise would be appreciated.

ant1298 · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:25

An SSD might do the trick, and if not you can use it in a new build

That will yield the largest gains I believe. Then RAM. Wouldn't worry about CPU or GPU if it's only for another year.

darwin1859 · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:25

The SSD will probably be the most noticeable upgrade in terms of boot times and loading programs. It makes everything *feel* quicker.

The added cores of the i5 could be a big improvement if your wife runs several programs at once.

Likewise for the RAM, but only if she routinely reaches the 4GB limit.

lozza23_uk · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:37

Hi chaps I thought that might be the case. Good advice ant if I can clone her current install to an SSD then that would be an easy solution. If not then I can always use it in my machine.

Darwin good point I should monitor the ram see what is going on when I am not sat at the machine.

I will get one and give it a go. Thank you.

darwin1859 · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:42

Yeah should be straightforward to clone onto the SSD so she won't need to do anything.

Have fun

ant1298 · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:45

lozza23_uk said:
Hi chaps I thought that might be the case. Good advice ant if I can clone her current install to an SSD then that would be an easy solution. If not then I can always use it in my machine.

Darwin good point I should monitor the ram see what is going on when I am not sat at the machine.

I will get one and give it a go. Thank you.

Use something like Macrium Reflect to clone, they offer a free version.

Anthony.

SergioRuiz · 5 Jan 2016 at 14:22

Wouldn't make sense to do a clean install? Just in case software is (also) causing the problem.

I know, it's a pain, but quite often worth the investment in time.

ant1298 · 5 Jan 2016 at 14:24

SergioRuiz said:
Wouldn't make sense to do a clean install? Just in case software is (also) causing the problem.

I know, it's a pain, but quite often worth the investment in time.

Guess it's a case of whether the time can be afforded or it needs to be up and running as fast as possible.

lozza23_uk · 6 Jan 2016 at 13:30

A good point regarding a reinstall. My reasoning behind not wanting to yet is the time offline cannot be afforded unless really really necessary, the machine has been used for browsing and office. Literally nothing else installed on it.

Also last time there was a minor blip was the upgrade from office 2010 to office 365, oh the calendar wouldn't sync, the colours and categories dropped off calendar items and there were headaches which I would prefer not to revisit