Time to upgrade or new?

nigmor

New member
Hi,
I have the following spec computer and it is running slow and probably needs some attention if it was to upgrade to Windows 11.
It is used for general office work and trawling the web mainly
I will need a new monitor as the one I have now does not have HDMI

Any suggestions would be greatly received.
Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON 5370 Quad Core APU (2.2GHz/AM1) & Radeon™ R3 GPU
Motherboard
ASUS® AM1M-A: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 730 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
 

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'd not bother 'moving' to Windows 11 unless there's a specific need (which I can't think of one myself).

Your biggest & possibly cheapest upgrade would be a SATA SSD as your boot drive...and would probably make it feel like a new machine offering a new lease of life as a business/office PC...unless you wanted something more modern/capable anyway?

To put it into perspective, a new 1TB SATA SSD is less than £100 and about 5 times faster than the HDD you have in there. Of course, a new installation of W10 (including wiping all partitions and starting from scratch) could make your old PC feel fresh as well, as most PCs build up a lot of detritus through the years.

Any further upgrades are probably not worth it as it's an old a motherboard, with old/slow RAM and very little expansion options.

A new home office PC will likely set you back £600+ for a current basic machine (assuming you're happy to retire you old PC, use the HDD you already have as a second drive, and transfer your existing W10 account to the new PC)...e.g.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £698.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Hw8ez8J3m5/
 
Last edited:

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'd not bother 'moving' to Windows 11 unless there's a specific need (which I can't think of one myself).

Your biggest & possibly cheapest upgrade would be a SATA SSD as your boot drive...and would probably make it feel like a new machine offering a new lease of life as a business/office PC...unless you wanted something more modern/capable anyway?

To put it into perspective, a new 1TB SATA SSD is less than £100 and about 5 times faster than the HDD you have in there. Of course, a new installation of W10 (including wiping all partitions and starting from scratch) could make your old PC feel fresh as well, as most PCs build up a lot of detritus through the years.

Any further upgrades are probably not worth it as it's an old a motherboard, with old/slow RAM and very little expansion options.

A new home office PC will likely set you back £600+ for a current basic machine (assuming you're happy to retire you old PC, use the HDD you already have as a second drive, and transfer your existing W10 account to the new PC)...e.g.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £698.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/Hw8ez8J3m5/
This would be your best bet as @TonyCarter has explained, looking at your existing spec i see you have a DVD in it, which the case that Tony suggested won't take (very few cases do these days), so if you do use the drive I'd suggest adding the External drive that PCS supply to the order, it adds another £16

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.9GHz-4.4GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 14 to 17 working days
Price: £717.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/gqk2pjcHMM/
 
Top