Dell upgrade

[Real Cider]

Our dell xps 8300, bought Jan 2012, has an i3-2120 and 512MB GeForce G405. To facilitate gaming and video editing we are intending to upgrade with an i5 and GeForce GTX 960. Will our current set up support these changes or will anything else need to done - power supply, motherboard etc. Is this a sensible upgrade? All suggestions, advice welcomed. Thanks.

[Lucio]

Sadly, you've bought a Dell and the chances of them having fit a sufficient power supply to handle a GFX upgrade are slim.

The CPU upgrade may be possible, but it'll be tough to fit it and then reattach the default cooler, and then there's still issues with reactivating Windows

All in all, better off selling this one and buying a new PC

[kalniel]

Dell power supplies used to be really solid, so as long as you've got a spare connector and the right slot on your motherboard you're probably fine with the 960. Likewise an i5 is still pretty power efficient, but the HSF assembly/ducting might be a bit complex to disassemble - I don't know about modern dells though.

[DDY]

I reckon that's a good upgrade and it should be a trouble free job.

- The standard GTX 960 needs one 6-Pin PCIe power connection, the XPS 8300 should have one free.
- The motherboard arrangement is very much standard, mATX in fact, the card should go straight in.
- The XPS 8300 doesn't use any cooler ducting or panelling.
- There shouldn't be any activation problems, in the unlikely event Windows asks for activation - just click activate!
- It's worth downloading the latest Nvidia driver and choosing the clean install option.

In other words, it's just like upgrading a regular machine!

[jigger]

I would look at the the Xeon E1200 v1 and 2 range. Depending on the chipset you have decent overclocking options, and Xeon 1230 and up are i7's with hyperthreading, but even a E3 1220v1 would be a good upgrade and all of them will make light work of video editing.

I would be very careful with Dell power supply's, as they can range from great to terrible in my experience, and you probably have one designed for very low power use considering the machine shipped with a 65 watt CPU and 25 watt graphics card. I would upgrade the stock Dell PSU as a matter of course as it's probably not upto the task and you can get really solid XFX branded seasonic PSU's for such a good price.

Depending on your budget I would probably go with something like this,

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2phhcf

[DDY]

I'm sure that Dell desktops are fitted with a power supply that's sufficient for the most demanding configuration option. Which if my research is correct, is an i5 2600 and an HD 5770. That leaves plenty of room for a GTX 960.

[GuidoLS]

The XPS8300 has a standard sized PSU - the installed model only has 460w (not sure where someone came up with 65w) - the 960 comes with a minimum recommended 400w PSU, so you might want to consider an upgrade. Also, according to Dell, that computer should take up to a Gen2 I7, so make sure that the I5 in question is also Gen2.

Other than that, you should be able to upgrade just fine. Good luck.

[shaithis]

The XPS8300 has a standard sized PSU - the installed model only has 460w (not sure where someone came up with 65w)

I think it was a typo that meant to say CPU instead of PSU

[jigger]

I'm sure that Dell desktops are fitted with a power supply that's sufficient for the most demanding configuration option. Which if my research is correct, is an i5 2600 and an HD 5770. That leaves plenty of room for a GTX 960.

They usually come with pritty limited upgrade options. I use a couple of Dell workstations based on the same design/motherboard as the XPS 8000 but with a Xeon E3 1225, 8GB RAM and a Quadro card and those systems shipped with really craptastic 340Watt PSU's.

Yeah 65Watt PSU was a typo.

[ajcardiac]

I'm running a GTX 750Ti from Dell 375W PSU without problems. Not as good as a GTX 960, I appreciate.

If possible, bin the Dell and start afresh. Don't buy Dell.

[Bonebreaker777]

I'm running a GTX 750Ti from Dell 375W PSU without problems. Not as good as a GTX 960, I appreciate.

If possible, bin the Dell and start afresh. Don't buy Dell.

Laptops are good especially the professional ones

[ajcardiac]

Laptops are good especially the professional ones

Fair enough.

I'll qualify to; "don't buy a pre-assembled Dell Desktop"

[ChinesePate]

The XPS8300 has a standard sized PSU - the installed model only has 460w (not sure where someone came up with 65w) - the 960 comes with a minimum recommended 400w PSU, so you might want to consider an upgrade. Also, according to Dell, that computer should take up to a Gen2 I7, so make sure that the I5 in question is also Gen2.

Other than that, you should be able to upgrade just fine. Good luck.

460W will do just fine with 960, no need for upgrade

[Real Cider]

Thank you very much to everybody who has replied and for the helpful comments. We will have a go at this and will report back hopefully to confirm success.

[ajcardiac]

Thank you very much to everybody who has replied and for the helpful comments. We will have a go at this and will report back hopefully to confirm success.

Good luck dude