Upgrade my 1st owned PC "i5 4460"

Myk · May 16, 2020

Hi there, I'm Myk and I'm from the Philippines. Any suggestion how would I upgrade my old PC with a $200 budget. I'm a web graphic designer and since it's lockdown I forced to use my old pc to do some wfh work with my current company. I didn't usually do this since I had a powerful workstation back at my office but since it's lockdown I had no choice but to use my old PC. Thanks in advance.

PC Specs:

CPU: I5 4460 3.2 Ghz

RAM: Kingston Hyper X 2 x 4gb (8gb)

MOBO: Asus H81m-a

VIDEO CARD: On-board Intel HD 4600

STORAGE: 2 x 500gb Seagate Barracuda

PSU: Generic 500w

Legolessed · May 16, 2020

12 minutes ago, Myk said:

Hi there, I'm Myk and I'm from the Philippines. Any suggestion how would I upgrade my old PC with a $200 budget. I'm a web graphic designer and since it's lockdown I forced to use my old pc to do some wfh work with my current company. I didn't usually do this since I had a powerful workstation back at my office but since it's lockdown I had no choice but to use my old PC. Thanks in advance.

PC Specs:

CPU: I5 4460 3.2 Ghz

RAM: Kingston Hyper X 2 x 4gb (8gb)

MOBO: Asus H81m-a

VIDEO CARD: On-board Intel HD 4600

STORAGE: 2 x 500gb Seagate Barracuda

PSU: Generic 500w

this is a lot of speculation since I don't know what web design uses in terms of CPU, GPU, and RAM resources but getting a dedicated graphics card can go a long way. Intels HD 4600 graphics are not the best and even a budget GPU would outperform it by a mile. Another thing to consider is buying an SSD. No matter what, putting your operating system on an SSD will make your computer feel way faster, if possible just make sure the SSD has a Dram cache. Thats pretty much everything I can think of at the moment but if i can help any more feel free to quote, @, or message me!

I hope I helped!

Myk · May 17, 2020

18 hours ago, Legolessed said:

this is a lot of speculation since I don't know what web design uses in terms of CPU, GPU, and RAM resources but getting a dedicated graphics card can go a long way. Intels HD 4600 graphics are not the best and even a budget GPU would outperform it by a mile. Another thing to consider is buying an SSD. No matter what, putting your operating system on an SSD will make your computer feel way faster, if possible just make sure the SSD has a Dram cache. Thats pretty much everything I can think of at the moment but if i can help any more feel free to quote, @, or message me!

I hope I helped!

Thanks for your response, my PC became sluggish when I use both photoshop and illustrator and not responding at all and I'm sorry but I didn't mention that I also fo some basic video editing with adobe premiere and after effects. Anyway thanks a lot for your help.

Myk · May 17, 2020

Any known SSD with DRAM cache?

Legolessed · May 21, 2020

On 5/16/2020 at 6:01 PM, Myk said:

Any known SSD with DRAM cache?

im not an expert on SSD's and you might find better deals if your willing to risk it, but since I dont want to recommend something im not sure of in terms of advertised speed here are a few brands and examples of SSD's from them. Also the onyl way to know if an SSD has a DRAM cache is by looking at the PCB of the SSD and seeing a controller chip usually in the center of the memory chips IIRC (again im not an expert, sorry)

Here are a few I found though:

Western Digital: https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-blue-250gb/p/N82E16820250086

Crucial: https://www.newegg.com/crucial-bx500-240gb/p/N82E16820156187?Item=N82E16820156187

Kingston: https://www.newegg.com/kingston-a400-120gb/p/N82E16820242399

Samsung: https://www.newegg.com/samsung-860-evo-series-1tb/p/N82E16820147673

Again im not an expert on this and these are the more reputable brands. I personally have a Silicon Power SSD and I haven't really noticed any slow performance but others say they are a little slower (especially when they get near full) which i ahve noticed, but if you leave the SSD some empty space to breath with and are ok with them not lasting as long (though i have had mine for 2 years and its been working perfectly well) then Silicon Power might be anpther brand to choose from:

https://www.newegg.com/silicon-power-ace-a55-1tb/p/N82E16820301382

Im wary about absolutely recommending Silicon Power because they aren't a "tried and true" brand but in my experience they have been good enough

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions feel free to ask me!