Inspiron 546 Graphics and PSU Upgrade?

Question

Hello Tech gurus!

I have not been here in quite awhile and have been ecstatic with my Inspiron 546. However now I am thinking of upgrading my vid card.

Of all the different modding and swaps I have ever done I have never bothered to change out a video card on a pc with graphics integrated on the chipset. So I am at a loss here. More than likely I will also have to change the power supply unit as it is a mere 160 watt stock that came with the PC.

So my question is: what graphics card can I throw in on a budget of $200 and under that is compatible?

Some of my specs are as follows:

Motherboard:
      CPU Type                                          QuadCore AMD Phenom X4 9650, 2300 MHz (11.5 x 200)
      Motherboard Name                                  Dell Inspiron 546
      Motherboard Chipset                               AMD 780G, AMD K10
      System Memory                                     7936 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

Manufacturer                                      Dell Inc.
      Product                                           0F896N
      Version                                           A02
      Serial Number                                     ..CN7360495I00RY.

External Clock                                    200 MHz
      Maximum Clock                                     2300 MHz
      Current Clock                                     2300 MHz
      Type                                              Central Processor
      Voltage                                           1.5 V
      Status                                            Enabled
      Socket Designation                                AM2
      HTT / CMP Units                                   0 / 4

My other question, is dependent on my mobo, can I upgrade the actual processor chip? I may like to do that in the future and am just curious, not that I need it. Just to tinker.

I am not a big PC Gamer, would just like to have smoother graphics than the installed Radeon HD 3200 so any help is appreciated especially if you own a recommendation yourself of a graphics card or/and a PSU.

Thanks guys very much!

Kelbear1 · Accepted Answer

If you have the 546 MT or mini tower, they you have a 300 watt power supply. In your case, there is no point in upgrading the power supply as there are many video cards on the market today that offer high performance with low power consumption that would work on your system. Two of the best would be the HD 5670 and the HD 6670.

It is never cost effective to upgrade the CPU on an older system. Based on what you have now, you will gain no benefit. Just upgrade the video card and you should be very satisfied.

If you have the 546 ST or slim tower, then we'll have to go back to square one since there are limitations with this system.

wolfcraaft · Answer

Thank you Sir! That helps immensely! No I do not have the 546 ST, and though I do not have a whole lot of room in there (I have an antec slot fan in there too as well as a Creative Soundblaster audio card) I should have enough room for the HD 5670. I purchased an: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 1 GB DDR5 DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card HD567XZNF3 from Amazon and will let you know how it works out. My only concern is whether the DDR5 is compatible with my mobo as I think my memory is DDR2. We shall see :) Thank you for all your help!

Interceptor2k · Answer

Wolfcraft - Did you install HD5670 sucessfully?  I have a 546s, Athalon II, 64bit and trying to figure out best vid card option.  tx

wolfcraaft · Answer

Yes, it went rather smoothly sir, kind of surprised me as sometimes more often than not there are issues upgrading. Are you running Win 7? I ask because it really helped that an hour after rebooting Win 7 caught the new hardware and offered an even newer firmware update for mine than I found! And, it worked.

The Vid Card I bought was: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5670 1 GB DDR5 DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card HD567XZNF3

I caught it on sale at amazon for $60.00 and I can highly recommend it. Im playing games with no frame rate flutter and everything just plain looks clearer :)

rdunnill · Answer

My other question, is dependent on my mobo, can I upgrade the actual processor chip?

If you had a low-end Celeron, then you could realize a sizeable boost in performance by updating to a Core 2 Duo or the like. But, you have a quad-core and an AM2, and I'm not sure you can find something that's significantly quicker.

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Inspiron 546 Graphics and PSU Upgrade?

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