I want to upgrade my Inspiron 3847 gpu

What GPU do you have now?

Stock power supply in Inspiron 3847 is 300W.  So make sure the "recommended" PSU for the exact GPU you want is 300W or less.  Otherwise, you'll need a PSU upgrade too. Also make sure the GPU will physically fit inside the case. 

You can look here to see what GPUs other users are running in Inspiron 3847. BUT, userbenchmark doesn't show the PSU size in any PC that's listed. So just because somebody is using a certain GPU, does not mean it will work with your 300W PSU.

Which CPU do you have: Core i3, i5, i7, or Celeron or Pentium?

How much RAM in this PC? (Max "Dell validated" RAM is 16 GB) Do you need a RAM upgrade?

How much free space is available on the drive(s)?

Version of Windows? Maybe you need a clean OS install to get rid of built-up junk?

How much unnecessary stuff is loading at every boot?  Stop that junk from loading at boot, but still have it  available if/when you need it.

Any signs things are overheating?  Are fans all clean and running properly?

Service Manual is here. 

Only you can decide how much $$ to spend upgrading this 10-year-old PC.  Even if you're running Win 10 now, Win 10 will only be supported until Oct'25, so another ~14 months.  You won't be able to upgrade to Win 11, which can't run on a 4th Gen Intel CPU.  So then what...junk yard?

BTW: Are drivers, hard drive firmware, BIOS, etc  all up-to-date? 

That may be true, but is it worth putting any upgrades into a 10-year-old PC when Win 10 will only be supported for ~14 more months, and it can't be updated to Win 11? 

The pc is stock Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4460  CPU @ 3.20GHz  8gb ram.

I have 511gbs of space currently 

windows 10 home 

I'm not sure honestly. I really don't know much about computers but I did edit some of that start up apps a long time ago to speed things up. 

I also forgot to mention that my house was hit by lighting a few years ago which fried my ethernet port ( I use a usb to ethernet now) and it also gives me a hard drive error when I get a power outage. I have to restore boot to default settings once let it fail and then do it a second time to get the pc to run.

@RoHe​ Well I don't have the money atm to build a new pc. But if buying an ssd and installing a dedicated gpu will allow me to do digital art and have my pc run better its worth it to me. It's not like I have to throw my pc away or get rid of the part's I bought just because windows 10 isn't supported anymore. If and when I get a new pc i'll already have an ssd and a gpu I could use if I wanted to. I don't need pc to play modern games I just want something that runs smooth and lets me use a dual display with my drawing apps. I don't know much about computers or operating systems so what would be the downside of still using windows 10? No support and security? Thanks for the support. 

Re: I just want something that runs smooth and lets me use a dual display with my drawing apps

the sata ssd and RX 550 gpu upgrade are good idea for that goal.   you could choose Dell oem RX550 (depending on your dual display monitor spec) too instead of Sapphire.  the total cost of upgrade is around 70 USD (20 ssd 50 gpu).   check your monitor display video ports and try to match gpu ports with monitor.   avoid video cable adapter.

PS modern 4k monitor video ports favor DP than HDMI.

@redxps630​ Ok thanks. Besides being able to use dual displays at higher resolution would a new graphics card and ssd speed up the pc and keep it going for a little longer? I don't think i'll be able to afford a new pc until sometime next year and really want to get back on my digital art grind. I can use vga with an older monitor and hdmi for the drawing display for now but I already know the pc's gonna struggle. 

ssd will speed up OS install and boot.  upgrade RAM to max 16 GB (2x8 GB).  i5 4th gen is ok no need to upgrade to i7.  

it won't be as fast as i5-8600 or newer 10th/11th gen cpu but should serve your purpose until you are ready for a new pc.

@redxps630​ Ok sweet should I google "dell oem rx 550" to find one? I have a dell x27q monitor that has hdmi and display port thats on my ps5 setup and a 1080p samsung with hdmi and vga that i'm using with the pc. I don't know why I just kind of prefer how videos look on the older samsung for some reason. I plan to use the dell if upgrade the gpu though since it matches my pen displays resolution.  Also sorry for sending multiple messages instead of just one. I'm not getting email notifications for replies so I have to keep coming back to check for messages. 

Dell RX500 has no hdmi.  if you want to use the gpu to drive both HDMI and DP monitors choose Radeon RX 550 GDDR5 (DP,HDMI, DL-DVI) or RX 550X GDDR5

x27q is probably HP not Dell?

@redxps630​ You're right about the monitor I wasn't thinking lol. Ok yeah I have to have an hdmi port for the display tablet. This looks like it would work great thanks. I'll look one up and i'll post the link in here to see if its the correct one since there's so many different variants of the same card. 

HP AMD Radeon RX550X GDDR5 Video Card L39867-001 4GB VRAM RX 550X

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276583531504?

@redxps630​ Ok thanks I picked up that gpu, a sata ssd, and also two dell 8gb ram sticks. I know someone who works on pcs so i'm gonna have them come over and help me install everything. I'll let you know how it runs once i've got it all together. Thanks for the help I appreciate it!

@redxps630​ So I just got my ssd in the mail and was about to install it but I decided to run crstalimaginginfo on the hdd before doing so and apparently its failing. I asked reddit if I should clone it but people advised against doing so. Should I just manually move everything over after installing windows on the ssd or can I pick and choose what I want? I don't know much about pcs so i'm not sure if theres drivers on the hdd that I have to have for integrated graphics and other things not on the fresh windows.