I have a PC that I got from someone else who built their PC and it is finally starting to show its age. Sometimes when I open applications, the frame rate drops.
I think it is using one of these currently, from 2014. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/900-series/
I know that gfx cards have to be compatible with your Power Supply, and your PCI-E slot, but not sure what else I should know??
I would like to get something very compatible with Linux, Firefox, and Wayland, with lots of hardware codecs. Intel ARC?
How do you learn all this stuff?
Step 1. Create 2 reddit accounts
Step 2. Post the question in the builds sub
Step 3. Answer it yourself with whatever you think is best. Make sure you’re very confident it’s the best solution and nobody could come up with a better one
Step 4. Rejoice at the flock of tryhards that will down vote your reply to hell while fighting each other for the actual best answer
Step 5. Choose whichever comment wins.
Edit: but to answer your question: The stuttering while opening applications isn’t from that GPU. It can game mostly fine at 1080p medium to low.
Either you need more RAM (16gb minimum these days) or your CPU is showing its age first, which I’m gonna guess is an Intel i5 4000 series or maybe 7000 series.
Post the rest of the specs and we can all fight each other for the best answer here.
Thanks, that would probably attract attention lol. I was looking at System Monitor when the stuttering happens and I didn’t see a big CPU spike, but I am at a loss.
# System Details Report (Copied from Ubuntu System Information) --- ## Report details - **Date generated:** 2026-02-05 12:03:11 ## Hardware Information: - **Hardware Model:** Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z77X-UD3H - **Memory:** 16.0 GiB - **Processor:** Intel® Core™ i7-3770K × 8 - **Graphics:** Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) - **Graphics 1:** NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - **Disk Capacity:** 128.0 GB ## Software Information: - **Firmware Version:** F20e - **OS Name:** Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS - **OS Build:** (null) - **OS Type:** 64-bit - **GNOME Version:** 46 - **Windowing System:** X11 - **Kernel Version:** Linux 6.14.0-37-genericEDIT:
It’s not always the utilization percentage that tells the whole story.
You’re a bit out of luck as far as upgrades go for that platform, but if you have 1 stick of RAM and get another one you’ll feel a difference.
All 4 slots are taken by DIMMs (is that the right term) unfortunately. 4 Memory Sticks.
Can you think of a way to identify what could be causing the system to thrash (? is that the right term)?
I did clean the dust out, and I haven’t noticed any problems since then. It wasn’t really that much dust. But maybe that was it!
Windows Update. If the thing was off for a while, expect windows update to cripple it until it’s satisfied.
Slow boot drive. If it’s an older SSD it might be kicking the bucket soon. Also, if your boot drive is over 90% usage you’ll definitely feel it.
RAM issues. Download RAMMon (free RAM checking tool) and let us know what you see
Thermals. If your CPU hits 90+ degrees then it’ll have to throttle down to save itself. Cleaning the dust helps a lot with that because dust is an insulator and traps heat in.
The drive is very full and old, so upgrading storage has got to be a priority.
Not sure how to measure thermals, but I will look for a way. There should be a CPU temp sensor at least.
I can test the ram with memtest86 which is already installed and post the results.
I don’t think it is Windows Update ;)