Upgrades and things to know?

[lilyachty]

So hello, so i bought a prebuilt pc, but i gotta take some actions to change some of my prebuilt pc, cuz i'm using alot VM's, lots of software etc...
how hard would it be to add an additional Harddisk and RAM?

[Cela1]

4 minutes ago, lilyachty said:

So hello, so i bought a prebuilt pc, but i gotta take some actions to change some of my prebuilt pc, cuz i'm using alot VM's, lots of software etc...
how hard would it be to add an additional Harddisk and RAM?

An extra hard drive is practically no work and as for RAM you can put more in if there are open dimm slots or replace them if all are occupied.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, lilyachty said:

So hello, so i bought a prebuilt pc, but i gotta take some actions to change some of my prebuilt pc, cuz i'm using alot VM's, lots of software etc...
how hard would it be to add an additional Harddisk and RAM?

Adding hard drives/solid state drives is an easy task. Adding ram is also easy, HOWEVER, your computer may not have slots for additional ram. Instead you may have to replace your ram. 

This is not a difficult, or scary process. It's push a gently lever, take out ram, push new ram stick in. 

What computer do you have EXACTLY? 

[LogicalDrm]

If you already have boot drive and maybe 2nd drive for main storage, adding 3rd drive is maybe 15mins of work. Open case, install drive, connect cables, boot. From Windows go to device manager (or some other place which I can't remember right now) and format drive. Now its ready. RAM you can install same time with HDD. Just make sure that RAM is same model with current or you may need to do some tricks to get it working.

[lilyachty]

9 minutes ago, fpo said:

Adding hard drives/solid state drives is an easy task. Adding ram is also easy, HOWEVER, your computer may not have slots for additional ram. Instead you may have to replace your ram. 

This is not a difficult, or scary process. It's push a gently lever, take out ram, push new ram stick in. 

What computer do you have EXACTLY? 

 

3 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

If you already have boot drive and maybe 2nd drive for main storage, adding 3rd drive is maybe 15mins of work. Open case, install drive, connect cables, boot. From Windows go to device manager (or some other place which I can't remember right now) and format drive. Now its ready. RAM you can install same time with HDD. Just make sure that RAM is same model with current or you may need to do some tricks to get it working.

 

btw i got a ssd and harddisk from the prebuilt one, how would i make my ssd only for windows boot and like that and my hdd for storage, programs, files etc..?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, lilyachty said:

btw i got a ssd and harddisk from the prebuilt one, how would i make my ssd only for windows boot and like that and my hdd for storage, programs, files etc..?

unfortunately I don't know how to make your SSD the Windows HDD unless you install windows to it as if you just bought a copy of windows. 

Make sure you have your product key beforehand, and that it's legible. Make a bootable media from windows webite (Make sure it's 64 bit windows)

As for RAM, why would you want to upgrade? Is this an editing PC? If it's gaming, 16 is plenty for years. Most games can't even use half that. And I mean modern games. 

Your motherboard has 4 ram slots. If you wanted to upgrade your ram I'd get 2x 8 GB ram of DDR4

(Don't get DDR3, DDR2, or DDR. They physically won't work. They are made to not fit in the slots on purpose. And they're worse.)

This is your Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132571&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-N82E16813132571&gclid=CjwKEAiAvs7CBRC24rao6bGCoiASJABaCt5DLKpiN3g19ae5TkItecmAx82IBZSnrg74hb1twr61nhoC33fw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you must upgrade I told you how to get 32 gigabytes total, but your board can support up to 64. 
If you really want 64 GB, then get a 4x 16 GB set. That means you will have 4 sticks of DDR4 ram. Each stick will have 16 Gigabytes each. 

As for hard drives, check your case to see that you have slots for the hard drives. If not you CAN let them dangle in the case, but it's not recommended. (I had an HDD at the bottom of my case and my PC worked fine, just it's better to have it fixed in a slot.)

You can have up to 4 Sata Hard drives. That means 4 hard drives can be connected from a wire to your Motherboard. 
Other than that, you have PCI and PCIE slots. You can buy a special hard drive or SSD, but they're really expensive, and slot them where a GPU would go. Basically it's a giant card that goes perpendicular to your Motherboard in a slot at the bottom of the case. 

If there are any details you have questions on let me know. 

Linus tech tips, newegg and a many others online have tutorials on how to install ram, and hard drives incase you need help. 

I personally prefer Newegg's tutorials because there are more of them. LTT did short tutorials a long time ago so they're not as focused as Newegg's IMO (In My Opinion)

[Rohime]

23 minutes ago, lilyachty said:

btw i got a ssd and harddisk from the prebuilt one, how would i make my ssd only for windows boot and like that and my hdd for storage, programs, files etc..?

Separating files into boot disk vs other is just a matter of the location choices you make when you install stuff.

Keep boot disk and most frequently loaded stuff on the SSD.   Everything else on the HDD.

 

So this is probably your motherboard: http://www.trustedreviews.com/best-intel-z170-motherboards_round-up_Page-2

 

Looks like it has 4 x memory slots - max 64GB (4 x 16GB).

 

You should open the case and see if your current memory is either a) 2 x 8GB (with two empty slots) or b) 4 x 4GB (no empty slots).    Hope for 2 x 8GB, because then you can double memory (32GB total) by just buying another 2x8GB.   if all four slots are used then you need to buy 4x8GB and throw away (sell) the existing 4x4GB.    Buy DDR4 RAM at 2133 Mhz.

 

As for adding another HDD, easy peasy.   Just buy a big drive, and a SATA cable to match (SATA3 probably) open the case - work out where to put it (near an existing SATA power cable) and close it up.  You might then need to go into Windows disk management to format it or mount it, but maybe not.

[lilyachty]

8 minutes ago, Rohime said:

Separating files into boot disk vs other is just a matter of the location choices you make when you install stuff.

Keep boot disk and most frequently loaded stuff on the SSD.   Everything else on the HDD.

 

So this is probably your motherboard: http://www.trustedreviews.com/best-intel-z170-motherboards_round-up_Page-2

 

Looks like it has 4 x memory slots - max 64GB (4 x 16GB).

 

You should open the case and see if your current memory is either a) 2 x 8GB (with two empty slots) or b) 4 x 4GB (no empty slots).    Hope for 2 x 8GB, because then you can double memory (32GB total) by just buying another 2x8GB.   if all four slots are used then you need to buy 4x8GB and throw away (sell) the existing 4x4GB.    Buy DDR4 RAM at 2133 Mhz.

 

As for adding another HDD, easy peasy.   Just buy a big drive, and a SATA cable to match (SATA3 probably) open the case - work out where to put it (near an existing SATA power cable) and close it up.  You might then need to go into Windows disk management to format it or mount it, but maybe not.

 

Regarding the HDD, my only issue is where to find it and do it, + IDK where to exactly mount it, like i'd like to try to mount where it's exactly supposed to be mounted, but then i wouldn't make it look professional, and organized, so i consider asking my friend, relative or a tech guy nearby locally.