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Upgrading my XPS8100 (late 2009)
Greetings,
I have had my PC for over five years and instead of purchasing a whole new one I would like to invest some money into upgrading my current one. The main use for my PC is playing video games and would like to play games on higher settings.
I would like to increase my RAM to 16GB and install a new graphics card. What I would like to know is what memory cards should I get and what graphics card would be best for me? What else should I do, change power supply, new mother board, and/or install a sound card?
Once I have all the upgrade parts what order should I install them and how?
My system information:
XPS8100 (late 2009)
Windows 7 Home
X64-based PC
Intel Core i7 870@2.93 GHz, 2934 MHz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS: Dell Inc. A05, 7/8/2010
SMBIOS: 2.6
RAM: 8GB
Thanks for all your help.
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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May 14th, 2015 05:00
Dell front panel connections are proprietary so there is NOT a drop in motherboard replacement.
High settings are based on GPU and power supply. The Highest settings are based on DUAL GPU and 900 to 1200W power supply. You get what you pay for or not.
http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-Area-51-Gaming-Machine-Professional/dp/B00QN0UFLA
Alienware Area-51 Gaming Machine - Intel Core i7-5820K 6-cores Overclocked up to 3.8GHz, 32GB DDR4 Ram, 2TB SSD + 18TB HDD, DVD Burner, 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Z with 24GB (2x 12GB) GDDR5 - Dual GPU Card, Windows 7 Professional
The XPS 8700 needed a bios update before Geforce 9XX series cards worked at all.
So Upgrades would have to be Geforce 5XX 6XX 7XX series. 780 being the top end. 750TI being the low end of recommended.
Corsair CS750M would be minimum recommended upgrade based on requirement for power supply to be EPS12v and have 150 to 170W on the 5v/3.3V Rails and 15 to 20W on the 5VSB Rail with 375W min on the 12v Rail
rdunnill
6 Professor
6 Professor
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May 14th, 2015 13:00
The chassis is mATX, although the wiring for the front panel switch is a little different. The USB and front audio connections are standard, and you may be able to upgrade the chassis front USB ports with an XPS 8500 assembly.
The front panel wiring was easy to trace. I have installed an Asus motherboard in a similar (XPS 7100) chassis, and an XPS 8500 motherboard in an aftermarket (Cooler Master N200) chassis.
However, if playing games at increased settings is your goal, you may be able to get away with a new video card and perhaps a new power supply.
SeaSandz1030
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May 14th, 2015 18:00
That's for the speedy response. I guess first i have to decide on the graphics card. I was looking at the GeForce GTX 780. I noticed that there are huge price differences, I'm not all to familiar with the differences each provides beside manufacturer.