Are you upgrading RAM or an SSD, but your PC is still slow?
Are you upgrading RAM or an SSD, but your PC is still slow?
Hey everyone, I recently swapped out my laptop with a new SSD and added more RAM. The system still runs just fine right after the change. But when I play games, nothing seems to get faster or better. Games barely run well, show low frames per second (like 15 to 45), and sometimes even lower. Some games are almost impossible on low settings. I don't have too many programs running at once, except for Bitdefender which uses a lot of memory. Is anyone here able to help or give me advice? I really don't know how to fix this and would be very thankful if you could assist! My laptop is an Inspiron 14 5480 with these specs: - Intel Core i7-8565U processor running at 1.99 GHz (though it says 1.80GHz) - 32GB of RAM (actually 31.8GB available) - An NVIDIA GeForce MX250 graphics card that has the latest drivers - Running Windows 11, Steam, and Battl.net (both are slow). Thanks so much! Nick
You're wrong if you think RAM and/or SSD make your laptop faster or show better graphics. All you really need is a new GPU. Since you have a laptop, you'll also need to get a whole new one. Also, your MX250 card is just like the old desktop GT 1030, which is pretty bad by comparison: https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nv...8vsm283726
Hey, I think @Aeacus is right. Just upgrading your RAM won't speed things up much. It just lets you run more apps at once, which is nice but not a real performance boost. Since your laptop is probably 4 or 5 years old, it might be slow to clean and refresh. This video shows how to take it apart and clean it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX_vKqnfvR8. You can use compressed air can to blow away the dust from inside. You could also try repasting your CPU or GPU with some good thermal paste, which might help performance a bit.
Cleaning might help just a bit if your computer is very hot and the CPU or GPU are slowing down on its own. For most laptops, wiping things out won't make them run faster. Either your laptop is already cool enough so cleaning does nothing, OR when it gets too hot to keep running clean, you can't really fix that with just a quick wipe because the cooling system isn't good enough. In either case, spending time cleaning a machine is hard work and might even break something. You won't magically gain 20 to 40 more frames per second by just cleaning it. But getting things cleaned still gives you some hope. Instead of saying "maybe I'll get it running smoother," let's say "I'll at least have my laptop ready."
I hear ya! With that said, getting hot is pretty likely. Cleaning and swapping out the paste usually helps boost performance. I might have phrased it better though, because no cleaning or swap gives extra speed to this system. But, keeping things clean and repasting can bring a laptop back to its old glory levels, giving you speeds like before. I'd rather feel hopeful than spend money on something that won't work! 😊 The fix might help. That's why the included video is useful for cleaning While getting a laptop dirty isn't scary, it doesn't have to be. Anyone who can read the instructions and use a Philips screwdriver can do it safely.
Cleaning that laptop won't help OP get the results they want. The MX250 is a weak graphics card, and this laptop was built for work, not games. Even if you turn up the clock on the GPU, it still won't give a smooth or fun gaming experience. If OP had gotten a real gaming machine that could handle 1080p without any problems but now struggles at that setting, that might be due to overheating and slowing down. But this laptop has never been good for gaming in the first place. In other words: if it was great before but is now bad, you can try to fix it. If it was always bad from the start, no matter how much you clean or upgrade it, it's still a bad machine. An older model with at least an NVIDIA GTX 1050 should perform much better in games than what OP currently has, according to a comparison between their current card and that other mobile GPU.
No one has suggested otherwise. So the logic being, if your laptop is slowing down, or not performing, then simply just get a new one!? Don't bother cleaning and keeping it running as it should? No point, Is that the gist of it? You're stating the obvious!!! And no-one would suggest that a GTX1050 is slower than the MX.