How to best upgrade this desktop?

[Cowgoesmoo3]

Hi, I have a dell inspiron 660... which can barely play Skyrim.

My laptop actually does better, so, in short, I use my laptop.

http://www.cnet.com/products/dell-inspiron-660-core-i5-3330-3-ghz-monitor-none-series/specs/

 

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I should upgrade it so it actually works better?

[worm82075]

Ok, so i had to do a little spelunking and yes your Mobo has a PCI-e slot that you can put a nice GPU in.

 

However, you will likely have to upgrade your PSU as well.

 

These are my suggestions but they are just a starting point. These items should work with your mobo but You will of course need to check that all the specs are in line with your case and mobo. If you already have a 500w PSU w/6 pin PCI power plug then all you need for now is the video card. Be wary though, if your PSU is 2 or 3 years old then the stress from the new GPU may kill it so keep that 50$ set aside in case you are forced to replace it. I would recommend a fresh PSU if you can afford it though.

 

PSU

 

GPU

[YaoiPi]

Ah, I totally agree with Worm. Those would be great things to upgrade on the machine. The processor itself is pretty good too, so it should be a pretty decent little gaming machine. The biggest disadvantage to it as it currently is would probably be the fact that the graphics are intel graphics. If it had integrated amd or nvidia graphics, even if they had the same general specs, you'd probably think it was a different machine all together when you went to game. lol

 

Also, past that point I would first upgrade your Ram and then, if you still aren't were you need performance wise, upgrade the cpu to an i7. It's the same socket type and should be compatible...

[bben46]

There is a limit to what you can do on those. The box is fine, and can be upgraded quite a bit. The stock power supply is listed as 300 watts, but Dell has been known to use cheap power supplies that cannot maintain full power for long periods without overheating and eventually failing. The good part is it does use a standard form factor power supply that can easily be changed. And if you are going to add a decent video card, I recommend at least 450watts or more. Unless you are going for a super duper gaming machine, the i5 is fine. Based on what I see you should already have 6GB of ram which is fine.

 

My recommendations - a better power supply and a video card with at least 2G of video ram should do for a start.