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Upgrading my Video Card


..:D&G:..

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Hello guys, I have a Dell Inspiron 530 and I was thinking of upgrading the video card, as most games won't work. I posted here because I know some of you guys, have a real good knowledge about PCs, so yeah..

So, I went to Dell's website and I saw a good video card compatible with my PC.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/Popu ... SavedItems

I don't really know if it really compatible, as I made some research, and most video cards won't work on my Inspiron 530 because of the PSU which is a 300w. I don't really wanna buy a new PSU, as I am concentrating my £80 budget on the GPU, so I want to know if that GPU is good and really fits my PC, or, please recommend me the a good GPU that could (I want it to be at least 2GB)

Thank you!

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You definitely need a new power supply if you want to upgrade the graphics card. OEM power supplies are low quality and they most likely won't be able to power much else.

Regarding the graphics card choice, I'm sure you can find an AMD Radeon HD 7770/R7 260(x) for £80. Both are much better choices than any NVIDIA GT series-card, which are not designed for gaming.

If you live in the UK, check this out: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00G ... 354&sr=8-1. Amazon has it on sale for £79.99.

EDIT: I just looked at the specifications of the Dell Inspiron 530, and the CPU will bottleneck a lot any of the two GPUs I mentioned. If you want to upgrade the graphics card to a more modern one, you'll have to upgrade the CPU as well to keep up with the GPU. Since the CPU uses the old socket 775, you have two choices: Either upgrade to a Core 2 Quad (used), which still does fairly well in gaming taking into account how old it is, or upgrade both the motherboard and the CPU. Don't forget to change the PSU first, though.

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Hey, thanks for replying.

I don't think I can change the CPU to a quad, as my motherboard will not support it. Also, I don't want to change the motherboard, as this will be like buying another PC... So, what should I do? Buy another PC, or get a better PSU and see if I can find a GPU that can fit with my CPU? Because I can just simply find another PC than just changing the motherboard..

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[quote name=..:D&G:..]I don't think I can change the CPU to a quad, as my motherboard will not support it.

Yes, it will support it. Core 2 Quads use the socket 775, the same you have.

[quote name=..:D&G:..]Also, I don't want to change the motherboard, as this will be like buying another PC... So, what should I do? Buy another PC, or get a better PSU and see if I can find a GPU that can fit with my CPU? Because I can just simply find another PC than just changing the motherboard..

You can find an used video card that your CPU can keep up with, like the GT 630, but it's no good either. I would rather get some money and build my own computer. You could save some money by keeping the case and hard disk (if it's SATA), for example.

It all depends on what you're going to use it for. Is the PC only for gaming? What kind of games will you play?

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I tried to make my own PC, but I had to spend like £800 on it, and it wasn't even in the middle what I wanted. I have a laptop which has an AMD C-50 1.0GHz processor, and AMD Raderon 6000 HD 2GB (or something like that), and games run ok on low or medium. I want to get this PC at least a bit better than my laptop. Btw, in the first post, I specified a link to a GPU that I found on dell's website and said it will be compatible with my PC, should I buy that GPU? And also, what CPU you recommend me?

Also., today I just added 4GB to the PC, and it only reads 3.24GB (it doesn't say the "usable" thing), does that tell me that my motherboard is starting to deteriorate?

P.S: I started playing Spec Ops: The Line on my laptop (works alright on low) and games like that, ARMA 2-3, GTA 4/EFLC, and I also wanted to play watch dogs (yeah... I am just dreaming)

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4+GB of RAM is only supported in x64 operating systems. You'll have to acquire the x64 version and reinstall it (must be a clean install, upgrade won't work due to the difference of architectures).

[quote name=..:D&G:..]I tried to make my own PC, but I had to spend like £800 on it, and it wasn't even in the middle what I wanted. I have a laptop which has an AMD C-50 1.0GHz processor, and AMD Raderon 6000 HD 2GB (or something like that), and games run ok on low or medium. I want to get this PC at least a bit better than my laptop. Btw, in the first post, I specified a link to a GPU that I found on dell's website and said it will be compatible with my PC, should I buy that GPU? And also, what CPU you recommend me?

If you want to build a new PC, I can see what I can do. I'll need the maximum budget, your location (I assume UK?), whether you need peripherals and operating system. However, if you just want to upgrade, your best bet is, indeed, upgrading the GPU to something like you've mentioned. It will have an impact on performance, but it's not going to run the games you want to play maxed out or anything even remotely close.

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