HELP WITH UPGRADE OPTIONS

So we've got an older computer used for CAM/CAD and communicates with the motion controller for our machine. I am upgrading the CAM software but I fear that the new software will be very sluggish. (the 2019 version is already slow af). there is three open slots on the board so I figured adding some more storage would help? Not great with the hardware aspect of the computer so any help on what I can do is greatly appreciated. What I know is as follows: AMD Ryzen 3 2200g with radeon vega graphics, 3500Mhz, 4 cores, 4 logical processors. 8GB RAM. Board: Gigabyte Tech, B450M DS3H-CF, x.x

I don't have a TRUE IT guy on staff so I could REALLY use some help here. Thanks

Edited by JobeOB, 15 December 2023 - 11:09 AM.

Until other people with more experience chime in it would help if you posted the make and model of the motherboard.  This is a very weak CPU with integrated graphics. You need a better CPU and a dedicated graphics card with double the RAM.

See the below link comparing your CPU to others on the market.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+3+2200G

Here is a link showing your GPU performance

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-vega-8.c3042

Thanks I updated the info

The fastest CPU you can technically install on that motherboard is a Ryzen 9 5950X (16 Core/32 Thread), and you can install up to 128 GB RAM. However, it might not be necessary to go that far.  A Ryzen 7 5700X runs fairly cool and doesn't draw a lot of power, which I think is a good thing on that motherboard.  It's still a fairly large upgrade, with twice the number of cores than your current CPU.  Next step up would be a Ryzen 9 5900X which has 12 cores.  Either would require a separate GPU card to work (which should also improve the performance of CAD/CAM software).  For example, something mid-range might be a RTX 3060 or 4060 card, or a Radeon RX 7600, which I guess would work well enough.  All are hugely more powerful than the integrated graphics you are using.  These upgrades will most likely require upgrading the computers power supply, depending on what's on there already.

You can upgrade the storage if you need the space, but I think it's unlikely to affect the performance of the CAM software much.

A BIOS update will be definitely needed before using the newer 5000 series CPU:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-ELITE-rev-1x/support#support-dl-bios

but this is easily done.

and a quickly made list of parts for your existing motherboard to give some example or idea:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7C9MMV