Do I upgrade or buy new PC?

[MercyJ]

Hi, was wondering if someone could assist with upgrades that I should be doing on my PC as I've been running into a few problems in the last few months from the outdated build. It's been quite slow and I've been running into the same error code on boot, start pxe over ipv4 which has become quite frustrating. I think its time for a change. I would prefer to stay at a reasonable budget for casual gaming and mostly editing/watching shows. I do think I need more space to download more games as I've been quite limited.

Or would it be better to buy a new PC?

Please see spec below:

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500M GAMING CASE
Promotional Item
Get Wolfenstein: Young Blood with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU650 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2 x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Capture/Streaming Cards
Elgato Game Capture HD60 PRO - PCIe Card
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/gTeUXAtACs/

 

[TonyCarter]

There are certainly items you could upgrade for better performance, and the error you're seeing may be early signs of the SSD failing.

If you've still got Bullguard (or any other 3rd Party AV suite) installed, then we'd recommend removing that as it's a resource hog and do no better than the built-in and fully tested AV suite that Microsoft provides - but you'd have to use the correct uninstaller to do so, as the remove apps/programs function in Windows leaves lots of error-producing rubbish behind.

We'd normally recommend keeping the boot drive for Windows and apps, and keep everything else on a second drive (if it's movies/music, then a HDD will suffice) - and that second drive could either be an internal one or an external USB-connected one.

The upgrades I think you'd see most benefit from would be a nice, new very fast m.2 SSD in place of your old SATA SSD - this could be unto 10x faster...and a 500GB one can be had for less than £50.

You could also upgrade the CPU to a more modern one...I believe that motherboard (with the correct BIOS update) can run a Zen3/AM4 5xxx series CPU (so something like a 5600/5700/5800/5900) - but for the 5800/5900 you'd need a better cooling solution (a big tower cooler, or an AIO liquid cooler).

Unless you're gaming, there's little need to upgrade the GPU, and doing so would inevitably require a complete rebuild as you'd really want to upgrade the PSU to handle the extra power requirements...you may be able to get away with a 3060 or 4060 with the PSU you've got, but I'd not be comfortable with only a 550 VS series PSU.

The m.2 swap should be simple enough to do yourself...and in your order page there will be an option for [Upgrades] which will show you what m.2 drives are suitable - or you could just order from Amazon during Black Friday week.

The CPU and cooler may require more skill, and a lot more cash than the m.2 (£200+)...but again PCS offers an upgrade service where you can send your machine to them if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself.

 

[MercyJ]

Would you

There are certainly items you could upgrade for better performance, and the error you're seeing may be early signs of the SSD failing.

If you've still got Bullguard (or any other 3rd Party AV suite) installed, then we'd recommend removing that as it's a resource hog and do no better than the built-in and fully tested AV suite that Microsoft provides - but you'd have to use the correct uninstaller to do so, as the remove apps/programs function in Windows leaves lots of error-producing rubbish behind.

We'd normally recommend keeping the boot drive for Windows and apps, and keep everything else on a second drive (if it's movies/music, then a HDD will suffice) - and that second drive could either be an internal one or an external USB-connected one.

The upgrades I think you'd see most benefit from would be a nice, new very fast m.2 SSD in place of your old SATA SSD - this could be unto 10x faster...and a 500GB one can be had for less than £50.

You could also upgrade the CPU to a more modern one...I believe that motherboard (with the correct BIOS update) can run a Zen3/AM4 5xxx series CPU (so something like a 5600/5700/5800/5900) - but for the 5800/5900 you'd need a better cooling solution (a big tower cooler, or an AIO liquid cooler).

Unless you're gaming, there's little need to upgrade the GPU, and doing so would inevitably require a complete rebuild as you'd really want to upgrade the PSU to handle the extra power requirements...you may be able to get away with a 3060 or 4060 with the PSU you've got, but I'd not be comfortable with only a 550 VS series PSU.

The m.2 swap should be simple enough to do yourself...and in your order page there will be an option for [Upgrades] which will show you what m.2 drives are suitable - or you could just order from Amazon during Black Friday week.

The CPU and cooler may require more skill, and a lot more cash than the m.2 (£200+)...but again PCS offers an upgrade service where you can send your machine to them if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself.

Would you happen to recommend a good uninstaller for this?

I guess given the old build, would you say just an SSD upgrade and storage drive upgrade suffice? Compared to upgrading the CPU as well.

I'm honestly contemplating if a new build in general is worth it but I don't really use it to game as I am a console gamer and use this as my second screen for general day to day things. Really appreciate your help Tony!

 

[TonyCarter]

For day to day stuff, just upgrading the SATA SSD to an m.2 NVMe SSD will probably make it feel like new again...although it might simply be the fact that the small SATA SSD is nearly full as lack of space (as well as age) will slow it down.

An additional HDD in place of the old SATA SSD wouldn't cost much, and would be a more secure repository for documents/movies/etc. Can either be bought as a bare-bones HDD, or as a USB-attached external drive (3.5" mains-powered or usually slower 2.5" USB-powered options are available).

As for Bullguard...the company was bought by Norton, and it seems their technical support pages don't offer an uninstaller any more...and the links just go around in circles telling you to click the link for the uninstaller...which goes back to the FAQ page.

But, if you're going to be installing a brand new m.2 SSD, then you're probably going to install Windows again anyway, so Bullguard won't be installed by default (but before you do the install, I'd create your Windows Installer USB stick so you have a way to get the machine started up if something doesn't go right first time).

Create installation media for Windows - Microsoft Support

Learn how to create installation media for installing or reinstalling Windows 7, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10.

support.microsoft.com