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Looking to upgrade Dell Desktop

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Well guys,I'm in bit of a fix here,I want to play games like GTA 4 and Crysis,but i've got a pretty pathetic rig:
--------------------------------------------------
Dell Inspiron 530s (slim model)

 

Seagate 250GB HDD

 

Intel Dual core E2200 @2.2 Ghz 1 MB cache

 

Gma 3100 graphics chipset(inbuilt crap)

 

3GB RAM DDR2(I have four slots.2x512mb Ram;1x2GB Ram)

 

250W PSU
----------------------------------------------------
______________________________________________________
Now this is what I'm gonna upgrade to:

 

Intel Core 2 duo E8400 @3.0 Ghz 6 MB cache

 

ATI Radeon 4770 GDDR5 512MB (low-profile)

 

500W PSU

 

*everything else same

 

______________________________________________________

 


So the question is here:

 

Is this good enough to play GTA 4/Crysis on high quality?

 

Is the E8400 Better than the Q6600? (And there is NO way i'm overclocking,coz I can't upgrade my stock fan coz it's a slim case :( )

 

If the Q6600 is better,can my mobo support it? (GTA 4 uses multi threading)

 

I think the graphic card is the best i can get,in a slim case.Do you agree?

 

Will anything bottleneck anything else?

 

Should i install more RAM? And go 64 bit vista? I already have XP 32bit,now.

 

And i heard that if i have 4 slots,2 with 512 each and one with 2GB,It will be better to get the last one as 2GB.If I add 4gb in the last slot,will performance downgrade?Is this fact true??

 

Thanks

 

-JD

 

Message quoted 2 times
Message edited by JD7 on 07-09-2009 at 04:54:57 PM
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- 0 +

Guys,plz help a guy out.Don't just keep viewing it,and not answering :/

Reply to JD7
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Ok well sorry to say but most people here read through a post like this get a little chuckle and move on. Your power supply and the fact that this is a slim case make the odds that this upgrade is a good idea slim. The ram should be done in pairs and if you have more than three gigs yes go 64 bit Vista or you will only be able to access 3.25 gigs of it. I will say you might get this upgrade to work but your power supply will not last long as it will be doing everything it can just to idle... And that e8400 will get smokin hot in that slim case I had a e8500 and it warmed up the room a bit in an antec 900. I would poke around a bit on ebay or something for the 350w PSU they make for this model it will still be close but more doable.

T

Reply to thently
- 0 +

So i'll change the PSU to 500w.

 

Now is it ok?


Message edited by JD7 on 07-09-2009 at 04:55:36 PM
Reply to JD7
- 0 +

Help a guy out people

Reply to JD7

The thing is if you are using one of these "Slim" Dell cases, most of the good quality PSUs will probably not fit in that case. A PSU such as a Corsair 450VX probably won't fit.

And with out OCing the E2200 will be a bottle neck esp. in GTAIV which is CPU bound.

------------------------------ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3815217176_0a5be7955d_o.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3553/3818083596_1a772f7162_o.gif
Reply to Shadow703793
- 0 +

You can get an antec 300 case for $49.99 shipped at frys.com which will take any standard atx power supply and all atx and micro atx boards.

Reply to o1die

JD7 wrote :



Intel Core 2 duo E8400 @3.0 Ghz 6 MB cache

ATI Radeon 4770 GDDR5 512MB (low-profile)

500W PSU


E8400 will work
Never saw a low profile 4770, they do make a low profile 9800GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814187061
You need a TFX psu, highest capacity I've seen in the US is 300 watts http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151070

------------------------------ q9650 @ 4.050 | Asus Rampage Formula | 2x2 Corsair Dominators | WD Black 640 x2
EVGA GTX260 Core216 @ 686/1479/1103 | Antec TPN 750

 

Reply to DellUser1

- 0 +

Ok so I asked the dell guys and they said I can upgrade to a godd quality 500-600W PSU.
So will I be able to run a Q6600 on it? Will that be better than a E8400?

Reply to JD7

JD7 wrote :

Ok so I asked the dell guys and they said I can upgrade to a godd quality 500-600W PSU.
So will I be able to run a Q6600 on it? Will that be better than a E8400?


If you've got the slim tower you can't upgrade to a 5 or 600 watt unit.
The E8400 would be better

------------------------------ q9650 @ 4.050 | Asus Rampage Formula | 2x2 Corsair Dominators | WD Black 640 x2
EVGA GTX260 Core216 @ 686/1479/1103 | Antec TPN 750

 

Reply to DellUser1

- 0 +

DellUser1 wrote :

If you've got the slim tower you can't upgrade to a 5 or 600 watt unit.
The E8400 would be better



Well,I have the slim one, but there are some PSU's in the market that can fit easily.And will the E8400 perform good at games,while AVG,windows sidebar,and other normal apps are running?Can you tell me why it would be better than the quad?

Reply to JD7
- 0 +

yes the duals in most cases beat the quads. They have higher clocks in your case the e8400 3.0 ghz vs the q6600 at 2.4 the e8400 already has a clock for clock advantage and it is 600 mhz faster on top of that and that is what will get you the extra fps you are looking for not the extra threads. That is in most cases a few thing show better performance with quads but not most games out there for now. The q6600 will be very hot in that case and i would not recoment it. Also I think getting a new case is a good Idea you can slap that dell mobo in a normal case and get much better mileage out of it I have a vostro 220 mobo in a silverstone media PC case and with the better ventalation it runs a e8500 8 gigs of ram and a 9600gt great and I could use a normal power supply not the itty bitty one in the vostro slim case.

T

Reply to thently
- 0 +

thently wrote :

yes the duals in most cases beat the quads. They have higher clocks in your case the e8400 3.0 ghz vs the q6600 at 2.4 the e8400 already has a clock for clock advantage and it is 600 mhz faster on top of that and that is what will get you the extra fps you are looking for not the extra threads. That is in most cases a few thing show better performance with quads but not most games out there for now. The q6600 will be very hot in that case and i would not recoment it. Also I think getting a new case is a good Idea you can slap that dell mobo in a normal case and get much better mileage out of it I have a vostro 220 mobo in a silverstone media PC case and with the better ventalation it runs a e8500 8 gigs of ram and a 9600gt great and I could use a normal power supply not the itty bitty one in the vostro slim case.

 

T

 

Well the 530s is only gonna be alive till 2011,after that,I'm going for a XPS/M17X Laptop.

 

Do you think I should just get a better fan,and OC the E2200 @2.2 to 3.0 ?

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by JD7 on 07-11-2009 at 11:37:01 AM
Reply to JD7

JD7 wrote :



Do you think I should just get a better fan,and OC the E2200 @2.2 to 3.0 ?


Can't overclock it, no reason for a new fan.

------------------------------ q9650 @ 4.050 | Asus Rampage Formula | 2x2 Corsair Dominators | WD Black 640 x2
EVGA GTX260 Core216 @ 686/1479/1103 | Antec TPN 750

 

Reply to DellUser1

- 0 +

What he said no overclocking for dell puters. O found a way to over clock vostro 200 but that is the only one I have seen. you can try the upgrade but almost positive the PSU will hold you back.

T

Reply to thently
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