alienware x51 R2 upgrades?

[SMILINGxNINJA]

i want to upgrade my PC so that it will be able to run games like fallout 4 and other games that will release in 2016 but im not sure what i need to upgrade to make this happen(im new to pc) so any advice would be greatly appreciated. my PC's specs are: processor- 4th gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-4130 CPU @ 3.40GHz RAM-6GB 1TB hard drive graphics card- NVIDIA GeForce GTX745 4GB Graphics. im pretty sure the power supply is a 330wat but not 100% positive on that, i do know its an external brick power supply though. again any help would be greatly appreciated

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Not really gonna work well; get a better system.

Look on the AC Power Adapter; it says it right there what model and input/output it is.

Overall you'd new a much better CPU and better GPU; overall the X51 really is not worth upgrading; as even maxed out with an i7 and GTX 970 won't hold up for future gaming very long. A custom desktop would. I mean if u wanted a desktop, that's what you should have purchased. Best bet, build it yourself too.

[SMILINGxNINJA]

damn thats disappointing, i had actually thought about building a PC before i bought the X51 but i have no idea where to even start when it comes to that kind of stuff so i decided against it and dont know where to get a custom built PC. But i chose to buy this X51 because i was able to get it for half price because a family member was able to get a good deal at the store for it. but to put it simple the X51 is just not worth upgrading at all? i was hoping to be able to upgrade it because i cant really afford to buy another PC right now with the budget im on at the moment.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Then I would first ensure u have the 330-watt PSU in that X51; as that alone is around $100

[shs]

I seriously think both the above poster (no offense) and Bethesda are exaggerating Fallout 4's specs. Compare the Witcher 3, a very demanding game with very reasonable specs that people have got running on below minimum CPU and GPU. Not that there's a chance in hell any game from Bethesda will be that well optimised, but on the other hand a powerful PC can only brute force so much inept coding. Long story short an I7 and GTX 970 will almost certainly max out next year's games apart from resolutions over 1080p.
Your I3 will bottleneck some games but it's still a decent CPU, so begin with your graphics, as a DDR3 card won't do any good. No AMD card is going to run on 300 watts, but a GTX 960 might. A 960 will run everything at medium settings for a few years, it's a good value middle range card.
You may need to check into getting a shorter edition card to fit the X51 case; they're out there, just don't buy an 'M' (laptop) version. If you can afford a 970 go for it. If you'd rather a big AMD card like an R9 270 and up you'll need a new PSU but it may be necessary either way. Aim for 600w and up.
If you move up to a newer I5 or any I7 you'll be good to go on that end as well.
Basically your best case scenario would be to salvage your case, motherboard (RAM is fine), and PSU. However if you stay in the middle range for all round performance that I3 should still cut it as well, though those open-world games will push it hard.

[zombie cat]

i3 and gt 745 and its alienware? you got screwed really hard.

[SMILINGxNINJA]

Opprinnelig skrevet av shs:

I seriously think both the above poster (no offense) and Bethesda are exaggerating Fallout 4's specs. Compare the Witcher 3, a very demanding game with very reasonable specs that people have got running on below minimum CPU and GPU. Not that there's a chance in hell any game from Bethesda will be that well optimised, but on the other hand a powerful PC can only brute force so much inept coding. Long story short an I7 and GTX 970 will almost certainly max out next year's games apart from resolutions over 1080p.
Your I3 will bottleneck some games but it's still a decent CPU, so begin with your graphics, as a DDR3 card won't do any good. No AMD card is going to run on 300 watts, but a GTX 960 might. A 960 will run everything at medium settings for a few years, it's a good value middle range card.
You may need to check into getting a shorter edition card to fit the X51 case; they're out there, just don't buy an 'M' (laptop) version. If you can afford a 970 go for it. If you'd rather a big AMD card like an R9 270 and up you'll need a new PSU but it may be necessary either way. Aim for 600w and up.
If you move up to a newer I5 or any I7 you'll be good to go on that end as well.
Basically your best case scenario would be to salvage your case, motherboard (RAM is fine), and PSU. However if you stay in the middle range for all round performance that I3 should still cut it as well, though those open-world games will push it hard.

thank you very much for the info! this has been very helpful and im gona start looking in to some of this, but i should start with the graphics card first? and i looked at the power supply brick thing but i couldnt find the wattage

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If it is 330W model (sorry I don't know the Model# off-hand) but it should read on the sticker like this: Output: 19.5 V; 16.9 A (This is Volts & Amps; multiply the two values and u get roughly 329.55 Watts)

These should help you out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5AKx57i0o
Power Confusion about GTX 970 & 980 (again the TDP he states is only regarding the "Reference" models; any OC models are usually not only physically different, but will have a higher TDP max power output capability; so for X51 system u want to stick to "ITX", "Mini" or "Reference" models of such GPUs so they will not go above the max output of the Dell 330W PSU; but also so your GPU physically fits in the X51 without modding it.

There are plenty of other useful YT videos on how to perform the upgrades and what to look out for, what to expect from upgrades, etc. Please know that if the GPU requires two physical PCIE 6 and/or 8 pin power connectors; within the X51 there is a Power Supply Card with 4-pin Molex coming off of this to supply power to the various internal devices; with a GPU upgrade you might need to add and further split the 4-pin Molex into more connections so u have enough for the required PCIE Power that a GPU Upgrade would then require.


Also ensure your X51 is an R2 or later; as the R1, many folks had troubles with those.
If your Dell/Alienware sticker does not specify this model revision; u should be able to clarify which one it is by going to http://www.dell.com/support and scroll down a bit and enter your Dell Service Tag# from the sticker on your system case and based on that, should reveal the full model#, specs, etc. based on what all was included with that particular system at the time of purchase from Dell (or Retailer u got it from).