Best Upgrades to Improve PC Performance

When you’re using a computer for regular tasks, you don’t need it to boast a lot of power. Activities like gaming are another story, though, so you may want to bolster your PC to not only accommodate such purposes, but also reach maximal functioning. What are the best upgrades to improve PC performance, though? Focus on the following aspects of your computer to see the greatest results.

RAM

RAM, which is short for random access memory, is the short-term memory your computer uses to retain information on programs that you’re currently running. It helps when you are actively using programs and when you switch to different ones while keeping multiple ones open at the same time. By adding more RAM, your computer’s capacity for running applications increases so that you have the responsiveness you want.

There are different amounts you can add on depending on what you’re using your PC for and how much RAM it can handle. For example, 8 GB is considered a moderate upgrade for basic gaming, video streaming, and other similar tasks, while 16 GB is optimal for more complex, large-scale videogames and video editing. You can even go above this to 32 GB if you so choose.

Storage Drive

In addition to RAM, your PC may also benefit from a peripheral storage drive, particularly a solid-state drive (SSD). This type of memory retains data even after the computer is shut down, unlike RAM. It’s useful when you find yourself running out of storage space on your PC or when you’re after greater speed.

You’ll notice the difference in things such as boot-ups and application launches where the computer is retrieving stored information. This means less time spent on loading screens while you wait for your computer to catch up to the commands you’ve input.

Graphics Card

A graphics card is one of the best upgrades to improve PC performance when you’re heavily into gaming or video editing. It’s responsible for forming the images you see on the monitor, so the better your graphics card is, the higher the quality of visuals your computer can display. When you’re dealing with low frames per second in gaming, a better graphics card can take a lot of the burden off the CPU in the associated calculations, allowing it to perform its operations and create the images faster.

Many computers come with an integrated graphics card built into the motherboard, but this is often not enough for demanding tasks. You’ll want to augment your PC’s performance using discrete graphics cards that are separate from the motherboard but which can be connected to it as an enhancement.