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Need help upgrading Inspiron 530
Please bare with me I'm new at this. I need help on upgrading my Inspiron 530 here are the specs.
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7400 2.80ghz
Dell Motherboard Model 0RY007
Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family
6.00 GB of Ram
Windows Vista Home Premium x64 Service Pack 1
I would like to upgrade the video card so I could play some of the newer games, But alot of this stuff is confusing to me.
One thing I do know is I'm going to have to get a new power supply, What kind will work with this PC and have enough power?
I don't understand anything about PCI. From what I can find out though this program http://www.gtopala.com/, i have 4 pci slots. 2 are just PCI, and the other two are PCI Express. One is 32x and the other is 1x. Most of the video cards I've looked at are PCI Express 2.0 or PCI Express 16x.
I also want to make sure the video card with fit in the case. It's not slim case, But a normal big one.
That's all I know if anyone else has upgraded this type of PC and has recommendations on what parts to buy please post them.
Thanks for the help in advance and if any of this made no sense I apologize.
RobinBredin
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January 26th, 2009 02:00
Hi KazumaKor, First off you have an PCIe x 16 graphics card slot on your mobo, and your system can take the PCIe x 2.0 cards. With that in mind, you can put in the 9500GT HERE without upgrading your PSU. You can also get the 9600GT HERE for your system. If you want to upgrade your PSU, any ATX type PSU will fit into that system see HERE.
JMICHAEL
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January 26th, 2009 06:00
If you want to play today's games well, I would look at the 9600 GT or the 9800 GT. The 9500 GT will only give you half the performance of the other two. As mentioned, you have 2 PCI slots, 1 PCI Express x1 slot and 1 PCI Express X16 slot. The PCI Express X16 (the one at the very top) is the one you want to use for a video card. Most all new cards are PCI Express X16 with the 2.0 version which is what you want. You probably have a PCI Express x16 version 1.0 slot, but it does not matter as version 2.0 is backwards compatible with version 1.0. If you are going to upgrade your power supply, you might as well get the better performing 9800 GT as the cost difference between this and the 9600 GT is not that much now. Right now, you can get THIS ONE as it comes with a free $50 game. For the 9600 GT, the one linked in the other post is a good choice for the money. Both the 9800 GT and 9600 GT are the same size and will fit in your case. They are long and take up a lot of room, but will fit without any problem.
As far as power supplies go, a 500 watt or 550 watt will be plenty as long as you get a good name brand such as Corsair, Antec, OCZ to name a few. Here are some choices that will work in your computer. All come with the connections you would need for the video card and everything else. The 9800 GT and 9600 GT require one PCI Express connection from the power supply.
OCZ 500W
Antec 500W
Corsair 450W
The first two are modular meaning that you attach only the power cables you need to use outside of the permanently attached main and cpu connectors. It will cut down on a couple of cables as the cables on these retail power supplies are very long especially the Corsairs so they will fit in full size towers. The Inspiron 530 is considered a mini tower not full size. You will just end up with having to tie the cables or stuff them in your open optical drive slot due to their length. All the cables/wires are not tailored made to fit your case like the one you currently have and with higher watt power supplies you end up with even more cables.