Question Dell XPS8700 - GPU Dying.... Newbie needs help with replacement GPU

[JasL]

Hi

My GPU is dying... its done well - its very old!

Can anybody PLEASE help me with suggestions for a replacement GPU & PSU if required.

I've never upgraded anything in a PC - but I'm happy to give it a go 🙂
I'm not a big gamer, office & photo work, but my kids use: Steam (Heros & Generals, Planet Coaster, Team Fortress 2 etc), Roblox & Minecraft, Elite Dangerous (Horizons). Most of the gaming is on the xBox or NES Switch. I just want to keep it the PC going as long as I can without buying a new one. As the GPU is old, I'm hoping & assuming I can get a much better card - BUT, my H/W is old, so want to make sure it fits and it works with my old system:

Stock Dell XPS8700, no changes at all. [32gb RAM, i7 4790 (3.6 GHz)]
GPU: AMD Radeon(TM) R9 270
PSU: 460W

Ideally, as I'm no techy, I would prefer an easy fix, without having to change too much. I don't really want to be messing with anything else S/W or H/W unless super easy.
1. GPU only
OR
2. GPU & PSU only (if easy, and I get a much better card for the money)

I found this post, suggesting the GTX 1660

Re: XPS 8700 CURRENT GPU UPGRADES

it depends what your future plan is. do you plan to stay put w i7-4790, upgrade to 4790k on the same motherboard, upgrade to 8900 motherboard in the same case, or move to a whole new machine? buying a faster gpu gives you some future proof, although the future horizon is always moving. based...

www.dell.com

"GTX 1660 should work if bios is updated to current. Non Dell cards will require secure boot OFF."
"bios update with secure boot OFF" What does that actually mean? Is it easy to update? Another post said, get it wrong and your system is DEAD!

Another post said confirmed 1660 would not work without the BIAS update above, and said a 1050Ti would work ok.

XPS 8700, GeForce GTX 750 Ti, GPU upgrade?

Hello, I have a DELL XPS 8700. I would like to upgrade my NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti 2GB DDR5 graphics card to a better one which I can just remove and replace with the new one with the existing set up I have. The specs of the my DELL XPS 8700 are as follows: 4th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM)...

www.dell.com

GeForce GTX 1050 Ti I should be fine. Newer card like 1650 might require bios update.

OR based on my limited knowledge...
Should I be looking at Radeon 570 or 580 ? But not really sure if my stock PSU can handle either of them OR if I can just plug one of them in and all good. Same Bias upgrade issues? I really have no idea and could do with some help please.

As above, can anybody PLEASE help me with the above?

Thank you in advance for reading, and for any help.

 

[JasL]

Bios Version = Dell A14 (updated 19 Jul 2019)
Firmware updated to address Intel security advisory INTEL-SA-00233 (CVE-2018-12126, CVE-2018-12127, CVE-2018-12130 and CVE-2019-11091)

 

[Avro Arrow]

Well, it really depends on what your budget is and what you're looking for. If all you want is essentially direct replacement, you could probably do fine with an old Radeon HD 7870. It would have the same thermals, PSU requirement, performance and you wouldn't even have to change the driver.

Here's a VisionTek HD 7870 GHz Edition for only $55:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Visiontek-...LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3000|1000|1500|2000
That should do you just fine as a drop-in, no headaches replacement.

 

[JasL]

Thx