Why does hardware slow down over time?

Question

Hi, just wondering, why does hardware slow down over time?

I've had my Dell pc for over 3 years now. Since then it has slowed down a lot and of course I am aware pc's are always faster when they are brand new. Why is this the case?

If I wanted to replace parts of my pc what parts should I replace to boost its performance? Motherboard? CPU? RAM?

Also, why do these parts become slower over time?

If anyone could answer these questions I would be truly grateful :D. Thank you! :)

RoHe · Answer

It's usually Windows and other software that slows things down. It gets full of junk and bad settings. Plus your hard drive may be full and/or needs to be defragmented.

You might want to consider doing a clean install but be sure to back up all your personal files on external media first and find the installation disks and product keys for all your software, eg Microsoft Office, etc.

You can also run the memory and hard drive tests to make sure they're still working correctly.

speedstep · Answer

Windoze gets bogged down with all kinds of junk like toolbars and screen savers and acrobat readers and other system tray quickstarters. When there is one or 2 it doesnt seem bad but when there are 30 or 40 of them its an issue. Clean install then 27,542 windows updates over 25 reboots then a defrag and its good as new.

Philip_Yip · Answer

I second the upgrade to the SSD. Also if it is a 2012 system that came with Windows 8.0 and was later upgraded to Windows 8.1 via the Windows Store there will be severe performance losses. A clean install of Windows 8.1 with Update 1 on a SSD will work much more nicely.

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-8-1-retail-and-oem-iso/

If its a Windows 7 system you cannot clean install as there is no Windows 7 .iso available. You will need to update Dell Backup and Recovery to the latest version and then make USB flash drive or external hard drive media, see here for details:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/dell-backup-and-recovery-1-8-1-71/

The guides based on Windows 8.1 but the procedure for making and restoring from media is more or less identical.

rdunnill · Answer

Install an SSD boot drive and the lag will disappear.

Dan-H · Answer

+1 on the SSD and the Clean install. Then read the guides for making windows faster and turn off all the junk that is not needed.

speedstep · Answer

DEFRAG however is NOT recommended for an SSD.

Locked Topics – Desktops General

Why does hardware slow down over time?

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