HDD Performence In Windows 11?

I have a new desktop (an hp elite 8300) that ive installed windows 11 on it and I was wondering if there are any tips on how to improve hdd performence on it im working on turning it into a gaming and improving hd performence is my first goal if anyone knows of any programs or tools to do this it eould be much appreciated (also I installed 11 using the rufus bypass tool)

Install a SSD.

Installing a SATA SSD would be your only HDD upgrade option for that (10 year?) old PC.

I don't like to be negative, but I think that's a poor candidate for a gaming PC. It has no discrete graphics card, and a 240W PSU is too small to allow adding a card. That power supply suggests that you have a small form factor PC, which might require a half height card even if the PSU was adequate.

I regret that I can't be more encouraging.

@legacyfan definitely disable Sysmain in services for wildly improved boot time. Also keep an eye on what your antivirus is doing every time other programs do something, it definitely slows everything down; if you're using Defender, Sordum has something to block it. Other than slow(er) loading times, HDDs should still be good for general gaming

As @bobkn mentioned, I doubt you'll be able to play any new game on that system, even with a SATA SSD. It might work for some of the older (older) games.

I agree 100% with the others, ditch the HDD and install an SSD instead. It will be a night/day difference.

Agreed with most of this all around as well.

One thing to note: Is this the AIO, the Small Form Factor, or the Tower Desktop? I have found references to Elite 8300 for all three types, and the CPU specs vary a bit amongst the three.




If you're on a budget, a small SSD, such as a 256 GB one, will allow you to install Windows and regular apps, and a few games on it, making it run (seemingly) much, much faster. But the CPU and graphics are also going to be limiting factors on any one of those machines, due to their age.

if you have the tower vesion, there is more space and a more powerful psu, but doubtful it is worth getting a more expensive graphics card than phil used in the 8200 below.

Can you do the same to an 8300?

yes, the same.

it also is possible to mod the hp bios to support nvme but not really worth it unless you already own the programmer and adapter.
the dell equivalent optiplex 3rd gens are much easier to bios mod , no programmer needed for the dells..

Interesting experiment if you have one of those older machines hanging around, if you think they are worth any effort or expense.

I have an hp 8300 sff that I can't quite bring myself to chuck out. The sff often have noisy and drafty old fans that need replacement, I cba doing that and its probably worth less than the £16 two fans would cost.

If you have one in good condition, put in a sata ssd and then they are fine for general pottering around, doing a bit of document work, youtube vids and so on.

Phil reckons that they can be passable for the less demanding games using a 1050 or similar. Or maybe that other one - a 1650 I think it is called.

I dont know, I am not interested in gaming.

glasskuter said:

Install a SSD.

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Write speed higher than read speed for a SSD? It´s the other way around.

Also, the labels are wrong. SSD should be "SATA SSD", "NVMe m.2" should be "NVMe SSD", or "PCIe NVMe SSD". NVMe is an access protocol, counterpart of AHCI. M.2 is a connector and form factor, a SATA SSD can also use it.

thankyou everyone for the kind input! and I will consider adding an ssd in if I ever get the money for it

A SATA SSD is very inexpensive and you probably don't need more than the amount of space already used on your HDD. I suggest a 500 GB SSD for very little money. Example of this at Newegg.com


I am using two Samsungs as backup drives internally in my desktop. However, my build is new and uses an NVME M.2 SSD. Your computer will not have the design to accomodate an M.2 SSD. BUT, a SATA SSD is going to be like lightening for you once you clone your HDD to the SSD or just start from scratch with a new Windows 10 install. I highly recommend downloading their tool to allow a Flash Drive to hold the installation files. Besides, it's good to have a Windows Install Flash Drive for doing repairs or recoverying your computer System Image.

Gaming with demanding graphics will not improve (as mentioned earlier in this topic). Legacy and browser games will perform fairly well but this would not be considered a Gaming PC.

SIW2 said:

if you have the tower vesion, there is more space and a more powerful psu, but doubtful it is worth getting a more expensive graphics card than phil used in the 8200 below.

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that's what I plan to eventually do with my computer

My new Desktop in April came with a 512GB NVMe C:/boot/system drive and having just salvaged a 2TB HDD from a NAS box put it in for plain storage, hardly noticed any different in performance.

Anibor_11 said:

Write speed higher than read speed for a SSD? It´s the other way around.

Also, the labels are wrong. SSD should be "SATA SSD", "NVMe m.2" should be "NVMe SSD", or "PCIe NVMe SSD". NVMe is an access protocol, counterpart of AHCI. M.2 is a connector and form factor, a SATA SSD can also use it.

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You'd expect that, but some benchmarks (like Crystal Disk Mark) produce higher write numbers than read. Could be bogus.

I'd relate NVME to PCI Express. There are older PCI-E M.2 cards that don't support NVME, but they are mostly obsolete.

As regards M.2, that's correct, but SATA M.2 drives are getting to be scarce. NVME add-in cards also existed (like the Intel 750 series AIC), but few use those. (I have a 400GB one lying around. Should see if a computer museum wants it.)

I would first install a SATA SSD to make it 10 times faster than using a mechanical and probably worn out HDD. I would make sure all drivers, especially the graphics, are updated directly from manufacturer's site, not Windows Update. I would then go to Settings, System, Info, Advanced System Settings, Performance and disable all visual effects (such as fades, animations etc). In Settings, Accessibility, Visual Effects make sure both Transparency and Fades are disabled. This should make a huge difference in performance, but of course don't expect to play modern games. It will be able to play older less demanding games, probably with most video settings to "low" or "off". I would try it to see how it goes before investing on a low factor discreet graphics cards. Have in mind that low factor cards (I hope this is the appropriate term) are entry level. You will see some improvement over the onboard graphics card, but don't expect miracles. Again you must keep most settings to "low" or "off". If you want to improve visual appearance of the game, start with the lowest possible settings (including screen resolution, there is no need to play 1920x1080, try 1280x720 or lower), and gradually increase a single setting a step at a time. Stop when you see the game starts to lag.

PS: I would also set all the power settings for maximum performance, never allow the system to sleep, never switch off the screen or the hard disk, disable screensaver etc, to further improve performance. Also do not install any third party antivirus, Windows Defender is light and does a good job. I would then disable some services (such as Google Update, Mozilla Maintenance) and all startup applications. The less they run at startup the better.

PS2: You can also enable Ultimate Power Plan (ultimate system performance), run the following command in an Administrator command prompt or Powershell:

powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

Then go to Control Panel, Power Settings and select that scheme. This will force the CPU to always run at maximum speed (Turbo Boost always on), not only when enabled by the game.

Here is a pic of the Asus GT 1030 in the HP Elite 8300 (SFF). I would close the hole around the GPU card and prevent it from leaning over to the right under its own weight. Next, I woud find a perfect spot above the GPU heatsink to mount a Noctua cooling fan, draw a circle on the cover plate of the case with a sharpie and start drilling holes along the circle until the piece pops out. Use JB Weld, metal coat hangers and sheets of metal cut out of tin boxes or whatever it is that you must find to make it work. Ghetto modding is the only real way to go.

You don't have to go that far. As long as the 1030 is low profile, just use the appropriate bracket. If you have lost it you can buy separately. You won't need any additional cooling, unless you plan to overclock it, not recommended. This should allow you to play some games, but again don't set the settings too high, be conservative.