Planning to upgrade Dell Inspiron 530 dekstop

Never trust phone technicians. Never. Go search the gaming forums and you'll see what your options are.

Yes, your system supports a 64-bit OS.

Thank you for the quick response.

I have spoke with numerous technicians on the phone and some have said that 8GB is supported while others have said only 4GB is supported. So that makes it more confusing. 

I am also not sure if my system can support a 64-bit version of Windows 7 as I also plan to upgrade my operating system from Windows Vista which is 32-bit at the moment. 

Do you know where I can find that forum? I have read some info regarding that issue here in the forums and some say yes that they were able to upragde to 8GB and some say no.

Hi maortega15,

There are four variants of this model. Only the 530 a/c models take up to 8GB.  The standard 530 has a maximum of 4GB, which based on your CPU is what I think you've got. The additional RAM is not going to significantly improve performance.

I prefer to use the chipset specifications to determine how much memory a given design will support. To illustrate, the Dimension 2350 will support 2gb of memory, even though the documentation says 1gb, and the Dimension 3100 will support 4gb even though documentations says only 2gb.

So I I guess there is no benefit for added RAM?! I just want to upgrade my system for better graphics and less lag. Would it still run quick if I dont upgrade the RAM? I plan to upgrade the hard drive to a Hybrid SSD.

Most likely that memory you linked will not be compatible with your system.  You would not want to spend $177 to upgrade from 4GB to 8GB and get really no benefit at all.  The Q6600 is a 64-bit processor so you can definitely upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit and get rid of Vista.  You currently are not even able to utilize 4GB with your 32-bit system.  Money would be much better spent on an SSD drive or SSD Cache drive or a video card, but not memory especially when it most likely does not support it.  

I guess it would bot be benefitial to add more ram? Even by a little? If I do upgrade to an SSD, would it be benefitial? I plan to upgrade the video card, power supply, fans and hard drive and memory.

DDR2 memory is too expensive these days compared to the newer DDR3.  It would only cost me $50 to upgrade from 4GB of DDR2 memory that I have now to 8GB, but I won't because I know it really won't give me any benefits at this time even for gaming.  SSDs are on the expensive side, but you will definitely see the performance increase.  I added a Sandisk SSD cache drive and it helped for me and they are only $40 - $50.  Your system is just getting a bit dated to add too much cost to it in upgrades.  I would first look at just the video card upgrade and a power supply if needed based on the video card you want because it sounds like to me you're trying to make it a better gaming system, otherwise, why would you bother.  

Would it still run quick if I dont upgrade the RAM? I plan to upgrade the hard drive to a Hybrid SSD.

Yes.  Adding the ram will make no difference.  Adding ram does not make a system run faster unless you just have a very small amount to begin with and you don't.  Even in gaming, it has been shown that there is very little to gain between 4GB and 8GB.  By the way, that memory you linked will not run at 800mhz.  It will only default to 667mhz and you will not be able to change it because the Dell bios does not allow for that feature.  

I upgraded a laptop from 4GB to 8GB and it made no difference at all, but the cost was only $20 for DDR3 so it was no big deal.  

Would it still run quick if I dont upgrade the RAM?

Yes, if everything else is working okay and you start out with a fresh install of Windows 7.   

These work well in the 220s, which shares its mainboard with the 530: www.newegg.com/.../Product.aspx

Can you recommend something from kingston or corsair? I plan to go with those brands. I am looking als for low latency as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions.