I’m not very tech savvy so please bear with me.
I bought a premade in 2018 and I’ve only updated the graphics card and ram since then. I’m using a 55" Samsung TV as a monitor. It’s really starting to get sluggish/finicky. Gaming example: it can run BGate3 on medium but starts having issues any higher.
- Processor: Intel Core i3-8100 Coffee Lake CPU, 4 Cores, 3.6GHz
- Graphics Card NIVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8gb
- CPU Cooler: Intel Stock CPU Cooler
- Motherboard: ASUS Z370-P Motherboard
- Memory: 8GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory (2 x 4GB Sticks) + Crucial Ballistix BL2K8G36C16U4B 3600 MHz, DDR4, DRAM, Desktop Gaming Memory Kit, 16GB (8GB x2), CL16, Black
- Hard Drive: Seagate 2TB Firecuda Hybrid Hard Disk
First off, pull the 8GB DDR4 2400MHz Memory because it’s slowing your faster RAM down. All of the RAM in a system will run at the rate of the slowest stick. You’ll be better off with 16GB 3600 than 24GB 2400.
A better GFX card will make a huge difference. Your CPU will be a bottleneck, but still, upgrading the GFX card will make a difference. For that matter, see if you can get an i5 or i7 for your generation socket on the cheap. Don’t spend a lot of money on a CPU though, because you won’t be able to move it to a new computer because of the socket.
Some people have recommended an SSD. That’s a good idea, but if you have an extra PCIe port then I’d recommend an NVMe drive with the PCIe adaptor. It still won’t be as fast as a native NVMe, but it’s around 3-4x faster than a SATA SSD.
If your TV has gaming mode, make sure you use it. It turns off a lot of the upscaling and processing that TVs do, and optimizes it for refresh rate and response time. That alone will make your computer feel more responsive.
Order of priorities:
Pull RAM
TV gaming mode
NVMe drive
Cheap i5 or better
Thanks for checking on the basics. I do have and use compressed air but I literally had no idea that my TV had a gaming mode, which I’ve just discovered it does
The RAM I bought was recommended by a friend but perhaps they didn’t know they had to match idk.
I appreciate the order of priorities, that helps a lot
It doesn’t have to match, but it’ll all run at the rate of the slowest stick. I just added a note about your PSU too, so check the bottom of my comment if you didn’t see it already.