Graphics Card for Dell Inspiron 531.

[yummerzzz]

So as i was hoping to get my new pC, I didn't, so I'm stuck with this 5 year old Dell Inspiron with a PSU with 18A on it, Im wondering what upgrades I can pop into it, currently I'm thinking of.

Another 2 GB 800Mhz DDR2 RAM
MAYBE a AMD Athlon X2 5600+/5800+/6000+
A HD 5670 or HD 6670 (Not sure about this as it uses newer Bus Interface and this Dell I pretty old)

Then pretty much wait till I get my new PC, my current specs are :

1 GB DDR2 667Mhz (2x512Mb)
AMD Athlon X2 3800+ 2Ghz
Ati Radeon X1300PRO 128MB, with 128Mb shared.
Dell Generic 18A PSU.

Kinda hoping to be able to max games at mid and high mix of settings at 800/600 and maybe 1366*786

 

[kev h]

Hi Have just upgraded my Dell 531 this weekend but have 5000+ x2 cpu

here is one of my post here asking for advice :

www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareuk.inc&cat=15&post=316530&page=1&p=2&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0]

No expert myself but would def recomend extra Ram to total 3-4 gb (32bit 3.25gb max used) will make huge difference to day to day stuff and easy to do.

Not sure about cpu as i'm always being told mines too slow and a bit trickier and pricer to change.

PSU i just changed to Corsair CX430w which was fairly easy to fit with PCIe power cable (+12v 28a)

Went from 8600gt to GTS450 as had the extra power cable to the card. GT440 was probably enough but and didnt need extra power cable but did need 22a from psu

Also the GTS450 wasnt a low profile but was quite short length card as space is quite tight in the case (Palit GTS450 1gb ddr3)

Just waiting to try crysis again now

Cheers Kev

 

[Dominaz1]

I would buy 1-2 Gbs more of RAM.
And a new GPU:

I would try the 5670 GDDR5.

 

[yummerzzz]

Um, Dominaz, I was already planning to do that as I stated in the main post, and thanks Kev, though I don't really want to change the PSU.

 

[yummerzzz]

Thoughts on putting in 3GB of DDR2 800Mhz RAM and a GT 240, I was thinking about the HD 5670 but it is more expensive...