Start a Conversation

Unsolved

This post is more than 5 years old

15801

November 25th, 2014 09:00

Need help with a XPS 8300 upgrade

I am in no way shape or form a heavy computer guy. I just play video games on PC not make them. :) But I was planning on upgrading my XPS 8300 I got back in 2011 with a new GPU and PSU. Now the problem being, I don't know all this stuff about 'fans' and 'cooling'. And I don't know how much space the 8300 has for a card. I was looking for a GPU to buy and I came across the R9 280x on sale, and apparently the card is just over 12 inches long. Now I have a feeling that won't fit in the stock 8300 case. If someone could tell me what length the 8300 can fit, or if I could mod the case to fit a bigger card that would be swell. :)

November 29th, 2014 12:00

I just put in a 290X, 11" long.  It fit, but it's tight.  You could probably put in a 12" card, but I recommend you take off the cover and measure.

November 30th, 2014 18:00

I put in the 290X and once I flipped the dip switch on the card, it worked.  It's a MSI card, so other brands of cards may not have the switch.  It took a long time to find a solution (flipping the switch).  I was almost ready to order a new motherboard.

There are definitely problems getting the newer cards working with the XPS 8300.  Since I managed to get the 290X working in my XPS 8300, I assume it's possible to get the 280 working as well.


Good Luck!

1 Message

November 30th, 2014 18:00

Hey there, did you actually buy the R9 280 and tried it in your 8300?

I was looking to do the same thing, but was a bit worried about the compatibility issues people seem to have with the mixing of these two. 

Let us know if that worked for you!

December 3rd, 2014 18:00

Well, I actually didn't go for a 280x because I have a small budget of 200-220 and the 280x went off sale for 199.99. :( I settled for a smaller card of 9.5 inches, the GTX 760 for 182.45 on Amazon during the cyber monday sales. But I think if you didn't care about noise or how your case looked you could physically take out some space for the longer cards.

30 Posts

December 11th, 2014 18:00

The best gpu upgrade for a Dell XPS 8300 is the Nvidia gtx 760. It is the latest card that I can confirm to be working on this platform. (I tried many others, however the new R9 series and gtx 970 or 980 cards have issues with the motherboard).

No Events found!

Top