My PC is old, but on paper is still sufficient to run wow however the load times are unbelievably slow. I can go and make a brew and my toon will still be waiting to enter the world.
Core i7 2700k
16gb (2x 8gb) DDR3 1600 MHz (upgraded from 1 stick 8gb 1333 MHz with no noticeable difference to load times)
GTX 970 4gb
1tb HD
WIFI
Win 10
Although i upgraded my 1x 8gb 1333MHz for 2x 8gb 1600 Mhz for an unknown reason the ‘speed’ according to the ‘performance tab’ on the Task Manager is still showing speed at 1333MHz…?
I only play wow on my PC and don’t spend a lot of time playing these days - its not used for anything else so id rather not spend a fortune on a whole new PC.
I’m after some advice for a cheapish component upgrade i can pick up for a noticeable change in performance? Graphics are fine its purely loads speeds.
SATA SSD drive. I would recommend least 500 GB and maybe even 1 TB if you can afford one. Avoid the cheapest drives as many of them are “DRAMless” which are very slow. There probably will be sales during the Black Friday.
Quoting this to emphasize it. Especially important to avoid those cheap no-brand Chinese imports that are prevalent on Amazon and eBay. Stick with a known respectable brand such as Sandisk, Samsung, Crucial, Integral, Western Digital, Seagate…
Definitely avoid “FattyDoveRacing” (Linus Tech Tips watchers will get that reference).
Ive never heard of a SATA SSD drive (im not very savvy with components). What will this replace? How will i know what type is compatible with my Motherboard?
Its just a type of hard drive. It stands for Solid State Drive.
A normal hard drive consists of a spinning magnetic disk. They are slow because the part that reads the data, has to wait for the disk to spin around to the part where the data it needs is stored.
Solid State Drives consist of banks of RAM instead of a spinning disk, and because its banks of RAM, they don’t need to wait for anything, and can be read instantly, so are substantially faster.
The term SATA means “Serial ATA”, and is the protocol that they use to connect to the motherboard. All modern motherboards are SATA compatible.
Keep one thing in mind, swapping the hard drive for a SSD will mean you have to reinstall Windows, unless you are technically capable enough to clone your current hard drive onto the new SSD before installing it.
Homever, even most of them have cheap budget versions which can be slower (eg. Crucial BX500 series). From my personal experience I can recommend Crucial’s MX500 series. WD Blue 3D is pretty good as well from what I understand. I’d avoid Samsung’s QVO drives as they use the slower QLC memory and price difference is pretty neglible least for time being.
But for most part available SSDs from the “big” names mentioned should be all decent at very least and much faster than your mechanical HDD.
SATA is just a connector standard. For your computer you want 2.5" form factor SATA drive as there are also SATA drives using M.2 connector type which not usable in the old motherboard like yours.
SSD will replace your current mechanical hard drive though obviously you can keep using your mechanical drive for storage. Most motherboards should have least two and probably four connectors for SATA drives. If your case lacks slot for 2.5" drive (like many older desktops do) you can tape the drive somewhere secure: orientation etc. doesn’t matter as there are no mechanical parts. I personally had SSD taped to bottom of my computer case at one point. Just make sure it is not blocking any airflow from the fans.
You can either clone your current disk to the new drive and keep using that or reinstall Windows as a fresh installation to the SSD. If you go for the reinstall I recommend unplugging the old hard drive during the installation so you don’t accidentally install the OS there or otherwise erase the old drive (and sometimes Windows wants to install boot files to different hard drive which can issue and can be prevented by unplugging the spare drive). After the installation you can plug the old drive again and move any files you want to the new drive and remove the old OS etc.
This Crucial MX500 drive from Amazon would be compatible with your computer for example:
Sorry to resurrect this. Chap in work is selling the below for £100 uk. Is it.much of an upgrade from the initial spec I posted on this thread? Will I notice much of a performance difference?
Custom built in quality Antec midi-ATX case with carefully chosen fans and CPU cooler
• Processor: Intel Core2 Q6600 (4 cores @ 2.4Ghz)
• RAM: 8GB PC2-6400 DDR2
• Storage: 250GB SSD for OS / 500GB second drive
• Graphics: AMD Radeon HD8490 (upgradeable)
• Power: 600W Seasonic PSU
• Bluetooth/WiFI (supplied by USB adaptors)
• Built-in 5.1 audio
• Licensed Windows 10 Pro pre-installed (licence linked to motherboard not upgradeable)
Older and slower CPU, less and slower RAM, older and slower GPU.
If you haven’t bought SSD and want a small upgrade for your original computer that’s the way forward. Otherwise I would suggest getting a new computer entirely though be aware of the expensive GPUs. Your current GPU is still pretty good for 1080p if you are willing to drop quality in the newer games (I am personally using one, too).
Intel Core 2 Q6600 is from 2007, Intel i7-2700K is from 2011. Neither are new but there was a massive performance jump between Core 2 and Sandy Bridge (2xxx series). i7-2700K has more available threads as well, 4 cores vs 4 cores and 8 threads.
HD849 was a OEM card meant for non-gaming applications even when it was released in 2013. It is entirely unsuitable for any sort of gaming nowadays. GTX 970 is slightly newer (2014) but it was a high end gaming GPU at the time and well suited for even many current games in 1080p resolution (with reduced graphichs settings of course).
Depending on your budget you can either just a get SSD for your current computer, or replace everything and keep the GPU or replace everything including the GPU.
If you are looking for help with the upgrade in the future I suggest making a new topic for it.