I want to start playing on PC but I need help with the hardware!

[samthelam]

Hey guys! My names Samantha and I am new to the world of PC gaming. I started playing Fortnite on PS4 about 3 months ago and a friend I met on there got me into PC's. I would love to start playing more on my PC but I am not sure exactly what needs to be fixed. When I load Fornite or any other game, it is really slow and the graphics are horrible. I bought this PC for $200 from someone who fixed computers and said it would run Fortnite :/ the specs right now are :
Dell XPS 8300
Windows 10
8GB memory
Intel Core i5 2500 3.3GHz
Dell motherboard- 0Y2MRG
AMD Radeon HD 5450

Those are the specs I could find, and Im not exactly sure what could be upgraded. I don't need anything too fancy just something I could start off with streaming and decent game play. Budget is flexible but prob not more than $200 for a single part (preferably cheaper). I would really appreciate any advice or opinions on what to do. Thanks!

 

[Inspireless Llama]

I think the one who sold you the PC literally speaking wasn't lying, it does run fortnite but not the way you want

Can you download and run Speccy ? It will tell us also what speed your memory is running, if you have an HDD or SSD (I suspect it's an SSD) and some other information that might come in useful. There won't be any personal information with it.

Also, can you share the settings you have your fortnite set on? I'm fairly certain that if you put them all on "high" it won't run too well. Lowest settings might not be looking too well.

Before giving any advice I'd like to have answers if you managed to run Speccy, what monitor you're using (or TV) with what resolution, and what settings you're using in Fortnite.
Generallly speaking the specs you've posted so far are PCparts that are fairly old and they might impact your gaming performance. Also I suspect it's an HDD, which may (or may not) affect performance. Also, your videocard is an older one already, I think it's just above minimum requirements, but it surely won't be able to run fortnite at the best settings.

I don't want to give advice on upgrading (yet) but keep in mind that if you're going to upgrade your CPU, you might as well upgrade your entire PC, which considering you might want to stream, may go up to $800 to $1000 and up already.

 

[Oussebon]

Agreed with the above.

Streaming on that CPU won't be a very good experience if even possible. Replacing that would involve a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. And probably a new case to house them. You'd probably also want a new PSU. And you'll want a new graphics card even if you don't stream or replace any of the rest. And if spending that much you might as well get an SSD if you don't have one... which is by then every single part.

I suppose it's possible you could use a new GPU's video encoding hardware to stream. Possibly see how that would make the experience before buying other things.

The PSU at least appears to be standard ATX as do the motherboard connectors. But you'll want to check what model the PSU is (take the side panel off and read the label on the PSU ) and check if it has any PCIe 6 pin and/or 6+2 pin connectors. See:

https://theforevernoob.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/psuconnectorsbig.jpg

These matter for what graphics cards you might be able to upgrade to.

 

[samthelam]

I think the one who sold you the PC literally speaking wasn't lying, it does run fortnite but not the way you want

Can you download and run Speccy ? It will tell us also what speed your memory is running, if you have an HDD or SSD (I suspect it's an SSD) and some other information that might come in useful. There won't be any personal information with it.

Also, can you share the settings you have your fortnite set on? I'm fairly certain that if you put them all on "high" it won't run too well. Lowest settings might not be looking too well.

Before giving any advice I'd like to have answers if you managed to run Speccy, what monitor you're using (or TV) with what resolution, and what settings you're using in Fortnite.
Generallly speaking the specs you've posted so far are PCparts that are fairly old and they might impact your gaming performance. Also I suspect it's an HDD, which may (or may not) affect performance. Also, your videocard is an older one already, I think it's just above minimum requirements, but it surely won't be able to run fortnite at the best settings.

I don't want to give advice on upgrading (yet) but keep in mind that if you're going to upgrade your CPU, you might as well upgrade your entire PC, which considering you might want to stream, may go up to $800 to $1000 and up already.

I ran Speccy and it gave this:
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 2500 @ 3.30GHz 40 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0Y2MRG (CPU 1) 30 °C
Graphics
2450W (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5450 (Dell) 47 °C
Storage
238GB SK hynix SC313 HFS256G32TNF-N3A0A (SATA (SSD)) 29 °C
232GB Seagate ST250DM000-1BD141 (SATA ) 29 °C
Optical Drives
PLDS DVD+-RW DH-16ABS
Audio
Realtek Audio

and on Fortnite I believe I had it on the preset settings. I'm just not wanting to spend >$600 total if I'm going to be replacing the whole things. that being said I wouldn't know where to start with picking parts and performance. I would be okay changing out maybe 1 or 2 by myself with youtube videos lol (I don't know everything you are talking about but I get the gist!)

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Something I forgot to ask but that may have an impact: For internet do you use wifi or do you have a cable connected?
Also, do you know how you can check wether fortnite is installed on your HDD or your SSD?

I'm gonna need to think about which parts to upgrade first. Based on speccy I kinda want to advice to upgrade everything. The specs look fine for a PC that's used for office work, but I wouldn't really advice using it for gaming.

How long ago did you purchase this PC and would you be able to return it? It would suck if you just purchased this PC and then get adviced to pretty much replace everything haha. On the other hand, when you're planning on playing more PC's it would be an idea to just get a better gaming PC at once. You don't need to invest $2000 in it, for about $600-800 you can get a pretty decent PC that can run most games at decent settings and framerates. We can help you picking up a PC like that

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gaming-desktop-amd-ryzen-5-3600-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-rx-580-2tb-hdd-240gb-ssd-black/6362427.p?skuId=6362427

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gaming-desktop-amd-ryzen-3-2300x-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-rx-570-1tb-hdd-240gb-ssd-black/6362425.p?skuId=6362425

Those are 2 pretty decent examples. On that budget (and often with prebuilt PC's) they're often feel a bit unbalanced but those will do the job.

Question: do you want us to explain the basics of the components? So you know what we're talking about?

 

[loomis1978]

Hey guys! My names Samantha and I am new to the world of PC gaming. I started playing Fortnite on PS4 about 3 months ago and a friend I met on there got me into PC's. I would love to start playing more on my PC but I am not sure exactly what needs to be fixed. When I load Fornite or any other game, it is really slow and the graphics are horrible. I bought this PC for $200 from someone who fixed computers and said it would run Fortnite :/ the specs right now are :
Dell XPS 8300
Windows 10
8GB memory
Intel Core i5 2500 3.3GHz
Dell motherboard- 0Y2MRG
AMD Radeon HD 5450

Those are the specs I could find, and Im not exactly sure what could be upgraded. I don't need anything too fancy just something I could start off with streaming and decent game play. Budget is flexible but prob not more than $200 for a single part (preferably cheaper). I would really appreciate any advice or opinions on what to do. Thanks!

of all things upgrade your memory

 

[samthelam]

Something I forgot to ask but that may have an impact: For internet do you use wifi or do you have a cable connected?
Also, do you know how you can check wether fortnite is installed on your HDD or your SSD?

I'm gonna need to think about which parts to upgrade first. Based on speccy I kinda want to advice to upgrade everything. The specs look fine for a PC that's used for office work, but I wouldn't really advice using it for gaming.

How long ago did you purchase this PC and would you be able to return it? It would suck if you just purchased this PC and then get adviced to pretty much replace everything haha. On the other hand, when you're planning on playing more PC's it would be an idea to just get a better gaming PC at once. You don't need to invest $2000 in it, for about $600-800 you can get a pretty decent PC that can run most games at decent settings and framerates. We can help you picking up a PC like that

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gaming-desktop-amd-ryzen-5-3600-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-rx-580-2tb-hdd-240gb-ssd-black/6362427.p?skuId=6362427

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpowerpc-gaming-desktop-amd-ryzen-3-2300x-8gb-memory-amd-radeon-rx-570-1tb-hdd-240gb-ssd-black/6362425.p?skuId=6362425

Those are 2 pretty decent examples. On that budget (and often with prebuilt PC's) they're often feel a bit unbalanced but those will do the job.

Question: do you want us to explain the basics of the components? So you know what we're talking about?

I appreciate all the help. I cant figure out how to see where the game was installed. I bought it about a month ago and I texted him that it wasn't properly running fortnite and asked to return it but of course, he hasn't answered :/ so he prob took advantage of the fact that I didn't really know what I was getting. I would prefer not to replace everything lol but I could try to sell this to someone else I'm not sure. i know about graphics cards and kinda CPU but that's about it haha. My friend told me NVIDIA is better than AMD and to look into a NVIDIA 1650 or something

 

[samthelam]

of all things upgrade your memory

is that the RAM?

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Please don't. That will be throwing away money because as soon as the CPU will be replaced you can throw away the memory too.

I just looked, you could upgrade the CPU + motherboard + RAM (memory) for about $350. I don't know if your power supply will be able to handle that, but the integraded graphics from that processor are much better than the videocard you have now. The CPU itself scores twice as high in benchmarks too as the i5-2500k.

That would mean for you to replace 3 things though and I'm not quite sure how easy that is in the Dell case you got. So you might end up having to buy a new case and still replace everything, but with the Ryzen 3 3400g you can use integraded graphics (for now at least). That would still be a huge upgrade compared to the HD5450 you have now. A dedicated videocard always can be added later.

Radeon HD 5450 vs Radeon RX Vega 11 [videocardbenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

It's the G3D mark you want to look at, that's most important for games. The integraded graphics from the Ryzen 5 3400G are almost 10 timess as fast.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2933 CL16 Memory ($81.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $346.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-30 02:29 EDT-0400

That may need to have a case and maybe a power supply, but then you'd have a PC that can play fortnite for $500.

 

[Oussebon]

I'm not 100% sure a Ryzen 5 3400G would be enough of an upgrade to warrant a $350 outlay.

I mean, it would be better, but it will probably not get you where you really want to be.

Plus, if you then ended up adding a dedicated graphics card anyway, you'd have spent $150 on a CPU that gives nowhere near as much performance the Ryzen 5 3600 (especially for streaming). The R5 3600 being only a little more than $150.

It would really help to know the details of the PSU. @samthelam did you get a chance to check it?

Pending those details, I think the best plan here might be to get a graphics card like a GTX 1650, or a 1660 if the PSU and case support it, and use NVENC (the graphic card's built-in video encoder) for streaming.

And you'd be able to carry the graphics card forward if you subsequently decided to replace the CPU, mobo, and RAM as above.

 

[IndecentLouie]

What speed internet do you have? Also have you tried lowering the graphic settings on fortnight.

Since you aren't wanting to spend too much money and only wan't to slightly upgrade your new machine your cheapest option would be to install some quicker ram (1333mhz DDR3 240 pin) which your motherboard can have upto 16GB. I'd suggest replacing your current ram with at least 8gb of 1333mhz but 16 would be much better
A new graphic cards would be very helpful but you don't have to get all an expensive one, (I gamed on a xfx ati radeon 5670 1bg for years and I bet that could run fornight on a lower setting)
around £130 for a GTX 1050ti which depending on the brand wouldn't need power from your cpu would be perfect enough to run fortnite.

Any objections commenters?

 

[Oussebon]

Since you aren't wanting to spend too much money and only wan't to slightly upgrade your new machine your cheapest option would be to install some quicker ram (1333mhz DDR3 240 pin) which your motherboard can have upto 16GB. I'd suggest replacing your current ram with at least 8gb of 1333mhz but 16 would be much better

The OP has 1333Mhz RAM. That's what 665MHz means - it's DDR RAM i.e. Double Data Rate.

The GTX 1050 ti is not a good buy right now with the 1650 and RX 570 both costing barely any more and both being significantly faster. The 1650 also being a 75W card, and not requiring PCIe connectors.

 

[IndecentLouie]

Well aren't I embarrassed haha, Even better for OP then! As long as she has a fast enough internet connection if she just installed a new graphic card she could easily do what she needs with the machine without it breaking the bank.
That's what I would do being a budget gamer until she is able to build a brand new system.

 

[samthelam]

Hey guys sorry havent been on lol it was my birthday. I def want to get a new graphics card and I think I'm set on the NVIDIA 1650 or 1660. I dont know how to check the PSU, what is it? Also, my internet is an average of 25Mbps and 30-40 MBps without the ethernet cable. I dont know if the CPU or RAM (if I upgrade it) will be compatible with the motherboard and stuff. I also don't know what case or RAM or whatever to get ahhhhh there's so much to look at

 

[Oussebon]

Many happy returns!

I dont know how to check the PSU, what is it?

It's a brick inside the PC with wires coming out of it.

Take the side panel off, you can't miss it.

See:

How would I replace the power supply unit? | DELL Technologies

I have a XPS, not sure which version it has a glossy black front panel, I/O button on top, and two USB ports on top and two on front panel, the current power supply is a 460 watt, and I want to rep...

www.dell.com

It's the thing in the top left of the photo.

I dont know if the CPU or RAM (if I upgrade it) will be compatible with the motherboard and stuff.

You'd need a new motherboard for any meaningful CPU upgrade. Which would also mean you'd want a new case, because the bits of your Dell case or fans that plug into the motherboard are customised Dell designs (proprietary) and wouldn't be able to connect to a new mainstream motherboard. Or not always very easily, anyway.

So you'd end up buying pretty well an entire new PC if you went down that route.

In terms of the graphics card, graphics cards slot into the motherboard and need to be powered. Some graphics cards can get their power just through the PCIe slot on the motherboard. Most, like the 1660, require supplementary power connectors from the PSU. Which is why you want to visually inspect your PSU and establish what, if any, extra PCIe connectors it has.

I linked to a pic in my previous post so you know what to look for. It might sound complicated but it's not. There are literally only a few different kinds of connector coming off the PSU that will not already be plugged in, and they all look completely different so it's actually going to be very easy to find the ones you're looking for. PC building is often referred to as being like Lego - because all the parts fit together in certain ways and you can generally tell how by looking at them.

In addition, you could also take a photo of the PSU label and upload it e.g. to Imgur and link here. It might help check the PSU will support X graphics card.

 

[loomis1978]

Please don't. That will be throwing away money because as soon as the CPU will be replaced you can throw away the memory too.

I just looked, you could upgrade the CPU + motherboard + RAM (memory) for about $350. I don't know if your power supply will be able to handle that, but the integraded graphics from that processor are much better than the videocard you have now. The CPU itself scores twice as high in benchmarks too as the i5-2500k.

That would mean for you to replace 3 things though and I'm not quite sure how easy that is in the Dell case you got. So you might end up having to buy a new case and still replace everything, but with the Ryzen 3 3400g you can use integraded graphics (for now at least). That would still be a huge upgrade compared to the HD5450 you have now. A dedicated videocard always can be added later.

Radeon HD 5450 vs Radeon RX Vega 11 [videocardbenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

It's the G3D mark you want to look at, that's most important for games. The integraded graphics from the Ryzen 5 3400G are almost 10 timess as fast.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2933 CL16 Memory ($81.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $346.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-30 02:29 EDT-0400

That may need to have a case and maybe a power supply, but then you'd have a PC that can play fortnite for $500.

oops I didn't see she's has ddr 3. you are right upgrading memory she will face compatible issues when upgrading if she upgrades to a new board.

 

[samthelam]

Many happy returns!

It's a brick inside the PC with wires coming out of it.

Take the side panel off, you can't miss it.

See:

How would I replace the power supply unit? | DELL Technologies

I have a XPS, not sure which version it has a glossy black front panel, I/O button on top, and two USB ports on top and two on front panel, the current power supply is a 460 watt, and I want to rep...

www.dell.com

It's the thing in the top left of the photo.


You'd need a new motherboard for any meaningful CPU upgrade. Which would also mean you'd want a new case, because the bits of your Dell case or fans that plug into the motherboard are customised Dell designs (proprietary) and wouldn't be able to connect to a new mainstream motherboard. Or not always very easily, anyway.

So you'd end up buying pretty well an entire new PC if you went down that route.

In terms of the graphics card, graphics cards slot into the motherboard and need to be powered. Some graphics cards can get their power just through the PCIe slot on the motherboard. Most, like the 1660, require supplementary power connectors from the PSU. Which is why you want to visually inspect your PSU and establish what, if any, extra PCIe connectors it has.

I linked to a pic in my previous post so you know what to look for. It might sound complicated but it's not. There are literally only a few different kinds of connector coming off the PSU that will not already be plugged in, and they all look completely different so it's actually going to be very easy to find the ones you're looking for. PC building is often referred to as being like Lego - because all the parts fit together in certain ways and you can generally tell how by looking at them.

In addition, you could also take a photo of the PSU label and upload it e.g. to Imgur and link here. It might help check the PSU will support X graphics card.

it wont let me put the link for the picture but it says its a DELL D460AD-00 I also cant tell what connectors it has its kinda messy in there

 

[samthelam]

https://imgur.com/cum4dLZ

View: https://imgur.com/cum4dLZ

https://imgur.com/0en9shG

View: https://imgur.com/0en9shG

 

[Inspireless Llama]

From what I can read it actually has a pretty normal layout. Has a 24 pin connector, which should be for the motherboard, and an 6 pin connector, which should be for a videocard. In that case you'd need to make sure the GPU requires a 6 pin connector though, and not (accidentally) an 6+2 pin connector.

From what I can read it's a 460W power supply.

That's where I got it from.

D460AD-00 | Dell D460AD-00 - 460W Power Supply for XPS 8300 8500 | Mac Palace

 

[samthelam]

so update, I plugged the ethernet in and its running like 170 download and 300 upload and fortnite actually runs better but its still laggy so I def think its the graphics card. now I just need your help to see if the GTX 1650 would be compatible and if I need to upgrade the RAM.

 

[Oussebon]

Good photos, thanks

A GTX 1650 should be compatible.

 

[samthelam]

Good photos, thanks

A GTX 1650 should be compatible.

Ok cool thank you! What about the storage or memory? they were saying something about changing one of those too?

 

[Zoid]

Ok cool thank you! What about the storage or memory? they were saying something about changing one of those too?

You shouldn't need to upgrade these right now. As long as you have enough free disk space to install Fortnite then storage will be fine. I'd recommend installing it to your SSD if you have room, since it will help with loading times.

As for memory (RAM), your existing 8GB should be fine. Unless you're seeing your RAM usage constantly maxed at 8GB, you won't see a big benefit from upgrading to 16GB, and you wouldn't be able to upgrade beyond 1333MHz anyway since that's the max supported speed of those Dell motherboards.

 

[samthelam]

UPDATE: I got the GTX 1650 and installed it and am using a VGA to HDMI adapter for my monitor, I uninstalled the old drivers and installed the ones for the new graphics card but when I put the new card in and start the computer up, it has the DELL logo startup screen and then goes blank and then my PC beeps like one beep every 15 seconds or something. Im getting pissed because I just want to play!!! lol my friend has no idea whats wrong with it and we tried everything. HELP PLEASE!!

 

[Oussebon]

When you say a VGA to HDMI adapter, what is plugged into what?

If you are using an adapter connecting VGA from the PC to HDMI on the monitor, that's the problem. You want to connect the monitor to the GPU's video output, not the motherboard's video outputs. So just use an HDMI cable to connect the GPU to the monitor.

If you are using HDMI from the GPU to VGA on the monitor, try using HDMI from the GPU to HDMI on e.g. a TV to test if that works.