Upgrading a Dinosaur

[OnComingStorm559]

Hello, I am new to the forum so I just wanted to apologize ahead of time in case this isn't organized well or doesn't have all the info you may need... ANYWAY, onto the why I am here;

 

I currently have an old HP Pavilion g6 laptop that I use to take notes in class or to do work when I am away from my home desktop. I purchased it right around 6-7 years ago, between the release of Windows 8 and 8.1 and even still have the Windows 8 sticker on the bottom (see below for proof). Here are the current specs:

• AMD-A6 4400M APU w/ Radeon HD Graphics
• 2 DDR3 PC3-12800 800MHz RAM modules
• 500 GB HDD

At the time of release my system wasn't blazingly fast, but as years have passed, she hasnt aged well. The boot time can sometimes take upwards of 5 minutes to go from completely off to log-in screen, and up to 10-15+ minutes to boot fully to windows in certain circumstances. CPU is often pinned at ~70-80% use for the first 10-15 minutes of it being turned on. It can semi-often take 5-10 seconds to register that typing in a window is happening. I can barely run games such as Minecraft at any higher than 25-30fps without turning all video quality options to their worst ones and disabling as many options as possible. My battery life under normal use lasts not much more than 1.5-2 hours before needing to be plugged in. Currently, this is my list of what I want to do to try and rectify some of these issues:

• Replace the battery (just gonna buy a new one, no complications here)
• Replace HDD with 500GB or 1TB SSD
• Upgrade CPU, possibly to best available depending on price
• Upgrade memory to faster modules if possible
• Replace speakers

I know I could just buy a whole new laptop to get much faster and nicer everything, but I kinda don't want to. The only way I will get a new one is if it'd cost either roughly the same or less to get a new decent system rather than just replace and upgrade whatever parts I can. I will fully admit that I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to the ins and and outs of hardware and compatibility, especially for laptops, so if some of these things are impossible and I just don't know it, please let me know.

 

Any help/tips would be great, like what board(s) I can use with which processor(s) or what websites to use to find parts at the best price (i.e. newegg, amazon, Ali-Expess, etc.).

 

Thank you so much!!

 

EDIT:

Thank you guys for all this help in such a short time. To clarify a few things:

1. When I said work, I mean general kinds of school/ productivity things; Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visual Studio for programming in C
2. Yes, buying a new computer would be the simpler option and could be cheaper buying a newer used computer, but I probably wont be making all of the upgrades, or at least not all at once. My computer is still functional, it'd just make it easier and more enjoyable.

Oh and uhhhh, sorry if my photo just seems really random, I just find it funny that its still there Honestly post would be fine w/o it, but its just a neat lil' nug IMO

[Lord Mirdalan]

The most important (and nearly only) things to upgrade would be the boot drive and the system memory. Grab an inexpensive SATA SSD, and some DDR3 SODIMM memory. You'll be limited to 8GB of system RAM, according to this page: https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-g6/specs/

 

Good luck!

[Jurrunio]

8 minutes ago, OnComingStorm559 said:

Upgrade CPU, possibly to best available depending on price

I wont bother with this, not like the upgrades are noticeably better either.

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, Lord Mirdalan said:

The most important (and nearly only) things to upgrade would be the boot drive and the system memory. Grab an inexpensive SATA SSD, and some DDR3 SODIMM memory. You'll be limited to 8GB of system RAM, according to this page: https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-g6/specs/

 

Good luck!

Can actually upgrade the CPU though: 

To any of these: 

A good SSD, 8GB RAM, and a new CPU and speakers if you can track them down, should freshen it up real nice. For repasting I'd recommend Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut, it's the best paste you can get and laptops usually need every advantage possible to stay cool enough to perform well (the difference between Kryonaut and cheaper pastes is only a few degrees C, usually doesn't matter on desktops but it makes a difference on many laptops). Only thing better is liquid metal, but I'd steer clear of that, not worth the risk IMO. 

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

I wont bother with this, not like the upgrades are noticeably better either.

Going from a 2.7-3.2Ghz (boost) dual core to a quad core with the same boost should be a noticeable perf increase. 

[dizmo]

Honestly I'd just pay the money to buy a used Lenovo. They're cheap on eBay, and you'll get significantly increased performance.

Or you can look for good deals locally. For instance, I'll be selling my Samsung Series 9 for like $250 because the track pad is temperamental.

[ddennis002]

14 minutes ago, OnComingStorm559 said:

Hello, I am new to the forum so I just wanted to apologize ahead of time in case this isn't organized well or doesn't have all the info you may need... ANYWAY, onto the why I am here;

 

I currently have an old HP Pavilion g6 laptop that I use to take notes in class or to do work when I am away from my home desktop. I purchased it right around 6-7 years ago, between the release of Windows 8 and 8.1 and even still have the Windows 8 sticker on the bottom (see below for proof). Here are the current specs:

• AMD-A6 4400M APU w/ Radeon HD Graphics
• 2 DDR3 PC3-12800 800MHz RAM modules
• 500 GB HDD

At the time of release my system wasn't blazingly fast, but as years have passed, she hasnt aged well. The boot time can sometimes take upwards of 5 minutes to go from completely off to log-in screen, and up to 10-15+ minutes to boot fully to windows in certain circumstances. CPU is often pinned at ~70-80% use for the first 10-15 minutes of it being turned on. It can semi-often take 5-10 seconds to register that typing in a window is happening. I can barely run games such as Minecraft at any higher than 25-30fps without turning all video quality options to their worst ones and disabling as many options as possible. My battery life under normal use lasts not much more than 1.5-2 hours before needing to be plugged in. Currently, this is my list of what I want to do to try and rectify some of these issues:

• Replace the battery (just gonna buy a new one, no complications here)
• Replace HDD with 500GB or 1TB SSD
• Upgrade CPU, possibly to best available depending on price
• Upgrade memory to faster modules if possible
• Replace speakers

I know I could just buy a whole new laptop to get much faster and nicer everything, but I kinda don't want to. The only way I will get a new one is if it'd cost either roughly the same or less to get a new decent system rather than just replace and upgrade whatever parts I can. I will fully admit that I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to the ins and and outs of hardware and compatibility, especially for laptops, so if some of these things are impossible and I just don't know it, please let me know.

 

Any help/tips would be great, like what board(s) I can use with which processor(s) or what websites to use to find parts at the best price (i.e. newegg, amazon, Ali-Expess, etc.).

 

Thank you so much!!

 

I did an upgrade to a family members HP g6 upgraded from an A6 to the A10 and up to 8gb 800mhz total, also put in a 500gb ssd and installed windows 10. 

 

Overall brought a lot of life back into the laptop and works great for everyday web browsing and youtube word processing ect. 

[YoFavRussian]

11 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Honestly I'd just pay the money to buy a used Lenovo. They're cheap on eBay, and you'll get significantly increased performance.

Or you can look for good deals locally. For instance, I'll be selling my Samsung Series 9 for like $250 because the track pad is temperamental.

I agree, you can get some Dell E7440 laptops for around 100-200 dollars. I7-4600U CPU, it's pretty quick.

But as for upgrades, like what everyone else said, SSD, and 8GB of RAM. And if you're feeling adventurous, the CPU could make a difference.

[kirashi]

24 minutes ago, OnComingStorm559 said:

I currently have an old HP Pavilion g6 laptop that ... I purchased it right around 6-7 years ago.

--SNIP--

Currently, this is my list of what I want to do to try and rectify some of these issues:

• Replace the battery (just gonna buy a new one, no complications here)
  • This will help fix a dead / worn out battery, but will not give you more performance.
• Replace HDD with 500GB or 1TB SSD
  • DO NOT "upgrade" to a larger HDD - running an SSD as your boot drive is the ONLY way to go these days.
• Upgrade CPU, possibly to best available depending on price
  • No way to upgrade laptop CPU without replacing the entire board, and since laptop boards are custom designed you can't just transplant any board.
• Upgrade memory to faster modules if possible
  • Won't help increase speed compared to replacing the laptop with a newer model
• Replace speakers
  • Un-tiss un-tiss un-tiss - OK but no, again, laptops don't have great sound to begin with. You'd be better off with ~$100 worth of BlueTooth speaker.

I know I could just buy a whole new laptop to get much faster and nicer everything, but I kinda don't want to. The only way I will get a new one is if it'd cost either roughly the same or less to get a new decent system rather than just replace and upgrade whatever parts I can. I will fully admit that I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to the ins and and outs of hardware and compatibility, especially for laptops, so if some of these things are impossible and I just don't know it, please let me know.

 

Any help/tips would be great, like what board(s) I can use with which processor(s) or what websites to use to find parts at the best price (i.e. newegg, amazon, Ali-Expess, etc.).

My advice: replace the laptop. Seriously, not trolling here. Mobile devices are so custom designed that you're going to have an incredibly hard time finding motherboards from other, better machines that will fit into your laptop's chassis. Why do I say entire motherboards? Because most laptop's don't have replaceable CPU's or GPU's, as they're soldered into their sockets. Plus, by the time you find a replacement board, you could easily rack up half the cost of a newer machine or more.

 

Laptop technology has changes tremendously in the last 3-5 years, so you'd get more value by replacing this 7 year old machine with something new. Tell us how you plan to use it beyond just "notes" and let us know what kind of "work" you need to get done. Paint us a picture of what you want in a laptop vs. what you need/must have and give us a few stores or online websites you're able to buy from where you live, and we can help find a replacement.

[Lord Mirdalan]

 

On 9/12/2019 at 11:29 AM, Zando Bob said:

Can actually upgrade the CPU though:

 

All I have to say...