Upgrade advice for GPU, RAM, AND PSU upgrade

Diovanni22

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Jun 20, 2014
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(Lenglty detailed post below, to ensure that I supply what is needed for the help I am seeking) :)

Hello,

I own a Dell Insiprion 3847.

The reason for my question here is to get some opinions from more experience people in the computer/technology realm regarding the possible upgrades of my computer. In much respect, I do realize the limitations of the prebuiilt in terms of size and quality parts but still desired to know what upgrade can be done to it. I'm not looking for a miracle but something that will heighten the overall quality of the computer.

My purposes for the upgrade is to get into some PC Gaming, I've been looking at PC's for a while and have done weeks of searching for what parts could work. Due to money at the time before aquring the Dell, I could have went custom built but just couldn't at the time. So I decided to get something that I felt was atleast good, with a possible upgrade in the future.

In terms of games, I'm a console gamer coming to PC. Such games I desire to play are games I recently owned on the 360 or last generation of consoles. I own a PS4 and may try my chances with next gen games on PC if I decided PC over PS4 in terms of games played. The games in concern are Skyrim, Borderlands 1 and 2, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Bioshock Infinite, Left 4 Dead 2, Mirrors Edge, Witcher 2, Metro Last Light, and a few heavy hitters in terms of quality than popularity, I do plan on watching a few movies here a there and possibly a dual monitor setup. I know this may seems like I'm asking for a miracle here, but not at all. Just the best option for the computer. In terms of quality in graphics, I'm ok with just playing the games at exceptable performance and resolution. My current monitor is 1360x768 and I plan on getting a second at 1440x900 for a dual setup, but it depends on the upgrade options first. I can do 1080p, but from a calibrators viewpoint, anything higher than my native will be downscaled and may look worse than 1080p it self in its native form.

I do know that so far, I've spoken alot. But wanted to lay a foundation of my reasoning for upgrading before laying the options I came across.

My PC Case can only fit a GPU at 7 inches max in length, height isn't an issues as it goes to 13 to 14.5 inches. My max budget is $250 will push it to 270 to cover shipping but this is to have some left over, but 250 is the max. This is my first time upgrading and I did not want to go to big and regret it latter if something bad happened.

My options are go for a GPU without upgrading the PSU, I.E. Amd 6670, AMD 7750, GT730, GTX 750.

Or upgrade the PSU to 430w or 600w depending on the graphics card. I.E. R7 250X with 600w psu and two 4gb 1 slot sticks for $241 on Neweeg.

I can go cheap here with a quality PSU, in terms of 6670 at 59, gt 730 at 69 with upgrading the psu to 430w or take my chances with the stock dell PSU at 300w. The same with the 7750 and gtx 750.

Which option will be better for me, I can spend the 250 but if I can keep the PSU and get a great card then I good with that option, or what is reasonable and not a drastic upgrade that may not bode well with the system I own. I will post my specs below to help out with better understanding what will work.

SPECS
Dell Insprion 3847
Pentium Dual Core G3240 3.10 Ghz MAX TDP: 53W
Dell Mobo
4GB DDR3 1333 RAM single
1TB Hard Drive
300W Dell PSU (Made in China)
Dell CD Drive
External Ethernet
Internal WIFI

PSU Specs(Open the case to be sure of quality, taken from sticker on psu with the specs)

Dell B300NM-01
REF: NO: DE-XD301MGR
REV: A00
Made in China

Input
100 - 127v - 9a
200-240v - 4-5a
50 - 60 hz

Output
+3.3 v =10a
+5v = 13a
Total 90w (Off of sticker)

+12va = 17a
+12vb =9a
total 216w (Off of sticker)

-12v = 0.3a
+5vaux =2a

Total 300w Max

+12av max is 18a for less than 1 sec in endurance
+12ab max is 11a for less than 1 sec in endurance.

From this, after currently taking Personal Computer Hardware and other IT Classes (Current enrolled college student, age 23) Is it safe to assume that a PSU upgrade is in effect due to the total max from the 12v is only 216w.

Here are the cards below and link to them each, along with the ram and PSU.. Any help on what to do is preferable. My window of purchase is 2 to 4 months, I have parts of the funds now but not all as of yet, thus why the window of purchase. Note: All card under 7 inches in length. Note about the RAM, I have 4gb and may go for more or may not, but I assume the 8gb will be beneficial.

AMD 6670 XFX $59 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150712&cm_re=6670-_-14-150-712-_-Product

AMD 7750 Diamond $99 - http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Multimedia-Radeon-Graphics-7750PE51GV/dp/B00C694G3K/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1411086869&sr=1-5&keywords=7750

GT 730 Zotac - $69 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500343&cm_re=730-_-14-500-343-_-Product

GTX 750 Non TI EVGA -$ 119 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487027&cm_re=gtx_750-_-14-487-027-_-Product

R7 250X Sapphire - $ 99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202097&cm_re=R7_250X-_-14-202-097-_-Product


RAM

Team Elite 4GB DDR3 1333 1 Single Stick (Plan to buy two as mobo only have two ram slots.) - $36, but $73 with two - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313097&cm_re=team_elite_ram-_-20-313-097-_-Product

PSU
Cosair CX430w 80 Bronze Certified - $49 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026&cm_re=cosair-_-17-139-026-_-Product

Cosair CX600W 80 Bronze Certified -$79 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028&cm_re=cosair-_-17-139-028-_-Product

Well after a long post, that is it. I know that I may have wrote alot but in much respect wanted some advise about the upgrade path I can go with the prebuilt. I want to thank everyone in advance for reading this entire post and the solutions or advise that you may have. I welcome all advise and am open.
 

Diovanni22

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Jun 20, 2014
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Well, after some research into the PSU. I will have to upgrade after all.

No matter my card choice, it seems the PSU Dell has will not fit the bill so I'll go ahead and do the upgrading. Depending on the card and PSU with ram will come down to my personal choice. Either way to anyone else who may come across this, I've found out that any generic psu from any prebuilt company may not be the true 300w or whichever it is advertised. So its best to upgrade both GPU and PSU and this is what I will have to do. Well I appreciate the ones who read my post, no answer or not I appreciate it in a honest way. No intention of being sarcastic as its not my strongest suit.
 

tomrima

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Oct 10, 2015
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Hi Diovanni-

I have exact same system and goal to add a better GPU (the GTX 970 mini) but it needs 400W PSU and connectors that the stock PSU doesnt have. What did you end up doing? I want to get a new PSU that will fit and also have the 8 pin connectors the new GPU needs.