You want more performance while gaming but don’t want to spend the money or effort to buy a new gaming PC? MeinMMO has some tips for you on how to properly upgrade your gaming PC.
Are you looking for ways to meaningfully upgrade your computer without having to buy a new one? Generally, you can easily swap out the following components in your computer:
- RAM
- Storage devices like SSDs or HDDs
- Optical drives for DVDs and BluRays
- Graphics cards
- Processors
- Fans and filters that are often built into the case
Since a computer is modular, unlike a console, you can swap out all parts as needed. For laptops, the options are somewhat limited, such as RAM, hard drives, and often optical drives.
We at MeinMMO have some ideas and tips for you on how to meaningfully upgrade your old gaming PC or computer. Additionally, we will explain when it might be more worthwhile to buy a new one instead of upgrading your old machine.
Install a new hard drive or SSD
If you still have an older PC or haven’t opened it in years, it might be worth installing a new hard drive or SSD. This is especially true if you’re running system data or important games on a slow HDD.
As of the current time (December 23, 2021), a 2 TB SSD costs about 150 Euros. A 2 TB HDD costs about a third (around 50 Euros), but you will have to forgo the high speed.
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Install additional RAM
RAM is necessary for many tasks on your computer. If you have too little RAM, the processor must access the swap file on the hard drive, which is significantly slower than RAM.
The more RAM you have in your computer, the more programs you can have running in the background or many tabs open simultaneously in your browser.
If you only have 4 – 8 GB of RAM, we strongly recommend increasing the RAM. 8 GB is no longer adequate for many games and even for Windows 10 and 11. You should have at least 16 GB installed, and even more future-proof would be 32 GB.
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Upgrade the processor
If you want to invest a bit more money, you can upgrade your processor. Here, prices are generally better than for graphics cards. However, you need to keep several things in mind, as you cannot simply replace your old processor with a new one.
In the worst case, depending on the age of your computer, you may also need a new motherboard and new RAM for a processor. If you currently have an Intel chip and want to switch to AMD (or vice versa), you will definitely need a new motherboard.
It should also be a significant upgrade to truly be worthwhile:
- Upgrading from a Ryzen 3 to a Ryzen 5 or from a Core i3 to a Core i5 can mean a noticeable boost in performance.
- The jump from an old generation to a new generation can also result in more performance.
- Replacing an ancient processor with a more performant but still old model is almost never worth it.
Upgrade the graphics card
You can also upgrade your graphics card. This is generally not a sensible recommendation, especially at a time when graphics cards are extremely expensive. However, you should consider a new graphics card if the GPU is too weak.
Currently, prices for graphics cards are very high, and our current recommendation is to wait until the prices return to a reasonable level before buying a new graphics card. MeinMMO has explained to you why you can barely buy a graphics card right now.
- With a GeForce RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 6600 (XT), you already get powerful performance for Full HD at 144 Hz, with even some reserves for WQHD.
- If you prefer to game at WQHD with 144 Hz, then it should already be an RX 6700 XT or an RTX 3070. The premium for the RTX 3070 Ti is only marginally worthwhile, as you are paying nearly 200 Euros for just a few percent more performance.
A used RTX 2070 or RX 5700 XT is really only worth it if you can get the graphics cards significantly below current graphics card prices.
When is it worthwhile to upgrade my old computer?
In general, you should be clear about how much money you want to invest in an upgrade.
It’s best to compare with a computer that could replace yours. If the upgrade costs exceed the price of a ready-made PC by more than half, then a new purchase is likely to be more worthwhile for you in the long run. This is especially true at the current time when graphics cards have reached absolutely insane prices.
Here you should consider whether a new purchase might be more worthwhile in the long run. Especially since you can currently get newer graphics cards best through pre-built PCs.
In general, your computer hardware cannot keep up forever:
- Newer games often require more performance and are more demanding on your hardware.
- Additionally, you can only use or implement certain features with newer hardware.
- Completely new hardware such as DDR5 is only available with a new purchase or a comprehensive upgrade.
Alternative to a PC upgrade: An alternative would be to bridge the current situation with a laptop instead of buying or upgrading a gaming PC. Here, you are not as stationary as with a desktop PC. However, you don’t necessarily pay less than for a powerful desktop PC. You can find all the pros and cons and what else you should consider when buying a laptop in the following article:
