At an earlier point I had made a topic discussing whether I should do for a computer upgrade or a tablet upgrade. Since then I had been seeking parts for a computer upgrade and seeing what I could do.
So here is my adventure, and maybe it will help others in their upgrading journeys?
Enjoy.
1. GPU:
Found the GPU I wanted: Cerberus GTX 1071ti, but I needed a better PCU
I found that it was not as easy as I had hoped. First I wanted just the GPU. After much research I found a few that I wanted. Then I proceeded to innocently buy one. Except that none were available. They were all sold out, bought out by miner and bots, and the lucky few.
My next best option was to buy used. I found one: Cerberus GTX 1070ti. Perfect. Lets get that! So I purchased it over ebay from Japan. It entailed one issue: I needed a better PCU if I ever wanted to run my GPU. Easy! I’ll just buy one. Thus the problems began… Dell.
2. PCU:
Dell is not computer with certain computer parts, PCU included.
Dell Computers have some proprietary hardware in them, making certain parts hard to upgrade. But these are only cheap if you buy them with your computer. To try to get a 200 or even 300 Watt PCU, you are looking at spending hundreds of dollars. Yet most computer’s will take the generic ones you buy at the local computer store for less than 100.
That being said, if you have a Dell Motherboard, it will not take any PCU but a DELL one. Unless, that is, you find a way to adapt the PCU for the Motherboard.
I found such an adapter through Best Buy. Good choice. If you try to rig up your own, Dell has some methods of frying your motherboard if you try to rig up your own without knowing what you are doing. I certainly did not know what I was doing.
3. GPU ARRIVES:
Some delay's but I get what I want. It does not fit.
It finally arrived. But it was too big. I took out a metal drill and cutter and began opening up space from within my tower. The tower was said to be upgradable, but the only way to upgrade it was to “redneck” everything into place: Drill out rivets, pull out lots of metal, hoping you don’t destroy any fragile parts in the process.
As a result, nothing was broken, my tower had a few extra holes, and the GPU was still too big. It was going to cover some important wires…
4. EXTENDER:
Got it. Makes it fit
I was given an opportune inspiration to look for an extender. I found and bought one from a BestBuy vendor, but it never arrived at my doorstep. Why? Although it made it to my home city, I was told it arrived broken, so it was sent back. Good and bad news I suppose. After I was refunded I found the only other one I could find through Best Buy. A month later, despite being in the same country, it arrived.
5. RESULT:
Half render time, Nice!
I tested my GPU and it worked, and everything ran as it should. Any catches? Thus far none. But the story does not end there.
It dawned on me, “wait! I now have 2 GPU’s, the old and the new!”.
I found a way to get both into my tower, and it immediately produced its fruit: it halved my render time. It was rendering 200 in cycles at 15 seconds, and 500 around 30, but now 200 in about 7 seconds, and 500 in 16. Wow. Not too bad for a small junkernaught.
In order to get the best render rate I found that I had to lower my pixel render sizes rather than increasing them. It was originally at 150, it is now set to 70.
6. CONCLUSION:
Research and hard experience go hand in hand.
- Upgrading a tower can be fun if it works out right. But it can also be very hairpulling experience due to parts not working as you may think they ought.
- Be sure you check the PCU requirements for the desired GPU before getting it, and make sure your GPU will be compatible with your motherboard (I did look, eventually…)
- Make sure your GPU will actually fit into your tower. I did not know that some GPU’s had one and two fan model variations. Good to know, especially if your computer is small.
- GPU’s sell like hotcakes: Gamers, Buyers, Miners, Bots, and Graphic Artists are all vying for a limited market. Do your research, keep an eye open, and jump on an opportunity as soon as it presents itself.
- Dell… beware… They have some proprietary hardware, their PCU being one of them (or at least the one that I came across). I was lucky that there were adaptors I could buy. Otherwise I would have had to buy one of their PCU’s (very expensive), a new motherboard, or a new tower.
- Dell’s upgradable tower was not that upgradable. Many things were rivetted into place. Not a very good set up, at least the tower that I got. If you are looking to upgrade your computer rather than buying a new one every time, Dell may not be the best choice.
- But in the end, you simply have to do and learn as you go. You will get an idea what you would want in a future machine, and what to buy should you do so. You also get a better understanding how the guts of the computer work together, and what makes a powerful machine. Of course this all depends on what you want to do with it. A programmer that I know has very little needs, for his programming requires no graphics whatsoever. So his 7 year old laptop still works for him.
7. BALLAD OF THE DELL:
in conclusion I decided to write a Poem of my exploits:
A longish Poem, but not quite an epic...
Refrain:
O Dell, thy ways
Captures naive’s gaze,
Luring with hardware and power,
And an upgradable tower,
Now Older and Wiser heart no longer sways.
-----
I hoped to improve thy glorious light
With a new GPU’s might,
Research and time
On this endeavour sublime
Ah! Now I GPU in sight!
Yet despite, however, as I discovered,
Power demanded, this I uncovered,
Unblemished my bliss,
I quickly found this,
A PCU properly Powered.
(Refrain)
But Lo! Truth to tell,
My mistress, O Fickle Dell!
With proprietary cares
Wanting proprietary wares
All else she refused her black hardened shell!
I tried to persuade and adapt her,
By buying her an adapter,
Then arriving late, not never,
But broke in its endeavor,
Returned home soon after.
(Refrain)
But in my pure zealous innocence,
I still saw the possible magnificence,
Of my upgrade affair,
To my Darking Dell, Fair,
Only right parts to make her acquaintance.
To now turn a new Chapter,
I acquired a new adapter,
Albeit some more tweaking,
Cutting sharp plastic parts peaking,
It worked soon after.
(Refrain)
And Ho! My GPU came,
Cerberus GTX 1070 Ti its name!
But twas to magnanimous,
To lady Dell pusillanimous,
Would not satisfy my darling dame…
So with cutters and drill
Armed with worried thrill,
Cut enough space
For Cerberus place,
And that too came to nil…
(Refrain)
Oh how distraught
My heart, what ought?
The end did I reach?
O God, I beseech!
Then Came the answer I sought!
My thanks Him I did render,
I need an extender!
Thus swiftly now acting,
(more money extracting)
And bought from a Best Buy sender.
(Refrain)
Too, it late arrived,
All hope seemed deprived,
Rivalled all previous fear,
Then on sudden was here!
Oh my heart from death revived!
Too work I again
At least 10 minutes times 10,
Waste not nor shirk
My hard toilsome work,
Dear Dell they wrath abstain.
(Refrain)
With sigh, her wrath sated,
Her pride won over, abated,
Then to my elation,
She provided an inflation:
Twain GPU’s, working and activated!
Now I do render,
Half time in my Blender,
Or while coding the compile
Won’t take a long while,
Because of my Darling Dell tender.
Yet let me warn all,
Who hear Dell’s siren’s call,
Just stay clear,
Her stubborn pride may smear,
Any upgrade or computer overhaul.
(Refrain)
