Upgrade Dell Inspiron 531

PetrolCBPetrolCB United States
edited August 2009 in Hardware
Hello all,

My parent's recently gave me their Dell Inspiron 531 because they don't use it anymore and I'm looking to upgrade it so that I can comfortably run games like COD 4 and 5. My current specs are :

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.01 GHz
Ram: 3006 MB (I just upgraded this today)
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
OS: 32-bit Vista

I've been told by friends that first and foremost I need to upgrade the video card and power supply....any comments, thoughts, or hardware suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated since I'm not 100% sure wtf I'm doing...thanks again. :thumbup

Comments

  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    That sounds about right... From what I found out with some quick googling, you can put a PCI express graphics card into it (something in the budget performance range like a GTS 250 or a Radeon 4770 would be perfect), but you do probably need a bigger power supply. It comes with a fairly little one by default. Look into a lower-wattage (450-600) OCZ or Corsair power supply, I hear both brands are good.

    I wouldn't advise spending a whole lot of cash on parts for this PC, though. It hasn't got enough processor crunch to get much out of a high end graphics card.
  • PetrolCBPetrolCB United States
    edited July 2009
    lordbean wrote:
    That sounds about right... From what I found out with some quick googling, you can put a PCI express graphics card into it (something in the budget performance range like a GTS 250 or a Radeon 4770 would be perfect), but you do probably need a bigger power supply. It comes with a fairly little one by default. Look into a lower-wattage (450-600) OCZ or Corsair power supply, I hear both brands are good.

    I wouldn't advise spending a whole lot of cash on parts for this PC, though. It hasn't got enough processor crunch to get much out of a high end graphics card.

    Hey lordbean,

    thanks for checking that out for me - would you mind checking this page and letting me know which of these seems to make sense --> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=GTS+250&x=0&y=0

    Again, i'm not looking to play any ridiculous games, i basically just want to be able to play the CODs comfortably. I understand that this dell isn't a gaming PC buuut I currently am on a budget and don't want to sink too much money into a comp that's already kind of obsolete.

    Also, how would i know if this card would fit in my pc - the inspiron 531 is rather small in terms of height, width, and depth.


    Thanks again for your time
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    From some more googling, it seems like there should be enough room to get a graphics card with a fair amount of tail out past the slot, although you may need to carefully shift wires around to get it in. As a general rule, an eVGA or BFG card is a good way to go, as both of them come with lifetime warranties. Edit - evidently, that doesn't extend to their lower-end cards with eVGA. You may wanna spring for the BFG, as it definitely does with them.

    Edit - unless what you've got is actually a dell inspiron 531s, which has a smaller case footprint. It probably will still fit since it has the same motherboard, but I can't find any pictures of the inside of the 531s case.

    More Edit - The card I'd choose in that list is this one. I know it's about 20 bucks more than some of the others, but you get a lifetime warranty on it, and it can't hurt to have the 1GB edition.
  • PetrolCBPetrolCB United States
    edited August 2009
    Lordbean,


    Thanks alot for your help. It's much appreciated
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited August 2009
    You're welcome... hope the upgrade pans out for you :)
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