XPS 8300, i5-2320, video card upgrade?

I installed and tested all these different video-cards in my XPS-8300.

https://www.dell.com/community/Vostro-Desktops/Vostro-460-XPS-8300-Upgrade-Adventures/m-p/6071783/highlight/true#M1312

However, I'm all green-team these days. This tip also applies to you:

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R1-ALX-CPU-upgrade/m-p/7293663/highlight/true#M9855

So, I think a Nvidia GTX-1050 or GTX-1060 would be my choice (if actually spending money on something new). If you keep lower drive-cage, your choices are limited.

Is that the gtx 1050 or 1050ti? Im just trying to get some more life out of the computer before buying a new one.

well first it has to fit, for sure length, OK.  x16 slot, a ruler to your case from Jbracket to the fist thing it hits tell you what can fit. (mine is 10.5" (about but mine is OptiPlex)

next UP is power, the PSU has plenty of power, at 500w.? but 142w on the two 12v rails(combined)

worst card made uses 300watts all by itself. and needs ATX12v AUX power,  use it.,

the best card made (I only do Nvidia) ,(not needing tons of power and AUX ) jacks is the GTX1050  (75watt max) Huge Power is only burned when clocking CMOS logic faster.

learn first that the cards are made by many makers,  and come in many sub classes, even super long cards and 2 huge fans, and 1 or 2 AUX jacks, if you learn that one thing then fit up becomes 10x more easy.
Some PCs have no PSU with any kind AUX ATX12 6 pin connector power feed cables.

radeon HD 5770  (this is not 1 card, it is many and has a real partnumber) if it was DELL card sure we know.

PCIe Card DELL 0GCJ42 W/ DVI HDMI? the top rear side of card has 6 PIN AUX power so yes.

 most 5770 cards use 108watts,  and has 6 pin AUX power on the rear. like yours.

the worst card to buy used is GTX690. 300watt old hot running monster. (avoid it, ok?)

use only modern cards,

The GTX1050ti is good card to buy, very fast but not as fast as the 1060s up, that use huge power.

The modern TITAN card is the fastest and power hog. 250watts alone, and may run here. 21amp load.12v.

and as far as GREEN fear goes, the PC does not use lots of power when not gaming,

my optiplex uses 24 watts at idle or in my browser.

I tested for fun a GTX650 hog, (power hog , I use for testing) and total system power was 200watt running the most demanding benchmark Passwark and FurMARK,  so that is what it does. worst case, this old card.

but then the makers shrunk the GPU DIE and is frankly amazing.

the GPU card does not waste heat (1050) if you don't game. so ONLY GAMING causes global warming ok.(lol)

there you go , I planted the fear of gaming, and world destruction  all with tongue In my cheek.

for sure the 1050 is one of the most GREEN GPU cards on earth (gaming category)

I post all this so you can learn how to make your own decisions,  what is best for you is only your business.

speed, cost, green, IDK ever that. (speed posted)

and worst of all FPS, only you know what FPS makes you happy, and that takes TRYING CARDS.

I own 3 Dells ,  3020 and r310 and a R710, all them with SSD boots, and lots more.(raid huge)

I own the GTX1050ti, 75w max for sure. and games ok, AAA games.

the NON=TI may use 120watts , but so does  your card now.... (very very close) so what's to worry here?

I got it from Newegg, and one can return a card if not happy, so what's the risk in that, I ask?

that is my answer. on GPU gaming. look here if the cable is connected here ,you have AUX power card

and that means other AUX power cards may work ok ,up to 200watt cards (at least)

the stock PSU had two 12vdc rails at 16amps. so there is your limit.   stamped 142watts combined. 12amps each combined; if stock PSU 460watts but not really stated yet. D:P/N:#

FVGCW

I think either is OK, since IIRC ... they are both the older architecture. 

I did not see anything at Amazon, but NewEgg also has a return policy. I have mostly MSI Nvidia cards, but a good friend really likes his Zotac cards. This one is even small.

https://www.newegg.com/zotac-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-zt-p10510a-10l/p/N82E16814500411?Description=gtx-1050&cm_re=gtx-1050-_-14-500-411-_-Product

Tesla and Savvy on point with their suggestions.

Keep in mind that your i5 processor will limit your choices as you will get bottlenecks with modern day games.

My grandson was using a GTX 1070 Founders Edition in my old  XPS 8300  with a liquid cooled i7 2600, 8 GB RAM, 500GB SSD, and Windows 10 until just recently playing Fortnite, Destiny 2, etc at 1080p.  Though his CPU temps were never a problem the i7 was hitting 100% load often and would affect his frame rates.  Games were certainly playable with the Pascal GTX 1070 and he would still have to cap his framerates at 75,  but the CPU became a bottleneck with some games.  The liquid cooler was the only reason he could use the i7 with the GTX 1070 as prolonged 100% loads can cause heat issues in this case.

So with the i5 you will have more of a problem with a bottleneck and you will definitely have to cap your framerates and will limit you to 1080p, 60Hz refresh rates.

So if you have a 700W PSU, 8GB of RAM, that’s sufficient and you wouldn’t need to do anything else to the older machine with a new GPU.   That  PSU can handle anything out there right now.  Check to make sure it has one or two 6/8 pin power connectors as most cards require them.

You are in a tough spot.  You can likely take the 700W PSU to your next machine depending on the case if it’s non-modular.  It would be nice to buy a GPU you can use short term and take to your next machine so keep that in mind as well with your purchase. 

XPS 8300 did suffer from motherboard and GPU BIOS compatibility issues like the XPS 8500 and XPS 8700 so try to stay with MSI, EVGA reference type cards (built to Nvidia spec) that have stock fans.  Hard to find 6GB founders edition type rear blower cards which are best for your case but there are plenty of others that work.

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-5160-KR

The shorter single fan axial type cards will work fine like this 6GB one and perform better.  

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-6163-KR

Stay away from certain versions of other single axial cards.

The new GTX 1660 are nice cards but there are reports of models not working in the XPS 8300

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8300-GPU-and-PSU-upgrade-questions/m-p/7278349/highlight/true#M23616

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8300-graphics-card-upgrade/m-p/7285939/highlight/true#M23898

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1104949/1660-ti-incompatible-with-my-sandy-bridge-i7-2600-system-/?offset=3

With a longer card greater than 10.5” you will be limited by height to fit the power plug into the GPU under the side chassis.   The power plug should not be more than 4.5” high to fit under the side chassis.  I have installed 10.5” x 4.38” cards without any issues in these XPS 8300/XPS 8500/XPS 8700 chassis.

https://www.dell.com/community/Desktops-General-Read-Only/XPS-8300-GTX-1080-MSI-Sea-Hawk-hybrid-GPU-upgrade/td-p/5043416

https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8300-GTX-1070-GPU-Upgrade/td-p/6099588

EDIT:  Added certain single axial cards to stay away from.  Discussion is mixed as some say these cards work fine and others say they are a problem. 

Thank you. Ill try the 1050 first and see how it runs before purchasing a new computer. Its lasted me this long no problems so cant be unhappy.

Take a look at the benchmarks here, especially if you plan on using the GPU in your next machine

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1060-3GB-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/3646vs3649

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@HanoverB wrote:

 

1. My grandson was using a GTX 1070 Founders Edition in my old  XPS 8300  with a liquid cooled i7 2600, 8 GB RAM, 500GB SSD, and Windows 10 until just recently playing Fortnite, Destiny 2, etc at 1080p.  Though his CPU temps were never a problem the i7 was hitting 100% load often and would affect his frame rates.  Games were certainly playable with the Pascal GTX 1070 and he would still have to cap his framerates at 75,  but the CPU became a bottleneck with some games. 

2. The liquid cooler was the only reason he could use the i7 with the GTX 1070 as prolonged 100% loads can cause heat issues in this case.

 

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1. Interesting, but not really surprising ... the GTX-1070 is just that good  . Yes, I have two here in machines. :Cool:  (it can out-run an Intel-i7)

2. Yeah, if you have an Intel-i7 and you are "actually using it" (ie gaming, video-edit, daw, etc.) ... you really should have a liquid-cooler on it, IMO.