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July 31st, 2014 07:00
Inspiron 546 upgrade
Hi folks,
I have an Inspiron I brought as a secondary machine some years ago (I think the build date was 2009). It is an AMD Sempron LE1300 MT with Win 7 Ultimate (my own non dell software). I have 2G of ram on it (2x1G). Everything is original and it works perfectly fine as a secondary machine. Lately, I am starting to run into applications that I use complain about your machine is not quite up to minimum hardware requirement and your "experience" will be less than "satisfying".
With that, and as the machine is secondary and still in perfectly good shape, I like to upgrade it. Some options:
1. Swap the whole MB out, I think the Inspiron is a micro ATX, have not verify it yet and I do have a brand new 500W PS that's been sitting around for a few years, in case I need more power, I do have something.
2. With or without new MB, swap in one of the 60 G SSDs I have sitting around. Right now, I am only up to about 45G (out of the 250G) in the original hard drive.
3. More memory, I've ordered a 2G(x1) Dell original memory from EBay (for $12 shipped), if I do not swap the MB I will fill the memory to the max (I think 8MB) when I see a good deal.
4. Again, if I decide to keep the MB, I will probably add a graphics card and swap the CPU. I am looking for input on those. Looking for easy to do and best bang for the buck.
I have not been here for a long time and am surprised I see my posts from 2002 in "past conversations"...
osprey4
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July 31st, 2014 18:00
Hi Sschiang,
Welcome back.
I'm not an advocate of swapping motherboards in Dell desktops. By the time you do that and buy all the associated hardware, you're into more money than getting a new or newer desktop.
The RAM and video card are probably all you need to bring it up to snuff. The max RAM is 8 GB (4x2GB). Video card options that work with your 300W PSU are the HD 5670 and the HD 6670 (older), or the HD 7750.
sschiang
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August 1st, 2014 07:00
Hi Osprey4,
Thanks for the reply. After doing a little light research, I agree that MB swap is more trouble than it's worth, so that's out.
I am awaiting for my 2G to arrive, meanwhile, a quick look around showed that a new (unboxed) HD 5670 can be had at Ebay for about $30 shipped. May go with that, but definitely will post back here when I am kind of done.
osprey4
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August 2nd, 2014 04:00
Sounds like a pretty good deal, and should give that system a nice boost. Let me know.
sschiang
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August 13th, 2014 09:00
Hi Osprey. Here is the current setup. I ended up getting a XFX Radeon HD 6450, it was too good a deal to pass up (new in box, $14.95 after rebate, shipped). Technically, it asks for a 400W PS, but since my system is really light and I do have a 585W PS sitting around (I may eventually put that in), I though I would give it a go. So far so good, there is definitely incremental improvement, but not as big as when I doubled the RAM (from 2G to 4G). Now the Windows Experience Index shows Windows Aero performance at 4.2 (used to be 3.2 without the card and was the lowest score in the index), 3D business and gaming at 6.0(used to be 5 or 5.2). I have a PNY 240G SSD coming (again, much bigger than I was looking for, but for $80, might as well), let's see if that changes anything. BTW, WEI shows the lowest component score, it is now tied between the Windows Desktop Aero and CPU, at 4.2 (out of 7.9).
osprey4
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August 13th, 2014 16:00
Excellent! Sounds like your upgrade project is really coming along.
sschiang
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August 14th, 2014 07:00
Thanks. A question:
Right now, if I just stop, the system pretty much has met my performance expectation when I started the whole thing. What I will likely do when I receive my 240 SSD is to reinstall my W7 Ultimate to 64 bit (this is a retail version that I preordered when it was still at the end of pre-release, currently running as 32bit). The main reason for doing that is I will likely up the system from 4G to the max 8G of memory and I believe I will need a 64 bit OS to fully utilize the 8G.
Since I am going 64, would an upgrade to some version of an Athlon 64 X2 be a good enhancement (from the current Sempron LE1300 2.3G, also assuming I will have my 585W PS in).?