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/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
They make a cradle that will hold your new SSD and plug into one of the usb slots on your device. You can create a clone of your current hard drive onto the new larger device. Then you can exchange the new SSD for the old on in the device and boot up. If there is a problem, you can put the old hard drive back in and figure out what is wrong. It’s cost effective but you could just pay someone maybe the same amount as some of these cradles and let them do it with less personal headache. Below is one example of the cradles. They come in all flavors and I would opt for a cheap one. The one I have cost
around $20 and I’ve used it without problems. The advice AJM gave you is solid btw. HTH…doc