5 Things to Consider When Buying More Memory for Your PC

With as much memory as computers can offer these days, we still find a way to fill it up after a while, so you may need an upgrade. Even if the hard drive is not full, in some cases slow memory can be the main cause of your PC slowing down. Therefore, upgrading can make a big difference, especially if you still have an old hard drive.

However, purchasing the right storage for your PC and needs requires some work. Before you make a decision, you need to figure out what you need and what you can afford.

5 compatibility

You need to know what your computer supports

The first thing you need to know is what type of storage device you can install on your computer. If you have a modern laptop, there is a very high chance that your computer only supports M.2 SSDs, but even then, some laptops may use traditional M.2 2280 SSDs, while others may use smaller form factors such as M.2 2242 or use M.2 2230. Some older or lower-end PCs may have space for a 2.5-inch SATA drive, but these are becoming increasingly rare.

Desktops are a bit more versatile. Most motherboards also come with one or two M.2 slots, but also have SATA ports that allow you to connect traditional hard drives and SSDs via cable. Your PC case should also have a place where you can safely insert these SATA drives, as you probably don't want them just dangling from the motherboard.

There are many variables here. So if you still have the manuals for your computer, look through them, or if you're familiar with them and know what to look for, you can open them and look for the slots you need. Otherwise, search for your computer model online and you can easily find information about the available slots. With laptops it can be a little more complicated, but major manufacturers offer maintenance or service manuals that will give you an overview of the upgrade options available for your computer.

4 Consider external storage

You don't have to throw away the old drive

Just because you buy a new drive doesn't mean you have to throw away your old one, even if you only have one slot on your PC. There are drive enclosures that allow you to continue using your existing drive as external storage, allowing you to access old data or simply store additional files if your drive eventually fills up.

External storage is slower than High-end SSDsbut if you have the budget, there are Thunderbolt-based SSD enclosures that can still deliver very high speeds, so you can still use them for heavy workloads. You can even install your new SSD in a case and leave the old one in your PC if you want to save yourself the hassle. Of course, if you go this route, you can also just buy an integrated one external SSD instead of an expandable version, but here it all depends on your needs.

3 capacity

Make sure you get enough

You'll need to think about how much storage space your new drive will need when upgrading your PC. If your computer only has one memory slot, you need to keep in mind that the SSD you buy will replace the current one. So you need to make sure your new SSD is big enough for your data. If you're buying a new SSD because you're running out of space, you'll definitely want something larger than what you currently have.

On the other hand, if you install it in a second slot, you may not need as much storage space as you will still have your current SSD available. Even then, you need to think about how you use your storage. If you often work with large files (for example, if you are a developer or video producer) and think that the hard drive will fill up quickly, it is best to purchase a larger hard drive, such as a E.g. 1TB or more.

If you want to maximize storage capacity and speed is secondary to you, a hard drive This may be the best solution as they come in sizes up to 24TB (sometimes more) and are much cheaper than SSDs for the same capacity.

2 speed

Make the most of your purchase

Another worthwhile consideration is the speed of your M.2 slot. While different PCIe versions are perfectly compatible with each other, purchasing an SSD with an older PCIe version will affect your performance, or purchasing an SSD with higher performance than your motherboard supports will incur additional costs that you don't really need.

Most laptops released today support PCIe 4.0 SSDs (or PCIe Gen 4), so options like the Samsung 990 Pro fit great. Some desktop PCs support PCIe 5.0 SSDs now that doubles the speed of PCIe 4.0, and there are some options there too.

If you have both options for PCIe M.2 SSDs and SATA SSDs, remember that PCIe SSDs are much, much faster than SATA. The maximum SATA speed is around 600 MB/s, while a PCIe 4.0 SSD can reach up to around 7,000 MB/s. Even a PCIe 3.0 SSD can reach up to 3,500 MB/s.

However, also keep in mind that after a certain point the speed difference may not be very noticeable. A PCIe 5.0 SSD is twice as fast as a PCIe 4.0 SSD, but this speed increase really won't be noticeable unless you're doing very specific workloads and transferring very large amounts of data on a regular basis.

1 reliability

Don't get a drive that will kill you

One aspect that is very easily overlooked when purchasing technical devices is reliability. The cheapest products are often cheap for a reason, and it's important to watch out for common pitfalls. First, buy from a well-known, reliable brand. Companies like Samsung, Sabrent, Western Digital (WD), Seagate and a few others are always a good choice for an SSD as they are relatively well-known companies and you can have peace of mind knowing that their customer service is there for you You need something. Amazon is littered with products from no-name brands and buying from them carries a lot of risk. Be careful who you buy from.

That being said, there are two things you can look for in the specs. One of them is MTBF, or mean time between failures. This indicates the approximate time a drive is expected to last before signs of failure appear that could put your data at risk. Although not every manufacturer provides this, the Samsung 990 Pro, for example, is rated for 1.5 million hours between failures.

The other thing is what's called endurance, which is often measured in TBW (terabytes written) and is more commonly used for SSDs. This will give you a more concrete estimate of how much data you can write to the drive before it fails. This may also vary with the capacity of the drive. For example, the WD_BLACK SN850X SSD in its 1TB model is rated at 600TBW, while the 2TB model is rated at 1200TBW, and so on. In some cases, manufacturers tie the warranty to the rated lifespan, giving you additional peace of mind regarding reliability.

Make sure you buy the right storage

With all of this information, you should be ready to purchase the storage that makes the most sense for you. Remember that when replacing your current SSD, you must have the ability to back up your data and reinstall Windows on your new drive. Therefore, some preparation is required and you will need to create an additional external installation media as well as a place to backup your user data. Otherwise, you have all the information you need to make an informed purchase.