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#11
Get a GT 1030, and upgrade to 8GB (just buy another 4GB stick).
Trust me, you don't want your system to depend too much on page file when you browse the internet.
Get a GT 1030, and upgrade to 8GB (just buy another 4GB stick).
Trust me, you don't want your system to depend too much on page file when you browse the internet.
Ok, so you run a 32-bit OS and don't play games.
I see no point in upgrading your GPU nor adding another 4GB of RAM. Total waste of money.
Start by switching your system harddrive to an SSD. I bet that is your bottleneck.
I have been running latest Windows 10 on much older hardware and less RAM than yours without issues. Those machines of mine don't even have a dedicated GPU.
Interesting - a totally opposed view from another contributor !!
I just feel that the MB has more to give, but is being restricted. Since I started this thread, I did suddenly realise that I have never used the onboard graphics.
A quick changeover late last night has resulted in a slightly slicker response, less 'drag' - and I feel sure this is a genuine enhancement (rather than a hoped for outcome).
PC now running Intel (R) HD graphics.
As to the memory, I am conscious that the MB will apparently accept up to 16Gb, from this I detect the the manufacturers themselves are telling me something, and I would be foolish to ignore this possible route.
A big thankyou to all who have taken time to give their thoughts - keep them coming.
just don't buy any RAM unless you are going to upgrade OS to 64 bit windows.
32 bit Windows can only handle 4 GB RAM
yu gnomi
Thank you so much for that very relevant information. You have saved me from making an unnecessary and expensive move. I had no idea that 32 bit O/S restricted one in this way.
My grateful thanks to you
They aren't opposing views, some people are gamers and base anything on Graphics cards and SSDs at any cost.
Then you come back essentially saying you are not a gamer and really don't want to spend any money.
Fair enough, but if you move the goal posts you will get other answers.
I'm not entirely sure running Intel HD 2000 graphics is the way to go as that shares some of the 4 GB of RAM you have, reducing that available for applications.
We don't know what applications you run and so on. You say you have 3 Laptops and 2 Desktops one of which you say is home built so you are more than capable of answering your own question with that experience.
Helmut
perhaps a little harsh? and perhaps the word 'opposing' was not the correct term to use.
Nevertheless I have no wish to get into some sort of animosity with you or anyone. Perhaps I should have made it clear at the start that my potential needs were possibly on a budget basis.
Accept that my listing of spec was given at the very outset, and that the enquiry was made in all good faith. This was met with a mini rush of update to the max response, and in the final analysis that 'advice given' proved to be way off. Consider that although I indicated that my PC ran 32 bit o/s - several forumsters said 'add more memory'.
you (I quote) said 'using 32 bit windows and 4Gb ram restricts your performance to an extent' - perhaps I failed to fully take this on board.
But Yu gnomi made the definitive straight comment, by simply saying '32 bit can only handle 4Gb -hooray for such clarity.
This factor I was unaware of, but suitably informed this saved me from spending for no reason or prospect of performance gain.
Hey Skofab!
OK, so first off, your OS is 32bit. Even if the MB accepts 16 Gigs of RAM, the OS limits the RAM to no more than 3.75 Gigs.
That's including Video RAM.
Upgrade to a 64 bit OS and you could then, install more RAM but, since you don't game then, I wouldn't suggest you invest
in another stick of RAM. This is also a problem. You would have to at least match the stick that's already installed by the builder.
It could be a challenge to find another stick of the same values {MHz / DDR?}
Switching to the onboard video setup will also take up some of those RAM cycles meaning that, you are now sharing the total
RAM with the OS AND the video which might slow things down.
All in all, I don't think you should upgrade anything other than the OS for the time being. Get that straight then, come back for more info.
IF it works for what you are doing then, leave it alone. You most likely will run in some kind of problem and will end up here asking why those changes don't work.
Not being harsh, just giving some advice that I had to work out myself in the past.
Flashorn.
Interesting!
I have 2 devices (laptops), both on 64-bit OS and 8GB RAM. Both devices run on integrated graphics. 8GB RAM is more than enough for me for 99% of my tasks, and I do software development and even run a lot of virtual machines. Both laptops has an SSD as system drive, which has boosted performance 10x, if not even more.
Then I also have 2 64-bit desktop computers with only 2GB of RAM. Both run on integrated graphics. They also run smooth and I see absolutely no reason why I should upgrade the GPU or add more RAM at the moment. This might change however if I decide to run different applications or run GPU assisted calculations (which can be 1000x more efficient than on CPU)
For running simple office applications, checking mail and surfing the web, a 32-bit OS and 4GB of RAM is more than enough.
What can slow the system down, is the slower i3 CPU, slow memory timings and a slow and fragmented HDD. Also overheating device, because of dust and simply just old hardware would slow things down a lot. Also a cluttered Windows registry, a lot of installed fonts and a HUGE user profile slows things down a lot.
Many Antivirus Software also slow the system down significantly. Especially many freely available ones as they use a lot of RAM and has slow threat detection algorithms etc...
Having multiple Antimalware applications installed degrades performance significantly. Messing with system applications that mess with the Windows registry can slow things down a lot if not careful.
Having a lot of services running in the background that one does not really need consumes a lot of RAM. I know many who have tons of apps running at all times, even if they are not needed.
Upgrading to a 64-bit OS and adding another 4GB of RAM will not help much, if any. I would gladly go back to a 32-bit OS if all my apps could run there. But this is not the case, so it's not an option for me.
Upgrading the GPU to something with support for a bit newer tech can however make the desktop screen updates feel a bit snappier. But that is quite minimal. Video playback can be quite a lot smoother with a newer GPU, especially if playing on high resolution. So this could be a great reason to upgrade it. But do you need a GTX1030-1080 for that? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Almost any GPU you can purchase today would be more than enough for this system.
EDIT: The other desktop has 4GB of RAM (not 2GB) and it's the slower computer of the 2
Last edited by slicendice; 15 Sep 2017 at 00:03. Reason: A small correction to specs