I had 4 main objectives with this project (not counting the always important cost consideration). This home PC was originally custom built, or rebuilt, to run flight simulators at home, and it has been getting old.  All flight simulators still ran fine, so I never really noticed it until I started to see drives filling up, and began to notice some problems with windows time clock.  Also the PC only had 16 GB of RAM installed, and my old 1080 video card was hanging in there, but certainly well past its prime. So I decided that if I was going to go to the trouble to open the case, unplug everything and spend the time on it, then I was going to really plan it and do it right. Project Goals.

1.  Fix the clock by replacing the lithium 2032 battery
2.  Replace the 16 GB RAM with 32 GB RAM
3.  Replace one old HDD with a new 6 TB HDD.
4.  Replace the Nvidia 1080 video card with a 3080 GTX card.

There was also a strange situation going with my windows installation, where a local PC repair/install outfit had split some of my windows fines off away from the C drive to another drive.  I am not sure exactly what the issue was at the time but I knew that I wanted to get all that backed up and get a fresh install.  In retrospect, I am somewhat surprised this didn't cause issues sooner.  You might even say that restoring 'proper organization' of my windows install was an auxiliary goal in all this. I did not want to build a new machine, meaning that I wanted to stay with my primary SSD on my C-drive and also to stay with my old Z87-C motherboard.  That limited me somewhat on how much, or to what extent I could upgrade. In fact, I used an online parts compatibility checker to confirm that everything I ordered, memory and video card in particularly, would work with what my Z87-C motherboard. [caption id="attachment_67" align="alignnone" width="390"] Using online PCPartPicker to confirm compatibility[/caption] This computer runs Windows 10 Home and due to the limitations of the machine, I am unable to upgrade it to Windows 11 going forward.  I am aware the MS support for Windows 10 ends late in 2025.  So this is another reason to keep cost to a minimal here. Here is a screen shot of my System PC 'About' screen in Windows Control Panel prior to the upgrade, and again after the upgrade.  You'll see the only real evident change here is the 16 GB RAM vs the 32 GB RAM [gallery size="large" ids="70,69"] It was also a great opportunity for a much needed cleaning as the dust was just unspeakable.  Who doesn't love a good can of condensed air? [caption id="attachment_53" align="alignnone" width="225"] Cleaning that PC dust[/caption] The first step was replacing the lithium battery.  I did that and did a quick check to make sure it still powered up fine.  All systems go. [gallery size="medium" ids="52,54,55"] Then I went ahead and replaced my memory sticks.   From that point, it was time to replace on my of old 1 TB hard drives and replace it with a new 6 TB HDD.  And finally I swapped out the video card. [gallery size="medium" ids="57,58,59"]