If I bought a manufactured brand computer, will upgrades be easy or will it work?

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xmarcooox

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Jun 8, 2013
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Hi, I recently bought a dell xps 8300 with Intel core i-5 2320 @ 3.00ghz
8 gig of memory and amd radeon hd 6450 for a video card.
I recently just learned about tom's hardware and realized that I could have had better hardwares if I built it myself (which i have no idea how to)
so my question would be, is it possible to still upgrade my parts like the graphic card without having any problems? I am really loving the community and the support you guys give to the little educated people. I use my PC to play gaming mostly and I want to get better graphics as what I have learned that my graphic card does not even let me play "normal" video configuration and most of the time have to play on "very low" settings gaming wise. If I can upgrade, what graphic card or upgrade would you like to recommend for me? I have a budget of $500 but I certainly don't want to spend $200 on the graphic card alone. I'd say maximum is 150 and the spare is for the rest of the system.
 
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bambiboom
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The_Doctor

The_Doctor

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May 19, 2013
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You have a standard x16 PCI - E slot on your MB so you should be able to upgrade the card with little to no issues providing their is enough space in the case to fit a full sized card.
The Doctor
 
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X79

X79

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Apr 17, 2013
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Indeed. OEM computers screw you over very badly.

For a little over 500$ you could get:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Biostar A880G+ Micro ATX AM3 Motherboard ($44.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($259.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $562.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-08 08:14 EDT-0400)

Sweet GPU. But you could lower it and better some other things.

Such as:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($116.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Toshiba 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $518.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-08 08:18 EDT-0400)
 
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xmarcooox

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Jun 8, 2013
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I appreciate your quick answer The_Doctor. You've been really helpful as I know at the least I can still upgrade my Computer even if it is brand manufactured. I have had 3 laptops before my switch to PC and that explains my cluelessness. If I buy a new case, can I just transfer all the hardwares that I had on my new PC? it actually frustrates me that a salesperson on bestbuy managed to convince me that this computer is even worth $900 when I could have gotten better hardware for less. I appreciate your time and effort thanks. :)
 
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X79

X79

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That frustration is one that is shared by many, trust me. You can't trust them to give you good deals...

I'm sure you could transfer things. Just get a Mid tower case. Cases come Cooler Master and Bitfenix are nice.

To mention a few. You could also get a "Full tower" case. They're big and have plenty room for all the goodness.
 
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xmarcooox

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Jun 8, 2013
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Hi X79, your build actually intrigues me. Sadly, I cannot return the computer anymore as it is pass the return date by 2 weeks. I could live with what I have for now but I want to start slowly and upgrade bit by bit. Currently, I am playing a lot of mmo's and as I had stated on my original posts that it does give me a lot of problems graphic wise. This is unrelated to my question now but, with my current spec as is (have $500 spare after my purchase of the darn pc), what upgrade can I do to improve my gaming even a little. My biggest concern is that my graphic card is not up to par with even the mid end graphic card today. If I can list my computer's spec from what I know it would be like this:

OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Processor: Intel I-5 2320 @3.00ghz
Graphic card: amd radeon hd 6450
Ram: 8gig
PSU: Have no idea how to check but will try to look at dell's website.
Motherboard: I cannot find out the information as well.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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Check you Dell documentation on a CPU upgrade, right now I can't connect to them but the XPS systems are usually quite upgradable.
Open the case and check the power supply and how many PCI-E leads it has and its wattage, both will be important for a GPU upgrade.
Top pick for <>$150 GTX650Ti Boost.
 
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X79

X79

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Download this:

https://www.piriform.com/speccy

You should upgrade your GPU first, along with your PSU.

Your CPU and RAM are actually good. Right in the sweetspot, even if your CPU is a generation or two behind.

You probably only have a 300-400W PSU I'm betting. Well, get a 500-550W Bronze certified one. Then you'll have

leeway to get a better GPU, such as a GTX 660 maybe or Radeon 7850.
 
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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xmarcooox,

This sort of factory system may not be the hot rod of the computer world out of the box, but as other posters have mentioned, it has significant possibilities as a number of components can improve it that simply plug into sockets and slots. The two significant upgrades to consider would be to change the central processor (CPU) to a 4-core i5-3570 that runs at 3.4 up to 3.8GHz in place of the 3.0GHz. The i5-3570 is currently a gaming favorite considered to have a very good cost / performance ratio. New, it's about $220, and are for sale used for as little as $120.

The second is the video card, and for this I would suggest an NVIDIA GTX 650ti >

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121686

> which costs about $140. As compared to the HD 6450 ($35-50) the improvements to gaming and on general use- especially 3D- will be immense. The cards above the GTX 650, the GTX 660 and especially GTX 670 are of course substantial improvements. If you are adventurous, you might have a 660 or 670 used off Ebay for a price similar to a new GTX 650. Gamers seem to constantly experiment with video cards and so there are many for sale- even very recent ones. I bought four or five used cards over the years- never a dud and often a fraction of the cost new.

I would say that for now, the 8GB RAM is sufficient and if you were to make only one improvement, it should be the video card. If you find in future that you use several applications at once, this can be increased.

There is mention of a new power supply and case, but I believe the 460W is sufficient with the 3570K and GTX 650ti and the Dell enclosures are good quality.

Also, a big help in performance is to maintain the disk by ongoing use of Disk Cleanup and Defragmentation utilities that are included with Windows.

Again, these factory systems are not screamingly fast, but like the tortoise and the hare the tortoise is steady and gets there- with reliability and for years- and actually with a good video card it will be much closer to hare than tortoise. I have a 2004 Dimension 8400, with a single core CPU (3.0GHz 64-bit Pentium 4 630) and it runs the software of that time perfectly well, including AutoCad 2004, Adobe CS3, Office Pro 2003, and Sketchup> solid as can be after nine years.

Cheers,

BambiBoom
 
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xmarcooox

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Jun 8, 2013
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Thank you all for your quick replies. Sadly, I just don't want to throw away the initial #900 that I spent so I intend to keep some of the parts still intact. You guys have all been really helpful. As the solution, yes it can be upgraded and I will stick with the following upgrades.

CPU: stated by bambiboom
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121686
Case: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-rc430kwn1

but I do intend to change every hardware in my PC as I earn money for top performance in the future. Keep up the good work and thank you for every advice. :)
 
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bambiboom

bambiboom

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Apr 7, 2012
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xmarcoooox,

I believe you'll have good results with your system doing the refinements you have in mind.

There's no reason at all to throw away anything as you can recoup something from the CPU. The i5-2320 is current and as a quad core, 3.0 GHz CPU, desirable used >

http://www.ebay.com/csc/CPUs-Processors-/164/i.html?LH_ItemCondition=1500&_sop=15&_from=R40&_nkw=i-5+2320&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

> and if the computer really has only been tested and not used, the CPU could be sold as "new other" for $150 or more. Either way, the original CPU can go a quite a ways toward the new one. One thing to consider though is to look into whether such changes will affect or invalidate the general warranty from Dell.

The HD 6450 is not unfortunately valuable, but probably didn't also contribute much to the sales price.

Looking at the XPS 8300 manual and the following post >

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/377340-33-dell-8300-460w-handle

> it seems the stock 460W power supply can power a GTX 660ti- which requires more power than the 650ti. The poster in the thread above uses a GTX 660 with a 300W supply. Anyway, if you change to the GTX 650ti, it seems that it would not be necessary to change the power supply. The stock power supply would not allow a second video card or the most power hungry cards, but then again there is only one possible slot and your use will not require a 300W card.

If you want to change the case for appearance sake, by all means do so, but in my experience of 4 Dells over 20 years, the cases are good quality- and the XPS is one of the higher Dell lines.

The XPS was always a higher quality Dell and I think that you can make a fast one that can suit you a long time, without a really substantial cost or amount of work. The one complication possible is to check and make sure that if you change the CPU to the i5-3670Kand add the GTC 650ti that the system has adequate cooling. If you are in a hot, humid climate and drive it hard, an aftermarket CPU cooling solution may be required. So, before you begin to make changes, download (free) and install something like CPUID that tells you the temperature of everything and check it after a heavy session of use. After every upgrade, check again against the original. If the temperatures are going over the original too much, write here again and ask for cooling suggestions.

Best luck!

BambiBoom
 
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