Upgrading A School PC- Is It Worth It?

[NekoTeagan]

I made a post about a week ago (Read Here) talking about the best upgrade for some school computers that they used for video editing, but were very slow. The teacher asked me what the fix was, and I'm trying to come up with the cheapest solution possible. 

 

Here's a rundown of the issues:

 

Physical Problems:

 

I think this was something that the school ordered pre-built, based on the case and the motherboard. I was trying to figure out what exactly the deal with the MOBO was, as it had two RAM slots- but seemed larger than a standard mini ATX board (the only other standard that supports that RAM layout). The only other thing I can think of is that it’s a custom built board for this case? The computer was obviously not built for heavy work loads, like editing- but I don’t think the person who modified it realized. My theory is that after ordering this prebuilt, they pulled out the old GPU and replaced it with a 1070. (They had actually cut out pieces of metal to fit the new card). The also put it a cheap SSD as a boot drive and a new stick of RAM.  

 

Other Problems:

 

• 60-100% CPU Usage Idle
• 50-80% Memory Usage Idle
• Awful Thermals (Most likely thermal throttling constantly) 

 

What's the best way to fix this without spending money? I told them to install graphics drivers and and remove all the junk from the system. Is there anything else?

 

If we could spend money, I gave my teacher this spec list: 

 

CPU: AMD RYZEN 5 2600 6-Core 3.4 GHz / Link

SSD: Sabrent Rocket Q 500GB NVMe (Still Looking Into Other Options) / Link

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) / Link

Motherboard: GIGABYTE B450M DS3H AM4 AMD B450 / Link

Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L Micro ATX Tower / Link

 

Is this a decent spec list for what we're trying to accomplish?

 

Thanks everyone!

 

SIDE NOTE: 

This is the current computer's spec list (anything that isn't listed I was unable to get the name of):

 

Intel Core i5-4460S @ 2.90 GHz

GeForce GTX 1070

8.0 GB DDR3 Memory (1 x Stock RAM, 1 x Hyper X Fury DDR3)

Kingston SA400S37120G

[TukangUsapEmenq]

 

8 minutes ago, NekoTeagan said:

Well, no wonder it's constantly thermal-throttling.

Clean it, re-paste it, probably get the quality one like MX-4, for Riley's rumble sake.

 

And as for others, probably a clean install would be good. It's kind of decent specs for little editing actually. At least just for 720-1080p video.

Edited October 22, 2020 by dhannemon13
Well, no any helpful advices before. I even linked Riley' part of this.

[Parideboy]

15 minutes ago, NekoTeagan said:

Intel Core i5-4460S @ 2.90 GHz

GeForce GTX 1070

8.0 GB DDR3 Memory (1 x Stock RAM, 1 x Hyper X Fury DDR3)

Kingston SA400S37120G

This is a decent system, I've got something similar and I'm nowhere near that cpu utilization.

Same ram btw lol

 

What I would do:

1. if this is an OEM system, reinstall a fresh copy of Windows using the OEM key. Not a refresh, not a restore. A clean install with the ISO provided by Microsoft. That will get rid of all the hidden services that OEMs put on their machines, especially Dell.
2. for the love of god, that AV. It's most likely the cause of the system slowdown. If there are no particular policies in place, I'll suggest to use Windows Defender instead, since it's pretty decent and has a minimal impact on performance. Security should be achieved on a network level anyways.
3. Make sure the sys Admin (or whoever is in charge of this task in your school) sets some policies regarding Windows Updates. Either schedule them during the weekend or disable them outright.
4. I would reapply some TIM, at least on the CPU

This should definitely help.

 

As a bonus, if you really have to spend any money, grab another stick of matching ram and an SSD (any with dram should do)

[TukangUsapEmenq]

6 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

for the love of god, that AV. It's most likely the cause of the system slowdown. If there are no particular policies in place, I'll suggest to use Windows Defender instead, since it's pretty decent and has a minimal impact on performance.

And I would agree with this. No matter how expensive/'good' antivirus is, some stupid people that downloads the wrong file or plugged in a malware-infected flash drive would ended all the same anyway. Windows 10's Defender are actually really good that I never installed any kind of 3rd party AV anymore on a lot PCs/laptops I installed.

 

6 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

As a bonus, if you really have to spend any money, grab another stick of matching ram and an SSD (any with dram should do)

I actually wanna advice this on my post above, but I thought 8 GB would be fine for light-editing (720-1080p video) I thought (at least on me). 16 GBs would be kind of overkill for that system.

 

I personally using 8 GB laptop and it would idling at 30-50% RAM (and 62% right now, with 22 Vivaldi tabs opened), which is actually fine.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

2 minutes ago, dhannemon13 said:

And I would agree with this. No matter how expensive/'good' antivirus is, some stupid people that downloads the wrong file or plugged in a malware-infected flash drive would ended all the same anyway. Windows 10's Defender are actually really good that I never installed any kind of 3rd party AV anymore on a lot PCs/laptops I installed.

Yeah, I just uninstalled 3 diffrent antivitus services from my grangparents computer b/c of how good windows defender is now. And, guess what? It is a lot faster now!

[TukangUsapEmenq]

Just now, HelpfulTechWizard said:

3 diffrent antivitus services

Okay, Riley. Rumble again, please.

[SweatyWhiteJedi]

You say it is running a kingston ssd but in the photos I see green PCB on that drive so it looks like a HDD instead of an ssd is the os on the kingston ssd? 

[Parideboy]

10 minutes ago, dhannemon13 said:

And I would agree with this. No matter how expensive/'good' antivirus is, some stupid people that downloads the wrong file or plugged in a malware-infected flash drive would ended all the same anyway. Windows 10's Defender are actually really good that I never installed any kind of 3rd party AV anymore on a lot PCs/laptops I installed.

Exactly. Even if Windows Defender was junk, it's integrated in the os. It will always be faster.

 

10 minutes ago, dhannemon13 said:

I actually wanna advice this on my post above, but I thought 8 GB would be fine for light-editing (720-1080p video) I thought (at least on me). 16 GBs would be kind of overkill for that system.

Yeah, it was more an advice for the future. With less then 100$ they can still keep those machines around for years if they want to

 

1 minute ago, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

You say it is running a kingston ssd but in the photos I see green PCB on that drive so it looks like a HDD instead of an ssd is the os on the kingston ssd? 

Big oof on my end, I thought that was a HDD, even tho it looks like one from the photos

[NekoTeagan]

5 minutes ago, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

You say it is running a kingston ssd but in the photos I see green PCB on that drive so it looks like a HDD instead of an ssd is the os on the kingston ssd? 

I never took any pictures of the SSD, it's basically just kinda floating around in the system lol, but yeah it has two HDDs, I'm 90% sure they're using the SSD as a boot drive 

[TukangUsapEmenq]

6 minutes ago, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

You say it is running a kingston ssd but in the photos I see green PCB on that drive so it looks like a HDD instead of an ssd is the os on the kingston ssd? 

 

5 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

Big oof on my end, I thought that was a HDD, even tho it looks like one from the photos

Well, mystery solved. Indeed probably that's a HDD.

Spoiler

 

[SweatyWhiteJedi]

1 minute ago, NekoTeagan said:

I never took any pictures of the SSD, it's basically just kinda floating around in the system lol, but yeah it has two HDDs, I'm 90% sure they're using the SSD as a boot drive 

Is the purpose of the HDD for video editing storage? That could cause a lot of slow down and in task manager when there's 2 drives it adds them together in terms of percentage used so that drive could be causing the slow down. 

 

[SweatyWhiteJedi]

Just now, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

Is the purpose of the HDD for video editing storage? That could cause a lot of slow down and in task manager when there's 2 drives it adds them together in terms of percentage used so that drive could be causing the slow down. 

 

I would put the money into a 250-500gb ssd and make it the primary/only drive in the system to ensure that there is plenty of fast storage and no option for user error. If a virus scan is running on that HDD it can also cause some issues. 

[NekoTeagan]

Just now, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

Is the purpose of the HDD for video editing storage? That could cause a lot of slow down and in task manager when there's 2 drives it adds them together in terms of percentage used so that drive could be causing the slow down. 

 

Honestly I have no idea why they have two, in task manager a second one doesn't even show up, so I don't think it's even being utilized- there was a stock one that came with the original pre-built and then they put a second one in- for some reason?

[TukangUsapEmenq]

3 minutes ago, SweatyWhiteJedi said:

Is the purpose of the HDD for video editing storage? That could cause a lot of slow down and in task manager when there's 2 drives it adds them together in terms of percentage used so that drive could be causing the slow down. 

 

I did use a SSD+HDD (HDD died unfortunately) combo. That HDD won't slow the system by that much, except if you're actually running something of it.

 

Or, except if those HDDs are bad. It's hurting the whole PC performance (even unused) very much. Check the SMART status using HWInfo or else to be sure.

[NekoTeagan]

1 minute ago, dhannemon13 said:

I did use a SSD+HDD (HDD died unfortunately) combo. That HDD won't slow the system by that much, except if you're actually running something of it.

 

Or, except if those HDDs are bad. Check the SMART status using HWInfo or else to be sure.

I tried checking HW Info, but the administrator blocked the application from being launched lol 

[TukangUsapEmenq]

1 minute ago, NekoTeagan said:

Honestly I have no idea why they have two, in task manager a second one doesn't even show up, so I don't think it's even being utilized- there was a stock one that came with the original pre-built and then they put a second one in- for some reason?

Loose connector on the drive? Probably still unpartitioned (one reason it's not showing up, as EVERY single of drive should showing up on the task manager, even it's an external one). Or it's just basically dead and just hanging there?

[SweatyWhiteJedi]

Just now, NekoTeagan said:

I tried checking HW Info, but the administrator blocked the application from being launched lol 

try unplugging the HDD and restart and see how everything runs

 

[TukangUsapEmenq]

2 minutes ago, NekoTeagan said:

I tried checking HW Info, but the administrator blocked the application from being launched lol 

Try reinstall the PC first maybe, it would solve 80% of the slow PC problems most efficiently.

But, for real. Open that CPU cooler and clean it using compressed air. That's the main source of your awful temperature.

[NekoTeagan]

Just now, dhannemon13 said:

Try reinstall the PC first maybe, it would solve 80% of the slow PC problems most efficiently.

Yeah, I'll have to get administrator access and then go from there

[Parideboy]

On another note, you can disable the page file on the HDDs and only leave it enabled on the SSD.