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June 10th, 2020 13:00
XPS 8700, upgrade options
I have an XPS 8700 that is 4 years old. I have a laptop that's about a year old and I hadn't been using the XPS 8700 much as it is in the basement. Then work from home hit and it got me thinking about whether there are any cost-effective upgrades I can do to my XPS. I'm not terribly technically proficient but can follow directions quite well.
My XPS specs are:
CPU - Core i7-4790
RAM 16gb
HD - 1 TB HD
GPU - nvidia GTX 745
I use the computer for work, some gaming, and to host a Plex server with my movie collection on an external HD. I was thinking about adding an SSD and perhaps upgrading the video card.
Questions:
1. What SSDs can this computer use and how much of an undertaking is it to add one. If I want to use the SSD as a boot drive, what's involved in getting Windows onto it? I assume that doing this would be a reasonably significant improvment in boot time and general operating performance.
2. Are there any video cards that would be a reasonable upgrade that wouldn't require anything other than swapping out the card? I can do that, but I suspect that something like upgrading the power supply would be beyond me. I don't do a ton of intense gaming or anything like that, so I'm kind of on the fence on this one to begin with.
3. Any other upgrades that I should consider?
Thanks!
RoHe
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June 11th, 2020 16:00
You can use either a SATA or mSATA drive.
An mSATA drive might be easier to install because it plugs directly into the motherboard so you wouldn't need a adapter tray to hold a 2.5-inch SSD in a 3.5-inch drive bay in the XPS 8700. But mSATA is an older format and might be harder to find and could be more expensive per GB of storage.
And if you go with a SATA SSD, it can be moved to a new PC, if/when you upgrade the entire system, but it's unlikely you'd find any new PCs with an mSATA motherboard slot.
Read this thread and specifically the posts by Dell-Chris M if you want an mSATA SSD. Otherwise, a 2.5-inch Crucial SSD might be a good choice because they typically guarantee a component will work if they recommended it for a specific PC model, and they also sell adapter trays, if the XPS 8700 doesn't come with a spare adapter tray for adding a 2.5-inch drive.
Read this Crucial doc about installing a 2.5-inch SSD in a desktop PC, starting on page 7.
You can use the free Macrium Reflect to clone your HDD and transfer that image onto the new SSD.
The other consideration is size of the SSD. Depending on how many big apps you have to install and budget, you might go with a 500 GB SSD for Windows and apps, and use the existing HDD as the D drive for storing your data. IMO, a 256 GB SSD is too small, even just for Win 10 and apps...
RoHe
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June 10th, 2020 16:00
Have you searched these forums? Lots of threads about updating the XPS 8700 with new video card, power supply and SSD. Here are two just to get you started, but there are other threads too:
GPU upgrade, SSD upgrade...
Key question about GPU upgrades is what's the recommended minimum power supply for the new card? Looks like the XPS 8700 comes with a 460W PSU, standard.
And lots of threads about cloning a hard drive and migrating to an SSD as boot drive. If you're currently running Win 10, the product key is embedded on the motherboard so it should get automatically activated when you boot from the new SSD.
timthumb
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June 10th, 2020 16:00
yes I have searched...really felt like there was too much info to try to assimilate. Hence the thread.
Yes according to the documentation that came with this thing the power supply is 460.
RoHe
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June 10th, 2020 19:00
We can't choose the upgrade options for you. We can point you at threads where other users have successfully upgraded the GPU and installed an SSD as boot drive in an XPS 8700.
Look at those posts and see if the new video card that was successfully installed meets your needs: Brand, if you have a preference? PSU upgrade required? Does it support Win 10? How much onboard video RAM does it have? Does it have the right video output port(s) to support your monitor(s)? Does it support the games you play? How many monitors can it support? Price/budget/warranty? Etc.
Do the same for the SSD. Your PC supports one mSATA SSD. Brand, if you have a preference? How many GB do you need? How much space do Windows and all your apps use up on the HDD that's installed now, not counting data files? Will you only migrate Windows and your apps to the SSD and keep the HDD for routine data storage? Using the HDD for routine storage may mean you'd need a smaller SSD, but probably at least a 256 GB SSD. How easy is it to install? Price/budget/warranty. Etc.
timthumb
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June 11th, 2020 14:00
FIrst thing I want to do is install an SSD. For what I use this PC for, that will be the biggest upgrade I could do.
My confusion is that I see that I have an mSATA slot on the motherboard and a number of SATA connections as well. When I went to the Crucial website it said the MX500 is fully compatible but as I understand it that's a SATA. Does that mean I can use either one? I feel like the more I read the more confused I get. I appreciate that people ask repetitive questions here but I'm not a computer expert and haven't looked inside one in 10 years.
timthumb
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June 11th, 2020 16:00
Thanks - that is extremely helpful.
Looking at the Crucial SSDs it would be hard to justify 250gb when 500 is just $20 more and I have that much on an Amazon gift card they gave me because of a late delivery.
Looking at the prices of video cards I'll probably put that idea on the back burner at least until my pandemic pay cut gets reversed...
RoHe
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June 11th, 2020 17:00
You're welcome.
Post back and let us know how the upgrade goes...
timthumb
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June 13th, 2020 05:00
Update - went with the Crucial mx500 500gb. I also got a $10 hardware kit on Amazon (not the Crucial kit which was $24). Install was easy. The one thing I didn’t have was a SATA to usb cable to clone the SSD prior to install but it works just fine to install it first and clone it that way. I used the Acronis software provided by Crucial for the cloning. And in terms of bang for the buck it’s a huge upgrade. Has me wondering whether I should dust off my 10 year old Acer laptop to try installing one...but that’s for another day.
timthumb
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June 13th, 2020 09:00
Routine storage, I think, as I already have an external HD I use for backups. Figured I'd wait another day or so to make sure that everything on the SSD is how I want it before I reformat the HD. Thanks again for your assistance.
RoHe
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June 13th, 2020 09:00
What are you going to do with the HDD now? Use it for routine storage or as a backup drive? If you're going to use it for routine storage, you should set Win 10 to move/store default folders on that HDD so they don't eat up space on the new SSD.
Either way you use that HDD, you probably should reinitialize it to remove Windows and the other partitions using diskpart to free up all the space, and so Windows Boot Monitor won't see OS files on that drive
Keep in mind that diskpart will wipe everything off the drive and you have to certain everything you need on that drive is backed up elsewhere, and you also have to be sure to select the right drive to initialize with diskpart so you don't accidentally wipe the new SSD by mistake...
Please mark this thread "Answered", if you questions are answered - thanks!
timthumb
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June 14th, 2020 11:00
One last question, if I may. 20 year old me probably would have been able to figure out diskpart back in the day, as I once was pretty good with MS-DOS. but that was 32 years ago. Is there a significant benefit to using diskpart as opposed to Disk Management from within Windows?
RoHe
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June 14th, 2020 13:00
You may...
Diskpart is run from a CMD window and has more options available than Disk Management.
And, at least in my experience, it's safer to use Diskpart because it's just too easy to click the wrong something in the Disk Management GUI and oopsy...
YRMV..!