PC worth upgrading or replace?

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kiwifidget

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#296164 26-May-2022 10:39

My genealogy club has a computer that is located in the local public library for people to use for research.

It's about 6 years old, and lately people have been complaining that it either doesnt work at all or is really slow.

I spent a couple of hours on it last week, and I agree it's dreadfully slow, but it was at least working.

The exact model is HP Pavilion All-in-One 23-q109a (touch).

Processor = AMD A8-7410 with AMD Radeon R5 graphics 2.20GHz

RAM = 16GB

HDD = ST3000DM001-1ER166 (a 3TB HDD, only 96GB used)

WIFI = b/g/n connected to public library wifi portal

OS = Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Would we notice much improvement if I upgraded the HDD to a SSD?

There is probably nothing I can do about the internet speed, it's quite variable between bad and atrocious.

Or is it not worth touching and we should save up for a better one?

Thanks.

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#2918740 26-May-2022 10:56

Replacing the HDD with a SSD and reinstalling Windows should make a big difference - for the sort of tasks you're mentioning here, I don't see any real need to update much else.

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anatokidave

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#2918741 26-May-2022 11:01

I guess it depends on your budget and how much time / expense you are willing to devote to the current machine.

First thing I'd do is find out where the bottle neck is - open task manager and check whether the CPU or HDD is maxing out.

My guess would be the HDD - Windows 10 does not like the old spinning disks. I recently replaced all HDD's with SSD's on a number of machines, the most modern of which was an i5-3470 (circa 2012).

It has made a huge difference running both Win 10 and various flavours of Linux.

If you can pick up a reasonably priced SSD (512 or 1TB) and transfer ur current install to it, then it might give you another few years of use before something major dies on the machine.

Given the use the machine is put to, I would not expect any issues withe the RAM (16GB is plenty for your use case). The CPU is probably not up-gradable on the all-in-one, so if that turns out to be the issue, then it's time for a new PC.

Good luck.

Hammerer

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#2918742 26-May-2022 11:02

It is difficult to say what you should do with it. I wouldn’t replace it if it is capable of meeting your requirements. The question is whether the slowness is a limitation of the computer, the result of new/upgraded software, some sort of fault that has developed, or changing user demands.

The HDD will be slow compared to an SSD but you should only notice that when reading from and writing to the HDD e.g. when you open an application program, start it up, hibernate it, save data, etc. If the slowness is unrelated to disk access then upgrading to an SSD isn’t going to resolve the slowness.

Do you have any evidence that the computer doesn’t work at times?

What is it “dreadfully slow” at doing?
Starting up or waking from sleep?
Web browsing?
Loading different applications?
…?

mentalinc

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#2918743 26-May-2022 11:03

What parts are slow, not responsive to user input etc?

Have all the firmware and drivers been updated as well?

Upgrade to SSD 240GB or so is less than $100 and might give it a bit more life - but that is really only in the turning it on and opening up new apps. once they are open the SSD won't help too much.

That CPU is rather old and low powered which could be the issue.

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#2918754 26-May-2022 11:26

Upgrade to SSD, clean install of Windows, and you'll probably find its fine TBH.

Im running older systems than that and they tick along quite happily for gaming + more.

XPD / Gavin

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kiwifidget

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#2918863 26-May-2022 11:51

Startup is slow, so slow I think some people think it isnt turning on and walk away.

Opening apps is slow.

We do have some small databases on the HDD and they are slow.

Web page loading is also slow, but I dont expect to be able to do much about that, library wifi is pitiful.

I have updated it to 21H1, it takes a long time to download updates, and an interminably long time to install them.

It is used mainly for accessing online genealogy websites, and our own local resources stored on the HDD, and on CD.

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kiwifidget

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#2918866 26-May-2022 11:55

For those in the game, what would the cost be to have someone do the HDD-SSD upgrade?

Probably would require some sort of adapter for the smaller SSD, at least the SATA connector is the same???

My eyes and thumbs are getting too decrepit to do this myself anymore.

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#2918895 26-May-2022 12:36

Whereabouts is it located ?

Personally, I'd do it free myself......

Just one thing regardless of who does it, do you still have the original installers for any specialist software etc ? Just doing a straight clone of the HDD to SSD, would work, but fresh start would be best.

XPD / Gavin

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richms

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#2918902 26-May-2022 12:45

HDD in it makes it unusable slow I find. Get the SSD in there, as its barely been used no need to worry about pruning your content down so even a 120 gig would be fine for you for now.

There are brackets to put the 2.5s in where a 3.5 was, assuming you have a bay for it then it can need a slightly more expensive one than one that connects with floating wires that can be repositioned.

Like this one at PB has the board to move the connector to the right place.

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ratsun81

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#2918903 26-May-2022 12:50

With the issues as you have described them there are 2 things going on with the system.

1. The HDD is slow and makes startup and application open's painful - This can be fixed with a 2.5" SSD install replacing the current HDD.

2. Slow internet, if possible getting these devices onto an ethernet connection would be the best option. Or if thats not possible seeing if the wifi system has the capability to grant more bandwidth to the problematic devices.

kiwifidget

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#2918904 26-May-2022 12:59

xpd:

Whereabouts is it located ?

Personally, I'd do it free myself......

Just one thing regardless of who does it, do you still have the original installers for any specialist software etc ? Just doing a straight clone of the HDD to SSD, would work, but fresh start would be best.

Pukekohe.

The PC pre-dates my membership to the club.

I'd have to have a rootle around and see if any original medias are to be found.

But I'd be happy with just a clone job.

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Groucho

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#2918906 26-May-2022 13:12

Upgrading to SSD will make a huge difference. The other thing you could do if its just a public portal is ditch Windows and install Ubuntu (Linux). I did this on my Dad's laptop years ago when support for XP ended. Even with a spinning disk the performance increase of Ubuntu over XP was amazing.

mentalinc

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#2918909 26-May-2022 13:18

Most PC shops will help you to move the files between the two computers.

In general buy a 2.5" SSD - a BX500 or similar will be fine.

Connect it to a spare SATA port and cable, and a Sata power cable (you should find youtube videos for the model of pc you have).

You then run some software and click a few next buttons (ensuring you copy the old to the new) and you're done.

Just start fresh with a new windows install, and copy a few files from the old drive (you can get SATA to USB caddies) to the new computer.

Sounds like an SSD will make a world of difference based on the areas you said were slow.

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kiwifidget

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#2918910 26-May-2022 13:19

@groucho Given the average age of people doing genealogy (about 102y) and their resistance to change, we'll be sticking with Windows for the time being.

Thanks for the idea though.

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coffeebaron

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#2918914 26-May-2022 13:24

As above, SSD upgrade and I definitely recommend a fresh install of Windows over cloning the drive. There are likely other fragments of old programs that have been installed / uninstalled / updated etc that will add to the slow & buggieness. More work doing a fresh install, but definitely worthwhile.

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