Upgrading my computer, hopefully!

Hello Major Geeks!

I am super sorry to bug you with such an age-old question, but after trying to google this a lot myself and becoming more intimidated and paranoid that I will mess it up, I've come to you guys again for some trusted advice.

My computer still runs great, however lately I've been getting a lot of "insufficient memory" things going on I'm thinking it's probably time to upgrade it as much as I can seeing as I don't think the extra .15 RAM will be a huge help to that problem. I am on a bit of a budget, so it'd be great to know things that will give good benefit but not break the bank and also things that cost a bit more and probably worth the wait to save for and give me more for my money, hope that doesn't sound confusing. I'm scared I order things my computer can't handle at all.

From what I did manage to look up, I don't think I can do -too- much as far as upgrading goes, but I'd be willing to even upgrade the mother board if many fair-priced ones are better than mine (which I'm assuming they are since it's a good few years old). It'd be great to know what my options are so I can then decide what money to use when it's possible.

Anyway, sorry to babble on, here is my computer:

HP Pavilion Slimline s5102u
The only difference from the above mine came with an ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 graphics card.

The RAM I can do very straight forward and I'm not too concerned about my harddrive space at the moment, but advice on all else would be super appreciated as I know it's a lot to ask.

Thank you!

 

Here are a few ideas on how to speed things up:

1. Download and run Advanced System Care. Run a full scan on the PC and let it fix the problems it finds. You would be surprised how often things like viruses, malware or a fragmented hard drive can slow things down.

2. Back up your files and reformat the PC ("F11" at startup). This will erase all your files and programs, so be sure you have backed up files and have the restore discs and license codes to reinstall any paid software (such as MS-Office) you have. If Windows is corrupted, this should fix it.

3. If you get repeated hard drive errors from chkdsk /f and/or Advanced System Care, the slow speed could be a hard drive that is getting ready to fail.

4. Your system has 3GB of memory according to the specs you posted. This should be plenty for garden variety stuff such as word processing, YouTube, Facebook, etc. Advanced System Care will install a small box on your screen telling you what percentage of the processor and memory you're using at any given time. If you're attempting photo/video editing, gaming, etc. and the levels are maxing out, move on to the next step.

5: It may be time to upgrade to a new PC. I'm not an expert at international currency, but in the US I've seen i3 desktops as low as $349 USD. If you do extreme stuff as noted above, I'd save up and get at least an i5 or i7 processor (stay away from AMD - I've seen a lot a board and CPU failures on 1-2 year old AMD systems compared to almost none on Intel).

Sorry to be so long winded but I hope this helps.

 

Clara - I'm not an expert and it sounds like money is a concern for you. I don't know what you need or want to use your PC for or what your budget is to spend. It's just a suggestion but are you familiar with the ChromeBox computers that are on the market? A version of the ChromeBox or Chromebook might be worth considering if it would meet your needs. They are very affordable as computers go, starting priced new at $179. They are easily upgraded, quick and simple systems with a small form factor. If you're interested there is plenty of info about them available on Youtube. .... I see there are many used and refurbished units selling on ebay for considerably less cost also. They seem to be very popular.