Dell XPS 420 direct replacement Card

[Roddyrock]

Dear All

Apologies in advance for my silly question as I have never even seen the inside of a pc...!

i wish to change my graphics card from a 8800 Gt to a 650ti/750 ti (so I can play modern games) without changing any other component in my pc (ie psu).

Very grateful if you can advise if this is possible.

System specs (original Dell pack - late 2007):
Intel® Core 2 Quad-Core Processor Q6600 (2.40GHz, 8MB, 1066MHz)
3072MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024/2x512]
SINGLE 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT card
375w PSU
Chip set - Intel x38/48
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit
Maximum 4gb OS memory

I would be very grateful for any help or advise you can offer


Many thanks in advance
Roy H

 

[helpstar]

Careful with some models of the gtx960, some cards are using 2x6PIN also.

The strix and superclocked are using 1x6Pin like Math Geek said.

The other thing is, it´s not approved yet from other users, that the GTX960 will work with the XPS420. It could be, that the BIOS will not recognize this graphics card, but worth to trying it.

Without overclocking the Q6600, I think most games won´t run smoother with a gtx960 than a R9 270

 

[EuropaJDM]

Interesting, I found this bit of information regarding the GTX 960 and Bios.

"Current graphics cards require a UEFI BIOS - if your system supports Windows 8, it meets this requirement."

Later on I found threads that state the XPS 420 runs Windows 8 just fine. Does this mean the card satisfied the bios requirement?

 

[Math Geek]

i don't see any reason why the 960 won't run on the system. i have had vista, win 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 running on this system and each one has run with no problem. so if running win 8 is somehow an indicator of a 960 being compatible then i would say it is. i have also oc'ed the q6600 using the old tape trick so it is running at 3 ghz instead of 2.4 ghz. this helped a little bit in game as well. i followed this tutorial and it took about 10 mins to do. http://alumar.hubpages.com/hub/Get-more-from-your-Quad-Core-Q6600#slide2597180

i see no reason to believe a 960 won't work considering the 270 runs fine and they are both pretty new cards. if i felt like a new psu in the pc i would have gone for a much better card than the 270 but i did not want to replace it on such an old system.

 

[EuropaJDM]

I placed an order for EVGA 02G-P4-2962-KR GeForce GTX 960.

Since, my R9 270 is still in limbo status, i.e. hasn't yet hit the FedEx stream, I will probably get them at around the same time. I will try to get the GTX 960 working first. If it works out, I'll return the Radeon unopened. Fingers crossed!

 

[EuropaJDM]

Careful with some models of the gtx960, some cards are using 2x6PIN also.

The strix and superclocked are using 1x6Pin like Math Geek said.

The other thing is, it´s not approved yet from other users, that the GTX960 will work with the XPS420. It could be, that the BIOS will not recognize this graphics card, but worth to trying it.

Without overclocking the Q6600, I think most games won´t run smoother with a gtx960 than a R9 270

i don't see any reason why the 960 won't run on the system. i have had vista, win 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 running on this system and each one has run with no problem. so if running win 8 is somehow an indicator of a 960 being compatible then i would say it is. i have also oc'ed the q6600 using the old tape trick so it is running at 3 ghz instead of 2.4 ghz. this helped a little bit in game as well. i followed this tutorial and it took about 10 mins to do. http://alumar.hubpages.com/hub/Get-more-from-your-Quad-Core-Q6600#slide2597180

i see no reason to believe a 960 won't work considering the 270 runs fine and they are both pretty new cards. if i felt like a new psu in the pc i would have gone for a much better card than the 270 but i did not want to replace it on such an old system.

Thanks for the detailed infos, as I stated in my post above, I'll experiment with both!

 

[helpstar]

The compatibility issue has nothing to do with the operating system in the first place. UEFI is a complete new system compared to the old BIOS. Windows 8 will run on a BIOS system and on UEFI systems. If BIOS, Win8 has some disadvantages, like fast boot and secure boot not available on such systems, but will boot the system without problems.

If a new video card is designed for UEFI, it won´t run at all with a BIOS, which is not updated for these new cards.
The R9 270 is available at manufacturers in two versions, UEFI and "normal". Maybe that´s the trick.

I´m just guessing around at the moment, because some old Mainboards running without any issues and others don´t work at all.

I´m really looking forward to your review and if the 960 will boot. Good luck anyway

 

[EuropaJDM]

The compatibility issue has nothing to do with the operating system in the first place. UEFI is a complete new system compared to the old BIOS. Windows 8 will run on a BIOS system and on UEFI systems. If BIOS, Win8 has some disadvantages, like fast boot and secure boot not available on such systems, but will boot the system without problems.

If a new video card is designed for UEFI, it won´t run at all with a BIOS, which is not updated for these new cards.
The R9 270 is available at manufacturers in two versions, UEFI and "normal". Maybe that´s the trick.

I´m just guessing around at the moment, because some old Mainboards running without any issues and others don´t work at all.

I´m really looking forward to your review and if the 960 will boot. Good luck anyway

Thanks! That really does shed some light on things. I'll make sure to report back on what happens!

 

[BAYAN1]

Hi Math Geek, Helpstar, roddyrock.

I'd just thought I would update you on my PC upgrade,Sorry its been a while since posting last, long story and I've been very busy.

Long story short I sent the R9 270 back and got a 960 gtx.

The reason I did this was because of the driver issues with the R9 270 and vista, future issues and knowing the 960 Gtx was out shortly with the nearly the same power draw.

Firstly I purchased the Asus 960 gtx but had problems with vista not booting for some reason. I did research online and assumed maybe the card was the problem, maybe it drawing power off just one 6pin power connector or something else was the cause.

I then sent the Asus back (i love Asus BTW) and purchased a Gigabyte 960 Gtx with Two 6 pin power connectors, to make sure the card was getting enough juice so windows would boot. This was the same power set up as my old Asus 6850, using Two power connectors(the other 6 pin being a molex adapter). This has worked perfectly and I have not had any problems since installation.

Now for the Rome 2 fps test-

6850. Ultra settings. 15.9
Extreme. 9.7

R9 270. Ultra settings 39.7
Extreme. 26.2

960 Gtx. Ultra settings 43.4
Extreme. 30.3

As you can see the 960 gtx has Three times the performance increase over the 6850 and roughly a 10% increase over the R9 270. I am really happy with this performance increase from a 6850 as a final upgrade, and I now have a PC that's as powerful as a PS4 I believe ☺

So just to confirm, the Gigabyte 960 Gtx does work in the old work horse XPS 420, with no upgrades required to the PSU ☺

 

[Math Geek]

ok so now i'm jealous that you got the 960 and i have a 270

glad it has all worked out. these old systems are still running strong and i know my kids are still enjoying theirs. not bad considering it was free to me and all i added was the gpu to it. so they got a heck of a bargain for the $140 i paid for the card. (stupid His denying the rebate or it would have been $100 for the card!!)

 

[BAYAN1]

Only roughly a 10% increase over a 270 and that's after I overclocked it slightly (sorry, i forgot to mention that)using the Gigabyte software, so not a massive difference really, just a few Fps

 

[Rahul C]

I wanted to thank the OP and everyone on this thread because this was the information I was looking for. I have a 2007 Dell XPS 420, and was meaning to swap my aging GT 9800 with a more powerful GPU. After a lot of research (many thanks to the posters here), I took the risk and bought a 4GB GTX 960. I live in India and this costs $300 new, so I was afraid I would end up with a expensive brick!

In short, the GTX 960 works perfectly with my old (but beautiful) Dell XPS 420. I wanted to share this for any other lost soul (like I was) looking for compatibility information. I also want to make it clear that the X38 chipset works with the GTX 960, and so does the Bios A06 and PCI Express 2.0 slot.

However, a few things worth pointing out.

1) You will have to remove/unscrew the (blue colored) plastic clips below the back hinge of the cabinet. Otherwise it won't close on the card.

2) You will also have to remove the blue plastic slip which rests over the CPU fan. Both these parts are non-crucial, so no worries at all.

3) I bought the Asus GTX 960 Strix 4GB OC edition, which needs only a single 6-pin power connector. My Dell XPS 420 has two 6pin connectors, so another configuration of the GTX 960 with two 6 Pin ports will also work. (as has been mentioned in this discussion previously).

4) This card is thick, at 4 cms. So it occupies the space over the next slot, so you can't have anything there.

Here is my Dell XPS 420 configuration as it stands after installing the GTX 960.

- Core 2 Quad 6600@2.4 Ghz
- Gskill 8 GB DDR2 RAM PC-6400
- Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 Bit, SP-1
- Motherboard X38, Bios A06 (June 2008)
- PCI Express 2.0 x 1
- Dell 475 W PSU
- Seagate 1TB ST1000-VX1000
- Western Digital 500 GB WDC WD5000AAKS
- Asus GTX 960 Strix 4GB OC edition with single 6 pin connector

Thanks again!

 

[Math Geek]

glad this thread is still being useful still enjoying the 270 in mine as well and it's still putting along like it always has.

enjoy the new card.

 

[helpstar]

@rahul c
hi and thanks for sharing with us

little question though, do you really have a 475W and not a 375W power supply?

 

[Rahul C]

little question though, do you really have a 475W and not a 375W power supply?

Hi there!

Yes, I checked and double checked before buying the card. I am a complete noob and don't know much about these things, but it might have to do with either:

1) India has 240 Voltage mains, so logically the Wattage (Amp x voltage) should be higher for us.

2) My Dell XPS came with a ton of stuff - dual DVD bays, media xcelerator w/bluetooth, 6 Pin GT 9800, TV Tuner card, Sound card and Wireless LAN card and external antenna, IR receiver for the remote. So maybe more power needed to get all these going?

 

[Math Geek]

that's a lot more loaded than my 420. i got a dvd player and had an hd 2400 in it.

i'd say you probably needed a bit more juice than the 375w psu would have given, but at least it let you upgrade to a very nice gpu.

 

[Rahul C]

Yes, I remember maxing out on the Dell XPS 420 custom builder when I bought it! No one here had even heard of a desktop with a WLAN card and antenna back then; even the Dell Technician who came to install the PC said it was the first time he had ever seen one on a customer's Dell XPS.

It cost me a lot that time (because of import duties), but guess what, eight years later - and after a RAM and GPU upgrade, it is as crisp as a Pringle 😉

Have ordered a copy of GTA 5, let's see how that works on the 'new' set-up.