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Need help upgrading computer for gaming

Tags:
  • Gaming
  • Intel i5
  • Computers
  • Graphics
  • Dell Inspiron
  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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December 2, 2013 1:37:33 PM

Hello I just bought a Dell Inspiron 660 and I am looking to put in a new graphics card (right now it is just a stock graphics card) but i am not sure what to get. My budget is about $300. If you think it would perform better if i upgraded other parts let me now. The games that I am looking to play are Battlefield 4 and Assassins Creed Black Flag. Please keep in mind the dimensions of the tower because I dont want to buy a graphics card and have it not fit.
Dimensions:
Width 7.2 in
Depth 17.7 in
Height 14.5 in
Specs as is:
Intel 3rd Gen Core i5 3 i5-3330 (Quad Core)
8 gb ram memory

More about : upgrading computer gaming

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a b U Graphics card
December 2, 2013 1:43:01 PM

For anyone else answering, full specs here:
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/dell-inspiron-660-core...

The PSU in the 660 is only 300w, aside from that you are looking at a very small space to fit something in.

Your motherboard does have a free PCI-E x16 slot which means as long as you can fit it in, the motherboard will accept it.

However, that Power Supply is a problem, you will be hard tried to find something decent to run off that.

As of now the best you will be able to support is an HD 7750 which is a low profile (very small) card that will only eat about 75-80w itself. The 7750 is a mid range (lower mid range) GPU that is capable of playing most games at low-medium settings.

My suggestion would be to change out the PSU asap and get 500-600w then go with an HD7870 or R9 270x (same GPU basically), it will fit in that case and you will be able to play most games at max to near max settings (1080p).
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December 2, 2013 1:46:16 PM

@akensai would it be difficult or expensive to change the PSU?
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a b U Graphics card
December 2, 2013 1:48:41 PM

A decent 500w PSU will cost roughly $100, switching it out can be tricky as you will need to disconnect everything connected to the current PSU then remove that and stick in the new one in which you then have to reconnect everything.

Seeing as it's a pre-built desktop that means they have used any wire management they have available which on smaller cases like that means running behind the motherboard, if that's the case you will need to pretty much take everything out of the case to get the old PSU out.

At the same time, they could have just let the PSU cables hang freely inside the case, you may want to open it up and see for yourself.
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a b U Graphics card
December 2, 2013 1:57:49 PM

Buying cheap PSU's is a bad idea, they fail, that's all there is to it. The cheapest I would go is a Corsair CX series (basically entry level).
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