Dell Inspiron 530 Maximum Upgrade

[GeekyGeek]

Hi, I currently have a dell 530 system and I would like it to upgrade to its MAXIMUM potential. Currently my system's specs are:

Motherboard: Dell Inspiron 530, model G33M02 or 0RY007
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (Upgrading to 64)
Intel Pentium E2200 (Upgrading to Core 2 Duo E8500)
4GB DDR2 RAM 667 MHz
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5670
300w PSU


I'd like to mostly upgrade the video card, power supply and add more RAM if the system allows it. Will an SSD benefit for the computer's performance?The computer will be used for light to medium gaming such as BF4, CSGO, LoL and any games that aren't considered next gen. Thanks in advance

 

[voltoid27]

If you're going for a maximum upgrade, you might as well get the E8600 over the E8500. I don't believe your particular motherboard supports Core 2 Quads even though Intel's chipset does (stupid crap like this is why I never recommend Dell products). Regarding the RAM, the chipset supports 8 GB of DDR2, but again, in Dell's infinite stupidity it's limited to 4GB, although you can use DDR2-800 over the DDR2-667 you have now, like this: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WAGFQ0/?tag=pcpapi-20

A GPU upgrade might be tricky, because your motherboard doesn't support PCI Express 3.0-based cards, only up to 2.1, so you'd be limited to the Radeon HD 6000 series or the GeForce GTX 500 series, excluding dual-GPU cards like the GTX 590 or HD 6990. I'd say the HD 6970 is your best bet; it can be found for $80+ on eBay. Just make sure it can fit in your case. The reference cooler implementation takes up 10.5", so make sure you won't be bumping into your hard drive. Another option would be the GTX 580 if switching to Nvidia sounds good to you. With either card, you'll need at least a 500W PSU with 6-pin and 8-pin power connectors, like this one for $30 after rebate: http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/corsair-power-supply-cx500. This one's a better idea though, with higher quality components, higher wattage, and better efficiency: http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/rosewill-power-supply-photon550.

An SSD will greatly reduce loading times, but unless you're playing games like RAGE that use the idTech 5 engine (read, lots of texture streaming), you won't have increased performance. Still, these are really nice to have to make your PC feel faster in day-to-day use.

 

[GeekyGeek]

Thanks for the reply! If i get your recommended HD 6970 with the E6800 combo, will either bottleneck each other?

 

[voltoid27]

The CPU will definitely bottleneck the GPU; that was something I forgot to consider earlier. Then again, you did say "MAXIMUM potential," so can you blame me? I did some further research for another question on this forum and it turns out you can use PCIe 3.0 cards on a motherboard as old as yours, which makes picking a GPU even harder. You could go with a GeForce 750 Ti and not even have to upgrade your PSU, or get a GTX 960 or R7 370 for more performance, which would still bottleneck with your CPU. I'd say look at the GeForce GTX 750 Ti or GTX 960 and the Radeon R7 360/260(X) and pick which card appeals to you most.

 

[GeekyGeek]

Thanks for the info! Definitely helped alot!

 

[atkin8]

The CPU will definitely bottleneck the GPU; that was something I forgot to consider earlier. Then again, you did say "MAXIMUM potential," so can you blame me? I did some further research for another question on this forum and it turns out you can use PCIe 3.0 cards on a motherboard as old as yours, which makes picking a GPU even harder. You could go with a GeForce 750 Ti and not even have to upgrade your PSU, or get a GTX 960 or R7 370 for more performance, which would still bottleneck with your CPU. I'd say look at the GeForce GTX 750 Ti or GTX 960 and the Radeon R7 360/260(X) and pick which card appeals to you most.

I have a Dell Inspiron with Motherboard G33Mo2 . I have latest Bios 1.1.18 which is supposed to support newer CPU's . I tried an Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.33Ghz 1333 SLB9L Socket 775 . The PC did not boot . I have also an Nvidia Graphics GT630 1GB card added, is this a drain on the 300W power supply .
I am using XP sp3 which is 32 bit I wonder is this the issue .

 

[voltoid27]

I know the E8600 is compatible, did you try reseating the CPU or temporarily removing the GPU? Nvidia's naming schemes for their lower-end cards is atrocious so there are 4 different 1GB GT630 models, but I'll bet you have the one that needs 65W, so that may be a problem. That's basically the same as another Core 2 Duo in your system. Also, if swapping out the old CPU for the new one without making any other changes lets the system boot, then either it was originally seated incorrectly or the Dell forum posts I read were full of it. Or you just have a defective CPU, which isn't the case very often but entirely possible.

 

[Thanesh s]

Hi, I currently have a dell 530 system and I would like it to upgrade to its MAXIMUM potential. Currently my system's specs are:

Motherboard: Dell Inspiron 530, model G33M02 or 0RY007
Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (Upgrading to 64)
Intel Pentium E2200 (Upgrading to Core 2 Duo E8500)
4GB DDR2 RAM 667 MHz
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5670
300w PSU


I'd like to mostly upgrade the video card, power supply and add more RAM if the system allows it. Will an SSD benefit for the computer's performance?The computer will be used for light to medium gaming such as BF4, CSGO, LoL and any games that aren't considered next gen. Thanks in advance

MAX upgrade for your PC
you have a G33M02 which can only support dual core processors, the most powerful on you can install is the E8600, a bios update will get you 8GB ram DDR2 PC6400, the CPUiwill bottleneck the 750ti , there may be better ones to go for ask a few people I' not sure.