6 Year Old Dell XPS PC - Replace or Refresh?

[Hawkwind16]

So I have a 6 year old Dell XPS which is starting to slow down, with occasional freezes and my memory is almost full (some big programmes, plus bloatware?)

I looked at the current Dell XPS's which seem to be still highly regarded, and it looks like my current PC spec is still pretty competitive to my non technical eyes, but with outdated chips no doubt:-
- 8th gen Intel i7-8700 6 core processor
- 16 GB DD4 RAM and 256GB m2 PCie x4 SSD
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 video card - 6GB
- 2TB 7200 rpm hard drive

So do I
1. Limp on for a few years, maybe delete a few programmes, files, games, internet clutter etc ?
2. Take it to a PC specialist to service it or reformat it ? (eg Currys?)
3. Buy a new one ?

I use the computer for internet browsing, home finance spreadheets, photo storage and games

Any views / advice ?

 

[RobSys]

Typically, laptops offer very little scope for improvement. Things to try include:
~ Backup the stuff you need to keep and reformat the hard drive
~ Install the operating system - If you're adventurous, install a linux based distro (Lime is a good option) else go for Windows 10 (I don't think that Windows 11 will run on a 6 year old machine machine due to Microsoft's TPM requirements.) Keep in mind that support for Windows 10 will stop in October.
~ Get an external drive to store your photos, etc. to free up disk space.

 

[herring8]

win11 can probably be installed but you need to bypass the TPM. plan would be back up your files, fresh install of win 11 and it should be like a new PC, back up plan would be install a linux distro - again should deliver s snappy PC

 

[DCarmi]

It depends what you do with the computer. I'm guessing it is an XPS Desktop (rather than laptop) and it is probably an XPS 8920 or 8930. If correct then I think it has TPM (Trusted Platform Module) in the bios, required by Windows 11, but is disabled. I can't remember the steps to enable (mine is an XPS 8930 with a 9th gen I7 and a 2060 video card and I have Windows 11).

Google or go to Dell to find out if TPM exists and how to enable it. Once you've enabled TPM then Windows 11 will install without complaint.

Adding an SSD as the boot device would probably make the biggest improvement to performance.

EDIT:
I should add that for anything other than the latest games the system will be fine for most purposes. The only change I've made to my system was to bung in a load more RAM but that is only because I sometimes run multiple Linux distributions using WSL. 16GB is enough for most usage.

 

[Jasonovich]

So I have a 6 year old Dell XPS which is starting to slow down, with occasional freezes and my memory is almost full (some big programmes, plus bloatware?)

I looked at the current Dell XPS's which seem to be still highly regarded, and it looks like my current PC spec is still pretty competitive to my non technical eyes, but with outdated chips no doubt:-
- 8th gen Intel i7-8700 6 core processor
- 16 GB DD4 RAM and 256GB m2 PCie x4 SSD
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 video card - 6GB
- 2TB 7200 rpm hard drive

So do I
1. Limp on for a few years, maybe delete a few programmes, files, games, internet clutter etc ?
2. Take it to a PC specialist to service it or reformat it ? (eg Currys?)
3. Buy a new one ?

I use the computer for internet browsing, home finance spreadheets, photo storage and games

Any views / advice ?

Your PC is dated but not crazy so, a little bit of maintenance should put it right.
What OS do you have installed on your Window? I assume it pre-dates Windows 11
You could clean install a fresh version of Windows 11 but this needs to be TPM enabled.

see link below:

Enable TPM 2.0 on your PC - Microsoft Support

Learn how to check if your PC is capable of running TPM 2.0 or how to enable TPM 2.0 to upgrade to Windows 11.

support.microsoft.com

As it is dated, I'm not sure the BIOS on your motherboard, has the TPM enabled option but you can purchase internal TPN adapter card, I think this plugs in to your internal USB socket.

Also, the NVME M.2 is the preferred SSD to install your Windows OS because it's about ten times faster than SSD SATA. You haven't got it installed on your mechanical 7200 hard drive, have you?

On gaming you should get 40 fps or more depending on your settings, should be OK still on Steam gaming platform. Don't think about Cyberpunk or any of the modern games.

If you're looking to sell it, sell it now while it still holds value and use funds towards purchase of new PC.

If you're looking to upgrade your PC, you can have a nice quiet one without the special effects, but if you want to go crazy, always happy to share some tips .

 

[Hawkwind16]

Thanks All
Yes its a Dell XPS 8930 Desktop PC, and I have windows 11 installed.
It appears my 2tb hard drive D is unused ! So I'm now looking to shift some storage onto that to free up the memory a bit

 

[Timbot]

Problem is that they all get a bit bloated and slow after a while.

With the Intel i7-8700 and 256GB m2 PCie x4 SSD it should be a le to run pretty quickly. As some have said you're unlikely to be able to run top end games at crazy frame rates with the processor and graphics card you have, however I'm not convinced from your comments that that's what you are after.

Best option in my opinion is to back up your files on an external hard disk, format the lot and start with a fresh install of Windows 11. Bet it'll run fine after that!

One other thing. 256GB isn't massive. You could always swap that out for a bigger M2 hard disk before the new install...