Upgrading new out of the box Predator Orion 3000 PO3-630G-UW91 Best Practices ??

Ruggednb

I just bought a unit at a great deal, but I would like to do some upgrades
can I get some advice as the the best practices? I would like to.... 
1. Update to Windows 11 Pro from the Home that is one it 
2. Update the 512 SSD drive to a either a 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm drive or a 2TB M.2 SSD • PCIe NVMe Gen 3 
3. update the memory ( 2-16GB sticks) ( can be done anytime) 

So should the process be: 
Set up the box as is
Update to Windows 11 Pro
Then do the hard drive swap ( which hard drive would be better for a boot drive) 

or 

Set up the box as is
Do the hard drive swap ( which hard drive would be better for a boot drive) 
Then update to Windows 11 Pro

Or 
???
thoughts ?
issues I should watch for ?
thanks in advance 

StevenGen

Ruggednb said:

I just bought a unit at a great deal, but I would like to do some upgrades
can I get some advice as the the best practices? I would like to.... 
1. Update to Windows 11 Pro from the Home that is one it 
2. Update the 512 SSD drive to a either a 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch 7mm drive or a 2TB M.2 SSD • PCIe NVMe Gen 3 
3. update the memory ( 2-16GB sticks) ( can be done anytime) 

So should the process be: 
Set up the box as is
Update to Windows 11 Pro
Then do the hard drive swap ( which hard drive would be better for a boot drive) 

or 

Set up the box as is
Do the hard drive swap ( which hard drive would be better for a boot drive) 
Then update to Windows 11 Pro

Or 
???
thoughts ?
issues I should watch for ?
thanks in advance 

Yes you can upgrade all those software and components the following way:

1. To upgrade to Win-11 its not a problem as your OS in the PO3-630G-UW91 is eligible for a free update to Win-11 Home only so, what you have to do is upgrade to Win-11 Home from Win-10 Home (btw, the best is to do a Clean Install only don't just upgrade, so look up the guides on Clean Install of Win-11) and then you have to go to and within Win-11 to System > Activation and click on "Upgrade your edition of Windows" and you have to pay the extra fee for the upgrade to Win-11 Pro.
2. With the SSD drives you can upgrade to either 2.5" or an M.2 SSD NVMe drive of your choice and budget, I prefer the Samsung range as they are very reliable and one of the best on the market that I've used for over 5 years.
3. With the ram, install CPUz and have a look at this software's Memory and SPD section for your OEM rams specs, if you just want to upgrade to double your existing ram capacity e.g. if you have 1x 16GB DDR4 module then match the OEM installed ram exactly to its timing/manufacturer and add either 1x extra module or 2x extra modules of the same DDR4 ram (btw, the manufacturer is not important as long as the timing is the same). Also and if you want the max capacity that your PO3-630G-UW91 desktop can handle then do the Crucial System Scan and their scan as that will tell you the max capacity into all its DIMM sockets and the best kits that you can upgrade to in your PO3-630G-UW91 for best performance and budgets.

To upgrade your 512GB boot drive I would prefer an NVMe M.2 but I would not use a 2TB as its too big in capacity for a boot drive, I would use your existing 512GB NVMe or improve on that if you are picky and want even better performance to OEM? As a boot drive works better with a lower capacity for OS systems and using a slave for your storage, keep it simple is my motto and don't over complicate a boot drive as using a 2TB 2.52TB M.2 SSD • PCIe NVMe Gen 3 is way too big IMO.

Also and with boot drives if you want to upgrade them, then you need to cloned these existing boot drive onto the new drives that you use. IMO Samsung SSD drives are the best, easiest to use, as Samsung has an excellent and very easy to use software called "Data Migration" and also their "Magician" SSD drive tuning software, which the Data Migration software is especially for cloning your existing boot drive or any slave drive to transfer all data onto a new drive, other drives like WD or Seagate use the "AOMEI Backupper Standrad" cloning software, btw and one of the best cloning software's around is also the "Macrium Reflect v8" for consumers to use. Also have a look at the UserBenchmark and see what other consumers have used and upgraded your PO3-630G-UW91 to. Good luck and hope this helps you out. 

. 

Ruggednb

Thanks for the response ! 

billsey

I suggest doing the Home to Pro upgrade first, but you can do it after the W11 upgrade if you wish. You definitely want to go the NVMe route rather than a SATA SSD, your NVMe drive will be four times as fast as a SATA. SATA is fine for data storage, but not so good for the system. I run a 2TB NVMe on my desktop and have for a few years now, it's great and I never have to worry about space. As suggested, clone the existing drive to the new one using an external NVMe case, then pull the original out, put the new one in and boot from the new one. Once you are comfortable that everything is working fine, reconnect the old one in the case and wipe it for use as a data or backup drive. I'd also likely do the drive upgrade before the W11 upgrade, it will work either way but you can never be sure all the 'gotcha's have been worked out of the tools for W11, so running them on W10 could be safer.

GotBanned

I will skip Win 11 altogether, but naturally you can do as you want. I have used every MS OS since Windows 3.1 and Win 95, but for some reason I see no real reason to upgrade to Win 11. Upgrading from Home to Pro will be a breeze.

I'd keep the current M.2 drive as OS drive and get SATA SSD for games and storage. If your motherboard supports two M.2 drives, I might get another M.2 drive.

And yes, M.2 drives are faster than SATA SSDs, but the difference in game and game level loading times is only few seconds here and there. Youtube has many videos about this.

Like mentioned above, I'd get a Samsung. One thing speaking for them is the possibility to easily clone OS drive to a Samsung drive.

"Samsung Data Migration

Samsung Data Migration software is designed to help users quickly, easily, and safely migrate all of their data – including their current operating system, application software, and user data – from their existing storage device (e.g. HDD) to their new Samsung SSD. (LINK)"