Question GPU upgrade for Dell Inspiron 660

[gcd89]

Okay, so I've been running this old Dell Inspiron 660 for a good decade now (the full size tower, not the S model).

So far I've upgraded a few of the stock Dell components to the following:
PSU - Corsair CX650M ATX
RAM - Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 3TB

I'm still running the original Intel Core i5-3330 @ 3GHz CPU along with the Nvidia GeForce GT 620 GPU, so as you can imagine, I'm barely able to run games like Skyrim/FO4, even on the most anemic of quality settings!

I know there's a limit of about 10" of space to work with when upgrading the GPU in the 660 case, but considering I've already upgraded the PSU, I'm curious to know what sort of GPU I could look to upgrade to within those size/wattage parameters.

In an ideal world, I'd love to be being able to run games like Witcher 3 at a somewhat respectable frame rate/quality with a simple GPU upgrade, hopefully without having to upgrade the CPU or MBD?

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I'm eager to hear some ideas.

Thanks in advance!

 

[triplex1]

Okay, so I've been running this old Dell Inspiron 660 for a good decade now (the full size tower, not the S model).

So far I've upgraded a few of the stock Dell components to the following:
PSU - Corsair CX650M ATX
RAM - Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 3TB

I'm still running the original Intel Core i5-3330 @ 3GHz CPU along with the Nvidia GeForce GT 620 GPU, so as you can imagine, I'm barely able to run games like Skyrim/FO4, even on the most anemic of quality settings!

I know there's a limit of about 10" of space to work with when upgrading the GPU in the 660 case, but considering I've already upgraded the PSU, I'm curious to know what sort of GPU I could look to upgrade to within those size/wattage parameters.

In an ideal world, I'd love to be being able to run games like Witcher 3 at a somewhat respectable frame rate/quality with a simple GPU upgrade, hopefully without having to upgrade the CPU or MBD?

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I'm eager to hear some ideas.

Thanks in advance!

whatever you do you'll be wasting money on it.slowly make a new one and leave it only for internet or install linux.......it's not worth bothering more

 

[gcd89]

whatever you do you'll be wasting money on it.slowly make a new one and leave it only for internet or install linux.......it's not worth bothering more

appreciate the honesty! haha
which components would you say I could cross over to the new build? I'd imagine the PSU and RAM could go over, how about the HDD?

 

[triplex1]

appreciate the honesty! haha
which components would you say I could cross over to the new build? I'd imagine the PSU and RAM could go over, how about the HDD?

the power supply is enough at 650watt , look at the memory to be at 1600 and disk the kioxia.



kioxia exceria

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Sadly, you're are a bit snookered here. As pointed out your system is dated. Even with a GPU upgrade, you will not see a substantial increase in FPS. This is because your CPU is the limting factor.

Think of it like this:

Your CPU sends pre-rendered frames to the GPU. The GPU then takes that data and turns into the lovely stuff we see on screen. Each CPU, in this case yours, will be able to pump out a certain amount of pre-rendered frames. For arguments sake lets say 100fps. If you only change the GPU and not the CPU, your GPU is likely to be sitting around twidling it's thumbs waiting on 'more' pre-rendered frames. Because your CPU is limitng, your GPU will be low usage, perhaps at about 50%, and you will be scrathcing your head windering what's going on. If you had a more powerful CPU (and system really), your CPU can then send the pre-rendered frames faster, which in turn makes the GPU work hardber and better producing more FPS on screen.

Apart from the PSU, which is not great, there is nothing really to bring to a new build. The HDD is almost irrelevant in consumer PC's and an SSD (Sata or NVME) is the way to go for sure.

If you have a budget you are thinking of, we can try find something to get you started.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($189.87 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($33.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($139.00 @ MSI)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card ($285.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ B&H)
Total: $847.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-06-23 11:41 EDT-0400

Now, if you dropper the GPU (RTX3060) and use the onboard graphics untill a time further doen the line to get a new GPU, then it would reduce the price down to about 550 or so. This system would be like night and day compared to the other one.

 

[Unolocogringo]

I moved the 660 motherboard etc to a new case for my grandsons first pc.
Installed a GTX 1060 6gb and 16gb crucial ram. and a 500 gb 2.5 SSD.
The first game he downloaded was Rust. Im like crap!!!!!!!!
Played mostly high settings with lowered draw distance and shawdows @1080p.
He was happy until I upgraded him the next Christmas.