Hardware Experts! Help with my computer and ways to upgrade it.

12/23/2017 | By Laz A. Mataz

[Lazamataz]

My old home computer died outright sometime mid-December. I use it for some fairly intensive gaming (Fallout 4, (actually all the Fallout installments), Total War: Rome 2 (which required an upgrade to a Nividia GeForce GTX 970 video card) and personal computer-development efforts in Visual Studio 2014 and SQL Server 2012. The computer was bought new from MicroCenter in late 2013.

So I went on Amazon, and a Refurbished Dell caught my eye. Here are the specs:

Processor: Intel Core 7th Generation i7-7700 Processor (Quad Core, up to 4.20 GHz, 8MB Cache, 65W) 16GB 2400MHz DDR4 | Dell Wireless 1707 Card (802.11BGN + Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4 GHz) 2TB 7200 rpm SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive | NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 2GB GDDR3

I assumed it was a full-sized tower, when I got it last night, I discovered it was a minitower. Ok, no worries.

This morning when I began working on it I discovered it has a small-form, anemic power supply (230 watts!) and only one fullsized card slot. The PSU wattage concerned me, but at least I could take out the Nividia GTX 730 and pop in my GTX 970.

Wait, I thought: what about wattage.

So here is my question to those who know all about hardware:

1) Can I find a small form PSU that can get me the wattage I need (400-500) and not cook the insides? Do most small-form PSU's vent directly outside the case, preventing that cooking?

2) Can I find a video card for gaming that will have some horsepower, say 4 gig of onboard RAM, that will either have lower power needs or that will be okay with the higher wattage small-form PSU? And do I have to worry about the higher power video card cooking the insides?

3) Will I be able to run a second hard drive? I will. 2TB is not nearly enough, and I still have to migrate all my stuff from the other drives (if I can, of course, if one, the other, or both, still work)? I understand drives are relatively low-wattage so I am probably okay on power.

or

4) Do I need to return this mini-tower as unsuitable to my needs?

[Lazamataz]

Any and all serious help will be appreciated.

[Lazamataz]

I have no idea what I am doing. Please help.

[Lazamataz]

I have no idea what I am doing. Please help.

[PIF]

Yes you do need help ...

[M Kehoe]

Bttt.

Good luck buddy.

5.56mm

[Wonder Warthog]

"4) Do I need to return this mini-tower as unsuitable to my needs?"

Yes. Then spend some time on fora dedicated to "build-it-yourself" systems from "bare-bones" kits. There are suggestions for systems for gaming, or home theater, and other categories, and suggestions of components for each. "Tom's Guide" is an excellent place to start.

You might do ebay for an inexpensive laptop to tide you over (Freeping) while you build.

[Lazamataz]

Thanks!

[Bodleian_Girl]

I have no clue about computer hardware but my first thought is return it as insufficient for your needs.

[NCnodeLOGICBOMB]

My first question would be about your old computer. When you say it died what do you mean. If it wont do anything when you attempt to power it up it could very well just be a bad power supply.

[Lazamataz]

I could use this one as the tide-me-over computer. It was a hella-good processor and a ton of memory for only 767$.

But if I can’t really do much more than surf, I’m wondering why 16 gig of memory???

[Big Red Badger]

Are You logged in?

[Larry Lucido]

I would definitely try to help you. I'm still trying to get my iPad to work.

[Lazamataz]

My first question would be about your old computer. When you say it died what do you mean. If it wont do anything when you attempt to power it up it could very well just be a bad power supply.

Naw, I dropped a spare (brand new, full-sized) 600W power supply into the old computer, and it just sits there.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Here is my suggested solution.

1. Research computers to determine exactly what you will need and taking into account your concerns about the unit you purchased.

2. That search will likely point you to an ideal machine - hopefully within your budget - and you will know exactly which machine is just right.

3. If it ends up being the machine you have. Keep it and run it. If not, return it and get another machine.

Don’t mess around trying to make a box do what it was not designed to do by the factory.

[knarf]

Or

You could wean yourself altogether from gaming

and stick to match 3 and hidden objects.

(Works for me)

[Lazamataz]

I could also call the third-party seller and ask if they have anything more suitable I could return this one as credit, for.

[Lazamataz]

Don’t mess around trying to make a box do what it was not designed to do by the factory.

Fer realz?

[Wonder Warthog]

"But if I can’t really do much more than surf, I’m wondering why 16 gig of memory???"

These days, 16 gig is just above bare minimum.

[Big Red Badger]

Sorry...
All I got is a
Stupid Smart PHONE.
and a wise guy Attitude

Good Luck

[gunsequalfreedom]

When you get that iPad to work, could you give me a hand with this darn coffee cup holder that is always trying to retract back into my computer.