In the era of stratospheric RAM prices, putting a new GPU in an old PC might be your best upgrade bet, but be sure to grab the right monitor, too
CPU upgrades aren't dead from the DDR5 apocalypse — here are in-place DDR4 upgrades you can still make
Cooler Master's MWE Gold V3 is one of our current top picks up to 850W, and sells for about $100 at that capacity. If you need more power for your GPU or other high-draw components, the Be Quiet Dark Power 13 is excellent, but it costs significantly more and is longer, so it won't fit in as many cases.
If available, check your boot drive's toolbox software to find out how many terabytes written (TBW) the drive has listed, versus how much it is rated for. This can also be checked via HWinfo, though it lists your drive's "Drive Remainging Life" as a percentage. While the drive isn't likely to suddenly die once you're past its rating, that is one of the typical stipulations for the warranty ending (the other being years since purchase). If you have a drive that's getting close to its rated write endurance and you have other drives available, you might want to move your commonly used programs – or even the OS – off of that drive and onto another disk if you have one.
It's not exactly easy to move your OS from one drive to another, but an SSD cloner makes that task a lot easier (as I discovered last year when helping out a family member with their cramped boot drive). And these days, spending less than $50 for a tool to move your OS could be a lot cheaper than having to buy a brand-new 2TB or 4TB SSD. Also, if you don't have your irreplaceable data backed up somewhere, getting it off an SSD that may be on its last legs may be more important than any component price increases. WD 's My Passport external hard drive might not be fast, but the 4TB model is still surprisingly affordable at $125 (and the max-capacity 6TB model is $185). I personally swore off hard drives years ago as much-faster SSDs became more affordable, but it's hard to argue against a $125 4TB hard drive for backing up essential data when most speedy 4TB SSDs cost close to four times that much.
Of course, one of the most basic PC maintenance tasks is making sure your case fans and the dust filters on your case aren't clogged up with crud. You can do that a number of ways, including old-school canned air. But you could also pick up a USB-rechargeable duster , which I've found extremely useful for blowing out fans, as well as cleaning keyboards and electronics. Just be aware that these devices can be very strong, and can damage the fragile components on parts like motherboards, as well as creating static discharge that could kill anything from your GPU, to RAM, or anything else. So make sure your system is powered off (preferably unplugged), and you're grounded, particularly if you live in a low-moisture environment.
Cautious users may also want to stick to just blowing out case fans. So long as your case has filters on the intake area, the interior shouldn't get that dusty anyway. But if your GPU is grimy, you might just want to physically remove it from your case and lightly wipe the fans and shroud down with a lightly damp cloth. But for most users, the intake and exhaust fans should be the primary concern in terms of airflow. And so long as you don't slam the nozzle of your blower up against the blades of fast-spinning fans (again, make sure your PC is powered off before blowing it out), blowing the dust from your fans shouldn't cause much concern.
If you've been getting by for years without any kind of GPU support, you might be fine continuing as is. But if you have a large card and you even have to occasionally move your system from one room to another, some basic sort of GPU support is worth investing in. If you have a 3D printer, you can make your own , but I bought this $6 GPU support screw in 2023 and it's been holding up my 1080 Ti nicely in its old age. Just check to see if you might need a longer support, as this one is adjustable between 72 and 117mm.
After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He\u2019s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Matt Safford After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He’s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.
eklipz330 Here's a couple others: -Undervolt slightly, avoid overclocking. OC'ing stresses your computer and shortens it's life. -Buy a pure sinewave UPS to protect your PC from surges Reply
LordVile eklipz330 said: Here's a couple others: -Undervolt slightly, avoid overclocking. OC'ing stresses your computer and shortens it's life. Doesn’t really do that much if you’re not being silly with it. Heat cycles are worse eklipz330 said: -Buy a pure sinewave UPS to protect your PC from surges You can just buy a surge protector? Also pure sine wave are needlessly expensive for a PC Reply
Jabberwocky79 I have always gone beyond buying a simple surge protector for my main desktop. I have it on a UPS, and with the occasional brown-out in the summer, or a complete outage right in the middle of important work, I can't count how many time I appreciated it. As for overclocking, I would think it would depend on stability, no? I'm running a i7-2700K in a backup machine that has been purring along steadily at 4.5 Ghz for nearly 15 years. (Also on a UPS – jus' sayin.') Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/gaming-pcs/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/gaming-pcs/smart-ways-to-help-your-pc-survive-through-the-pc-component-pricing-apocalypse-check-temps-replace-old-aios-and-psus-keep-an-eye-on-your-boot-drives-tbw-and-more#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.