Just Won The Lottery Want To Upgrade My Processor

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GrammurNotzie

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Dec 26, 2013
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I didn't win the lottery but nobody will read my threads...

I'm looking for a new graphics card for my PC and if necessary I will upgrade the power supply. I have this:

Name: Inspiron 660

Processor: Intel i5-3340 CPU 3.10GHz

RAM: 8 (7.87 usable)

System Type: 64 bit

Graphic: Intel HD Graphics ( Now do you see why I need a new graphics card)

Power supply: I'm not sure and I can't really open it up, but I did some reading and it might be a 220 or it could be a 300 I have no clue. If i need to open it up (if there is no other way) i might be able to (with some help/ instructions on how to find what i need)

I want to play games like Skyrim, Rust, Civ V, Chivalry, ect.

I don't have a budget yet but I would like links to products and insight from people who know what there talking about.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. If there is something noobish about this question or something else i need to upgrade please inform me. Thanks again. :)
 
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Agreed with huilun02, two of my friends had so many problems with pre-built HP's that one ended up first upgrading to a new case/PSU and ended up building a new system alltogether, while the second just gave up on gaming and got a Macbook Pro for his design work. A Dell isn't likely to be much better.

We can generally give you much better advice if you post a picture of the inside of your case (we'll at least be able to tell if the parts fit).

Otherwise, I'd say keep your CPU. Any Ivy Bridge i5 is more than enough to run most games (except, perhaps, Battlefield 3 and 4 multiplayer at max settings).

GPU: nVidia GTX 760 is around $250 (Newegg link). Pick whichever one you like, they're more or less the same, though Asus, MSi...
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jam3so3

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Sep 16, 2013
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If you would provide a budget you may get some reccomendations, are we talking $100, $200, $300? I can't make any good suggestions based on what u gave me, it really all depends on the budget
 
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jaghpanther

jaghpanther

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Sep 23, 2010
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The side panel should open by unscrewing 2 screws at the back of the comp. Can't really tell where the PCI-E slot is in relation to the fixed HDD holders so you may have clearance issues before even getting a PSU (per the owner's manual diagram). But as jam2so3 said we need a budget for not only your psu but the gpu as well. The gpu you are eying will dictate that psu needed.
 
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huilun02

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Feb 29, 2008
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The problem is that these branded pre-built PC manufacturers give bare minimum PSUs of crappy or no brands. Most of the time they won't run anything more than a relatively weak HD 7750 if the computer came with no graphics card in the first place.

And then the desktops they sell often use small cases that might not accommodate a standard ATX PSU. The situation is too iffy for anyone to make any recommendation that is certain to work.

As of now with the information you provided, the best recommendation I can make is a HD 7750. Even then I cannot guarantee it will run at all on your PC.

Maybe avoid these branded OEM desktops the next time you get a completely new system. There are many people here in the forums to help you plan out the parts you need, to piece together a complete PC.
 
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Don Julio Anejo

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Dec 24, 2012
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Agreed with huilun02, two of my friends had so many problems with pre-built HP's that one ended up first upgrading to a new case/PSU and ended up building a new system alltogether, while the second just gave up on gaming and got a Macbook Pro for his design work. A Dell isn't likely to be much better.

We can generally give you much better advice if you post a picture of the inside of your case (we'll at least be able to tell if the parts fit).

Otherwise, I'd say keep your CPU. Any Ivy Bridge i5 is more than enough to run most games (except, perhaps, Battlefield 3 and 4 multiplayer at max settings).

GPU: nVidia GTX 760 is around $250 (Newegg link). Pick whichever one you like, they're more or less the same, though Asus, MSi and Gigabyte are considered better brands than stuff like Zotac/PNY. Another model I'd recommend is AMD R9 270X. With anything higher end (i.e. GTX 770 or AMD R9 280X), there's a very good chance it won't fit into your case as these cards tend to be longer.

PSU: any decent card you buy will want at least ~150-200 watts just by itself. Your PSU is definitely not sufficient. Any decent modular 550W+ CPU is fine, I recommend 600W+. Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, Rosewill are all good. Modular means some extra wires can be removed if you don't need them, which is a good way to save space in a possibly cramped space.

Note: make sure you can even remove your power supply before you buy a video card; if you can't, you might be better off seeing if your motherboard comes out and getting a new case for everything. Then your option will widen significantly. New cases don't even have to be expensive, something like a CoolerMaster HAF 912 is only $60 and is much better than anything you'd get from Dell prebuilt.

If you can't remove the PSU, the best card you can hope for is an AMD 7750, and with a 300W PSU it'll be pretty close.
 
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coozie7

coozie7

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Jun 2, 2007
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Your base specs are good: Nice fast CPU and plenty of memory.
The Inspiron come in two cases; Mid tower and slimline, which is yours?
More than anything else the choice of case will determine what upgrades can be installed, there is few decent small form factor (SFF) powersupplies available and half height (some times called low profile) graphics cards are also in limited supply.
As has been said, to find out the PSU details, just pop off the left hand (looking at the system from the front) side panel and write down the wattage, also look to see if it has a spare 6 pin PCI-E power lead (black rectangular connector, 6 wires, usually marked pci-e), if the wattage is low one may not be present.
 
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