How to upgrade to an SSD

If you haven't made the switch to an SSD already it's now even easier. Putting a Solid State Drive in your old Laptop or Desktop PC will make an instant improvement to your systems performance and that old machine you thought was useless will become usable again.

How to Guides

There are lots of in-depth how to guides around and we've picked out a couple of the best.

CNET has a great guide that includes how to clone your old drive and a great video.
Upgrade to an SSD: The best way to make your computer feel like new



LAPTOP MAG has a guide that includes how to check your laptop is suitable for an SSD upgrade
How to Upgrade Your Laptop’s Hard Drive to an SSD

The LIFEHACKER guide covers how to use your old desktop PC drive for storage and an SSD for the operating system.
How to Migrate to a Solid-State Drive Without Reinstalling Windows

SSD Upgrade Kits

An easier option is to go for an upgrade kit that includes everything you need and clear, simple instructions. PNY make two kits that come with screws, cables and include the Acronis clone software.

PNY SSD Upgrade Kit including a USB External Enclosure to make cloning easier
PNY SSD Upgrade Kit

Full Range of Solid State Drives

You'll find a wide range of SSDs on our MoreComputers.com site. From all the big brands and some great low cost brands.

More Computers resident Gamer's latest build

Before I get into my build here's a few quick factoids about me:

Name: James
Age: 21
First Game you Remember playing: This is a difficult one……., I would say the first Spyro game for the PlayStation 1 or maybe Pokémon red or blue for the Gameboy colour.
All time fav PC game: Fallout 3/Fallout New Vegas
All time fav console game: Fallout 4, although a fairly new game it quickly became top on release alongside GTA 5 and the Halo series.
All time fav handheld game: Monster Hunter Freedom for the PSP
Game you play the most at the moment: Dead by daylight or Skyrim special edition.
Tips that make you a better gamer: Trial and error. learn from your mistakes.
Fav Food: Sushi
Fav Drink: Ale
If Money were no object, what components would you buy: I would buy Dual GTX 1080 Graphics cards probably with a Skylake i7 processor and 64 GB of ram with a 1TB SSD.
When not gaming what do you like to do: I walk my two Springer spaniels, go to the gym, watch tv shows (e.g. Walking dead and Game of thrones) and go out drinking with friends.

This is what I look like (sort of):

The Build


Gaming is probably one of the most hardware demanding activities on a Computer. Finding the right build can prove difficult when trying to weigh up price and power.
There are some things to consider, such as: what sort of games you will be playing, overclocking capabilities, how quiet it will be and will you be using VR?   With all this in mind these are the components I chose and why.

Case

I wanted my case to look subtle and sleek, the Define R4 definitely proved to be the right choice. Not only does the case look minimalist enough to fit and blend into any room. The case is very silent, offers good cable management, plenty of hard drive bays and paired with the two Silent R2 fans included offers a silent, chilled environment. 

It’s worth noting there are two versions of this case for those who aren’t too interested about seeing the insides of their PC there is a windowless version.

CPU

There’s not a lot to say about the Intel i5 6600K, other than it is more than powerful enough for your average gamer. At 3.5 GHz with a boost up to 3.9 GHz. Making it a nice and cheaper alternative to the pricier 6th generation i7. 

CPU cooler

To go with my i5 and to keep it cool and silent, I opted for a Corsair H100i v2 liquid cooler. I could have opted for a cheaper CPU Fan like a Noctua NH-L9i but I wanted something to keep my CPU cool with overclocking in mind not to mention when putting your CPU under a lot of stress its always best to keep it as cool as possible.

Motherboard

The Asus z170-A ATX motherboard probably has everything a modern motherboard could need. It has a LGA 1151 CPU Socket with a capability to run a max of 64GB of Ram with 4 x 288 pin DDR4 slots and offers SLI support. The BIOS for this motherboard has a range of options and the options for Fan controls are impressive.

Ram

I opted for 8GB(2x 4GB) Kingston HyperX Fury’s, With buying another 8GB in mind for the future. These Ram sticks are well protected, fast and look very well on the ASUS Z170-A motherboard. 

PSU

For the Power supply I put in an EVGA SuperNOVA 650w G2. This PSU provided enough power for future upgrades with the added bonus of being fully modular to go with the cases cable management to make it look as tidy as possible.

Graphics card

I designed this build with changing or upgrading the Graphics card in mind. The 650w PSU is enough to run today’s top Graphics cards, unless you want to use multiple Graphics cards then I’d recommend using a PSU that provides more power.

If you are wanting to go all out and your budget is high, why not go for a GTX 1080. Probably the best Graphics card out at the minute beating Nvidia’s own titan in power and price.

Alternatively if you wanted something cheaper for a stable Full HD gaming experience with the option of VR,   you could go for a GTX 1060. 

I would recommend going for a GTX 1070, it packs enough of a punch whether it’s for everyday gaming or Virtual Reality. It is also the middle ground between the 1060 and 1080. 

Of course these aren’t the only Graphics Cards available.

Check them out Here.

SSD & HDD

For storage I put in a 120GB SSD for my Operating system for a quick boot time alongside a 2TB HDD for General storage.

Components listed Here.

Extras?

Add more case fans

Different CPU cooler?

SD cards explained - class, speed, capacity and more

Take a look at our range of SD cards, we have all the main brands.

Standing Desk - is it time to give it a try?

We've been talking a lot about standing desk in the MoreFrom office and a few of us are giving it a go. We thought we all had more back problems than most, but it turns out we're not alone. More and more people are suffering aches and pains that may well be caused or aggravated by prolonged sitting at a computer.

One solution is to stand and move around more, but it takes a bit of getting used to. We also wanted to make sure we didn't just swap 'sitting problems' for 'standing problems'. So we turned to Google for some information. We found lots, here are just a couple of the best articles on standing desks that we found.

Is standing the new sitting? by The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

6 ways to fight fatigue while using your standing desk by Desk Hacks

We've also started to compile a list of Standing Desk and Ergonomic products that are available on our site.

If you're thinking of switching to standing, good luck and stick with it!