Laptop Upgrades Recommendation

Jul 18, 2020
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Noob at tech - so am here to ask for recommendations.
I've seen and heard about upgrades on graphic cards , ram , hdd/ssd etc... on what they could improve and what they probably would not.
My issue here that I want to tackle is the lagging and loading of games that affects fps .
For example :
1- Sims 4 or ARK with mods, takes 30mins-1hr to start up, load, always constantly lagging and sometimes crash,

or another similar issue

2- GTA 5 , Fallout 76 and Black Desert Online - no mods and no additional content , yet similar issue with (1)

Current laptop is Aspire E 14 E5-474G-59LV . No upgrades or anything thus far. Base specs stay the same .
I know getting a new laptop/computer is preferable, but I want to accept upgrade recommendations first.

Thanks in advance !
 
Specs say you can max out on the ram
but you didn't mention what you currently have in terms of storage and ram capacity. Some regions can and will have varying SKU's depending on region.

If you're not using the ODD, you can substitute that for a secondary storage caddy, have said caddy occupied with the HDD. The primary drive location can see an SSD(OS+games) and then you should be good to go.
 
Jul 18, 2020
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Specs say you can max out on the ram
but you didn't mention what you currently have in terms of storage and ram capacity. Some regions can and will have varying SKU's depending on region.

If you're not using the ODD, you can substitute that for a secondary storage caddy, have said caddy occupied with the HDD. The primary drive location can see an SSD(OS+games) and then you should be good to go.

No problems in terms of storage - 1tb internal (250-300gb free) and 4tb external. Everything including ram is not changed , though based on the profile it states :
-NVIDIA GeForce 920M with 2GB Dedicated VRAM
-Intel Core i5-6200U 2.3GHz with turbo boost up to 2.8GHz
-8GB DDR3 L Memory
Current is 1tb hdd, as model does not support ssd
^^^
these are what i'm working with the occurring problems
 
You can't change anything else on the laptop apart from storage and ram. Why? you may ask, well, simple, the GPU and CPU are soldered onto the motherboard. So if you need more graphical or processor oomph, you're going to have to buy a new laptop.

You might want to see if a BIOS update is pending on your laptop and if you should try reinstalling the OS. I should reiterate, you can drop in an SSD and then reinstall the OS onto said storage drive to get your laptop feeling like new. Yes it does support an SSD, you just need a secondary storage caddy in 9.5mm format to convert the ODD to a possible storage area.

*After removing the ODD, you will need to measure the thickness of the ODD to get the right thickness for your secondary storage caddy. Hence, measure, before buying.
 
In addition to the above, perhaps post a screenshot of what Speccy says about your system.

It might help with suggesting upgrades to see that info - especially RAM and storage configuration and models - on top of the info.

The laptop also looks like it has an M.2 drive so you may be able to add an SSD without needing to replace anything.
 
Jul 18, 2020
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Thanks to all .
So according to what could be replaced ....
Which of it would actually help with the problems faced in the original post ?
Because despite knowing what ram and etc does , some people and various posts on other forums and many sites stated that it may or may not help.

I would like to find out recommendations on A) what is better to upgrade/change and B) upgrade/change to what extent that C) would help with original question to run properly .

Thanks in advance !
 
You probably need a new system.

Your laptop's hardware - especially the graphics card - is weak for gaming. Upgrading the RAM and/or SSD is not going to help a great deal with games like FO76 and ARK. Not when you're playing them on a Geforce 920M.

If you upgraded storage, you'd probably get better results with games like Sims, BDO, and even GTAV as long as you're playing on relatively low settings, possibly even reduced resolution. i.e. you could expect faster load times. Your Geforce 920M should be able to run the games at very carefully managed settings. Adding RAM could possibly *improve performance a little bit especially if it takes the RAM from single to dual channel (i.e. from 1 stick to 2). But it's not a magic bullet and you might see little or no improvement.

As an aside, there are probably other things that need attending to with your laptop. 30 mins to an hour is a long time for loading a game, even with a slow HDD. If you've not recently performed a clean reinstallation of Windows, that might help clear out existing bloat / problems that have accumulated over the years.

1) You can try software solutions to improve your experience on your current system (i.e. clean Windows install)
2) If that doesn't help much, the merits of spending more money on your existing laptop are questionable
3) You really need a new system for major improvements in performance

If you go with a new system, desktops tend to offer better bang for buck than laptops. And desktops can have more meaningful upgrades performed to them over time. So if you don't need your gaming to be portable, a desktop is a better option.

Edit for typo
 
Last edited:
May 23, 2020
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@Lutfij can i add a ram memory card easily to a laptop or is it difficult? it is 8GB but i want to make it 16GB. ( it is easy to do this with my desktop hard drive ) I mean could i get the card and put it in myself.
 

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