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95724
November 26th, 2014 05:00
Inspiron 530 Real Max Upgrade
Hi,
I used this forum for this build and thought I would return the favor by sharing my experience. I was given an Inspiron 530 Refurb for free and thought I would see how far I could take one with a very reasonable budget. The original system came with a Celeron 1.9 Ghz and 2GB Ram. I upgraded the 530 in almost every way I could while sticking to a $350 budget. All of this was purchase for under $350 from Microcenter and eBay. The parts I upgraded to are as follows:
1. Corsair 430m Power Supply
2. Intel Core 2 Duo 3.3 Ghz Dual Core E8600
3. Asus Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card
4. Corsair 4x2GB DDR2 6400 800 Ram
5. OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
6. 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
7. 3.5" Hot Swap SSD Drive Bay
8. TP Link PCI 802.11n Dual Band Wifi Card
If you have an Inspiron 530 lying around collecting dust, for a reasonable price this is what can be done.
Please post any Questions, Comments, or Feedback.....
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 06:00
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 07:00
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
1
November 26th, 2014 08:00
Feedback Anybody? Comments? Questions?
shesagordie
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November 26th, 2014 12:00
Inspiron530Fanatic
What is the operating system that's installed, I did not see it listed?
The Inspiron 530, if I remember correctly, originally had Vista factory installed, same as my 2007 530MT, since upgraded to Win 7.
Bev.
shesagordie
12 Elder
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46K Posts
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November 26th, 2014 12:00
Inspiron530Fanatic
Was the Win 8.1 Professional included in the $350 budget, or was it already installed in the 530 MT when you received it?
I'm not certain about installing a 60gb SSD as the primary, I've been using those as cache drives, for my 530 and the other Win 7 desktops, for Win 8.1 systems primary C: / volume, been using 250 SSD.
Bev.
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 12:00
Win 8.1 Pro, Check the Nvidia Screen.
It runs like a Boss now. FAST!!! Very pleased.
Only thing left to do is add 1 more OCZ 60GB SSD to the front drive bay and configure it for RAID. SSD runs $35 on ebay.
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 13:00
I have a Bluetooth 4.0 USB Transmitter in one of the frontside USB ports. I can wireless connect my PS4 Dual Shock 4 to it thru Bluetooth and game and emulate all day with this.
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 13:00
Dual 120 Kingston v300 SSD in RAID would be really nice. That will be my last upgrade.
Add those at $60 each and a Retail OS and you are looking at $470 to $550 total.
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
November 26th, 2014 13:00
2 60GB in RAID is 120GB. I am fine with 2 60's for now. I am running a single 60GB Primary now, no problems at all. I remapped all the folders to the HDD, example: Downloads, Music, Photos, Documents, User, etc. Maybe I will get 2 120GB Kingston 300 SSD for it in the future and those in RAID.
I work for an MS Gold Partner that has MSDN is how I have Win 8.1 Pro. That is not in the $350. $350 is hardware only. This can run a free copy of Linux just as good as Windows 8.1 Pro, so I didn't include software in the price. Linux runs fine on this machine.
shesagordie
12 Elder
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46K Posts
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November 26th, 2014 13:00
Inspiron530Fanatic
I've been using Crucial and Kingston SSD's, so far without any issues.
I also noticed, that the prices of SSD's have started to drop, especially when on a promo,.
Bev.
vinnieg27
1 Message
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January 22nd, 2015 21:00
I also have upgraded my dell to 8.1 pro and installed 8 gig ram. I now need to upgrade my video card. Whats the best one in your opinion that will fit. Thanks for your time. Vinnie
Inspiron530Fana
13 Posts
0
January 23rd, 2015 05:00
Do you have an Inspiron 530 Vinnie?
Any PCI video card should work. I am using a Geforce GTX 750 Ti that I found on the clearance rack at Microcenter for $75. I would recommend a card with at least 2GB DDR5 RAM for most modern games. Depending on the card, you may have to upgrade your power supply also.
Dave_Matthews_S
3 Posts
0
April 7th, 2015 11:00
I did the same CPU upgrade to a Inspiron 530 - 2.4ghz Quadcore to 3.3ghz Core2_Duo - works perfectly.
Also tried a EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 Graphics Card. It refused to POST (power on, self test).
Called EVGA. They said the computer is too old... maybe a new power supply can make it work? EVGA was quick and helpful on the phone!
shesagordie
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April 7th, 2015 13:00
This thread has been locked due to it's age, if you have a similar issue, please use the 'New Post' feature at the top of this page and start a new thread.
Bev.