Upgrading my Dad's Inspiron 518?

[mulor1]

So as the Thread suggests , I'm upgrading my Dad's Inspiron 518 !

Anyways, he has a Dell:
-Intel Q6600 Quad Core 2.4ghz
-3gb of ram (most likely ddr2)
-300w psu (I have no idea its just that everyone who gets one as I have read has a 300w psu)
-450gb hdd
-integrated graphics

So pretty much it's not really a "Great" computer, around $400.00 when he bought it so oh well. I need some suggestions on what to upgrade, what I can't do.

I want to upgrade the graphics card, the psu, see if I can have ddr3 ram or at least 4gb of ram, and if I will be bottlenecked by the quad core.

I know that Dell's aren't really upgradeable (I was going to build a pc but he offered me this one to why not I said) so thanks for all those who take the time to help me in my situation, it is much appreciated!

 

[Wolfshadw]

Looking at the specs for your system, it doesn't sound like it has a PCI-Ex16 graphics card slot. Instead it looks like it has two PCI-Ex1 slots and two PCI slots.

http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/inspiron-518/pd

While there are a number of PCI and PCI-Ex1 graphic cards, I really can't recommend going with any of them. The cost is just to high.

-Wolf sends

 

[mulor1]

Yah, I expected this to happen...its not the most up-to-date pc available. It isn't to good for gaming and overall Dell's aren't renown for their upgrade-ability, I just

wanted to double check here first to that I don't tell him that he can't do anything with it (upgrade wise) thanks Wolfshadw.

 

[mulor1]

Best answer selected by mulor1.

 

[bishop916]

Not sure if this helps, but this shows a PCIe x16 slot on the I-518 mobo:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp518/en/sm/techov.htm


I'm going to go home to check my 518 to confirm.
I hope it's so - I have a good deal on a nice GPU, once I upgrade my PS.