{"id":61266,"date":"2022-12-06T21:52:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T16:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=61266"},"modified":"2022-12-13T21:02:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T15:32:57","slug":"upgrade-old-desktop-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2022\/12\/upgrade-old-desktop-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Upgrade Old Desktop PC: My DIY Custom Build Computer"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did I upgrade my 10 year old desktop PC with new computer parts and accessories to make it blazing fast is what you learn in this DIY custom build tutorial.\u00a0 I own Dell XPS 8300 desktop which I purchased online over a decade ago and over the years I have gradually upgraded it with new PC parts which have enabled me to consistently use this old computer as my primary blogging and video editing equipment.<\/p>\n

If you look at the specifications of the Dell XPS 8300 desktop you will find that it was a powerful computer with superior performance way back a decade ago. It has a second generation Intel i5 processor,\u00a0 which seems pretty outdated to handle the current processing power required by windows applications,\u00a0 but you will be surprised to know that if you upgrade your PC parts using new more powerful accessories then even these old computers can demonstrate high computing performance.<\/p>\n

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Of course you might argue that a slow processor will always be a limiting factor but then changing the motherboard or processor is a huge task and might as well buy a new computer itself. But we did some cheap PC upgrades,\u00a0 which work much less expensive than buying a new computer itself.<\/p>\n

This post shows how I upgraded my PC at low cost, its limitations and the performance boost of my desktop PC.\u00a0 Some of these parts\u00a0 might not be suitable for your particular computer which you want to upgrade but it will give you an idea about basics.<\/em><\/p>\n

Switch to SSD Drives \/ M2 NVMe Drives<\/h2>\n

If there is one PC part which you can replace and which will dramatically improve your computer performance,\u00a0 that is the hard disk. The solid state drive or SSD is an excellent replacement for your old moving parts hard disk drive.\u00a0 These new SSDs\u00a0 are much faster and make your PC much more agile and responsive than ever before.<\/p>\n

I replaced my hard disk two times over the years, first with the 256GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD few years back and more recently I have upgraded it to the 2 TB Samsung 870 Evo<\/a> which has made this desktop even more blazing fast.\u00a0 If you need more storage space then you can upgrade to the 4TB Samsung EVO 870<\/a> available in some countries as well, but that will be more expensive. Samsung SSDs are the best in performance in the market.<\/p>\n

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Of course NVMe drives would have been the best option, but our custom Dell motherboard did not support these and therefore SSD had to be used. If your computer\u00a0 motherboard\u00a0 has M2 slots,\u00a0 it is preferable to add M2 NVMe drives\u00a0 which are much much faster. I would have got the Samsung 980 Pro Gen 4 NVMe<\/a> as my first choice.<\/p>\n

Other good choices would be the WD Black SN770<\/a> and\u00a0 Crucial P5 NAND M2<\/a>. But you have to also explore the cooling solutions as these drives tend to get very hot and now many come with built in heat sinks.<\/p>\n

Upgrade Graphic Cards<\/h2>\n

The original computer configuration came loaded with a basic graphic card.\u00a0 We upgraded this graphic card\u00a0 to a more powerful Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030<\/a> with 2GB RAM which greatly enhanced the graphic processing power of this computer and allowed us to do many more graphic intensive tasks like video editing for our YouTube channel<\/a>. I think this GPU works very well without needing too much power supply and provides optimal video processing power.<\/p>\n

Increase RAM<\/h2>\n

While 8GB RAM has become a basic standard for any computer on the Windows 10 platform,\u00a0 if you do engage in video editing and lot of image processing tasks,\u00a0 then it is preferable to to upgrade to 16GB RAM so that in combination with the GPU,\u00a0 many of these processor intensive tasks can be performed well.<\/p>\n

This computer came preloaded with 4GB RAM,\u00a0 and we upgraded over the years to 16GB.\u00a0 While upgrading RAM always remember to find all the details of the recommended RAM and it is always preferable to buy the same speed RAM (1333MHz DDR3 in our case) so that there are no conflicting errors while your PC loads.<\/p>\n

An incompatible RAM stick can prevent your computer from starting! Check how many RAM slots are there on your computer,\u00a0 and you can use all of them.\u00a0 but it is also important to check how much maximum RAM your motherboard can support. I checked up the owner\u2019s manual and found that our computer could support max up to 16GB, with 4GB in each slot, so we upgraded to 16GB.<\/p>\n

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If your computer supports faster RAM, the best RAM kit to start would be the Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 3200Mhz<\/a> (8GBx2 – use dual channel support) and you can try higher frequency as well if your PC motherboard supports it.<\/p>\n

Upgrade to Gigabit LAN<\/h2>\n

As we continue to upgrade to gigabit LAN speeds of 1Gbps,\u00a0 old computer network cards might not support that kind of speed,\u00a0 and typically they would support 100 mbps.<\/p>\n

Since our PC had separate extra empty PCI-E slots available on the motherboard,\u00a0 I installed the TP-Link gigabit LAN network card<\/a>, which supported speeds up to 1 Gbps and\u00a0 now we were able to utilize the optimal speeds of an gigabit internet service provider and get value for that money using a high speed LAN connection. I also upgraded to a Cat 6 network cable<\/a>, which is essential to get these speeds.<\/p>\n

If you have a newer motherboard, and intend to use a 10GBps high speed broadband connection in countries like US, then this TP-Link 10GBps Network Card<\/a> will be a future proof option.<\/p>\n

Support High Speed Wifi<\/h2>\n

There was a built in Wi-Fi card in the motherboard when we got this new computer, but it stopped working for some reason.\u00a0 So we also installed the TP-Link AC600 Wi-Fi Adapter<\/a> which allowed the computer to also get high wifi speeds.\u00a0 This was a simple plug and play device and give excellent Wi-Fi speed over 100 mbps.<\/p>\n

If you prefer a more compact version which is plug and play, you can grab the TP-Link AC1300 Nano USB Wifi Adapter<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Add Bluetooth Support<\/h2>\n

My desktop had no Bluetooth support. I also installed the TPLink Bluetooth 5.0 adapter<\/a> to\u00a0 be able to connect via Bluetooth to our mobile phone and laptop easily. This was a simple plug and play device and worked very well connecting to Bluetooth 5.0. Easily transfer data, image and videos over bluetooth.<\/p>\n

Add USB 3 Ports<\/h2>\n

USB 3.0 and USB 3.1\/3.2\u00a0 are the standard USB ports available on computers\u00a0 nowadays allowing superior data transfer speeds. This computer came preloaded with USB 2.0 ports and I used the PCI-E slots on the motherboard to install a super cheap USB 3.0 internal card<\/a>,\u00a0 it provided us\u00a0 2 USB 23.0 ports at the back side of the computer. Very essential to get the USB 3 fast transfer speeds with my new external drives\u00a0 – Sandisk Portable SSD<\/a> and Sandisk USB C Dual drive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you need a more powerful version with multiple USB 3.0 ports and USB C ports as well, you can try this USB 3\/USB C PCI expansion card<\/a> which will give your old PC 5 new USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB C ports.<\/p>\n

Add Multiple Extra Hard Disks\/SSD<\/h2>\n

I also enabled and option to increase my hard disk capacity by installing a Seagate Barracuda 4TB hard disk<\/a> which became very useful for secondary storage as SSD storage costs are still high.\u00a0 SSD was set up for the Windows operating system which allowed for super quick Windows startup and also used for C: Drive for running all Windows applications so that they all opened quickly in a jiffy.\u00a0 This hard disk of high\u00a0 storage capacity came very cheap and we used it to host extra folders with huge file sizes like videos, image library and other assets for the website which occupy a lot of storage space.<\/p>\n

Of course it is slower than a SSD, but does the job and has higher storage for much less price. If you want you can replace it with another SSD as well. instead of the HDD. We used the 5400rpm hard disk drive, but you can choose to install the 7200rpm hard disk drive (like the Seagate Firecuda HDD<\/a>) which will be much faster and reliable. Based on the power supply of the computer, we did not want to overload it and add more hard drives.\u00a0 To add this hard drive I did use a Sata splitter connector which was very useful to add an extra power supply port.<\/p>\n

Upgrade Power Unit<\/h2>\n

My computer power unit\u00a0 was also repeatedly giving trouble and had heating issues due to which I needed to replace the power supply as well.\u00a0 It was previously repaired a few years back and I really needed to put in an excellent power supply so that all the new better computer components could work with\u00a0 optimal performance without any power issues. The Corsair 450W power supply<\/a> was the best choice for my purpose (some DIY PC builders prefer the modular power supply). If you intend to put more PC components they\u00a0 can be power intensive and\u00a0 you will need higher wattage power supply unit to power them.<\/p>\n

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New AV Accessories<\/h2>\n