These are the posts I enjoy writing the most. How and what should I upgrade in my PC to have maximum performance in gaming and productivity.
Don’t get me wrong though.
I have an unbiased love for technology. But there is something about technology that is modular and gives me the control to know and tweak precisely how a machine will work.
With smartphones things are simple.
You have a box. 😛
Either you like it or don’t like it. Yes, you can have apps suiting your needs.
But that’s it.
For those who like to tinker with stuff, building your own PC, diagnosing your PC and upgrading your computer depending on what you need in terms of gaming and productivity holds special appeal.
So if you are wondering “What should I upgrade on my PC?“In this post, I am going to guide you on which upgrades will improve your PC performance the most.
It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to upgrade your computer for gaming or tasks like video editing.
The underlying principle is the same, the only difference is, you have to choose parts that support the task that you wish your PC to do.
Therefore I urge you to go through this post on how to build your own PC where I cover comprehensively how to choose different parts of a computer.
So without any further ado, let’s see how should you upgrade your PC for gaming, enhanced performance, and productivity.
Upgrading RAM On Your PC For Improving Performance
If you ask anyone who has little knowledge of computers as to how to increase the speed and performance of a PC;
In a fraction of second, will you get the answer get more RAM.
While most definitely the answer isn’t wrong but it is basically incomplete.
Although I talked about this in great lengths on how to free up more RAM on your Windows PC10 Effective Ways To Free Up RAM On Your Windows Computer but looking at the context, it’s imperative I mention some aspects here.
A computer’s memory or RAM is that part of your system that holds programs, applications, and processes that are currently running on your computer.
So installing more RAM on your computer will give more space for your programs to function in real-time.
So if your computer is continuously giving you an error like “system is running low on virtual memory” you will most definitely see visible performance improvements on your PC.
But the improvements that you are going to see by just upgrading system memory will not be the maximum performance that your computer can get.
It will get clear what I mean when you read on.
So by all means get more RAM or system memory for your PC but don’t stop there.
Check out Amazon’s bestseller list of computer memory to take your pick.
Note: Ensure that the RAM that you are picking is compatible with your motherboard. Download your motherboard instruction manual to see the list of compatible memory.
- Hand-sorted memory chips ensure high performance with generous overclocking headroom
- VENGEANCE LPX is optimized for wide compatibility with the latest Intel and AMD DDR4 motherboards
- A low-profile height of just 34mm ensures that VENGEANCE LPX even fits in most small-form-factor builds
- A solid aluminum heatspreader efficiently dissipates heat from each module so that they consistently run at high clock speeds
- Supports Intel XMP 2.0 for simple one-setting installation and setup
- Plug-and-play high performance. Downclock capable for systems that only support 3000MHz or 2666MHz
- Universal compatibility. Compatible with 8th–13th Gen Intel Core or AMD Ryzen 1000–5000 Series desktop CPUs
- Supports Intel XMP 2.0 to recover memory speed if the CPU suppresses it in 4 DIMM configurations
- Game at higher frame rates, multitask better, enhance productivity, save time and money
- ECC type = non-ECC, form factor = UDIMM, pin count = 288-pin, PC speed = PC5-25600, voltage = 1.2V, rank and configuration = 2Rx8
- Hand-sorted memory chips ensure high performance with generous overclocking headroom
- VENGEANCE LPX is optimized for wide compatibility with the latest Intel and AMD DDR4 motherboards
- A low-profile height of just 34mm ensures that VENGEANCE LPX even fits in most small-form-factor builds
- A solid aluminum heatspreader efficiently dissipates heat from each module so that they consistently run at high clock speeds
- Supports Intel XMP 2.0 for simple one-setting installation and setup
How Much RAM Do You Really Need?
While getting more RAM in your system will provide performance boost to your PC.
Especially if you are looking to run heavy resource-based tasks like video editing and gaming the more the merrier.
Although an important question to address here is how much RAM should you get?
There are way too many opinions on this and the topic has enough potential for a separate post.
But here let me keep things simple and give you directly the most accepted standard for PC builds in 2020 and beyond.
- I know many will say that 4 GB is enough. But I don’t necessarily agree with that. I mean sure if you are looking to run lightweight apps, a few browser tabs and some video streaming and general use like that. But here we are looking to upgrade your PC for gaming. Therefore,
- I recommend a minimum of 8 GB of RAM if you want to game smoothly at decent settings. This will support multi-tasking and heavy resource-oriented tasks like photo editing.
- If you are serious about gaming and multithreaded tasks like video editing, I highly recommend upgrading your PC to 16 GB of RAM.
If you are confused what RAM will be compatible with your PC don’t worry.
Either you can refer your motherboard’s manual to see the list of compatible RAMs.
Or
You can go to this crucial’s website that has a PC upgrade advisor tool which will help you to precisely locate what memory you need.
2. Upgrading Your Graphics Card For Improving Your Gaming Performance
This is probably the most exciting and not to mention the easiest upgrade you can do to improve the graphical performance of your PC.
Why am I calling this exciting because only after you have done this upgrade will you be able to enjoy the games you have been holding on for.
Easy because choosing a graphics card is relatively easier.
Still, I have created a whole post dedicated on how to choose the best graphics card for your PC here.
If you look at PC build from a manufacturer’s perspective skipping a graphics card for an integrated one is a popular approach to cost-cutting.
But you can’t blame them because not everyone who needs a computer necessarily needs to have discreet graphics card in their PC.
And with the advancements, we have been seeing in the fabrication process modern integrated graphics are good a wide domain of users.
The integrated graphics card you find today will be enough for you to run apps like photoshop and even watch 4k video.
There are players on steam who are even gaming on integrated graphics.
But that is the extent to which I think you should stretch their use.
If you want to ramp up the graphical performance of your computer for tasks such as gaming, VR, and 3D modeling, getting a good graphics card like the 5700XT is a must upgrade.
Recommended
- Powered by 7nm Radeon rdna architecture
- Accelerated game fidelity with Radeon image sharpening & fidelity fx
- Immersive gaming experience with free sync & free sync 2 HDR technology
- Wind force 3x with alternate spinning fans & 5 direct touch copper heat pipes
- Intuitive controls with AORUS engine
Other Best Sellers On Amazon
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB GDDR6 dedicated graphics card
- 1710 MHz GPU clock speed and 1807 MHz memory clock speed
- DisplayPort x 3 (v1.4a) and HDMI 2.1 x 1 output interfaces
- 7680 x 4320 maximum display resolution
- Powered by NVIDIA DLSS3, ultra-efficient Ada Lovelace arch, and full ray tracing
- 4th Generation Tensor Cores: Up to 4x performance with DLSS 3 vs. brute-force rendering
- 3rd Generation RT Cores: Up to 2x ray tracing performance
- OC edition: Boost Clock 2550 MHz (OC Mode)/ 2520 MHz (Default Mode)
- Axial-tech fan design features a smaller fan hub that facilitates longer blades and a barrier ring that increases downward air pressure
- Powered by NVIDIA DLSS 3, ultra-efficient Ada Lovelace architechture, and full ray tracing
- 4th Generation Tensor Cores: Up to 4x performance with DLSS 3
- 3rd Generation RT Cores: Up to 2x ray tracing performance
- Powered by GeForce RTX 4060
- Integrated with 8GB GDDR6 128-bit memory interface
3. Upgrading Your PC With A Faster Storage Drive.
Believe it or not, I was waiting to get to this segment. 😛
Well, here I am.
Why was I waiting?
Well, because of the simple fact that if there is one upgrade that will boost your PC responsiveness the most is getting a fast SSD into your computer.
Allow me to explain, your PC speed and responsiveness will always be limited by the slowest link.
And guess which is the slowest link possibly in your PC.
Ideally, see if you can get a 1 TB or more Solid state drive for your PC.
But if you want to keep things in the budget do what I did with the PC I build on this blog.
Get a 1 TB or more mechanical hard driveand append it with a 500 Gb or 1 Tb solid-state drive.
I am listing all the recommended products below.
Recommended Solid State Drives.
Recommended Mechanical hard Drives.
- Store more, compute faster, and do it confidently with the proven reliability of BarraCuda internal hard drives
- Build a powerhouse gaming computer or desktop setup with a variety of capacities and form factors
- The go-to SATA hard drive solution for nearly every PC application—from music to video to photo editing to PC gaming
- Confidently rely on internal hard drive technology backed by 20 years of innovation
- Note: Graphics May Vary and Size (3.5") refer to the size of the data platters not the size of the hard drive mechanism.Specific uses: Personal
- Store more, compute faster, and do it confidently with the proven reliability of BarraCuda internal hard drives
- Build a powerhouse gaming computer or desktop setup with a variety of capacities and form factors
- The go to SATA hard drive solution for nearly every PC application—from music to video to photo editing to PC gaming
- Confidently rely on internal hard drive technology backed by 20 years of innovation
- Store more, compute faster, and do it confidently with the proven reliability of BarraCuda internal hard drives
- Build a powerhouse gaming computer or desktop setup with a variety of capacities and form factors
- The go to SATA hard drive solution for nearly every PC application from music to video to photo editing to PC gaming
- Confidently rely on internal hard drive technology backed by 20 years of innovation; Max sustained transfer rate OD(MB/s): 190 MB/s
You will have a hard time believing the incredible performance boost you will see after you install a solid-state drive independently or in combination with hard drives.
Installing a high-performance SSD will mean faster boot times, fast program loading times, faster game loading times, and overall increased responsiveness.
The great thing about solid-state drives is the fact that their price has been gradually decreasing over time.
A couple of years back people saw the incredible benefits of having a solid-state drive in their computer but were restricted by the price point.
Thankfully, we have been seeing a continuous decrease in price point and you can get high quality 1 TB SSDs at affordable prices now.
One great pick that balances the price and performance in a neat sense is the Sandisk SSD Plus.
This should be more than enough for most people who can’t afford the more pricey options displayed above.
- Easy upgrade for faster boot up, shutdown, application load and response (As compared to 5400 RPM SATA 2.5” hard drive; Based on published specifications and internal benchmarking tests using PCMark vantage scores).Computer Platform:PC.Specific uses: Business, personal
- Boosts burst write performance, making it ideal for typical PC workloads
- The perfect balance of performance and reliability
- Read/write speeds of up to 535MB/s/450MB/s (Based on internal testing; Performance may vary depending upon drive capacity, host device, OS and application.)
- Shock resistant for proven durability: Even if you drop your computer (Shock resistant (up to 1500G) and vibration resistant (5gRMS, 10 2000 HZ/4.9 gRMS, 7 800 HZ), temperature (from 0 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius))
4. Upgrading Your Processor For Enhancing Your PC’s Performance
Ok, so we are now entering into more technical aspects of upgrading your computer.
Most of the upgrades we discussed until now did not require a lot of skill manship from the user’s part.
Upgrading a CPU can be a bit tricky.
I am not saying it’s tough or you shouldn’t do it.
All I am saying is understand the simple fact that while upgrading a CPU will upgrade your PC to a higher performance benchmark but upgrading CPU may not be all that essential for you on a subjective basis.
Ah, I need to make that clear.
First off, if you wish to know in-depth as to how to go about choosing the best CPU for your needs, go ahead and open this post in a new tab and bask in the glory of knowledge. 😛
So before you go ahead and look to decide whether you should upgrade to a new CPU or not, ask this question to yourselves.
What do I want my computer to do after the upgrade?
If the answer to your question is, “I have a fairly new motherboard and the current system is limiting my multi-threaded tasks like video editing and I wish to gain more performance on these tasks.”
So If that is your answer, then yes you have the necessary technical knowledge to look into upgrading your CPU to a newer and higher version with more cores and threads.
If your answer is,”I just want my computer to be more responsive and game better”.
Than wait.
Hold on.
You may not necessarily need to upgrade your CPU
CPUs are expensive. And CPUs are fast. The fastest performing elements in your PC.
That is why when you are looking to upgrade your PC as a whole you are looking to upgrade to parts that will match the CPU properly.
Now, upgrading the CPU from one generation to its next-generation or moving from i3 to i5 may not necessarily provide you with the performance boost that you will see in the other upgrades that we discussed above.
Learn this by heart when you are browsing in the CPU world, Faster Clock Speeds Doesn’t Mean Better CPU.
Again go to this post for in-depth understanding of clock speeds.
To add to all this, looking to get a new CPU may force you to look into upgrading your motherboard.
Because the new CPU that you may be eyeing may not be compatible with your present motherboard.
And even if the new CPU is compatible with your motherboard you may need to update the BIOS of your motherboard for the new CPU to work.
Do you see what I am saying?
So look closely into your needs whether you will be okay without the CPU upgrade or not.
And if it so happens that you find it is your CPU that is bottlenecking your system;
You just might have to consider building a whole new PC for yourselves.
5. Upgrading Your System Softwares To Improve PC Performance
It’s not only hardware upgrades that promise a better PC.
It’s also the insides of the computer that deserves a look.
Most of the software that you have on your computer will get updated automatically, but sometimes you need to look out for outdated software that may create conflict and degrade the performance of your PC.
This includes updating your Windows OS as well.
A good way I found that will ensure that you keep your software and its update in check is to be very conscious of what you are installing and install only what is needed.
For example, I don’t have any anti-virus software installed on any of my computers.
More often than not heavy software like those can and will slow down your computer.
Then how do I protect my PCs.
Well, you don’t need to.
If you are conscious with your browsing, avoid shady sites, download from trustworthy sources and run a light effective software like the Malwarebytes occasionally, and when you feel something isn’t right.
You are set.
And not to mention that the Windows Defender is getting pretty good to at catching unwanted insurgents by the day.
So my advice is to keep your PC healthy by feeding him healthy foods and giving him proper exercises.
Don’t feed him anything and everything you find on the internet. That’s how you get constipated.
You see what I a saying?
Sometimes Windows OS updates can also slow down your PC.
Usually, this happens with the big version updates that Windows rolls out.
The incremental and minor security and performance patches will usually stabilize your system and won’t cause any performance issues.
Many people set their system on manual updates and let the big updates reach them only when they know it’s been patched so as to not affect the performance.
For an average user, I don’t recommend it.
If you are handling other aspects of your PC right, any issues caused by updates will usually be taken care of by subsequent patches.
Other Upgrades You Can Look Into.
Many of you might be wondering what about the motherboard?
Can I not upgrade my motherboard?
Well, here is the thing.
The motherboard is that part of the computer where everything settles in.
The only reason why you should consider upgrading your motherboard is that you found a CPU that you can’t live without and which isn’t compatible with your new setup.
This means somewhere within you are basically ready to build your own brand new PC.
But just getting a new motherboard to upgrade your PC isn’t a good idea looking at the fact that the performance increase you will have as a result of a new CPU won’t be all that observable (exceptions exist on a subjective basis).
There may also be certain subtle upgrades you can look forward to.
Having a dual or triple monitor setup if you are a video editor or a photographer can be a very sensible step.
If you are looking for something that is reliable and budget-friendly check this monitor out.
If you by wrong recommendations grabbed a faulty power supply, getting a modular high-quality power supply unit like this one is a great idea.
- COMPACT SIZE - 140 MM DEEP; High power output to size ratio.
- SEMI-MODULAR; The semi-modular cabling design provides the most common connections while allowing flexibility on the peripherals.
- 80 PLUS GOLD; 87% efficient at 20% load, 90% efficient at 50% load, and 87% efficient at 100% load.
- 120 mm FLUID DYNAMIC BEARING FAN; The 120 mm FDB fan inside is regulated by the Seasonic S2FC fan control, which optimizes the fan speed according to the needs of the system.
- 7 YEAR WARRANTY; Our commitment to superior quality.
If you are a writer or programmer getting your hands on a quiet mechanical gaming cum typing keyboard like this one will improve your productivity.
- Pure performance QX2 linear mechanical gaming switches
- Durable 5000 Series aluminum alloy
- Real time Discord in game lighting notifications
- Easy and intuitive per key RGB lighting customization
- Reactive illumination to in game events like low ammo, health, kills, and more
You see how you can look at different facets to upgrade your PC for performance and productivity.
Some of them will be obvious updates that we discussed over the course of this post.
And some of those upgrades can be made on a personal basis.
Therefore, I want you to be very intelligent in making PC upgrades.
Don’t just pick something because your favourite reviewer says its good.
See what you need and research for yourselves and get it, as simple as that.
Checking Compatibility Of PC Upgrades.
So, in conclusion, is you are looking to upgrade your PC for improved performance I recommend directing your focus on RAM, SSDs and graphics card primarily.
It’s like this the PC that you have has a peak performance dictated by its CPU which is not utilized owing to slower parts.
These parts that I mention will fill that gap in performance and that is the extent to which you can upgrade your PC.
If you wish to go beyond that, save up and build the best performing PC with respect to the current times when you have sufficient monies.
In order to ensure that the parts you are picking are compatible with all other parts visit pc part picker.
I mean eventually, you will be able to do it on your own but till then pc part picker and r/buildapc are great resources.
Alright with that said, we are at the end of this post on how should you upgrade your PC for gaming and productivity.
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it.
If you have anything to add, anything at all, do not shy away from commenting that out in the comments section.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel and this blog so that I can share helpful posts like these on a daily basis.
Take great care of yourselves and I will see you in the next one.
Tada!!.
