“If you could only do one computer upgrade when you purchase a new computer, would you upgrade RAM, processor, or storage?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

(Answer requested by Mandi Bailey)

If it’s a brand-new PC, odds are it’ll have a reasonably current, capable CPU; and an at least acceptable hard drive. But most PC baseline models have only a modest — sometimes minimal — amount of RAM.

So, if I’m allowed only one upgrade, I’d go for more RAM — 16GB for sure, and maybe more.

If the new system still ends up slower than I wanted, I’d then replace the OEM hard drive with an SSD in a second, future upgrade.

P.S. Just for fun, I went looking for the most-upgradable PC I could find. Behold the fully-decked-out Xidax X-10, which retails for — wait for it —$17,226!

The $17,000 Xidax X-10

The specs are impressive, but ye gods that’s expensive!

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2 Replies to ““If you could only do one computer upgrade when you purchase a new computer, would you upgrade RAM, processor, or storage?””

  1. I mostly agree, except if your new PC was a bit cheap, and therefore subject to Beancounter Engineering!
    My Lenovo G580(IdeaPad or Essentials) came with 6(2+4)GB RAM and 1TB HDD.
    The HDD was a Seagate ST1000MB024. A mostly fresh and CLEAN install of Windows 10 took about 3 minutes to boot. SMART could see no fault with the drive. Another HDD took the expected 1 minute to boot with the same type of install.
    The clue that something was BAD was that W10 Task Manager would show 100 percent Disk Utilization while there was very little actual activity. The cause I have not discovered, but W10 seems to have a problem with certain types of Spinning Rust.
    The replacement with a Crucial MX500 SSD brought an end to this problem, and the boot time is now 15 Seconds.

    So, if your new cheap PC is booting slowly, and you have the 100% Disk Usage problem, an SSD might actually bring a greater speed increase that more RAM, supposing the original amount is no less than 4-8GB.

    Do anybody have additional to say about the ST1000MB024?

    Reply

    1. The Seagate ST1000MB024 is an older-design hard drive that’s relatively slow-spinning (5400rpm), and with a small onboard cache (8MB). You’re right: those aren’t exactly blow-the-doors-off specs. 🙂

      Given that the drive is indeed a bit pokey right out of the box, maybe that’s all that was going on. But I couldn’t find any widespread reports of issues with that drive; so perhaps you have a valid warranty claim — a defective unit? Or perhaps there were configuration issues? No way to know from afar.

      But I’m glad you’re not experiencing three-minute boot times anymore!

      Reply

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