Friend gave me a Dell C521... Thinking about upgrading or selling it and buying/

[kurtcrosbie]

Specifications
Dell™ Dimension™ E521 Service Manual



Processor

Processor type
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core processor

Level 2 (L2) cache
Up to 1 MB per core
Up to 256 KB for Sempron processors



Memory

Type
533-MHz, 667-MHz, 800-MHz (when available) DDR2 SDRAM

Memory connectors
four

Memory capacities
256 MB, 512 MB, or 1 GB non-ECC

Maximum memory
4 GB

NOTE: See Addressing Memory With 4-GB Configurations to verify the amount of memory available to the operating system.



Computer Information

Chipset
Nvidia GeForce 6150LE

RAID Support
RAID 1 (Mirroring)

DMA channels
eight

Interrupt levels
24

BIOS chip (NVRAM)
4 Mb

NIC
Integrated network interface capable of 10/100 communication



Video

Type
Nvidia integrated video (DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Graphics Processing Unit) or optional PCI Express x16 graphics card



Audio

Type
Sigmatel 9227 CODEC (7.1 Channel audio)



Expansion Bus

Bus type
PCI 2.3
PCI Express 1.0A
SATA 1.0 and 2.0
USB 2.0

Bus speed
PCI: 133 MB/s

PCI Express:

x1 slot bidirectional speed - 500 MB/s

x16 slot bidirectional speed - 8 GB/s

SATA: 1.5 Gbps and 3.0 Gbps
USB: 480 Mbps high speed, 12 Mbps full speed, 1.2 Mbps low speed

PCI


connectors
two

connector size
124 pins

connector data width (maximum)
32 bits

PCI Express


connector
one x1

connector size
36 pins

connector data width (maximum)
1 PCI Express lane

PCI Express


connector
one x16

connector size
164 pins

connector data width (maximum)
16 PCI Express lanes



Drives

Externally accessible:

Bays
one 3.5-inch drive bay (FlexBay)

two 5.25-inch drive bays

Available devices
Serial ATA drives (4), floppy drive, USB memory devices, CD/DVD drive, and Media Card Reader

Internally accessible:
two bays for 1-inch high serial ATA hard drives



Connectors

External connectors:

Video
15-hole connector

Network adapter
RJ-45 connector

USB
two front-panel and four back-panel USB 2.0-compliant connectors

Audio
six connectors for 7.1 support

System board connectors:

Serial ATA
four 7-pin connectors

Internal USB device
one 10-pin connector (supports two USB ports)

Floppy drive
one 34-pin connector

Fan
one 5-pin connectors

PCI 2.3
two 124-pin connectors

PCI Express x1
one 36-pin connector

PCI Express x16
one 164-pin connector

Front panel
one 40-pin connector

Processor
one 940-pin connector

Memory
four 240-pin connectors

Power 12V
one 4-pin connector

Power
one 24-pin connector



Controls and Lights

Front of computer:


Power button
push button

Power light
green light — Blinking green in sleep state; solid green for power-on state.

amber light — Blinking amber indicates a problem with the power supply inside the computer. If the system cannot boot and there is a solid amber light, this indicates a problem with the system board (see "Power Problems" in your Owner's Manual).

Diagnostic lights
four lights on the front panel (see Diagnostic Lights.)

Standby power light
AUX_PWR_LED on the system board

Hard-drive activity light
green light — When the computer is reading data from or writing data to the hard drive.

LAN indicator light
green light — Solid green indicates that a LAN (local area network) connection is established.

Rear of computer:


Link integrity light (on integrated network adapter)
green light — A good connection exists between a 10 Mbps network and the computer.

orange light — A good connection exists between a 100 Mbps network and the computer.

off (no light) — The computer is not detecting a physical connection to the network.

Network activity light (on integrated network adapter)
yellow blinking light



Power

DC power supply:

Wattage
305 W

Maximum heat dissipation
1041 BTU/hr

NOTE: Heat dissipation is calculated by using the power supply wattage rating.

Voltage (see the safety instructions located in the Product Information Guide for important voltage setting information)
90 to 135 V and 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz

Backup battery
3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell



Physical

Height
41.4 cm (16.3 inches)

Width
18.8 cm (7.4 inches)

Depth
45.7 cm (18.0 inches)

Weight
12.7 kg (28.0 lb)



Environmental

Temperature:

Operating
10° to 35°C (50° to 95°F)

Storage
–40° to 65°C (–40° to 149°F)

Relative humidity
20% to 80% (noncondensing)

Maximum vibration:

Operating
5 to 350 Hz at 0.0002 G2/Hz

Storage
5 to 500 Hz at 0.001 to 0.01 G2/Hz

Maximum shock:

Operating
40 G +/- 5% with pulse duration of 2 msec +/- 10% (equivalent to 20 in/sec [51 cm/sec])

Storage
105 G +/- 5% with pulse duration of 2 msec +/- 10% (equivalent to 50 in/sec [127 cm/sec])

Altitude:

Operating
–15.2 to 3048 m (–50 to 10,000 ft)

Storage
–15.2 to 10,668 m (–50 to 35,000 ft)





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Whatever I end up with, I want it to be able to run as good as my old system. Used to have an e8500/ati 4850 combo. My main focus is iracing.

I basically just want to know how much cpu and gpu my current mothorboard/psu can handle.

 

[Shadow703793]

I want it to be able to run as good as my old system. Used to have an e8500/ati 4850 combo

You DO realize that the E8500/4850 is light years ahead of the Athlon X2 + 6150, right?????

 

[kurtcrosbie]

I know.

I just want to know if my motherboard could support a cpu/gpu combo like that.

Like, could I get a 3.2Ghz AMD cpu that is compatible with that motherboard, and would it give me the same performance as an e8500?

 

[jitpublisher]

No, you are tossing money down a hole. No matter what you do, you will still have an old slow Dell not worth much of anything. That is why it was given to you in the first place........you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip.

 

[Shadow703793]

^+1000.