I am Confused for upgrade my Hardware

I have Low End Gaming Computer and i want my computer to run Unity a little smoothly.
this is my computer specification :

CPU : G4560 3,5Ghz
RAM : 8GB PC19200 (2400Mhz) DDR4
HDD : 500GB WD
Mobo : AsRock H110-M
VGA : GT 1030 GDDR5 2GB

I only have funds that are only enough to upgrade 1 hardware. so I am confused to focus on which Hardware, and I have thought of 3 candidates for Upgrade my Hardware. like VGA, RAM, and SSD.
Anyone can help me?
Thanks a lot

Upgrade that GPU to a GTX 1050 (At the least) or whatever the ATI equivalent of that is. Above all else, that’s what’s going to get you the real performance gains.

Running Unity “smoothly” will require more than just a single upgrade, depending on your project. You have a dual core CPU, but Unity likes lots of cores, especially for light baking. You have 8GB of RAM, which is about the minimum for anything but the simplest projects, but you’ll get better performance out of 16GB. Loading scenes, loading projects, compiling, and again light baking all benefit from an SSD which you don’t have either.

Your video card is fine if your projects target that level of video hardware.

Without seeing your project, I would think the SSD would offer the most improvement to performance, but it still will be a bit sub par.

2 Likes

You want definitely upgrade storage.
500GB with projects will go up fast. SSD would be preferably, since you can not afford any other hardware on top.
However, while you gain speed, SSD are bit more expensive and have less storage, than same price HDD.

For not large projects 8 GB is ok. Virtual memory on disk can handle overcapacity. Just keep internet browsers tabs low. They eat a lot of memory.

Your GPU is not bad.
If targeting for learning, or maybe mobile devices thats completely fine. You will learn how not to clutter scene and keep resealable performance, due to any faced constrains. Besides, we don’t know how much space in the box you have, for any better GPU.

CPU would be more advisory, since Unity utilities CPU much more. But that is likely to need upgrade motherboard. Which can not in your case.

So SSD seams resealable option.

1 Like

For most general PC usage, adding more RAM and replacing the hard drive with an SSD drive will give you the biggest improvement. Look into upgrading to 16GB of RAM. Also, look at the Samsung 860 EVO drives. A 500GB SSD currently sells for about $120, and it would be massively faster than your existing hard drive.

Beyond that, it depends on the game. If you are making a 2D mobile game, then a new video card won’t help much. If you are building a 3D PC game, then a more powerful video card will help a lot. For example, maybe you could find a good deal on a used GTX 1070.

You could also consider replacing your CPU with a compatible i5, which would be just over $200. That would give you a solid performance boost as well, but I would recommend doing all of the other upgrades before a CPU upgrade. Your board supports 6th and 7th generation Intel CPUs, so you could upgrade to an i5-7500 or even an i7-7700.

For now i only use Unity to learn 3D and 2D game development on mobile. but, for the future when i have enough funds, i will upgrade my low-end PC to High-end PC and i will go to PC game development. So, for now, after i read y’all comments above, the point is i have to focus on SSD and RAM? hmm, maybe i should buy one SSD for my PC for development 3D and 2D game on Mobile.
thanks guys

IF you getting SSD, just make sure, you get one with solid positive reviews. You don’t need latest year edition.
Don’t buy used one, if you can afford.

In the end, storage drives are most transferable of all other hardware. In the future, you can easily reuse it with new top rig, without any hardware constrains.

While with CPU,GPU,RAM you will always have dilemma, how to match rest of hardware. Or you end up with loosely hanging spares. Alternatively sale such.

Good luck in hardware hunting :wink:

Aye Aye sir :slight_smile:
oh, can you consider a good SSD brand at a low price for me?

Don’t buy a used SSD, that is important. You pretty much never want to buy a used SSD. The reason is unlike an HDD, an SSD actually has a fixed number of write cycles before the drive flips to read only mode. The number of writes allowed is generally higher than a desktop user would hit, and they do include a complicated wear leveling algorithm to evenly spread writes to maximize life, but when buying used you don’t know what kind of work loads the drive was subjected to.

When I used to work for a network hardware company we would stress test these things. Under max write load their lifetime is measured in months. They would be all used up, but still look brand new.

As for brands, I’d put Intel and Samsung at the top of the list.

2 Likes

It would be wrong for me advise you specific brand at the moment, since was few years, I last time bought SSD. All changes. I am so far happy with FUJITSU. But similarly as Toshiba, they may be a bit more expensive. Personally I have avoided Samsung, but it is more subjective than objective. Other brands of drives I have Kingston and WD. But mind, every brand has range of good and bad drives. Cheaper options may be a bit risky for longer time span.

Therefore, your best option is look on different brands on shopping websites, and comparison pages .i.e Amaozn, Ebay, and forums. Good thing about amazon, is it has review per product, rather than per seller (ebay).

You want look for product with reviews count of 100+ and older than a year. Preferably 2 years +. And check latest reviews. What you want to look for, is amount of negative reviews over the time. Specifically drive failures duration after purchase (if any). There will be always some %. But Anything with +10% failure chance in 2 years time is bad product for me.

Never buy used storage, full stop :wink:

Order of upgrades:
1.SSD. This is the #1 noticeable upgrade for your overall computer use. Installation and uninstallation is a breeze, something you will notice if you upgrade development tools a lot. You are also not busy-locked by multiple programs trying to use the drive at the same time. Do not move on to step 2 before you have an SSD. No smaller than 250GB, 500GB will be better.

NOTE: If your motherboard supports an M.2 drive I recommend that above all. If it’s recent enough it supports the latest generation NVMe M.2, which means absolutely insane speed. Get a Samsung and do not even look at alternatives. Not even Intel. Yeah, Samsung are bastards, but when they make something good it’s good. Some other brands may have Samsung chips anyway.

2.In your case that CPU needs to be next. Figure out which socket your mobo has (and therefore supported CPUs), and get an i5 or i7 when budget allows. Considering you have a DDR4-based mobo you probably have a choice of decent processors. i7 scales roughly along with price in performance when comparing 4-core i5 and i7 within the same generation, but I’m mainly using an i5 which does quite well.

3.External backup. You need it. 4TB or more. It’s a duopoly, so it really doesn’t matter which brand. I’ve got all sorts, and have been happy with all for years.

4.More internal storage. It can’t hurt to add another 4TB internal HDD. A Barracuda should be cheap-ish.

5.GPU is the last absolutely necessary upgrade if you’re an average indie. GTX 1070 should be fine once you get the money, and prices are on the way down. If you have a 4k monitor a 1080 or 1080TI sure would be helpful, but on a tight budget you will be fine with GTX 1070 (1080p and 1440p gaming is no problem). This is the first piece of hardware where buying used isn’t out of the question. Earlier generations can keep up with modern use, but more recent GPUs are cooler. You decide. Just be careful around 10xx cards which may have been used for mining. They have some wear and tear.

6.Bonus step: Double your RAM. 8GB can go far now if you’re on Windows 10 since it has become a tad more efficient. It will be problematic if designing ridiculous scenes for AAA games, but I’m sure most people here are aiming a little lower. If you were working on a game which required the top everything I’m sure you’d already have a work computer up to the task.

2 Likes

For an inexpensive SSD drive, I would strongly recommend the Samsung 860 EVO. Get a new one for sure.

What’s your budget? Everyone has provided their opinions but none of them may be practical depending on your funds. An SSD is most likely the least expensive upgrade while a CPU or GPU may be the most expensive depending on whether you need a new motherboard or not.

1 Like

I don’t think that most motherboards capable of taking DDR4 don’t have the capability to handle at least SATA based SSDs, which, while the slowest of the lot, are still substantially faster than an HDD.

1 Like

He can definitely use SATA SSDs. I haven’t seen a computer made in the past ten years without the necessary ports. He just won’t be able to use anything better as his motherboard lacks M.2 slots (at least not without an add-on card). It’s part of why I mentioned he may need to replace the motherboard for some of his upgrades.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-HDV/?cat=Specifications

and I’m here sitting in front of my i3 4GB RAM laptop…

1 Like

His motherboard can support up to an i7-7700K. That being said it’s an awful motherboard with very limited features and very limited power delivery. If he’s going to upgrade the processor to an i5 or i7 he may as well upgrade the motherboard with it. It’s only a valid board if you weren’t planning on going beyond the CPU it has now.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-HDV/?cat=CPU

Very limited features is likely an understatement. If he were only lacking an M.2 slot but had a PCI-express x4 or greater slot available he would have been able to insert a budget NVMe M.2 add-on card. You can pick them up for only $15.

https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Advanced-Solution-ECM22/dp/B01798WOJ0/

His motherboard has neither of those though leaving him with only SATA.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-HDV/?cat=Specifications

So step 1.5 or 0 would be getting a new motherboard :slight_smile:

ok, thank you all for your opinion.

8 gig of ram is barely enough for the OS to run therefore burdens the disk for virtual memory. That is where you will gain the most for a budget upgrade.