Jun 15, 2020
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The system is a Dell Inspiron 560s. It's a pre-built PC but I am planning to upgrade the Graphics Card. The question is whether the motherboard comes with PCI-e x16 (2.0) slots or not.

My issues are:
  • The motherboard seems to be attached to the case.
  • The case is just 80mm in width. That means most graphic cards might not fit.
  • I am too low on funds to buy a brand new motherboard, case, PSU, and other components.
  • Another issue is that most of my ports are damaged, so is there is any way to check wether my PCI-e slot is still functional?
But I am not sure about the space, because I haven't checked how the system is from the inside. I can't check as of now because I am afraid of any possible harm. (this might sound stupid but I am afraid and not good at electronics)

SPECS

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 (2 threads)
Windows 10 x64 Home
Current GPU: ATI Radeon 4300 Integrated 1366x768 resolution
RAM: 6 GB DDR3 RAM 1333hz
SATA 500 GB HDD(not aware of the model, but if required I will find out, thanks :)
PSU: runs on a battery backup, the amperage and voltage isn't specified anywhere
Overclocked in anyway: no


In the
Also please recommend me a GPU that can run 1920x1080 60fps smoothly, in terms of performance a GT 710 equivalent. Thank you all for your help in advance.

-Guppu

PS: I don't know where to post, sorry if it was wrong.
 
Solution
Yes it has a PCIe slot. The low profile case will limit your GPU choices.
https://graphicscardhub.com/best-low-profile-graphics-card/
Here is what I would do with that system on a budget.
1- Dell says that has an 8GB RAM limit. Users report success with 16GB. Get an updated BIOS from Dell.
https://www.dell.com/community/Insp...60-anyone-tried-16-GB-RAM/td-p/7364393/page/3
6GB will work with 2GB GPUs, GTX750/1050 2GB cards
If tyou can get up to 10-12GB will be enough for any of the 4GB GPUs available for that. , The 4GB cards will want more than 8GB if possible.
2- Overclock the E7500 to 3.67GHz. Cost $0 and is much faster for most games than the Q9650 option...
Yes it has a PCIe slot. The low profile case will limit your GPU choices.
https://graphicscardhub.com/best-low-profile-graphics-card/
Here is what I would do with that system on a budget.
1- Dell says that has an 8GB RAM limit. Users report success with 16GB. Get an updated BIOS from Dell.
https://www.dell.com/community/Insp...60-anyone-tried-16-GB-RAM/td-p/7364393/page/3
6GB will work with 2GB GPUs, GTX750/1050 2GB cards
If tyou can get up to 10-12GB will be enough for any of the 4GB GPUs available for that. , The 4GB cards will want more than 8GB if possible.
2- Overclock the E7500 to 3.67GHz. Cost $0 and is much faster for most games than the Q9650 option.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=68961&d=1225751188
Now you have a retro gaming rig.
The GTX710 is a waste of time. I wouldn't bother with the 730/740/1030 either.
1- GTX750Ti 2GB will run with 6GB RAM and be OK at 768 resolution. 1080P will be a stretch and around 30fps if it works. But low end/older games will be OK. If money is reallly tight an old 780P HD TV can make a cheap big screen monitor. I think these tend to be overpriced for old tech. Lok for a bargain
2-GTX1050 2Gb is a better choice, and will work with 6GB RAM. best one shot solution.
3- GTX1050Ti 4GB will need 8+GB RAM and will work at 1080 resolution but on that system 60fps will be a stretch. Some titles and benchmarks will choke on 8GB system RAM. Most won't.
4- GTX1650 4GB cards. If you seriously want 1080P 60fps this is what you'll get. This is where you put your money in an old system. It can move forward to a newer computer and will get you where you want to go. That system may or may not be UEFI Bios. Legacy BIOS can't run UEFI cards. Newer cards come both ways.
https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1650-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050/4039vs3650

Here is my Optiplex 380 which is similar in performance. It has a 4 core 3.33Ghz X5470 Xeon swap. Speed is in between the OC E7500 and Q9650. It an MT case so I have the GTX 1060 3GB in mine because mine really does have an 8GB limit due to 2 RAM slots, and room for a bigger PSU to run it..
https://www.userbenchmark.com/System/Dell-OptiPlex-380/1942
The 1650 will perform in between the 1050Ti 4GB and the 1060-3GB.
 
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Solution
Jun 15, 2020
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Thanks for the amazing answer william! I can't tell you how much helpful that answer was for me. Just a few more questions:

Do you, by chance, know wether a vertical alignment for the GPU would work? Also does an extensor for the slot cause slowdown or high latency or buffer?

And even after overclocking the CPU, do you think the GTX 1050 would cause a bottleneck?

And also most of the cards you mentioned are unavailable in my country. And the only available card GTX 1050 costs 250 USD in India. The official website doesn't even ship to India and GT 710 is enough(and low taxed) for me because I just want to watch movies and run basic stuff.

The GT 1030 looks like a good investment because Indian government is not applying so much tax on it.

Also planning to buy a Core 2 Quad and overclock it.

But the real question is, how come all the other components fit in my 80mm case?

Again, thanks a whole lot.
 
The lower powered 1030 should be OK for playback I guess. Gaming where the card has to create everything is different.
You probably won't be overclocking a quad on that in any seriousl way. The tape mod will work to take a O6600 G0 (SLACR) to 3Ghz. It can save some money but will be 10% slower than the Q9550, Q9650 CPUs. But maybe that's a good solution for you. For playback I think the 3.67GHz 2 core would be best. I forgot to mention a small SSD will make that feel like a totaly different machine.
Amost all Dells ( except workstations and gaming rigs) have a 95W CPU limit and that keeps the unlocked CPUs out.
The Q6600 3GHz is about 10% slower than the Q9650 3GHz due to it's age, and lacks some instruction sets to run newer programs.
My Xeon swap is a rarity because the Opti 380 is just about the only Dell consumer machine that doesn't have the 95W CPU limit. Most won't run LGA771 Xeons at all.
Intel sold 2 core Xeons at 3.5GHz and rated them at 80W, so the tapemod is not far out of spec. for your hardware, and those E7500 CPUs sell for $5 anyway.
The 1050 won't bottleneck that . A 4GB GPU with 8GB RAM will appear to bottleneck ,but it's the RAM that was causing it. I had issues with the GTX1050TI 4GB, and installed the much faster 3GB GTX1060 and solved them. You can make some huge improvements in that for not much money.
Good GPU riser cables are expensive because they have to support 75W power. Cheap ones don't do that. GPUs get larger than 80mm because of the cooling they require. The faster low profile cards will have 2x small fans on them. Beyond GTX1050/1650 a bigger PSU is required for GPU power over 75W, and those almost don't exist in that size.
 
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