Old Dell E521 take a HD 6570 1GB?

[CorusMaximus]

Hi all.
Sorry in advance for the noobish question.
I am considering putting a new HD 6570 1GB into my old Dell Dimension E521 so I can play some newer games at medium settings. I do not want to have to upgrade the power supply, as I hope to build a new PC in a year. My questions are:
Is there going to be enough power with my current PSU? Is it a major problem that the mobo only supports PCI 1 (I understand they should be backwards compatible, but how bad is the speed downgrade going to be?) and Are there any problems that I am not seeing that would prevent the upgrade.

The unit has a 305 watt power supply, and I have read that Dell tends to use fairly high quality PSUs, so it could handle a little more than stated.

Thanks in advance!!

Here is the stats, from speccy:

Operating System
MS Windows 7 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 47 °C
Windsor 90nm Technology
RAM
4.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 260MHz (4-4-4-12)
Motherboard
Manufacturer Dell Inc
Model 0UW457
Chipset Vendor NVIDIA
Chipset Model GeForce 6150
Chipset Revision A2
Southbridge Vendor NVIDIA
Southbridge Model nForce 410/430 MCP
Southbridge Revision A3
BIOS
Brand Dell Inc
Version 1.1.4
Date 12/09/2006
Radeon X1300/X1550 Series
GPU RV516
Device ID 1002-7183
Subvendor Dell (1028)
Current Performance Level Level 1
Technology 91 nm
Transistors 105 M
Release Date 2007
DirectX Support 9.0c
DirectX Shader Model 3.0
OpenGL Support 2.0
Bios Core Clock 600.00
Bios Mem Clock 400.00
Crossfire Enabled
BIOS Version 113-A67626-103
ROPs 4
Shaders Vertex 4/Pixel 4
Memory Type DDR2
Memory 256 MB
Bus Width 128 Bit
Hard Drives
733GB Western Digital WDC WD75 01AALS-00J7B SCSI Disk Device (ATA)
244GB Western Digital WDC WD25 00JS-75NCB3 SCSI Disk Device (ATA)
Optical Drives
MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H653A SCSI CdRom Device
Audio
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC (for 64-bit Windows)

 

[jay2tall]

You are correct. It is know that the Dell PSU's tend to be a better OEM unit. The 305W is commonly talked about. If you are looking for good performance, I would throw in the extra few bucks and get a 6670.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102935&cm_re=6670-_-14-102-935-_-Product
Here is a performance article for your reading pleasure.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4278/amds-radeon-hd-6670-radeon-hd-6570

 

[CorusMaximus]

Is the 6670 the same as the 6570 in that is draws all its power from the PCI slot? Thats going to be a criteria for upgrading, because my PSU can't handle anything else, I think.

Edit: Oh I just saw this, so nevermind :/
"Radeon HD 5670 holds the distinction of being the most powerful reference design that doesn’t require a dedicated PCIe power cable."

 

[jay2tall]

The 6670 is the next gen replacement for the 5670, it does not need a power cable either.

 

[jyjjy]

If your PCI-E slot is 1.0 you may want to avoid 2.1 cards as they sometimes have issues with the old slots.
I've actually seen people on here running HD5770s on those 305w Dell PSUs but that may be pushing things a bit. The HD5750 on the other hand should be fine. They do have an external power connector but they only use it under stress testing or if you overclock the card. During normal gaming they use less than 60w.

 

[CorusMaximus]

If your PCI-E slot is 1.0 you may want to avoid 2.1 cards as they sometimes have issues with the old slots.

Hmmm... thanks, I didn't know about this issue... is it very widespread? And it's not a problem with 2.0?

 

[jyjjy]

I've seen the problem a number of times on here. It may work fine or it may not. Some boards have BIOS updates that address the issue. 2.0 cards should have no problems.

 

[CorusMaximus]

I've seen the problem a number of times on here. It may work fine or it may not. Some boards have BIOS updates that address the issue. 2.0 cards should have no problems.

Great, thanks! I will stick to 2.0 cards.

 

[CorusMaximus]

Having done some digging I see a rumor that Radeon 5000 series cards are all 2.1, but many are mislabeled/marketed as 2.0. I also verified that my mobo won't play well with 2.1. That leaves me with the 4000 series. I am now looking at the super cheap and power efficient Radeon HD 4650 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829). I am okay with the lower power. It will be a huge step up from my x1300, and I will only be using this PC for another year or so.

What do you think?

 

[jyjjy]

Nah, the you can trust the listings on sites like newegg as far as 2.1 vs 2.0 goes on the HD5000 cards. Don't believe something just because you see one person say it. I'd go with the HD5670 or HD5750.

 

[CorusMaximus]

Nah, the you can trust the listings on sites like newegg as far as 2.1 vs 2.0 goes on the HD5000 cards. Don't believe something just because you see one person say it. I'd go with the HD5670 or HD5750.

Thanks, I am still nervous of bumping up against the power supply... I am leaning toward the 5670. Is there an easy way for me to test that I will have the juice (w/o buying a multimeter). The wattage calculators I have used show me wither pretty close or over my 305 watts after a 5670 install (they show between 300-355). I understand that capacitor ageing can drain power as well, and my desktop is about 4-5 years old now, I think.

I don't mind pulling out my second hard drive to save some power....

 

[jyjjy]

The 305w from Dell really should handle the HD5670.

 

[CorusMaximus]

Best answer selected by Corusmaximus.

 

[CorusMaximus]

Thanks! I think I will go for that one.

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar