ADVANCED TINKERING
If you want to put a more significant spring in your PC’s step, tweaking a few Windows settings probably won’t give you the desired outcome. Instead, you may need to roll up your sleeves and push your existing hardware beyond its stated limits with a spot
ADD AN SSD
In the olden days, the main reason for upgrading a hard drive was to get more storage space. Now, it’s all about speed. It’s no secret that swapping out your old hard disk for a whizzy new SSD is one of the most effective ways to make your computer run faster. But even if you got wise to this and upgraded to an SSD ages ago, it’s worth remembering that solid-state technology has advanced massively in recent years. Newer SSDs are even speedier – especially superfast M.2 models, such as the Samsung 960 Pro 512GB (£277 from pcpro.
link/277sam), which topped the charts in our recent Labs ( see issue 275, p76).
If your motherboard doesn’t have an M.2 slot, you can buy an M.2/PCI-E adapter card for around £10 online, but there’s no guarantee this workaround will work with your chipset, so research compatibility before you buy. A standard SATA SSD, such as Crucial’s 525GB MX300 (£134, pcpro.
link/277mx300) is usually the best way to upgrade older PCs, while hybrid SSHDs can provide a cost-effective mix of speed and storage.
Carrying out the upgrade is a slightly convoluted process that involves cloning your system drive, whipping it out, installing the SSD in its place and crossing your fingers. See our walkthrough opposite for details.
INCREASE YOUR RAM
Popular belief is that more RAM equals more speed, but it’s not that simple. The more RAM you have, the less likely it is that your PC will have to resort to virtual memory, which is really what slows things down. So, if you frequently have lots of memory-intensive programs running at the same time, or regularly have half a million browser tabs open at once then, yes, adding more memory should help your PC stay faster for longer. But if you only ever use your PC to noodle around in Notepad++, then more RAM isn’t going to help much.
The old RAM limit of 4GB for 32-bit systems should now be an irrelevance – if you’re still running 32-bit Windows, it’s time the machine was packed off to the retirement home. The RAM limit for 64-bit computers is usually governed by your CPU and motherboard, so check your documentation or with the manufacturer.
The good news is that installing new RAM is usually one of the easiest upgrades to carry out. Find out what modules your PC is compatible with (install CPU-Z for free from cpuid.com and check the Memory tab), buy your memory sticks, then crack open your PC’s case and pop your new modules into the slots. Prices vary, depending on the type and quantity you buy. Expect to pay between £15 and £25 for a 2GB stick of DDR2 or DDR3 RAM. It’s normally best to install modules in matching pairs.
OVERCLOCKING
Increasing your PC’s processor speed just by tweaking a few settings sounds like an awesome free upgrade. While overclocking’s easier than it used to be, there are still numerous factors that put it firmly in the ‘advanced’ category. You will need the right
hardware for a start – an unlocked CPU, such as Intel’s ‘K’ series CPUs and AMD’s Black Edition range, and a motherboard that supports overclocking.
We don’t have room to detail the process here, but the basic principle behind overclocking is straightforward. It involves increasing your CPU’s clock speed multiplier, usually via your PC’s BIOS or UEFI, although there are free overclocking tools you can use from your desktop, such as AMD’s OverDrive ( pcpro.link/277amd) and Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility ( pcpro. link/277tuning).
Before you go jacking up your GHz, it’s worth considering the inherent dangers involved. Even a modest increase in clock speed can shorten the life of your components, and it’s easy to end up causing permanent damage, especially if you start fiddling about with voltage settings (which may be necessary to provide more power to your processor). Overclocking can also cause overheating, so you’ll need to properly test various configurations and make sure you hit the right sweet spot of performance, temperature and stability. Free tools such as CPU-Z, Prime95 ( mersenne.org/ download) and Real Temp techpowerup.com/ realtemp) can help you achieve this. An advanced cooling system could be a useful upgrade, too.
Your CPU isn’t the only component you can push beyond its factory settings: depending on your hardware, you may be able to overclock your RAM and your graphics card, too