I'm upgrading my parents Dell Inspiron 531s they just got. I'm a few grand and a few months away from my new desktop (need to play bioshock), so I got a new 512MB Radeon 1950 PRO CrossFire graphics card that'll run the game and supports the shader model 3.0. It currently has a 1300 128MB, and a wimpy 250W power supply that came with it. I believe it's 500W recommended for the new graphics card (little did I know that the power supply was that important.... not much of a hardware person)

My specs are below, so a few questions...

What happens if I install the new card and run it with the 250W PSU?

Since I have a slim Inspiron PC, will a bigger (500+ PSU) fit in the slimmed down dell?

If 500W is recommended should I go higher?

And if the following answers are: bad, yes, yes;

Could someone (who maybe has a similar system) recommend a new power supply?

Guess it didn't show up in the sig...

AMD 64 DualCore 4400+
2GB DDR2 @ 667
300GB HD
512MB Radeon 1950 PRO Crossfire

Bioshaft = DRM/Rootkit = Noooooo!, as for your rig you will need a bigger case and a better/meatier PSU.

I checked some info on the PCU i got.. Not sure what much of it means, but maybe it'll help since everything is ATX and this seems to be TFX.

Bestec TFX-0250-D5W
24 pins (but also has another 4 pin cable going to another part of the mother board)

input:
100-120V ~6A
200-240V ~3A 50/60Hz

output:
+12V / 17A
-12V / 0.3A
+5V / 18A
+5VSB / 2A
+ 3.3V / 11A

250W Max
+5V & 3.3V 120W Max

Maybe someone could clarify some of this and what I can get that will fit in my current PC.

Your current case if it's the slimline one will not take a standard ATX size PSU, a bigger case is required.

Well I was just told that the card I got won't fit either... I figured since it was a PCI-e and my PC takes PCI-e.. it would...

So I guess I'm getting a new case. Will any standard size case work?

Yes, as all cases that I have ever seen have got multiple mounting points for different sized motherboards, just don't get a mini ATX case or you will be back to square one.

well what size should I go for? i have a 531s desktop which has a vertical strip going down the bottom which has the power button, extra usb ports, headphone connections, etc.. The 531 desktop has the exact same vertical strip going down but with horizontal bays for the disk drives at the top instead of vertical. It is also much wider..


The dimensions are:

Dimensions & Weight
H: 14.2 inches (36.2 cm)
W: 6.7 inches (17.0 cm)
D: 17.1 inches (43.5 cm)

Should this work with my new graphics card and a new ATX PSU?

A standard PSU is about 6" wide and about 3 1/4" high. HTH

This may be really obvious... But I have to ask, does that comp have a PCI-E or AGP slot even? Alot of Dell stuff can only use onboard (yuck) video. If it does have PCI-E or AGP, you need to go to PC Power & Cooling and see if they make a beefier PSU for that case as the Dell PSU may be proprietary.

I think Dell use the known standard motherboard connectors these days, but I think heat is going to be an issue and I don't know the dimensions of that graphic card so I assume the OP has offered it up for sizing and believes it will fit.

Well looking at the graphics card, I think it will fit in my normal PC

http://www.diamondmm.com/images/ma [...] _image.jpg

Not sure why some person on another board said the card won't fit...

I just contacted dell, and I guess they don't "sell" the case alone, or even with the 300W PSU which comes with the 530 series. I checked Diamond's site and the minimum requirements for the card are 450W/30 Amps on 12V for the PSU and PCI-E compatable..

As for the motherboard on the 530(s).. they have a PCI-E slot as well as a PCI and (2) PCI-E(x1)'s I believe

I wasn't even able to find out the dimensions of the PSU for the 530 through dell. Not even if it was ATX, but I'm guessing all fullsize desktops or at least at these dimensions use an ATX PSU.

Hopefully I can find a way to get just the case and find a suitable PSU for the specifications of the card.

Yes I just wonder how that system has run with that 250W PSU.
As you should go for a new PSU pick one from PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic or FSP as these are pretty good quality.