First time upgrading a 5year Dell prebuilt PC. Have a ~$230 Amazon Budget. Any tips?

newbnerd · Jun 30, 2015

Got a prebuit Dell PC XPS 8100 about 5 years ago and just got some Amazon Credit from a gift, so figured might be a good time to get a new GPU mainly, or other upgrades. Was going to upgrade earlier on the year but heard that AMD was releasing their new 300series so decided to wait. I've $230 in credit atm, so while I hate to restrict it to there, I already have the funds so looking to spend there preferably. If need be, also would be willing to add, but really wanna keep the GPU close to $200 since I believe I do need a new PSU as well. Just looking for some tips atm as it is my first upgrade tbh, and since however it seems that the new 300s are just rebrands so just wanna see if i should go for it.

Currently upgrades I've chosen are:
Zotac GTX 960 2GB
EVGA 500W1 80+ PSU

Just want to make sure, if anyone knows that the MOBO will be compatible since not really sure exactly what the MOBO model is. It is fairly older, while the sizes do seem to fit the case fairly well, and are still around budget. Haven't heard much of Zotac tbh, but seems to be fine.

Mainly just use PC for gaming and maybe small editing home videos.
Thanks alot guys, appreciate it...

CPU: Intel i7 860 2.6GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5700 series
RAM: 8GBs
PSU: 350Watts
Storage: x2 1T HDD
OS: W7

Danbuscus25 · Jun 30, 2015

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($204.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $254.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-30 23:46 EDT-0400

This is what I would do IF you can spend an extra $25. If not, then change the graphics card to a 960.

Hydroshot · Jun 30, 2015

uhh i would get a better mobo just to be safe. also the ram could be outdated also the cpu but other than that i think your good

Hydroshot · Jun 30, 2015

Danbuscus25 :

yea what he said ^^^

Danbuscus25 · Jun 30, 2015

Hydroshot :

Nothings wrong with his mobo or ram, not that he metioned atleast.

Hydroshot · Jun 30, 2015

Danbuscus25 :

i mean, he did say it was 5 years old. the frequencys back then were a whole lot less

Danbuscus25 · Jun 30, 2015

Yeah, but the speed of your ram doesnt really affect performance unless you use an apu. sure, he may get a few more fps by upgrading his mobo and getting faster ram, but there will be a much better performance increase with a new gpu.

newbnerd · Jul 1, 2015

Yeah was checking out the R9 380 as well. While I do have funds to get it, that extra bit of money also means lil more with taxes. Adds up lol. I'll probably wait until a nicer deal on the PSU from newegg, saw some earlier since that can help.

Also yeah the ram mobo and cpu have no real issues at and all seem to work fine. Ram is more recent as well, maybe can new small heats ink since running stock but at should be fine. Just wanna make sure everything checks out fine with compatibility since the only thing not too familiar with is the mobo.

Thanks for posts guys.

Danbuscus25 · Jul 1, 2015

No problem, have fun

Deuce65 · Jul 1, 2015

newbnerd :

Got a prebuit Dell PC XPS 8100 about 5 years ago and just got some Amazon Credit from a gift, so figured might be a good time to get a new GPU mainly, or other upgrades. Was going to upgrade earlier on the year but heard that AMD was releasing their new 300series so decided to wait. I've $230 in credit atm, so while I hate to restrict it to there, I already have the funds so looking to spend there preferably. If need be, also would be willing to add, but really wanna keep the GPU close to $200 since I believe I do need a new PSU as well. Just looking for some tips atm as it is my first upgrade tbh, and since however it seems that the new 300s are just rebrands so just wanna see if i should go for it.

Currently upgrades I've chosen are:
Zotac GTX 960 2GB
EVGA 500W1 80+ PSU

Just want to make sure, if anyone knows that the MOBO will be compatible since not really sure exactly what the MOBO model is. It is fairly older, while the sizes do seem to fit the case fairly well, and are still around budget. Haven't heard much of Zotac tbh, but seems to be fine.

Mainly just use PC for gaming and maybe small editing home videos.
Thanks alot guys, appreciate it...

CPU: Intel i7 860 2.6GHz
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5700 series
RAM: 8GBs
PSU: 350Watts
Storage: x2 1T HDD
OS: W7

Your motherboard is definitely compatible. Your PSU would be out of spec but you are replacing that as well so you should have no issues.

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First time upgrading a 5year Dell prebuilt PC. Have a ~$230 Amazon Budget. Any tips?

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