A silly boy having a silly vent

Thanks for Skyrim
Edit: was empty before... So just wrote this ^^
Umm, as you say proprietary motherboard... So it might need specific plug from psu and stuff like that... So maybe you can't use the new powersupply but video card should fit, especially that you have a new case..

Also it might feel overwhelming at first with all this... But when you do it, you will find out and think that it was easier than you thought and quite simple...

Why not just take a picture of the connectors in the back of your pc and the mobo, and send it to him before he sends you the stuff maybe he knows better than you if it's compatible? Dell does have some proprietary power supplies but a regular one should be compatible. Look at the connector. If he's offering his hands me down to you for free so you two can play better games together, just take it and even if you can't immediately get it going, spend some time and see what's the next step to make it happen.

Also, I've seen tons of people just cut the dell optiplex case with some tin snips or something that cuts metal easy so that the gpu just fits in the slot and they made it work that way. So even if the case doesn't work, there's ways around it, sure it's gonna look funny but it'll work.

I mean if you want my support I'll offer it, I just need to know what gpu, optiplex, power supplies and cases are they, and I'll let you know if they're compatible. If you right click "This pc" in your folder structure and go to proprieties you'll see the dell optiplex model unless it's reformatted, if it is reformatted(I think you said you got a new drive), you can find out what motherboard you got by pressing windowskey+r and typing "system information" open it and in the right tab you look for baseboard product. Then power supply will have a label on it showing watts. The gpu I'd need a pic unless it has sticker on the back stating what it is.

Take care :)

Well, I think the kinda person who sends a person his old GPU is the kinda person who is familiar with opening cases and messing around in there. I suggest you contact your friend (clearly that's they are, lay your doubts aside (you have and deserve this friend)), and express to them 1. your appreciation of their generosity 2.your feeling of being overwhelmed by the task at hand 3.your concerns about the mobo.

At the end of that conversation, no matter how it goes or how much progress is made, thank them for being a good friend, to end on that note.

That's my two cents.

Don't worry, being anxious about friendships and receiving gifts from friends is normal if you're not used to it, but from what you explained I'm pretty sure that you can safely call that person a friend. So congrats on getting a friend.

Now, about the PC, as others suggested your friend might be the kinda guy that feels comfortable opening PC's and replacing their components if he sent you a GPU and power supply, so asking him for help might be a good idea. But if you wanna go ahead and do it yourself, lots of people fear that if they mess with their computer's parts they'll break it but the insides of a PC are usually a lot more user friendly than they might look at first glance, they're designed to be user replaceable after all, so as long as you're careful and look up information online you should be able to figure it out.

lol
are you excited?
are you happy?
are you SUPER EXCITED AND HAPPY?????????????????????

because your wall of text sounds exactly like the stuff i typed when i got high once......... it was really fun, i was SUPER EXCITED AND HAPPY :DDDDDDDDDDDD

oh well, enjoy your high, beauregarde

As I see it from here, you have 2 options: if the vga fits and is not too power hungry, so the Dells psu can handle its extra consumption just pop it in and put aside the new psu and case for later.
Or, since you most likely couldnt move the current mobo and psu to the new case for proprietary reasons, you could look for a cheap mobo (even an used one) for your cpu and ram. Whatever youd get would most likely be better than whats already inside (the mobos in these prebuilts are always come from the bottom of the barrel as in capability as quality) and build it inside the new case with the new psu. For the 2nd option it wouldnt hurt if you have some experience with building pcs ofc, but as it was already mentioned above it is not rocket science.

My hp case was very limited in space, had to place my second hdd on the bottom basically, but upgrading an gpu and such did work okay.

You could just be honest, saying look i am grateful but i am not sure if this is going to work, that's not something wrong to say.

You don't become a hero by not having any fear or anxiety. You become one by overcoming your fear and anxiety. Will it make you happy when it works? If yes, it's worth trying. Now go be a hero, I believe in you! :)

As hard as it sounds...

Don't think, do.

It isn't important if you do only a tiny bit each day or much, but it is important that you don't waste so much time for thinking about "What if....", because that type of thinking, that goes in a endless circle, lead to nothing besides wasted lifetime. It blocks your energy and you can only lift that block by yourself. Each day doing a bit will lower the thinking over time by a lot, which free more of your energy to do something, so "only" the first step is hard.

I know this very well because i had the endless thinking circle stuff for years when i were, much, younger. Wasn't a good time. No support available, none that explained something etc..

What Waxworm said!

This is just a challenge and you are already dealing with it incredibly well by seeking advice from people you trust.

Chances are high that there won't be any problem with the motherboard. Dell, for all their many, many faults, don't mess about too much with motherboard BIOSs. The biggest issue should be figuring out which button to press to access it (Escape, Delete, F9 or F12 usually). There are lots of failsafe protocols which means you cannot bork your computer, at worst you'll just find that it's incompatible with the GPU.

Watch a couple of YouTube videos on putting in the components you want and then just copy them.

I don't know anything about power supplies and so I'm no use there. But I guess your friend thought it important and so why not ask them about it? Tackling a problem together is an extra part to any struggle and you get to celebrate together once you've achieved your purposes ;)

I don't know much about hardware but I know about anxiety... and then getting anxious about your anxiety.
There's no better cure for anxiety than taking the first step.
Your friend was cool enough to send you stuff to play with. Just ask him for help and try things out. That's what friends are for.

When I was a kid, a therapist told me: "I have good news for you: whatever happens can literally not be as bad as what your anxiety made up" and I try to remember that every time I run nightmare scenarios about just anything.

From one person that had a lot of anxiety related issues that were an obstacle in their life to another, I highly recommend you seek an expert on the field you feel would help you more, or from recommendations of people you trust. I went to a really good psychiatrist for health related anxiety and it's been a lot better since :) had to change three psychiatrists before I found a good match though

Reality is never as bad as the events and conversations we invent in our heads. :D