If you don’t upgrade to Windows 11, you can’t use Recall, which is a great reason not to upgrade to Windows 11.
I upgraded to Linux. It worked out well for me since I mostly pay retro games and games from yesteryear.
I upgraded a Chromebook to Linux recently. That was a huge bump in performance that I wasn’t expecting, not even just for gaming.
What distro? Did you follow a guide?
installed Lubuntu 24 on it using a guide that loosely applied to the low end chromebook I have. Link here
Using chrome browser on ChromeOS was snappy but any other browser I used with addons was an awful and laggy experience. The difference in performance was an unexpected win, but I primarily did it to ditch SpywareOS.
Going forward I’m probably going to just look for chromebooks to convert to linux for a daily driver laptop because you dont have to pay a premium for the spyware like you do with a windows laptop
People want shiny new things. I’ve had relatives say stuff like “I bought this computer 2 years ago and it’s getting slower, it’s awful how you have to buy a new one so quickly.” I suggest things to improve it, most of which are free or very cheap and I’d happily do for them. But they just go out and buy a brand new one because that’s secretly what they wanted to do in the first place, they just don’t want to admit they’re that materialistic.
Can I have some tips too?
Appreciate the meme but yea that is one way to probably improve performance. Or upgrade the RAM, clean the fans, reapply thermal compound, clear out temporary files, disable unused services or reinstall Windows if they really need it just to run Chrome and Zoom which is all they do.
Even just blowing out all the dust from a passive cooler (under the CPU fan) can make your system run a good 10°C cooler.
hardware isn’t as impactful to performance as software imo, just getting rid of bloat services can improve the perceived performance for every day tasks a ton.
btw I don’t really get why increasing the amount of ram is thought of as the first step by most normie consumers, if you have enough it’s enough and even my 2gb machine runs everything fine
You’d be amazed at the startup and program opening time gains on older computers’ when you change in the HDD that is stuck at read/write speeds of 5MB/s for a SSD
oh yeah SSDs are great, but RAM, thermals, etc don’t matter much
If RAM upgradable to dual channel it could still make a big difference
Clean the fans.
Reinstall the os clean. That’s usually why a new computer feels snappy: it’s just fresh.
Also dont forget to reapply thermal paste. Might help with overheating.
No chance I’m advising normies to mess with thermal paste on their own.
Free:
- clean fans and heatsink - others mentioned, and the reason is better cooling so it doesn’t throttle
- kill unnecessary services - that’s why reinstalling works
- install Linux - not reasonable for everyone, but Linux uses far fewer resources
- delete old files - as disks get full, it takes longer to find somewhere for files to go; try to leave 10-20% free
- try a small overclock - many older CPUs can give a little more without upgrading cooling; only do it if temps look good
Relatively cheap (<$200 each):
- upgrade drive to NVMe - huge difference if running an HDD, still noticeable of running a SATA SSD
- add more RAM (only if you’re constantly running out)
- upgrade CPU - esp if AMD since they release lots of CPUs for the same socket
It really depends on what’s making it slow though.
for deleting files qdirstat/windirstat are insanely good pieces of software
I have heard that Windows underclocks your CPU over time, to make you buy a new computer, and so Microsoft can get money from the new PC’s preinstalled Windows license.
I am not really sure if that’s true though.
I have heard that Windows underclocks your CPU over time
I would say this is half true. Microsoft is known for pushing lots of software updates with unwanted features, so it’s probably that a computer will feel slower over time.
However that’s not an underclock it’s just that the CPU can’t keep up with that much bloatware.
People live in times of historic standstill. Society barely develops in a meaningful and hopeful way. Social relationships stagnate or decline. So they look for a feeling of progress and agency in participation in the market and consuming.
They don’t realize this because they aren’t materialistic enough, in a sense that they don’t analyse their condition as a result of political and cultural configuration of their lives so that real agency seems unavailable
I use a gaming laptop from 2018. Rog Zephyrus.
fan started making grating noise even after thorough cleaning, found a replacement on Ebay and boom back in business playing Hitman and Stardew.
Will I get 120 fps or dominate multiplayer? nah. But yeah works fine. Might even be a hand me down later on.
Absolutely it totally depends on what you got originally. If you only got an okay ish PC in 2018 then it definitely still won’t be fit for purpose in 2025, but if you got a good gaming PC in 2018 it probably will still work in another 5 years, although at that point you’ll probably be on minimum settings for most new releases.
I would say 5 to 10 years is probably the lifespan of a gaming PC without an upgrade.
However my crappy work laptop needs replacing after just 3 years because it was rubbish to start with.
We replaced my mom’s warcraft machine 3 years ago. It replaced an athlonII from 2k7 at 14 years old. Your tank may be a 74yo grandmother so be nice.
I want to talk about writing 2k7 instead of 2007. It does save a character, but I also had to read it 3 times to understand lol but that might be a me problem
Also: do you only do that for 2000-2009, or do you write 2k25?
Also, Also: hope this doesn’t come across as rude. Ive never seen it written that way & find it interesting and a little funny.
Also, also, also: I think it’s sweet you helped your mom upgrade her computer so she could play WoW more effectively.
Oh yeah that’s what it means, I thought 2k7 was a company I’d never heard of.
And even then, a few strategic upgrades of key components could boost things again. New gfx card, a better SSD, more/faster RAM, any of those will do a lot.
High end gaming laptops are about a 5 year cycle, presuming you want everything ultra or high settings.
If you don’t care, my old laptop with a 7700k and a 1070 still runs almost anything, just not as well as brand new top end.
I built an overkill PC in February 2016, it was rocking a GTX 980ti a little before the 1080 came out, and it was probably the best GPU out there, factory overclocked and water cooled by EVGA. My CPU was an i5-4690k, which was solidly mid range then, but I overclocked it myself from 3.5GHz to 5.3Ghz with no issue, and only stopped there because I was so suspicious of how well it was handling that massive increase. I had 2TB of SSD spaceand like 8TB of regular hard drives and 16GB of ram.
Because I have never needed to think about space, and so many of my parts were really overpowered for their generation, I have always been hesitant to upgrade. I don’t play the newest games either, I still get max settings on Doom Eternal and Read Dead 2 which I forget are half a decade old. The only game where it’s struggled in low settings is Baldurs Gate 3 unfortunately, which is made me realise it’s ready to upgrade.
If not playing competitive, there’s very little reason to go latest and greatest. Just buy something with software support, or use Linux where support is practically guaranteed for at least a decade
Linux is actually a problem area here, because various crucial libraries for running games have limited support for hardware that old. I tried for a long time to get it working with stuff from 2012, my problems disappeared after upgrading my cpu recently. Something with Vulkan compatibility I think.
Any idea what? Wine/proton should abstract away all those issues. Or are you talking about old native Linux games?
Wine/proton is specifically what doesn’t work, though most linux native games also did not work. Based on my experience with that I’m confident that everyone saying it just works for them has relatively new hardware.
You get a vulkan error that sounds the same if you have the wrong GPU drivers, some older cards need a different driver eg radeon vs amdgpu
Also possible your card is so old it doesn’t even have a vulkan implementation, what was it?
It is a 3060 but I confirmed this is not a GPU or driver issue because replacing the CPU/mobo fixed it. Had the same issues with an older card also, upgrading it didn’t help, nothing I did with graphics drivers helped.
Did you try cleaning your PC and replacing the thermal paste before upgrading? Linux struggles with CPU temperature
If people are pushing you to buy stuff, they are not friends. Do not listen to them.
No, no see sir we are great friends!
Now let me tell you about this great $20,0000 Flatscreen that i get 30% commission on (welcome to bestbuy circa 2000)
(This is satire)
One upside of AAA games turning into unimaginative shameless cash-grabs is that the biggest reason to upgrade is now gone. My computer is around 8 years old now. I still play games, including new games - but not the latest fancy massively marketed online rubbish games. (I bet there’s a funner backronym, but this is good enough for now.)
They’re mad they spent 1k$ on a gpu and still can’t do 4k without upscaling on the newest crapware games
if you had a top of the line pc in 2014 you’d be talking about a 290x/970/980 which would probably work really well for most games now. For CPU that’d be like a 4th gen intel or AMD Bulldozer which despite its terrible reputation probably runs better nowadays thanks to better multi-threading.
A lot of the trending tech inflating minimum requirements nowadays are stuff like raytracing (99% of games don’t even need it) and higher FPS/resolution monitors that aren’t that relevant if you’re still pushing 1080p/60. Let’s not even begin with Windows playing forced obsolescence every few years.
Hell, most games that push the envelope of minimum specs like Indiana Jones are IMO just unoptimised messes built on UE5 than legitimately out of scope of hardware from the last decade. Stuff like Ninite hasn’t delivered in enabling photorealistic asset optimisation but HAS enabled studios to cut back on artist labour in favour of throwing money at marketing.
You have to try really hard to even notice Ray tracing in a lot of games. Well except for your fps halving, that’s pretty noticeable.
put linux on that beast and it’ll keep running new games til 2030
> “heh it still works”
> Skyrim, GTA V, OSRS
I originally built my current PC back in 2016 and only just “upgraded” it last year. I put upgrade in quotes because it was literally a free motherboard and GPU my buddy no longer needed. I went from a Core i5 6600K to a Ryzen 5 5500GT and a GTX960 4GB to a GTX1070. Still plays all the games I want it to, so I have no desire to upgrade it further right now. I think part of it is I’m still using 1080P 60Hz monitors.
I was running one from 2011 up until 2 years ago when I finally hit a wall in a game I was trying to play and had to upgrade the processor (which meant a new motherboard, which meant new everything). Prior to that I had only upgraded the GPU a couple years prior which i really didn’t need but it was a present to myself and I was able to give the old one to my brother. By the time this one is outdated I might not even be interested in computers anymore with the way things are going with technology.
For me the most important reason to upgrade things is security updates. E.g. if you have an old smartphone it might not get security updates anymore.
Some people don’t seem to care, but I get paranoid about hackers breaking into my phone in some way.
Phones suffer a lot from forced obsolescence. More often than not, the hardware is fine, but the OEM abandons it because “lol fuck you, buy new shit”. Anyone that says that a Samsung S7 “can’t handle current apps” is out of their mind
Other than camera and software, there’s hardly any reason to buy new phones over flagships from some years ago.
True. For my next phone I’m looking at how long security updates are promised for, so I can get something with long-term support.
Yeah, I’m with you anon. Here’s my rough upgrade path (dates are approximate):
- 2009 - built PC w/o GPU for $500, only onboard graphics; worked fine for Minecraft and Factorio
- 2014 - added GPU to play newer games (~$250)
- 2017 - build new PC (~$800; kept old GPU) because I need to compile stuff (WFH gig); old PC becomes NAS
- 2023 - new CPU, mobo, and GPU (~$600) because NAS uses way too much power since I’m now running it 24/7, and it’s just as expensive to upgrade the NAS as to upgrade the PC and downcycle
So for ~$2200, I got a PC for ~15 years and a NAS (drive costs excluded) for ~7 years. That’s less than most prebuilts, and similar to buying a console each gen. If I didn’t have a NAS, the 2023 upgrade wouldn’t have had a mobo, so it would’ve been $400 (just CPU and GPU), and the CPU would’ve been an extreme luxury (1700 -> 5600 is nice for sim games, but hardly necessary). I’m not planning any upgrades for a few years.
Yeah it’s not top of the line, but I can play every game I want to on medium or high. Current specs: Ryzen 5600, RX 6650 XT, 16GB RAM.
People say PC gaming is expensive. I say hobbies are expensive, PC gaming can be inexpensive. This is ~$150/year, that’s pretty affordable… And honestly, I could be running that OG PC from 2009 with just a second GPU upgrade for grand total of $800 over 15 years if all I wanted was to play games.
Maybe it’s just my CPU or something wrong with my setup, but i feel like new games (especially ones that run on Unreal Engine 5) really kick my computers ass at 1440p. Just got the 7900xtx last year and using a ryzen 9 3900xt i got from 2020 for reference. I remember getting new cards like 10 years ago and being able to crank the settings up to max with no worries, but nowadays I feel I gotta worry about lowering settings or having to resort to using upscaling or frame generation.
Games dont feel very optimized anymore, so I can see why people might be upgrading more frequently thinking it’s just their pc being weak. I miss the days where we could just play games in native resolution.
Unrel engine is also a pig on resources. I don’t bother games that use it on my Steam Deck because I know they won’t run well
Devs are heavily depending on the crutch of upscaling and framegen for new games.
Yeah, fuck putting FSR/DLSS on by default. How about you just optimize your game asshole
Games dont feel very optimized anymore
This is on purpose. Game studios decided that instead of bothering with all sorts of complex graphics hacks to get games to run fast they can just crank ray tracing and use temporal anti-aliasing. The result being that you need one of the latest generation cards to run these games at all since they don’t degrade gracefully to lower specs.
Until very recently I was still running a 1080, which runs pretty much any game (even recent ones) at high graphics settings. As soon as a game uses ray tracing or temporal anti-aliasing it won’t even run at the lowest potato settings possible.
The invincible should not look like this at <15fps and be a blurry mess when moving on minimum settings while halo infinite looks way better while rendering way more things on the same machine at high settings at 60fps.
Not just you. The difference between a poorly optimized game, and a game that looks even better but is well optimized, is insane these days.
My current PC used for gaming is a self built one from 2014. I have upgraded a few things during the years, most notably GPU and memory, but it did an excellent job for over a decade. Recently it started to show its age with various weird glitches and also some performance issues in several newer games and so I’ve just ordered a new one. But I’m pretty proud of my sustainable computing achievement.
