I’m not a techie to that extent. Not even close.
I have the 2TB drive and 16GB of memory and I’ve been very satisfied. Yes, in my opinion you should buy as much memory as you can afford. Just make life easier.
As an aside this is the first thread on the “new” Fool that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I’m not a computer expert by any stretch but I understand the subject a lot better than some of the topics that are addressed on other boards (err … categories sorry).
Regards,
ImAGolfer
I get it RB, I bet if you bought the memory and ssd drive at bestbuy they would install it for free. Or if you buy it from somewhere else their geek squad would install it for a price.
Andy
Hmmm, maybe I’ll call Best Buy or another place. Thanks for the idea.
1 Like
What are the specs of your current PC?
A Dell PC should last 5-8 years, then replace. Replacement is for a simple reason: Stuff gets obsolete and you can’t get parts, newest add-ons, new comm ports maybe NOT supported by your current motherboard or CPU, and so forth.
Extra cooling for the SSD is rational and practical. All your activity will be on that drive because your OS and programs will be on it, so it heats up more quickly than you realize. My system runs 24 hrs/day and it is on a stand-alone 1000VA UPS. I use separate software to monitor all my drives (external drives are on a different UPS). The SSD hits 45C (113F = my chosen temp to report it is too hot) regularly when I use it. I also have a 4TB D drive (Seagate 5900rpm or HGST 7200rpm) in the box. Separately, I have five 4-8TB drives in individual USB 3.1 boxes. 2-3 drives are connected 24 hr via 7-port USB hubs–and the drive temp-monitoring software sees them all and shows their temp and status on a variety of factors. My 1TB SSD is now at 97% health after two years. Two external USB drives are used to make backups of the data on the C drive (no need to back up the software).
I use the basic MS Office (home and student version) mostly using Excel, a bit of Word, and not much more. Use it for 10 yrs (price = $150 to buy it at the store, maybe cheaper if you buy a PC or add-on items such as a HDD, etc–depends on the current promotion). There are enough changes over 10 yrs to justify buying it again, and that saves you the problem of obsolescence and “Does it work with my system?”.
The drive-monitoring software is maybe $50-$75 for 5 licenses. I have been using it for 10+yrs with no problems over 3 PCs (Vista OS, Win 8.1, and now Win10-11. It is from Hungary (?)–and is kept current via automated update.
I always get the Pro version of the OS. It offers a variety of extra features I prefer. If I can get a TV signal, then I use one of the external 4TB USB hard drives as a DVR. Software is Hauppauge.
Hi @RBMunkin,
This is the reason I ditched Windoze a lot of years ago and went to Linux.
Gene
All holdings and some statistics on my Fool profile page
https://community.fool.com/u/gdett2/activity (Click Expand)
I dropped Win, whatever it was after retiring, no need, still running this 2012 mac Pro, 32 Gb Ram, a 2Tb SSD and 3 other 2 2B spinners… Not the latest OS, but it stays on 24/7, sleep only… Was off when we went to Seattle a couple weeks ago… here’s the stats…
One day the old beast will have to be replaced, but for now it meets my needs, a bit of photo editing, occasional video fiddling, web, email, messaging… Dell 32" monitor will move onto whatever I find as a replacement…
weco (long AAPL, T, VZ)
Hi, I think the link you provided is a great computer. I think the important upgrade is the SSD. If you don’t have one already, it is the most important upgrade that is left for most computer owners. Not just SSD, but “PCIe NVMe”, which means it can communicate very quickly with the CPU. Similarly with memory, 64 GB is a lot of RAM, but the speed and bandwidth of communication with the CPU is critical, and “DDR5, 4400 MHz” is great.
I would agree with the other commenter that trying to replace your existing drive with an SSD might be a good idea if you can find a shop that you trust to do it. It can make a big difference.
A really frequent reason for poor performance is malware. Windows Defender is solid and running an offline scan after updating virus definitions is probably a good idea. Good luck!
ps - to belatedly answer your question, past a certain point, more memory won’t make a system faster. 16 or 32 GB is more than sufficient for almost all purposes.
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How do I find the specs of my current PC?
It’s a Dell XPS, about 6 years old.
Mine also runs 24/7 and is on a UPS.
I’m using MS Office also, although mine is from 2007 (old but works fine for me).
What should I consider relative to Win pro? I guess I should compare.
Type ‘msinfo’ in the search field, then on the system summary page you should see all the specs. Click on Edit / Select All, then copy/paste to your reply. The only things not in the summary are the drives and graphics, but those can be found in the Components branch of the info tree. Here are pics of what my trusty old Dell Inspiron 15 has:
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I use a free program from Belarc: Belarc Advisor - Belarc, Inc.
It will tell you everything including if your drivers are up to date. I’ve used it for years and its safe…doc
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Cool. Thanks. So you just did the display and drives of the components, so I’ll do the same.
| OS Name | Microsoft Windows 10 Home |
|---|---|
| Version | 10.0.19043 Build 19043 |
| Other OS Description | Not Available |
| OS Manufacturer | Microsoft Corporation |
| System Name | DESKTOP-7H1O20T |
| System Manufacturer | Dell Inc. |
| System Model | XPS 8900 |
| System Type | x64-based PC |
| System SKU | 06B8 |
| Processor | Intel(R) Core™ i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz, 2712 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s) |
| BIOS Version/Date | Dell Inc. 2.7.1, 11/22/2019 |
| SMBIOS Version | 2.8 |
| Embedded Controller Version | 255.255 |
| BIOS Mode | UEFI |
| BaseBoard Manufacturer | Dell Inc. |
| BaseBoard Product | 0XJ8C4 |
| BaseBoard Version | A00 |
| Platform Role | Desktop |
| Secure Boot State | On |
| PCR7 Configuration | Elevation Required to View |
| Windows Directory | C:\WINDOWS |
| System Directory | C:\WINDOWS\system32 |
| Boot Device | \Device\HarddiskVolume1 |
| Locale | United States |
| Hardware Abstraction Layer | Version = 10.0.19041.2251 |
| User Name | DESKTOP-7H1O20T\rickb |
| Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Installed Physical Memory (RAM) | 8.00 GB |
| Total Physical Memory | 7.90 GB |
| Available Physical Memory | 1.40 GB |
| Total Virtual Memory | 16.9 GB |
| Available Virtual Memory | 6.83 GB |
| Page File Space | 9.00 GB |
| Page File | C:\pagefile.sys |
| Kernel DMA Protection | Off |
| Virtualization-based security | Not enabled |
| Device Encryption Support | Elevation Required to View |
| Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions | Yes |
| Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions | Yes |
| Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware | Yes |
| Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection | Yes |
| Name | Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 |
|---|---|
| PNP Device ID | PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_1912&SUBSYS_06B81028&REV_06\3&11583659&1&10 |
| Adapter Type | Intel(R) HD Graphics Family, Intel Corporation compatible |
| Adapter Description | Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 |
| Adapter RAM | 1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes) |
| Installed Drivers | C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki125694.inf_amd64_1331072a649f62e0\igdumdim64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki125694.inf_amd64_1331072a649f62e0\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki125694.inf_amd64_1331072a649f62e0\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki125694.inf_amd64_1331072a649f62e0\igd12umd64.dll |
| Driver Version | 23.20.16.4849 |
| INF File | oem43.inf (iSKLD_w10_DS section) |
| Color Planes | Not Available |
| Color Table Entries | 4294967296 |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 x 59 hertz |
| Bits/Pixel | 32 |
| Memory Address | 0xDD000000-0xDDFFFFFF |
| Memory Address | 0xC0000000-0xCFFFFFFF |
| I/O Port | 0x0000F000-0x0000F03F |
| IRQ Channel | IRQ 4294967289 |
| Driver | C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\KI125694.INF_AMD64_1331072A649F62E0\IGDKMD64.SYS (23.20.16.4849, 11.91 MB (12,485,056 bytes), 12/8/2017 1:36 PM) |
| Name | NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 |
| PNP Device ID | PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1287&SUBSYS_10831028&REV_A1\4&34F8990A&0&0008 |
| Adapter Type | GeForce GT 730, NVIDIA compatible |
| Adapter Description | NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 |
| Adapter RAM | (2,147,483,648) bytes |
| Installed Drivers | C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_1c87277d30438bde\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_1c87277d30438bde\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_1c87277d30438bde\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdd.inf_amd64_1c87277d30438bde\nvldumdx.dll |
| Driver Version | 23.21.13.9125 |
| INF File | oem14.inf (Section044 section) |
| Color Planes | Not Available |
| Color Table Entries | Not Available |
| Resolution | Not Available |
| Bits/Pixel | Not Available |
| Memory Address | 0xDE000000-0xDF0FFFFF |
| Memory Address | 0xD0000000-0xD9FFFFFF |
| Memory Address | 0xD8000000-0xD9FFFFFF |
| I/O Port | 0x0000E000-0x0000EFFF |
| IRQ Channel | IRQ 16 |
| Driver | C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\NVDD.INF_AMD64_1C87277D30438BDE\NVLDDMKM.SYS (23.21.13.9125, 16.73 MB (17,538,104 bytes), 6/4/2018 3:35 AM) |
| Drive | C: |
|---|---|
| Description | Local Fixed Disk |
| Compressed | No |
| File System | NTFS |
| Size | 917.98 GB (985,677,029,376 bytes) |
| Free Space | 393.67 GB (422,700,339,200 bytes) |
| Volume Name | OS |
| Volume Serial Number | 4E223760 |
| Drive | D: |
| Description | Removable Disk |
| Drive | E: |
| Description | Removable Disk |
| Drive | F: |
| Description | Removable Disk |
| Drive | G: |
| Description | Removable Disk |
| Drive | H: |
| Description | CD-ROM Disc |
| Drive | I: |
| Description | Local Fixed Disk |
| Compressed | No |
| File System | exFAT |
| Size | 4.55 TB (5,000,669,429,760 bytes) |
| Free Space | 1.97 TB (2,162,563,219,456 bytes) |
| Volume Name | Backup Plus |
| Volume Serial Number | 5A513BC8 |
| Drive | J: |
| Description | Local Fixed Disk |
| Compressed | No |
| File System | FAT32 |
| Size | 15.00 GB (16,106,127,360 bytes) |
| Free Space | 5.93 GB (6,366,187,520 bytes) |
| Volume Name | Google Drive |
| Volume Serial Number | 19831116 |
| Drive | K: |
| Description | Local Fixed Disk |
| Compressed | No |
| File System | NTFS |
| Size | 1.82 TB (2,000,396,742,656 bytes) |
| Free Space | 1.37 TB (1,510,836,666,368 bytes) |
| Volume Name | Aegis Portable |
| Volume Serial Number | 7008321F |
I used Belarc Advisor over 15 years ago, and it seemed ok, but I thought it was slow and tried to do too much. On a whim, I just downloaded and tried System Information Viewer from http://rh-software.com and like it so far. Extremely fast and informative even if the interface is a little idiosyncratic. Both it and Balarc Advisor are among the list of 10 tools featured in https://www.techcommuters.com/best-free-system-information-tools/
2 Likes
Task manager reports 2.1 GB Memory in use on my computer (W10 with no apps running). Click the Processes tab and sort by Memory to see what is using memory.
1 Like
Just so you are aware here’s a little story about what happened to me related to MS Office. I bought a new PC a couple of years ago and had a copy of Office with the “key” that I had purchased for the previous machine. I figure no problem I have the disc and the key so I’m home free. Guess what? No dice. MS in it’s infinite wisdom forced me to buy an annual fee recurring copy of Office 360 (or whatever they call it). Something like $70-$80 per year.
Regards,
ImAGolfer
I’ve been installing MS Office 2007 on various computers for many many years. No problems. It does say it’s an update version and has to detect an older version on the computer. I have an older disk. So when it asks for that, I put the older disk in the computer, it detects it (I don’t have to install the older one), and then I’m good to go.
Don’t tell those sleazebags at MS! Shhhhhh!
Having to pay an annual fee for a software program that works fine for many many years is a rip off.
2 Likes
Imagolfer, I am still using my 2007 office on my new computer and it still works. It is a little wonky loading, takes a few seconds but works.
Andy
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XPS 8900 uses a Gen-6 Intel CPU (5+yrs old tech). IMO, the motherboard will likely not support some of the newer stuff.
Don’t know where you live, but I got my system at Micro Center (their brand is PowerSpec). Have had it almost 2 yrs and works fairly well. 10-gen Intel i7-10700 (not overclocked), 1 or 2 TB SSD (C), 32GB memory. Added new 4GB internal HD to case (buy from and install by Micro Center) plus discounted MS Office (Home+Student) from them too because I bought the PC. Win 10 Pro, free upgrade to Win 11 Pro by MS. No problems with the OS upgrade when it happened.
Don’t know what you need for video card. I just play a few lower-end games, so about any current (low end) video card will work for me.
So you are saying that it might not be a great idea to add an SSD to my current PC. That was a gut feeling I had, but I couldn’t spell out why I felt that. Basically, a new computer would have all parts compatible.
Video card: I haven’t played a computer since pong! You know, the ball that goes back and forth on the screen forever. LOL.
I’d still recommend finding a computer repair shop you can trust, but based on your msinfo output, I’m confident you’d benefit from an SSD and adding at least 8 GB more memory if you wanted to put off buying the new computer. https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_desktop/esuprt_xps_desktop/xps-8900-desktop_reference%20guide_en-us.pdf indicates it has an m.2 slot for an SSD, which is good news.
You have a Dell, so you should be able to look up compatible memory & drives at dell.com with your service tag, which should be on a sticker somewhere on the computer. But a good repair shop should be able to find compatible memory and SSD, give you an estimate, install them, and copy your existing drive onto the new one. For just the parts, Dell XPS 8900 | Memory RAM & SSD Upgrades | Crucial.com indicates about $175 for a 2 TB SDD; $60 for 16 GB memory or $115 for 32 GB memory. For less than 20% of the price of the newer XPS you could substantially upgrade your existing one.
On the other hand, the XPS 8950 is better than the XPS 8900 would be even after upgrades. It has more and faster memory, a much better cpu (PassMark - Intel Core i7-12700 - Price performance comparison vs PassMark - Intel Core i5-6400 @ 2.70GHz - Price performance comparison… the i7 is a lot better, at the expense of higher peak power consumption, or TDP), a better GPU, would be under warrant, etc. It’s win/win! Good luck.
Side note: I am more cautious than other people, but I’d avoid 3rd-party management software. On a Windows system, I would generally only install Sysinternals - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn - the only disadvantage is that it is made for system administrators and isn’t always easy to use. It was developed in part by the current CTO of Azure, Mark Russinovich.
2 Likes