If your Dell Inspiron 530 is like the ones I'm familiar with, it has a 350W PSU. Dell used to put a fairly good quality PSU in their machines back them. I believe the two +12V rails are 12A and 18A, and there is a single 6 pin PCIe power cable. If you don't have a lot of other equipment running off the PSU, you can probably safely install a HD 6750. (Maybe evan a HD6770, but that might be pushing it.) The HD 6750 uses about 86 watts at normal 3D gaming and will get you excellent graphics at 1680x1050 resolution and lower.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ageSize=20
Yikes! A Celeron 450? Single core? If this is your processor...
http://ark.intel.com/products/3523 [...] MHz-FSB%29 ... you are CPU handicapped big time. However, I'm going to assume you are using integrated video now... so adding ANY discrete video card will make an improvement.
What resolution is your monitor? 1680x1050 or less? The higher the resolution, the more work the card has to do.
I don't think I'd waste the money on the HD 6750 if it's going to be bottlenecked by the single core Celeron. Go with a HD 6670. It doesn't even need a PCIe power cable. If later you plan on upgrading the processor (if you can), you may be able to move up to a faster card.
I always liked Sapphire for an AMD card. But all the brands in the list are good. Here are some HD 6670s to pick from.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ageSize=20 You'll notice some cards are double slot and some are single slot. Check to see if anything will be in the way if you go with a double slot card.
There are option for upgrading beyond a single core Celeron. Give me your motherboard make/model. If you can't find it, let me know the exact model no. of your Dell 530. It should have other numbers or letters besides the 530.
If I remember correctly this 1 board out of the 4 options was not upgradeable as far as the processor goes and thus maxes out at 3 ram ta boot
but for a dumpster dive the price was not beatable
I believe that Dell motherboard is actually a Foxconn G33M: http://www.foxconnchannel.com/prod [...] -us0000319 (Site takes awhile to download, be patient) It has a LGA 775 socket and can accept any Intel processor in the Specification/Processor list shown. All the way up to Core2Quads. A BIOS update may be needed, but that's not hard to do.
Go here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813186125 and click on the board's top view to enlarge it. Click on the enlargement to make it even bigger. See if this isn't your board. I'm betting it is. It was used in Dell 530s some years back.
NO! You can't put a Core 2 Quad on the Inspiron 530 mobo's that didn't come with a quad standard. Dell cheaped out and didn't put enough voltage regulators to handle a C2Q on the boards that come with a Dual or Single core system. I have a Studio 540 (same thing basically), but I got a Core 2 Quad in mine. Then moved it to an new case and PSU.
NO! You can't put a Core 2 Quad on the Inspiron 530 mobo's that didn't come with a quad standard. Dell cheaped out and didn't put enough voltage regulators to handle a C2Q on the boards that come with a Dual or Single core system. I have a Studio 540 (same thing basically), but I got a Core 2 Quad in mine. Then moved it to an new case and PSU.
Leave it to Dell...
If that's true, he should surely be able to move up to a Core2Duo. Even a dual core Pentium would be an improvement over his single core Celeron.
that is not my mother board that might be one of the other 3 that where available in the 530 but not this 1
No it's based off that one. Has some Dell-specific changes.
Yeah Dell's suck. Never again will I buy one. Bought this one because I needed one fast so I bought it at Micro Center. Had a C2Q so I jumped on it...Then learned how crappy Dell is. Luckily it just ATX parts, so I moved it to a new case. Still, a pretty crappy computer.
that is not my mother board that might be one of the other 3 that where available in the 530 but not this 1
Then I would recommend:
1) staying with the Celeron and not spending too much on a graphics card
2) picking up a Core2Duo and using a bit more card like the HD 6750 (if you have a PCIe power cable and the 350W PSU)
3) moving to a new board/CPU (that means a new Windows O/S purchase too)
Pick up a Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo if you can (the Pentium has to be LGA 775, Pentium name has been around for many different sockets) and spend the rest of the budget on a mid range GPU. Don't go with new board for your system if you are running the stock OS that Dell provided because then you'll have to buy a copy of Windows 7 for it.