Need Help With Potential Gaming Build!

[coolhandluke]

Ok, so I have this desktop here… I bought it from best buy:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...manuals?rvps=y

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-desktop-amd-fx-series-16gb-memory-2tb-hard-drive-black/4473100.p?skuId=4473100

I had a couple of questions on it that I couldn’t answer and was thinking maybe you guys could help me?

1. What wattage is the power supply unit?
2. Is the graphics card in there integrated if its a Radeon r7 one?
3. Can I put a graphics card in there?
4. If so, what do you think would be the best one (amd or intel) for around $220-250?
5. Would I need a better PSU? And would I need a Molex adapter for the new gpu if I could get one in there?
6. Also would the graphics card need to be a small single fan one or do you think I could get away with a dual fan one?

I plan on taking the one I have and popping off the side on Sunday to get a better look at everything… Also I am more making this list on the internet so I don’t lose it however if you know any answers to these that can help then you are awesome and thank you!

Cheers,
Luke

[veeg]

Hello

I would suspect that the psu is 300 watts. You can go here to get more info on your pc. http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...uration?rvps=y

It’s hard to tell since the spec’s are sketchy at best for the pci2 slots. yes it looks like it is an intergrated graphics card either a R7 or R9. IMHO either amd or intel is ok. Probably yes if you can upgrade the vid card but given it’s compact nature with the case you may have to get a smaller height card so it would fit. Yes you probably would have to get another psu if you went with an upgraded vid card and this psu would have to be a small factor psu from what i can tell with these sparse spec’s i am seeing. Saying this these small factor psu and vid card if this is the case are more expensive and hard to find sometimes.. IMHO if you want a cheap pc to upgrade i would go with a standard case,just because it has the room to upgrade easily and less expensive,

[Rustys]

1. Is the graphics card in there integrated if its a Radeon r7 one?

Yes it is integrated.

According to the specs.
[ATTACH]913[/ATTACH]

1. Would I need a better PSU?

Yes most Dells are sent with the bare minimum that is needed. The other thing to think on is what is the power requirements of the Video Card that you want to add. Is there a slot to put it in?

[coolhandluke]

Hello

I would suspect that the psu is 300 watts. You can go here to get more info on your pc. http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...uration?rvps=y

It’s hard to tell since the spec’s are sketchy at best for the pci2 slots. yes it looks like it is an integrated graphics card either a R7 or R9. IMHO either amd or intel is ok. Probably yes if you can upgrade the vid card but given it’s compact nature with the case you may have to get a smaller height card so it would fit. Yes you probably would have to get another psu if you went with an upgraded vid card and this psu would have to be a small factor psu from what i can tell with these sparse spec’s i am seeing. Saying this these small factor psu and vid card if this is the case are more expensive and hard to find sometimes.. IMHO if you want a cheap pc to upgrade i would go with a standard case,just because it has the room to upgrade easily and less expensive,

Thank you for the quick reply,sorry mine isn’t as quick :3 been working at Best Buy this week … As for upgrading the computer’s graphics card, which of these two cards do you think would be best for it?

Goo.gl is sunsetting (nvidia 1050 ti - 4GB)
or
https://goo.gl/alTr4n (amd radeon 470 - 4GB)

I think if I went with the 470, I would have to get a better PSU, but is that also the case for the 1050 (?) or would the 1050 be able to run with the PSU that is currently in the computer? Also out of the two, which is the best?

Cheers

Yes it is integrated.

According to the specs.
[ATTACH]913[/ATTACH]

Yes most Dells are sent with the bare minimum that is needed. The other thing to think on is what is the power requirements of the Video Card that you want to add. Is there a slot to put it in?

I use PassMark’s benchmark test on the computer to see how well it is (its ****- 1080 rating XD) but in the passmark software it says that it has a graphics card… an AMD Radeon R9 360… does that mean that it accidentally read the integrated one as a discrete one? Or is there actually a discrete graphics card in there (I do know the best way to find out is to open the sucker up but I haven’t been able to do that yet)?

cheers to both of you

Luke

[Rustys]

AMD Radeon R9 360… does that mean that it accidentally read the integrated one as a discrete one?

If you refer to the chart on Post # 3 that card is Discrete.

1. Is the graphics card in there integrated if its a Radeon r7 one?

The one you posted in Post # 1 is integrated.

[coolhandluke]

Ok, so I have opened up the case… here are the insides:

[MEDIA=imgur]a/2q5Nq[/MEDIA]
^ Inside Overview
[MEDIA=imgur]a/LUgCu[/MEDIA]
^ Motherboard + HDD Bay
[MEDIA=imgur]a/EiUWG[/MEDIA]
^ Graphics Card
[MEDIA=imgur]a/wKv1c[/MEDIA]
^ Power Supply Unit

Yes I know the thing is dusty… save me the lecture But from what I saw on the PSU I am assuming it is a 180 Watt PSU which obviously is not enough for the graphics cards I was looking at… That being said, would I need to go with a special power supply unit for this desktop because of the way this one looks? It looked like there was a little bit of room in the desktop for a bigger graphics card however the back plate on the desktop itself looks like it would only fit that one… That being said though feel free to look at the pictures and help me out!

Cheers

• Luke

[veeg]

Well you may have room for a standard card. Yes that is a 180 watt psu and that will not work for the vid card you want. Finding a 320 watt psu to fit in there,may be the challenge..

[Rustys]

What games are you planning to run on that system.
What Operating System?
Do you know which Processor is in it?

[coolhandluke]

What games are you planning to run on that system.
What Operating System?
Do you know which Processor is in it?

• h1z1, cs:go
• windows 10
• AMD FX - 8800

I opened up the case even more about 30 minutes ago and it looks like I have enough room to add a double fanned graphics cards but idk…

[veeg]

Find out if the cards are any taller than the mobo..

[coolhandluke]

Find out if the cards are any taller than the mobo..

I don’t necessarily know what that means but im assuming it means you are asking if the card is longer than the mobo? If that is the case then no it is not, however upon further inspection I have found that there is enough room to fit a double fanned GPU in there BUT there is a big problem in the way and I think I may have answered all of the questions I laid out above…

I brought the computer to the best buy that I work at and talked to a friend of mine that is an ARA (the guys in the back with an A+ certification and this guy also has a bachelors in IT) but he said that the power supply is pretty much pointless as far as trying to upgrade it because it is dell specific and also the motherboard is dell specific because there is no 24x pin on the mobo and instead a proprietary one… not just that but also the card in there anyway is just drawing power through the motherboard itself using the PCI-e slot there (he said like 75-80 watts the thing draws)…

He recommended that I have 4 choices… :

• AMD XFX Radeon 460 - 2GB
• EVGA GTX 750 Ti - 2GB
• EVGA GTX 1050 - 2GB
• EVGA GTX 1050 Ti - 4GB

If he is correct then I will most likely get the 1050 Ti, but he said that because of the processor and the card itself, getting a 4GB card would be overkill… however if I want to max out the frames in the games that I play, will a 4GB card be better than a 2GB card? Or at this point does the GB really matter?

Cheers

• Luke

[Evan_Omo]

Hi Luke. Based on the specs of the machine and the fact that the computer has a non standard power supply you got a really bad machine as far as upgradeability is concerned. The problem is that the power supply is only 180 watts which will limit what video card you can install and the motherboard uses low power CPU’s which are not very powerful either. Even if the power supply could handle a better video card which is chancy at best, your motherboard’s CPU may bottleneck your system because of the low frequencies that the supported chips have.

The AMD Radeon RX 460 requires a 450 watt power supply and the NVIDIA GTX 1050 requires a 300 watt power supply at the minimum so you may not be able to even get either of those video cards to work on that system and since you can’t upgrade that power supply, you might be SOL.

You are more than welcome to try and install a NVIDIA GTX 1050 and see if the computer powers on but honestly if this was my computer that I bought, I would sell it and either buy an ATX computer that is upgrade friendly or build a gaming computer from scratch.

[coolhandluke]

Hi Luke. Based on the specs of the machine and the fact that the computer has a non standard power supply you got a really bad machine as far as upgradeability is concerned. The problem is that the power supply is only 180 watts which will limit what video card you can install and the motherboard uses low power CPU’s which are not very powerful either. Even if the power supply could handle a better video card which is chancy at best, your motherboard’s CPU may bottleneck your system because of the low frequencies that the supported chips have.

The AMD Radeon RX 460 requires a 450 watt power supply and the NVIDIA GTX 1050 requires a 300 watt power supply at the minimum so you may not be able to even get either of those video cards to work on that system and since you can’t upgrade that power supply, you might be SOL.

You are more than welcome to try and install a NVIDIA GTX 1050 and see if the computer powers on but honestly if this was my computer that I bought, I would sell it and either buy an ATX computer that is upgrade friendly or build a gaming computer from scratch.

My friend that I spoke to said that the 1050 won’t run off of the power supply unit and instead would run off of the motherboard alone. Is that correct? If it is, would it still not work because the card says 300 watts and the power supply is only 180?

Cheers

Luke

[coolhandluke]

HUGE UPDATE

• Power Supply is supposedly 240 watts
• The AMD Radeon R9 360 inside the computer pulls roughly 85 watts from the PCI-e slot on the Motherboard
• There is no way to upgrade the Power Supply Unit
• There is a way to upgrade the Graphics Card
  - Use a graphics card that doesn’t need a 4-Pin, 6-Pin, or 8-Pin PSU Connection to it
• Graphics card that I will most likely be getting with this information:
  - EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC - 4GB $149.99 ( Goo.gl is sunsetting ← Link to it on Newegg.com )
• Supposedly if you look at this link:

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index...%20360%20(OEM)

https://goo.gl/ZPWYdl ← Same link just shorter

You can see that the AMD R9 360 uses a mere 85 Watts through the PCI-e slot on the Motherboard where the GTX 1050 Ti SC uses just 75 Watts. Which if my friend is correct then I can just plug the bad boy into the PCI-e slot and it will just work.

NOW if I am wrong then please tell me before I end up buying the card and destroy my PSU and my new GPU :3

Cheers and thank you for everything!

• Luke

[veeg]

You simply do not have enough wattage even with a 240 watt psu,yours is 180 watts…the 1050 ti sc minimum wattage is 320 watts..
Check this link… http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm