Video card upgrade for a Dell Inspiron 530

[Unreal4Eva]

Over the weekend I picked up a Dell Inspiron 530 at a yard sale for only 20 bucks. Not a bad deal huh? Anyway I took it home and turned it on and the computer works great but the onboard graphics suck big time. What's best video card upgrade for a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop?

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 530
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP2
Intel Pentium 4 processor 2.0 GB
280 GB HDD
Ram: 2GB DDR2
PSU: 300 Watts

 

[Manticore]

Any nVidia 500 series chipset would probably do me on those specs.

 

[[GU]elmur_fud]

Over the weekend I picked up a Dell Inspiron 530 at a yard sale for only 20 bucks. Not a bad deal huh? Anyway I took it home and turned it on and the computer works great but the onboard graphics suck big time. What's best video card upgrade for a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop?

System Specs:
Dell Inspiron 530
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium with SP2
Intel Pentium 4 processor 2.0 GB
280 GB HDD
Ram: 2GB DDR2
PSU: 300 Watts

gonna guess you mean 2.0ghz... but that would make it a 530s the 530 has a 1.8ghz proc(unless you are just rounding up or it was overclocked), both systems have a dual core.

Your onboard video should be a Nvidia GeForce 8300GS on either if I recall but with an anemic 128MB of GDDR2.

If you are wanting to turn it into a gaming rig or media pc... It has 2 PCIe ports. The primary being PCIex1 ... no x16... :/

Newer cards will run yeah, but at the x1 bandwidth so you may want to weigh cost vs perf advantage on that basis as well.

Ebay may be your best friend here if you are wanting a perf card.

 

[ambershee]

Any nVidia 500 series chipset would probably do me on those specs.

Waste of money, would be completely bottlenecked by the rest of the system. Something like a 9800GT is probably about as far as you can go with a machine like that (and it may still bottleneck). On the plus side, you can run almost all current games on a 9800GT with the settings down a bit, and it costs about $40.

 

[Benfica]

If the store is trustworthy
ATI HD 6670, $45: http://www.ascendtech.us/ati-radeon-hd-6670-1gb-pci-e-video-card_i_vcatihd6670hddvi.aspx

 

[Plumb_Drumb]

A video card isn't going to do much good until you get a better power supply.

 

[SkaarjMaster]

And, hopefully, you won't have to order the PSU from Dell.

 

[Big-Al]

don't buy dell.

 

[[GU]elmur_fud]

don't buy dell.

Unless your only other options are e-machines, compaq, and HP and then it gets difficult. It is the like trying to decide if you want a bucket of horse shit, cow shit, pig shit, or dog shit dumped on your head.

 

[ambershee]

In all honesty, I suspect upgrading the GPU is a waste of time. The machine is fine for non-gaming stuff, but for games it's never going to be up to much unless you want to run games that are a decade or more old.

 

[Manticore]

Waste of money, would be completely bottlenecked by the rest of the system. Something like a 9800GT is probably about as far as you can go with a machine like that (and it may still bottleneck). On the plus side, you can run almost all current games on a 9800GT with the settings down a bit, and it costs about $40.

It would surprise me if a 9xxx series card would be worthwhile spending money on.

Also Windows Vista drivers.

 

[ambershee]

One of my machines is still running on a 9800GT - it still hasn't encountered a game it can't run on fairly high settings

Obviously this is going to change in the coming 12 months.

 

[Benfica]

A video card isn't going to do much good until you get a better power supply.

Hope that the 6670 is fine for such a weak PSU. It's rated 75W and requires 18A on the 12V rail

From what I've read, the Dell doesn't have a Pentium 4, but a low end version of the Core2Duo. If so, it isn't a power hog

 

[Plumb_Drumb]

Hope that the 6670 is fine for such a weak PSU. It's rated 75W and requires 18A on the 12V rail

From what I've read, the Dell doesn't have a Pentium 4, but a low end version of the Core2Duo. If so, it isn't a power hog

I don't know, it's pretty scrawny looking but, 75 watts?

Here's the product page:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6670/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#3

Unless that is something different

 

[NRG]

I don't know, it's pretty scrawny looking but, 75 watts?

Here's the product page:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6670/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6670-overview.aspx#3

Unless that is something different

That page is recommending a 400W PSU for the computer. Benefica is referring to the card itself which is rated to draw up to 75W. Makes sense too because it doesn't need a power connector and 75W is the maximum PCI-E can push, if I remember correctly.

 

[Benfica]

Then, there's PowerTune and the possibility of lowering the voltage.