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4070
Add SSD & Memory to Inspiron 3670?
My son has a 3670 with 12Gb RAM & 1Tb Sata drive. To boost performance I'm thinking adding a fast M2 PCIe SSD drive & possibly adding more RAM will help with his gaming applications. Will this PC accept a standard SSD & what & how much RAM would it accept? Moving his games to the SSD would improve performance noticeably I would assume. Thanks for your thoughts.
RoHe
10 Elder
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December 7th, 2020 17:00
The specs say this PC supports one M.2 2280 Solid-State Drive (SSD) PCIe 3 x4 NVME, up to 32 Gbps, up to 512 GB. NOTE: Crucial is offering up to 2T SSDs they say are fully compatible with this PC model, and likely other brands offer big SSDs that will also work.
The Service Manual shows how to install an M.2 SSD and you could put Windows and games on the SSD and use the 1T HDD only for storage.
If you have 12 GB of RAM now, that means 1x 8 GB + 1x 4 GB since there are only 2 memory slots on the motherboard. So at least one of those will have to be replaced to get more than 12 GB. This PC accepts a total of 4 GB, 8 GB, 12 GB, 16 GB, 24 GB, and 32 GB combined in the 2 slots. NOTE: It's always better to install matched RAM modules so memory runs in dual-channel mode, which is faster and more efficient than single-channel mode that mismatched modules run.
This PC model has either a 290W or 365W PSU, so that limits your options for video cards, and the GPU will affect game performance...
AustinBoil
6 Posts
0
December 7th, 2020 17:00
Thanks for the reply, that's great information. One other thing I might ask, If I simply put games on SSD and leave the Windows 10 on the SATA drive, am I going to lose gaming performance? If so then I'll move the Win 10 to the SSD..
Secondly will I have to reconfigure the Bios or will it simply be a matter of using Win 10 to add the additional drive?
I guess if I move Win 10 to the SSD I'll have to configure that as the boot drive as well.
Thanks again!
AustinBoil
6 Posts
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December 7th, 2020 18:00
"one other thing" LOL
That's exactly what I was looking for, thank you.
I also see that Dell lists a DVP8W GTX-1050 Graphics card that is compatible. I'm wondering if that may be an even better way to increase his FPS performance in games instead of the SSD. Looks like they are a couple hundred dollars which isn't too bad. I know it's not the newest GC but for what he has it might be a good option also.
RoHe
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December 7th, 2020 18:00
You may lose some performance by having games on the SSD and Windows on the HDD. And that assumes those games can be installed on a drive (SSD) that doesn't also have the OS on it.
You should check to see if BIOS is set to RAID or AHCI. Some SSDs and cloning software don't play nice with RAID. If it's set to RAID now, you will have to prepare Windows for the change first (easy) so don't change BIOS right now if it's set to RAID.
You can clone the existing HDD using Macrium Reflect (free) and move that image onto the SSD. That way you won't have to reinstall Windows. After that, you will have to initialize the HDD using Disk Management in Windows to make the SSD the boot drive. ALL files will be deleted from the HDD so they should be backed up on external media first.
Once the image is on the SSD, you have use the F12 menu at boot to select the SSD as the boot drive. Otherwise, the PC will always just boot from the HDD. When you're satisfied the SSD can boot the PC and run your software. You can initialize the HDD. Then reboot normally and the SSD should now be the boot drive.
Once that's all done, you can move your personal files over to the 1T to save space on the SSD. You should also configure Windows to move default folders off the SSD and onto the 1T. And configure your apps to use the 1T for storage too. For games, you'll probably have to uninstall them in Windows on the C (SSD) drive and then reinstall them, this time specifying their location as the D drive (HDD).
(And that was more than "one other thing"... )
speedstep
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December 8th, 2020 02:00
Adding ram to max it out and a GPU GT1030 is a better investment for games. SSD does almost nothing for game fps. It does increase loading and booting time but once that happens your performance gains are done.
Actually playing the game does absolutely nothing.
If you add the optional 365w power supply you can add a GT1650 or even a 1660. GT1030 does not matter which power supply you have. Overall just getting the GT1030 and nothing else will do a lot for games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2-aXzHcJPM
But thats a lot more money.
https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/dell/inspiron-3670
https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GV-N1030OC-2GI-Nvidia-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B07646VQ6T/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-DELL-PRECISION-T1700-T3620-365W-D365EM-00-POWER-SUPPLY-0T1M43-07VK45/203209778374
AustinBoil
6 Posts
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December 15th, 2020 14:00
Does anyone know if the GeForce GT 1650 will fit in the Inspiron 3670 without modifications or any rewiring etc. I realize the 365 watt PSU will be required. I'm trying to update without any Bios, rewiring, or other modifications other than loading the graphics card vendor drivers. It appears this card would be a better performance option than the GT 1050 that is pretty much a plug & play option.
Thank you!
RoHe
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December 15th, 2020 18:00
Do you mean a GTX 1650 vs GTX 1050? Compare the length of those two cards.
You will have to disable Secure Boot in BIOS setup before installing any retail video card...
AustinBoil
6 Posts
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December 15th, 2020 21:00
Yes I did see the difference in length but I thought I remember someone posting that the GTX 1650 still did fit but with very little room left, that's why I wanted to verify before buying one of those two cards.
Ok on changing the Bios.