The Eternal PC Question: Is It Better to Upgrade or to Buy a New System?
The Eternal PC Question: Is It Improve to Upgrade or to Buy a New Organisation?
A lot has changed in the PC market over the past few decades, only one question remains timeless: "Can I clasp more performance out of the organization I've got now, or do I have to build or buy something else?" Hither, we'll break downwardly the issues in play and discuss how to brand this decision in a mode that gives you the best chance of maximizing your performance per dollar.
We'll focus on the question of upgrading an existing system versus buying a new one. In this context, buying a new rig could hateful acquiring new parts
and doing the associates yourself or ownership an OEM or boutique system. The goal is to maximize functioning per dollar while minimizing end-user hassle. Before we dive in, there are a few broad issues to exist aware of.
Laptop or Desktop?
Laptops, especially mod loftier-cease systems, have far fewer upgrade options bachelor than desktops practise. Often the only things you tin plausibly upgrade on a laptop are the system RAM, possibly the internal storage, and the cooling solution via the improver of an aftermarket laptop cooler. These are all useful in situations we'll discuss below, but desktops take far more flexibility where upgrades are concerned.
PC Components Do Not Age at the Aforementioned Rate
There was a time when CPUs, GPUs, and RAM chapters and functioning were all growing rapidly year-on-year. This is no longer truthful. RAM capacities keep to grow, only Microsoft has held the line on most Windows system requirements since the Windows seven era. The days when each version of an application had sharply increased minimum requirements are behind u.s.. Single-cadre CPU performance has simply been improving by three-5 percent per twelvemonth. GPU operation still grows past more this on boilerplate but also improve much more than slowly today than they did in years by.
The Core i7-2600K is older than the GTX 680, but CPUs age less rapidly than GPUs do. 2GB of RAM doesn't cut information technology very well these days.
This can exist a good thing, from an upgrader's perspective — information technology means that your CPU and motherboard platform tend to live longer and can be improved by the addition of faster graphics cards, for instance.
Gaming Is Non Similar Other Workloads
Games are an splendid mode to test arrangement stability and reliability, merely gaming results generalize poorly to other applications. Specifically, games are often fairly insensitive to both CPU core count and CPU clock speed. A game may testify a pregnant performance improvement moving from a dual-cadre CPU with Hyper-Threading (2C/4T) to a chip with four bodily CPU cores (4C/4T), and its frame rates may better modestly with clock speed, merely at that place are very few games that show meaning benefits when running on eight or 16 cores instead of 4, and the comeback from playing at 4.5GHz compared with 3.2GHz may be far smaller than the 1.41x difference in clock speed. The gaming-specific benchmarks from our Ryzen seven 3000 review in June are shown below. Gaps between the various CPUs are smaller than in our not-game tests, peculiarly higher up 1080p.
CPU functioning absolutely matters in gaming, simply games do non scale to match CPU core counts the fashion well-threaded applications do, and they typically practice not scale with core speed the way a single-threaded application would above certain minimum thresholds. People who mostly game tin divert more of their upgrade funds towards the GPU-side of the equation, while those of you running all-encompassing CPU workloads would want to focus coin in that location.
Agreement RAM Upgrades
Companies like to upsell customers on RAM upgrades with the promise that applications and projects volition run faster if you put more RAM in a system. I prefer to think of information technology more like this: Putting more RAM in a system will resolve low functioning if and simply if bereft RAM is causing operation issues in the offset place.
If you have 4GB of RAM in a system and your organization never collectively needs more than than 3GB, so bumping up to 6GB will not provide a noticeable benefit. If you lot take ane application that requires 6GB of RAM and running it with just 4GB causes heavy file paging, then that specific application will do good enormously from more RAM, while the residual of your applications may perform just every bit they did earlier.
RAM clock speed upgrades are near never worth investing in unless you're getting the clock upgrade incidentally. If you accept 4GB DDR3-1066 and you lot buy 8GB of DDR3-1600 every bit office of an upgrade, that'due south scarcely a bad matter, only if y'all have 8GB of DDR3-1066 I wouldn't carp investing in 8GB of DDR3-1600. Most desktop applications are not particularly RAM-bandwidth leap. At that place is no need to update a DDR3 PC with acceptable performance to DDR4 just because of DDR4.
I'd consider 4GB of RAM to be the minimum you'd want these days, 8GB is reasonable, and 16GB would cover absolutely everything except for corner cases that you probable know if yous need to encompass. While I definitely don't recommend bravado a lot of money on old RAM for a depression-cease organization, the good news is that RAM is generally pretty cheap right now, and upgrades may not cost you much.
Tin You Place a Bottleneck?
In this context, a bottleneck is not an issue that's preventing you from reaching maximum performance. Maximum functioning is causeless to be out-of-attain without ownership new hardware. The question is whether nosotros tin can observe a way to bring a organization up to acceptable performance for a reasonable amount of money.
If you're considering whether to upgrade or buy new, the commencement question to consider is whether or not you tin can identify a meaningful bottleneck in your current organisation. Compare the specs of the system you currently ain with the recommended specs in the game or target applications that aren't running well. If you aren't sure how to compare the specs, Google product names and check the year when a given product was released. If a game requires a GPU that was released in 2015, and y'all take a GPU from 2012, you may well have found your trouble.
Sometimes, these situations are piece of cake to resolve. If you bought a high-end desktop at the stop of 2012, y'all might reasonably have purchased a Core i7-2700K with 8-16GB of DDR3, 256GB SSD, a 650W PSU, and a 2GB GTX 680. Y'all tin can meaningfully improve the operation of the entire organisation in gaming (assuming gaming is what you lot care about) past purchasing a new GPU. The ability supply you own already is more than capable of powering a college-terminate carte du jour, and the 2700K will yet deliver potent frame rates. You may non encounter all the performance potential y'all'd get from a new rig — but y'all'll get near of it. If you choose to update other components at a later time, you can just bring the new GPU along for the ride.
Upgrades piece of work best when they tin can be precisely targeted to resolve specific issues. Switching from an HDD to an SSD volition improve the desktop responsiveness and load times of the entire arrangement. If the high-end system above had been oddly low on RAM (say 4GB of DDR3), bumping up to 8GB or 16GB even today might be well worth the cost, especially if combined with a GPU upgrade.
This philosophy also can apply to OEM desktops. While I'chiliad non making any specific system recommendations, information technology's sometimes possible to discover basic desktops with solid components that only need a GPU to be turned into gaming systems. Sometimes, these basic rigs are cheaper than the cost of buying all-new components yourself. Building the base of operations system and tossing a midrange GPU into one can exist a great way to get a gaming system without spending much money.
What If the Bottleneck Is Everything but the Motherboard?
Let's look at a different twist on the same system configuration. Instead of a loftier-end rig, let'southward examine a Core i3-2100 paired with a 2TB 7200 RPM HDD, 450W PSU, 4GB of DDR3, and a 1GB GTX 650, on the same Sandy Bridge motherboard from 2011 – 2012. This person even so has upgrade options, but they are going to be more than constrained in what they can wait without spending significantly more coin. A GPU upgrade will absolutely withal improve gaming performance, but the relatively depression-end Core i3-2100 is going to drag on the improvement compared with a Cadre i7-2700K (in that location'southward a breakpoint in many games between the Core i3 in a 2C/4T configuration and having a full quad-core). 4GB of DDR3 is low, so that needs to exist upgraded. The power supply is big enough to let for a pocket-size GPU upgrade, only you wouldn't desire to drop a high-end card on a 450W PSU.
When y'all say "older systems," exactly how old are we talking?
There'southward no way to supercede i-2 components and bring a system similar this up to mod performance levels, so you've got two options: Upgrade the virtually pressing bottlenecks (RAM and GPU for gaming, HDD for general I/O) but accept that the end experience still isn't going to be great. A new Sandy Bridge CPU from Intel is quite expensive at this point.
Alternately, you could plough to used parts for more meaningful improvements and less money spent. Pre-endemic chips like the 2600K are going for $45 on eBay, and that's substantially less than y'all'd pay for an equivalent Intel CPU make-new. In a situation where you need faster hardware only can't beget to pay for all-new components, used hardware can fill those gaps.
In a case like the one I've laid out, a buyer might grab another 4GB of RAM for ~$15 (Newegg), a used CPU for ~$45, and up to an RX 570 for ~$130. Swapping a pocket-sized SSD into the system is also possible, though the chore of slimming a 2TB Windows installation down on to an SSD is across the scope of this commodity.
If you aren't willing to purchase used hardware, it'south not going to be worth it to try and find a compatible Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge chips new. Fifty-fifty the Core i3-2100 I've used in this example still sells for $116 on Newegg.
Motherboard Bottlenecks
The kickoff two scenarios I've laid out are fairly like shooting fish in a barrel. Let's say you're stuck with a Cadre 2 Duo, AMD Phenom / Phenom Two, or a mod Bulldozer / Piledriver-based system. Even in these cases, hitting the used CPU market might help — if y'all have a very low-end fleck from the original families — just it's unlikely to solve your problem because you're starting from and so far behind. In these cases, motherboard compatibility is going to be your major stumbling block, and swapping out the motherboard is really where you start to move from "upgrading" a PC to "building a new PC." Because newer boards typically back up newer CPUs and different retentiveness standards, swapping a motherboard typically ways swapping other components as well. Your operating organization and other software may besides insist on reauthenticating if you install a different motherboard.
This issue sometimes bites people who have Intel motherboards die. Boards that back up Intel'due south older chipsets are oftentimes unjustifiably expensive and I've known more than a few readers and friends who wound upwards buying a new CPU and motherboard later a lath died, merely because it wasn't worth paying top dollar for a 5-year-old motherboard. If you're willing to swoop into the used market you can typically do better. Older AMD boards are more reasonably priced and readily bachelor, only AMD's CPU operation in before eras was so low, it's scarcely worth buying 2012-era equipment to rejuvenate them when Ryzen offers such better price/performance ratios.
There's not much that can exist done to 'modernize' an outdated motherboard. Some features, like G.ii support or USB 3 ports, tin can be added to a organisation via PCIe cards. Only if y'all are fundamentally express by CPU performance, that'southward going to have to be dealt with — and that'due south probably going to mean replacing your RAM as well.
Options for increasing CPU core counts are also limited. Moving from a Core i3 (2C/4T from 2011 – early 2017) to a desktop Core i7 (4C/8T through early 2017) will increment performance on the Intel side, but buying used is probably the only way to make it economical. If you're notwithstanding using Bulldozer or Piledriver parts, I'd just recommend saving for Ryzen rather than trying to heave your electric current CPU performance. Some modern Ryzen systems introduced since 2017 will be capable of stretching from 8 cores at launch to 16 cores once the now-delayed Ryzen ix 3950X somewhen debuts, but this is a recent development. Some X58 owners from a decade ago may have the option of moving up to 6-core chips, especially if your motherboard supported Xeon processors, but again — you'll be hitting the used market for parts.
The motherboard, in other words, is the component most probable to force you into a replacement bicycle rather than being able to make practise with an upgrade — and it's very difficult to hereafter-proof systems or baby-sit against that. The skilful news is, almost people don't need to replace their CPUs very often these days.
Rules of Thumb
Information technology's probably not worth investing in whatsoever endeavor to upgrade a system running DDR2 or below unless y'all've assembled it specifically for legacy software.
4GB of RAM is enough for a lightweight arrangement, 8GB is reasonable, 16GB covers all only the corner cases.
If you decide to upgrade a CPU, make sure that the libation you own is compatible with the higher-power scrap. Lower-finish CPUs oftentimes send with weaker coolers. Reasonable coolers are not terribly expensive, just if you buy a used chip without i you'll need to factor that into the toll.
Intel systems typically have weak CPU upgrade prospects due to motherboard limits. AMD CPUs prior to 2017 have weak upgrade prospects due to weak overall functioning. In some cases, it may still be worth upgrading from a depression-end chip (Celeron, Pentium, FX-4100) to a high-end cadre (Core i7, FX-8350) of the same generation. This volition only be true in the most cost-constrained scenarios, however. In nigh cases, the finish-user will see better results from saving money for a CPU + motherboard upgrade.
GPU upgrades are an splendid mode to breathe new life into a gaming system. Make certain your ability supply meets the requirements of the new card you are because. A gaming PC tin can typically exist considered reasonably high-end for iv-6 years if yous simply go along the GPU updated.
If you have to swap a motherboard, information technology's often a good idea to consider rebuilding the organization from scratch. It'due south much easier to switch motherboards without your Os catastrophically failing than it used to be, but the overall hassle of this issue is often the line betwixt "starting over" and "upgrading what I have."
Swapping out a motherboard is where an "upgrade" becomes a "rebuild" in my own opinion because this is where you take to start making more changes to the OS.
When Is It Amend to Buy New or Build From Scratch?
The ii things you want to keep an middle on when considering which route to take is the amount of hassle you're willing to put upwardly with and the departure in price. Some CPU coolers commodities to the board from the back. Some cases lack cutouts to brand it possible to remove the cooler without removing the motherboard. Your case may be smaller than average or a serious hurting to piece of work within of. You lot may take medical issues that make information technology more than difficult to perform these sorts of improvements and no one around to help with PC upgrades.
You lot're probably not going to relieve this one. Image credit: Wikipedia
If y'all already know how to build a PC and are comfortable doing so, the "upgrade versus rebuild" question is pretty straightforward for you lot. If you're considering ownership a new laptop or a bazaar PC, my best advice is to read reviews of the models you're considering. Ideally, you would then look for reviews of the specific PC you already own or a model that's similar to it. If y'all care about gaming, merely attempt to find benchmarks that focus on your GPU — that'll get you in the ballpark. Compare the performance delta between what you've got and what you might purchase, and enquire if the gains are worth the cost. Some people prefer to buy bazaar systems considering they adopt to spend time doing other things and don't want the hassle of futzing around with parts. Don't be afraid to cost that into the equation.
Alternately, if a basic OEM system for $400 is a bully deal, and all it needs is a GPU to bring it upwards to the gaming arrangement you want, cheque the specs advisedly, make sure you lot aren't backing into anything you'll regret, but pull the trigger if it works. Sometimes, basic OEM desktops are actually pretty good platforms to start building a system with. It depends on the guts of the organization and the price of the deal.
If you outset considering an upgrade project, realize that y'all're now replacing lxxx per centum of the system, and just don't want to deal with the headache — that's a skillful time to but consider starting over. People shouldn't exist agape to tackle upgrades just there's cypher wrong with deciding you prefer the simplicity of buying a new system or paying someone else to build yous one.
Now Read:
- How to Troubleshoot Your Slow PC
- Why You Can't Future-Proof Your Gaming PC
- Nvidia vs. AMD: Practise GPUs Degrade in Performance Over Time?
Source: https://www.extremetech.com/computing/298783-the-eternal-pc-question-is-it-better-to-upgrade-or-to-buy-a-new-system
Posted by: callesastand.blogspot.com
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