Uppgradering a PC

[TheNoKnowingNoob]

Sooooooo I got this prebuilt pc and I'm thinking of upgrading it but I don't know what to upgrade. My current specs are:

intel core i5 10600f

(some unknown motherboard)

nvidia geforce GTX 1660ti

16gb of 3200mghz (unknown brand)

1tb 7200rpm HDD WD blue

550w corsair powersupply

I know a bit about computers but my brain stopped working when I actually thaught about upgrading. Hope I could get some help from the LTT comunity, Thanks

[Quickstrike]

4 minutes ago, TheNoKnowingNoob said:

Sooooooo I got this prebuilt pc and I'm thinking of upgrading it but I don't know what to upgrade. My current specs are:

intel core i5 10600f

(some unknown motherboard)

nvidia geforce GTX 1660ti

16gb of 3200mghz (unknown brand)

1tb 7200rpm HDD WD blue

550w corsair powersupply

I know a bit about computers but my brain stopped working when I actually thaught about upgrading. Hope I could get some help from the LTT comunity, Thanks

The typo in your tittle made my eyes bleed a little...
Also what is you Budget?

[TheNoKnowingNoob]

Just now, Quickstrike said:

The typo in your tittle made my eyes bleed a little...
Also what is you Budget?

My budget is about 100 usd, have any recommendations?

[-rascal-]

3 minutes ago, TheNoKnowingNoob said:

My budget is about 100 usd, have any recommendations?

 

$100 USD...if the system doesn't already have an SSD, that would be it.

It will be MILES better than the spinning 7200 RPM mechanical drive.

 

Are you sure the CPU is a i5-10600F?

10600F does not exist, according to Intel.

There is a i5-9400F, and a i5-10400F, but no 10600F.

 

[Barn1356]

3 minutes ago, TheNoKnowingNoob said:

My budget is about 100 usd, have any recommendations?

For 100USD you aren't going to see any great performance changes, overall the best option would be with personal choice for example if you wanted more RAM or if you wanted to upgrade case or MB to achieve a nicer computer. Also a great option is a new PSU as them in prebuilt aren't great.

[Quickstrike]

1 minute ago, TheNoKnowingNoob said:

My budget is about 100 usd, have any recommendations?

An SSD is about the only significant upgrade you can make with that budget. You can probably find something on amazon in the range of 1Tb.
Crucial P2 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive seems within your budget.

Maybe a cooler if you are stuck with intel's poor excuse for a cooler to gain a little performance but the NVME SSD is a much better choice.

[CrowTheRobot]

2 minutes ago, Barn1356 said:

For 100USD you aren't going to see any great performance changes, overall the best option would be with personal choice for example if you wanted more RAM or if you wanted to upgrade case or MB to achieve a nicer computer. Also a great option is a new PSU as them in prebuilt aren't great.

Case would be a silly priority unless the airflow was spectacularly bad.  I'd also question if there would be anything to gain other than maybe aesthetics from a MB upgrade at a $100 price point.  RAM is probably fine at that quantity and speed for a Core i5 unless there's a real specific reason for 32.  That leaves PSU from your list, which is really only a good idea in my opinion for safety reasons if it's not at least Bronze rated.

 

As others have stated, an ideal $100 or less upgrade for that system would be an SSD.  I'd go as big as possible at that budget, depending on what interface is available, or scale down to save money if desired.

[-rascal-]

16 minutes ago, Barn1356 said:

For 100USD you aren't going to see any great performance changes, overall the best option would be with personal choice for example if you wanted more RAM or if you wanted to upgrade case or MB to achieve a nicer computer. Also a great option is a new PSU as them in prebuilt aren't great.

 

8 minutes ago, CrowTheRobot said:

Case would be a silly priority unless the airflow was spectacularly bad.  I'd also question if there would be anything to gain other than maybe aesthetics from a MB upgrade at a $100 price point.  RAM is probably fine at that quantity and speed for a Core i5 unless there's a real specific reason for 32.  That leaves PSU from your list, which is really only a good idea in my opinion for safety reasons if it's not at least Bronze rated.

 

As others have stated, an ideal $100 or less upgrade for that system would be an SSD.  I'd go as big as possible at that budget, depending on what interface is available, or scale down to save money if desired.

 

If the PSU is a "Corsair 550W".

On the budget side, it could be a CV550 or a CX / CXM 550.

CV is a little on the meh side, but won't burn to the ground. A CXM is far from horrible.

As far as the 80 PLUS rating (by the way, does give the full picture of the PSU's quality), both Corsair CV and CX / CXM are Bronze rated.

Spoiler

80 PLUS numbers can be fudged...couple cases of bait-and-switch done before.

Send in a unit, gets rated as 80 PLUS Silver.

The production / retail version gets independently tested, and is just barely 80 PLUS Bronze.

 

[CrowTheRobot]

9 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

 

 

If the PSU is a "Corsair 550W".

On the budget side, it could be a CV550 or a CX / CXM 550.

CV is a little on the meh side, but won't burn to the ground. A CXM is far from horrible.

As far as the 80 PLUS rating (by the way, does give the full picture of the PSU's quality), both Corsair CV and CX / CXM are Bronze rated.

Ahhh yeah, I forgot he specified the PSU a little more than some of the other components.  I have a CV myself, as it was one of the few I could get at the time of my initial build at my budget.

[tkitch]

The only two upgrades you should consider sooner or later:

SSD, because spinning rust suuuuuucks in 2021.  Look on your board for an NVME slot, and if you have one get this upgrade.

 

Better Video card, but a 100$ budget, and the market supply, ain't gonna let that happen currently.  

[CrowTheRobot]

6 minutes ago, tkitch said:

Better Video card, but a 100$ budget, and the market supply, ain't gonna let that happen currently.  

 

Hah yeah, definitely not happening.  I paid $200 for a 1660 Super refurb and while it's definitely better than what I had, it still wouldn't have been my first choice.

[Supratim]

Like most have already mentioned, an SSD upgrade is the best option.

And you have two options for that, either 2.5" SATA SSD or M.2 NVMe SSD

 

What you get is dependent on your Motherboard.

If you have a M.2 PCIe slot on the Motherboard, go for M.2 NVMe SSD (they are costly, but are the fastest)

If not, then you only have the option of 2.5" SATA SSD.

[Quickstrike]

4 minutes ago, Supratim said:

Like most have already mentioned, an SSD upgrade is the best option.

And you have two options for that, either 2.5" SATA SSD or M.2 NVMe SSD

 

What you get is dependent on your Motherboard.

If you have a M.2 PCIe slot on the Motherboard, go for M.2 NVMe SSD (they are costly, but are the fastest)

If not, then you only have the option of 2.5" SATA SSD.

Good point, Check that you have and NVME slot before buying an MNVE SSD.

 

[Darkslyr]

1 hour ago, Supratim said:

Like most have already mentioned, an SSD upgrade is the best option.

And you have two options for that, either 2.5" SATA SSD or M.2 NVMe SSD

 

What you get is dependent on your Motherboard.

If you have a M.2 PCIe slot on the Motherboard, go for M.2 NVMe SSD (they are costly, but are the fastest)

If not, then you only have the option of 2.5" SATA SSD.

High speed numbers look appealing and like a good buy argument for an NVMe but I would go with a SSD because its cheaper and you get more capacity for the same money and you dont feel the difference unless you are moving very big files (multiple GB) on a daily basis. EXECPT you find an NVme for the same price and capacity as the SSD.

[Mark Kaine]

if you get a ssd don't get a cheap one they're sometimes slower than a mechanical drive and can make a lot of issues, get a Samsung Evo 850 or Crucial MX500 minimum (both very good drives, funnily enough the 860 EVO is better and cheaper in my country so look out for that) 

[bmcastro11]

8 hours ago, TheNoKnowingNoob said:

Sooooooo I got this prebuilt pc and I'm thinking of upgrading it but I don't know what to upgrade. My current specs are:

intel core i5 10600f

(some unknown motherboard)

nvidia geforce GTX 1660ti

16gb of 3200mghz (unknown brand)

1tb 7200rpm HDD WD blue

550w corsair powersupply

I know a bit about computers but my brain stopped working when I actually thaught about upgrading. Hope I could get some help from the LTT comunity, Thanks

My vote goes to the ssd m.2 nvme in that order they're not the same... If your motherboard has an m.2 slot good, if it's supports nvme awesome 100 well spent even if it's only to fit you OS on. But usually space matters so look for 1 tb nvme... If your mobo doesn't have an m.2 then definitely go ssd might even be able to find a decent used one. 

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Laptops and Pre-Built Systems

***

 

What prebuilt it is? Manufacturer and model? This helps to know what you can even upgrade with since most prebuilds do use proprietary hardware, meaning that changing bigger things, like case, PSU or GPU (or even CPU cooler) can be hard to impossible.

[Supratim]

8 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

if you get a ssd don't get a cheap one they're sometimes slower than a mechanical drive and can make a lot of issues

Doesn't that only happen, if you accidentally buy a "M.2 SATA SSD", rather M.2 NVMe SSD.

Since M.2 SATA SSD is the same as 2.5" SATA SSD, working on 6 Gb/s speeds.

13 hours ago, Darkslyr said:

High speed numbers look appealing and like a good buy argument for an NVMe but I would go with a SSD because its cheaper and you get more capacity for the same money and you dont feel the difference unless you are moving very big files (multiple GB) on a daily basis. EXECPT you find an NVme for the same price and capacity as the SSD.

Isn't that why people go for multiple Storage Drive system. to reduce cost.

 

Like M.2 NVMe SSD for OS & Program Drive (for which 256 GB or 512 GB is enough).

And for extra storage, either go for cheaper 2.5" SATA SSD (faster and cost efficient) or SATA HDD (cheaper with lots of storage).