Upgrade your PC for better performance: SSD, RAM, or replace it

Find the bottleneck before you buy anything

A PC is as fast as the resource it runs out of first. More of anything else changes nothing, so spend ten minutes measuring while the PC does the work that feels slow. Microsoft's own performance guide uses the same starting point: the Performance page shows which components are under load.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, then select Performance.
2. Watch CPU, Memory, each Disk and GPU at the moment the PC feels slow, not while it sits idle.
3. For a per-process view, run resmon, or perfmon /res, which starts the Resource View of Windows' performance monitor.

Then match what you saw to the part that is running out:

If the busiest process is one you do not recognize, or nothing is near its limit, the problem is software and the settings guide is the place to start. The rest of this guide assumes the measurement pointed at hardware.

Replace a hard drive with an SSD

A hard disk drive (HDD) stores data on spinning disks. A solid-state drive (SSD) stores it in NAND flash memory with no moving parts, which is why a PC still running Windows from a hard drive is the clearest upgrade case there is. Check what yours has in PowerShell:

Get-PhysicalDisk | Format-Table FriendlyName, MediaType, BusType, Size

MediaType reads HDD or SSD, and BusType reads SATA, NVMe or USB: the values Microsoft documents for its storage management API. If MediaType says Unspecified, look up the drive's model number instead.

SATA or NVMe: buy for the slot, not the drive

SSDs come with two interfaces, and Samsung's upgrade guide puts the difference simply: a SATA SSD connects through the SATA interface originally designed for hard drives, while an NVMe SSD talks to the processor over PCIe.

• SATA Revision 3.0 set the interface speed at 6 Gb/s. SATA-IO, the body that writes the standard, asks for it to be called SATA 6Gb/s and says "SATA III" is a term to avoid.
• NVMe is the protocol NVM Express defines for talking to flash storage over PCI Express, and it is the industry standard for SSDs in every form factor, including M.2.

The ceiling shows in the makers' own ratings. As of September 2026, Samsung rates its 870 EVO SATA SSD at up to 560 MB/s for sequential reads, which it calls the SATA interface limit, and its 990 PRO NVMe SSD at up to 7,450 MB/s. Either one replaces the spinning disk. The gap between them matters most for large sequential transfers, such as copying video files, and for games that use DirectStorage, which Microsoft lists as needing an NVMe SSD.

The catch is the connector. M.2 is a card shape and connector, not an interface: SATA-IO notes that an M.2 slot can carry SATA or PCIe, and that M.2 cards are 22 mm wide and 30 to 110 mm long. So check the slot in the PC maker's specification before buying. Lenovo's specification for the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 (Intel), for example, lists one M.2 2280 slot running PCIe 4.0 x4, for a single drive of up to 2 TB. A PC with a 2.5-inch drive bay takes a 2.5-inch SATA SSD instead, connected with a SATA data cable and a power cable like the hard drive it replaces.

Clone the old drive or install Windows clean

There are two ways to get Windows onto the new drive:

Either way, in this order:

1. Back up your files to an external drive or cloud storage. Neither method should touch them, but a failed clone or a wrong disk selection can.
2. Find your BitLocker recovery key if the drive is encrypted. Moving a BitLocker-protected drive into a new computer and changing the partition table are both on Microsoft's list of events that trigger BitLocker recovery.
3. To clone, connect the SSD alongside the old drive, run the migration tool, pick the drive Windows is on as the source and the SSD as the target, then fit the SSD in the old drive's place and start the PC.
4. To install clean, first open Settings > System > Activation and confirm it says Windows is activated with a digital licence linked to your Microsoft account, which lets you reactivate after a hardware change. Then install from installation media; a new installation erases the target drive. The setup screens that follow are covered in our guide to setting up Windows on a new computer.
5. Keep the old drive untouched for a couple of weeks, until you are sure nothing is missing.

Confirm TRIM is running

TRIM is how Windows tells an SSD which blocks deleted files no longer use, so the drive can do its clean-up work in the background. Microsoft's documentation calls it delete notification and says it is enabled by default on NTFS unless an administrator turns it off. Check in an administrator terminal:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0 means TRIM is on; 1 means it is off. Also leave the schedule in Defragment and Optimize Drives on: Windows optimizes drives once a week by default, defragmenting hard drives and trimming SSDs.

How much RAM do you need?

Windows 11's minimum is 4 GB of RAM. That is the floor for installing Windows, not a target for work. Two published requirements show where real workloads sit:

• Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft's class of AI PCs, must have at least 16 GB of DDR5 or LPDDR5 memory, a 256 GB SSD and a neural processing unit (NPU) rated at 40+ TOPS.
• Photoshop 27.x on Windows needs 8 GB and recommends 16 GB or more, according to Adobe's system requirements.

Integrated graphics add to the demand: they use system memory rather than memory of their own, as Microsoft's description of GPU memory in Task Manager explains. As guidance, not a specification:

Your own numbers beat any table. At your busiest, compare Task Manager's Committed figure with the RAM installed. Microsoft describes the commit charge as the memory Windows has promised to programs, measured against a commit limit of RAM plus page files. A commit charge that regularly exceeds the RAM installed means Windows may have to keep part of it in the page file on disk, and more RAM is likely to help. One that stays well below means extra RAM would sit unused. (The settings guide explains why a bigger page file is not the answer.)

Check free slots and the maximum supported

Before buying memory, find out whether there is anywhere to put it. In PowerShell:

Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemoryArray | Format-List MemoryDevices, MaxCapacityEx
Get-CimInstance Win32_PhysicalMemory | Format-Table DeviceLocator, Capacity, ConfiguredClockSpeed, PartNumber

MemoryDevices is the number of slots or sockets and MaxCapacityEx the maximum memory in kilobytes. Each line of the second command is one installed module: its slot label, size in bytes, configured speed in MHz and part number. Both commands read what the firmware reports, so treat the PC maker's specification as the authority. Two Lenovo examples show the range:

• The ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 (Intel) has two DDR5 SODIMM slots, dual-channel capable, and takes up to 64 GB of DDR5-5600; Lenovo notes the maximum is based on tests with its current memory offerings.
• The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 has memory soldered to the system board, no slots, and every configuration is listed as not upgradable. On a laptop like that, the RAM you bought is the RAM it will always have.

How the memory is arranged matters as well as how much. The same T14 specification says its Intel Arc graphics, on select H-series processors, need at least 16 GB in a dual-channel configuration, otherwise the chip runs as plain Intel Graphics. Buy the type and speed the specification lists, and fill a dual-channel board in matched pairs.

Keep it cool: dust, vents and thermal throttling

A PC that is fast for the first few minutes and then slows down is often running hot, not short of power. Intel describes two kinds of thermal protection in its processors: when a core exceeds its throttle temperature, it reduces power to stay at a safe level (thermal throttling), and if that is not enough, the processor shuts down to prevent damage. The throttle temperature varies by processor and BIOS settings, and Intel does not publish typical operating temperatures, because they depend on system design and workload. So compare the PC against itself, clean and dirty, rather than against a number from a forum.

The heat has to leave through a short path: from the processor, along a heat pipe or heat sink, through thin radiator fins, and out of the case with the fan's airflow. Anything that blocks that path shows up as lost speed.

What to check, in order:

1. Vents. A laptop used on a bed, sofa or lap draws its air through fabric. Use it on a hard, flat surface.
2. Dust. Dust mats against radiator fins and fills desktop intake filters. Our guide to cleaning computer hardware safely covers vents, fans and the inside of a desktop.
3. Thermal paste. If temperatures stay high after a proper clean, the paste between processor and cooler may have dried out; the cleaning guide covers when and how to replace it.
4. Fans. A fan that stays silent under load, or grinds, needs replacing.

Update drivers and firmware from the PC maker

Windows Update installs most drivers, and the settings guide covers its optional updates. For performance problems, also go to the PC maker's support page for your exact model or serial number: it carries chipset, graphics and storage drivers for that model, and the BIOS or UEFI firmware. Dell, for example, recommends SupportAssist for most users and Dell Command | Update for its business models, and some of its BIOS updates also arrive as optional updates in Windows Update. For a separate graphics card, the GPU maker (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel) also publishes its own drivers. SSDs have firmware too: Samsung Magician, for example, updates the firmware of Samsung drives.

Treat BIOS updates as maintenance, not a speed trick. Dell's guide recommends them as part of regular system maintenance and lists what they can contain: security fixes, performance improvements, hardware compatibility, bug fixes and new features. An update may also be one-way: Dell says it may block downgrades once a version includes critical security fixes. When you update:

1. Read the release notes for your exact model, and back up your data.
2. Connect AC power and keep it connected; Dell says not to run a BIOS update on battery alone.
3. Suspend BitLocker, in Manage BitLocker > Suspend protection or with the command below. A BIOS or UEFI firmware upgrade is on Microsoft's list of BitLocker recovery triggers, and suspending protection for a planned firmware update avoids the recovery prompt without decrypting the drive.
4. Close your apps, start the update, and do not interrupt it or switch the PC off until it has finished.

In an administrator PowerShell window:

Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 1

Suspend-BitLocker resumes protection after the number of restarts you give it, one by default. If the maker's instructions say the update restarts more than once, use a higher count, or run Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" when it is done.

When a graphics card makes a difference

Most office PCs never need one. Microsoft's guide to GPUs splits them in two: integrated GPUs, built into the device, handle some gaming and light photo and video editing efficiently, while discrete GPUs, larger and more power-hungry, are for intense photo and video editing, design work and gaming. Microsoft's advice is to check each app's or game's own GPU requirements on the developer's website. Photoshop 27.x, for example, asks for a DirectX 12 GPU with at least 1.5 GB of GPU memory, and Adobe does not test with GPUs older than 7 years.

Task Manager tells you whether graphics is the limit. Its GPU page shows each engine separately, such as 3D rendering and copy, and the dedicated memory, which on a discrete card is the VRAM on the card itself. A 3D engine pinned at the top, or dedicated memory full, in the work that stutters is the signal.

On a desktop, a graphics card also has to fit and be powered. NVIDIA, for example, lists a required system power of 550 W for the GeForce RTX 5060 and 600 W for the RTX 5060 Ti, based on a PC with a Ryzen 9 9950X, and leaves card length and slot width to each card's manufacturer, so check the power supply and the case as well as the price. On a laptop, a discrete GPU sits on the mainboard; the add-on route Microsoft describes is an external GPU on a Thunderbolt or faster port.

Upgrade or replace: the Windows 11 test

For a Windows PC in 2026, the dividing line is whether it can run a supported Windows. Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025: the PC still works, but Microsoft no longer provides technical support, software updates or security fixes. The consumer Extended Security Updates (ESU) program delivers critical and important security updates to Windows 10 version 22H2 until October 12, 2027, and nothing else. Enrolment is free with PC settings sync, or costs Microsoft Rewards points or a one-time purchase. Consumer ESU is not offered to PCs joined to an Active Directory domain or Microsoft Entra ID, or enrolled in device management; organizations use Microsoft's commercial ESU instead. Our guide to keeping a computer updated walks through enrolment.

ESU is a bridge, not a destination. The question is whether the hardware meets Microsoft's Windows 11 minimum requirements:

Two lines decide most cases:

• TPM 2.0 may be present but switched off. Microsoft says most retail mainboards for self-built PCs ship with it off; it is enabled in the UEFI settings under a name such as Intel PTT, Intel Platform Trust Technology, AMD fTPM switch or AMD PSP fTPM.
• The processor must be on Microsoft's lists. The Core i3, i5, i7 and i9 entries on the Intel list start at the 8th generation, and the Ryzen entries on the AMD list at 2000-series models, though not every 2000-series chip is on it.

The PC Health Check app runs the full check and says why a PC does or does not qualify. Forcing Windows 11 onto hardware that fails it is not a way around the decision: Microsoft says such a PC is not entitled to receive updates, and damage caused by incompatibility is not covered by the manufacturer's warranty.

With that settled, the rest is judgement. A decision table:

Microsoft's performance guide makes the same point from the other side: older PCs with outdated hardware may not improve much from tuning, and upgrading the device may then be the best long-term answer. For a worn laptop battery, our guide to laptop battery life covers when to replace one. When you do buy, our guide to setting up Windows on a new computer covers the first hour.

Across a team, these decisions stop being one-offs. Our IT support service keeps an asset register, with advice on what to replace and when, and takes on a device refresh as a project.

Before you replace it: back up, wipe and recycle

An old PC carries saved passwords, mail, documents and browser sessions. Before it leaves your hands:

1. Back up and check. Copy your files to the new PC, an external drive or cloud storage, and open a few to confirm the copy works.
2. Reset it. In Settings > System > Recovery, select Reset PC, choose Remove everything, and turn on Clean data. Microsoft recommends that option when you plan to donate, recycle or sell a PC: it takes longer, but makes removed files harder to recover. The screen can stay black for a long time, occasionally more than 15 minutes; do not restart the PC by hand, or the reset can fail.
3. Match the wipe to the data. Microsoft is explicit that this erasure is aimed at consumers and does not meet government and industry data erasure standards. For business data, use NIST's SP 800-88 Rev. 2, published in September 2025.
4. Recycle it properly. Take out removable batteries: the US EPA's electronics recycling guidance says lithium-ion batteries, and devices containing them, must not go in household garbage or recycling bins. Use a certified electronics recycler, a manufacturer or retailer take-back program, or a donation scheme; outside the US, your local e-waste program.

NIST's guide defines three sanitization methods, in increasing strength:

Three points in it matter for a PC refresh. Overwriting is unreliable on SSDs, because wear levelling and spare cells leave areas the normal interface cannot reach, and NIST says to purge rather than clear when possible; the drive maker's utility, such as Samsung Magician with its Secure Erase feature, is where most people find the drive's own erase commands, and its documentation says which technique it uses. Drilling a hole or bending a drive may leave parts of it readable, so it does not count as destruction. And NIST includes a sample certificate of sanitization: one per device lets a business show later that a retired laptop's data was dealt with. In a managed fleet, retirement is part of the device lifecycle: a remote wipe, the licence reclaimed and the asset record closed, which is the last step in how our IT support service looks after devices.