Upgrading Laptop

[DCreedz#523]

Hey,

Just so you's know, I have pretty much no idea about computers, like at all

So, I currently have an Acer Aspire 5740G (specs can be seen below) that is 7 years old. Bought in Feb 2010. It is a great computer, and I would say it would've been an upper-class laptop in it's day. It still runs but it's quite slow, and it's been getting slower over these last couple of months. It has quite nice graphics, when they're maxed out, but when I do max them out, the computer pretty much shits itself and won't run Sim at all (1fps lol) When I'm racing rF each week, there's aloooot of people in the one server, I've got everything on my graphics (card??) turned all the way down, and all my in-game graphics turned as low as I could. However I still get really low fps and it lags quite badly.

Now that I'm racing a bit more, I really want to upgrade it, as I can't afford to flat-out buy a brand new PC. So, my question is, where would be a good place to start upgrade wise? I asked a local computer tech guy, he told me he could upgrade the hard drive to an SSD hard drive for $200. Would this be worthwhile to get better performance, especially in sim?

Laptop Specs:
Acer Aspire 5740G
- Intel Core i3 processor 330M (2.13 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB)
- ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 Up to 2234 MB HyperMemory
- 15.6" HD LED LCD (I plan to get a new monitor in the near future anyway)
- 4GB Memory
- 320 GB HDD
- DVD-Super Multi DL drive

[Rayvenator]

I´m a bit of an PC idiot as well (Storken might kill me eventually) but as far as I know changing your hard-drive wont give you any performance increase while racing. It might load in faster but thats It.

From the little I know, that computer of yours had probably lived its life gaming wise. Upgrading it would probably only be useless money spent to be honest. Its probably a much better idea to save your money and buy something decent and new.

Its only so much you can do before it gets silly. Yeah you can change hard-drive but that wont increase actual racing performance (dont kill me Storken!). You can change the processor but then you´d get limited by you graphics card. Change the graphics card and you´d be bottlenecked by your RAM. Might not be this exact order but you get the idea. Its just a neverending story. Its not even sure your motherboard supports any worthwhile upgrades.

Save the money and buy a decent new one or in worst case if you really need one badly fast, buy a fairly new used computer.

[DCreedz#523]

Thanks for your reply mate. I had a feeling that would be the case. Unfortunately buying a PC really isn't an option for me at the moment. I was really looking for any upgrade I can do to my current laptop just to tide me over until I do have enough money for a decent PC. Might have to start looking for a 2nd hand one Any tips on what to look out for when buying a used one?

[Pumaxcs]

You can try a cooling pad and cleaning out the laptop so it wouldn't throttle itself but with laptops they don't make interchangeable parts so there isn't an upgrade path but to replace. You could add more RAM but if the CPU/GPU are reaching the end of their headroom before the limit then that won't change anything. As Ray said the SSD will speed loading times but once everything is loaded it won't change how its running. Other than those two parts nothing on a laptop is upgradable, most times even solder to the boards.

Its hard to say what to look for in a used PC. There are some parts that hold value but to say what that value is isn't easy without knowing your market. I've bought second hand before and haven't had any issues.

[DCreedz#523]

I've bought second hand before and haven't had any issues.

Thanks for your reply! When buying a second hand PC, obviously the tower is the most important part. I'm guessing Keyboard, monitor etc. is all pretty much personal preference and personal budget. For selling/buying used items in Australia, large quantities of the population use an app called Gumtree where people can sell items. They have to put in a description of what they're selling (obviously) and all sellers write big paragraphs explaining what parts make up the computer system. Which of those parts should I look for? And what can I more-or-less ignore, that isn't overly needed? And most importantly, what are the parts that scream red flag and that shouldn't be bought?

[Pumaxcs]

Some obvious ones like the environment it was in and how the owner kept it, some basic knowledge things when looking at bikes transfer over. Vagueness is a big one. If you can't look up a model of what they have its shady. Used parts are fairly stable and have a predictable life expectancy to be outdated before they fry but, this is all very dependent on the PSU. The PSU is by far the biggest red flag when buying used, if the parts have been paired with some shoddy power its whole life its past has been hurt and its future has been hurt. There are very few instances of a different part having such a huge effect over the other parts its connected too. The age of parts isn't super important, if you can find a first gen i7 920, even though its around 5-6 years old its still an i7. The motherboard may have aged connectors on it but if it has what you need then it doesn't matter. The GPU is not super age dependent and used GPU's mostly take after their performance comparisons for current gen. What I mean by that is I have a GTX 780 I bought for US$550 but 4 years later it performs at the same FPS rating as a GTX 1050-1060, their price range is US$100-$200. Because of that, my GPU if I sold it now, is only worth US$100-150. So, no big deal if you can't find a GPU in your price range, just buy a new one that is. The biggest gain you can get is a barebones set, meaning MB/CPU/RAM that is a few generations old, then buy new a decent cheap NZXT, Phanteks, Corsair $70 case, $50PSU and $100 GPU and you've got a 1080p60FPS PC for about US$300-400.

[DCreedz#523]

Well thank you for such in depth responses! Definitely going to be having a good look around. =)