How can I speed up my desktop performance?

[Jamsarudheen]

How can I speed up my desktop's performance? please give me suggestions
It's very slow now. I have email, Whatsapp, browsing, Word, and Excel open at the same time for work.

Hard disk: 512 GB; RAM: 4 GB; Windows 10 Pro. Intel processor i5-3470 CPU 3.20 Ghz, 64 bit OS

 

[root]

How can I speed up my desktop's performance? please give me suggestions
It's very slow now. I have email, Whatsapp, browsing, Word, and Excel open at the same time for work.

Hard disk: 512 GB; RAM: 4 GB; Windows 10 Pro. Intel processor i5-3470 CPU 3.20 Ghz, 64 bit OS

Hi @Jamsarudheen, welcome to CF.

The specs you listed aren't the newest, but I would expect should still perform fairly comfortably.

4GB of RAM is on the low side these days for multitasking, so if possible I would suggest considering upgrading the RAM to 8 or 16GB.

If the hard disk you mention is the traditional type, i.e a spinning metal disk that you can hear working, upgrading this will make a huge difference to the system's responsiveness. SSDs are a lot cheaper than they used to be, though in my opinion it pays to stick to name brands i.e Sandisk, Samsung, Western Digital etc.

 

[Jamsarudheen]

Yes, HDD is spinning metal disk

 

[root]

Yes, HDD is spinning metal disk

In which case I'd definately suggest you start here in regards to upgrades.

Here's a few I've picked out that should fairly closely match your existing hard disk, and would likely be a case of simply replacing the hard disk (on most desktops you could also keep it installed for backups and to ease transferring your data).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-A400-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B01N0TQPQB/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT480BX500SSD1-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B07G3KGYZQ

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-PLUS-Sata-Inch-Internal/dp/B01F9G46Q8/

You will need to reinstall Windows 10 & your software onto the new SSD and perhaps change the boot order in your BIOS Settings but this isn't particularly difficult to achieve.

The SSD alone should make a big difference to system performance, but to "go for gold" and get the most out of your system I would suggest upgrading your RAM to 8 or 16GB.

The CPU, while around a decade old, is fairly unlikely to be the bottleneck for browsing/office based tasks.

If you don't want to spend any money at all, it would at least be worth removing the case and checking inside of the machine. Any dust build up around the fans/heatsink could be causing the system to overheat and throttle back. If you do upgrade your components, it makes sense to give things a clean while you're in there/

 

[Jamsarudheen]

Can I simply replace the RAM myself by buying it from Amazon? When I call a technician, he said that the category of existing RAM should be checked before changing. Is that right? or I can change

 

[root]

Can I simply replace the RAM myself by buying it from Amazon? When I call a technician, he said that the category of existing RAM should be checked before changing. Is that right? or I can change

You will indeed need to ensure the RAM is compatible with your system.Yours will likely be DDR3.
Do you know the make/model of the computer or is it a custom built system?

If all else fails you can use the Crucial memory scanner:

Crucial System Scanner | Memory Upgrade Scanner | Crucial

Upgrade your system storage with our range of solid state drives. Find prices, specs and customer reviews to help choose the best device for you.

uk.crucial.com

This will tell you what RAM your system can support. You don't necessarily have to stick to Crucial RAM - once you know the type, slot style and speed of RAM you can purchase another brand if it's cheaper.

 

[#cliff#]

ensure that you have the latest windows updates and drivers

 

[Jamsarudheen]

I appreciate your prompt response.
when I check with crucial scanner, result is as showing in the attachments.

 

[root]

Perfect. So, your system could take up to 32GB of RAM.

I'd argue that's probably a little excessive for your use, no point spending money if you're not going to get the benefit.

RAM is ideally installed in matched pairs. You've a couple of options:

1) Buy 2x 2GB sticks to match what you currently have. That will take you up to 8GB of RAM. This is the cheapest option
2) Buy 2 4GB sticks to upgrade to 8GB, or buy 4 to upgrade to 16GB.

I wouldn't go beyond 16GB personally.

The above might sound a bit confusing but here's what I've found - RAM kits where you get 2x sticks included.

These should be compatible with your machine, but occasionally you can get weird incompatibilities - sometimes it's trial and error somewhat unfortunately. However I have found a couple of options that should work fine with your machine as they match what you currently have.

Note I've never heard of "Duomeiqi" but usually the chips come from one of only a few factories that make it and for most use cases it should be fine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DUOMEIQI-1600MHz-PC3-12800-Unbuffered-Compatible/dp/B07B9SSM4X - 8GB

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DUOMEIQI-1600MHz-PC3-12800-Non-ECC-Unbuffered/dp/B08NJRXVW2 - 16GB

Installing the RAM is fairly easy, but you have to be a little more delicate than you would with the SSD so if you're not 100% comfortable working around electronics it may be worth getting a professional to do this - ask how much they would charge for RAM or try a couple of local retailers. I'm searching Amazon UK but if you're outside of the UK this might not be suitable.