New user here, please help. Dell XPS 630i

[Pyrotkyc]

Hello, I'm a new user to this community, and I'm pretty new on upgrading and installing computer parts. I just recently purchased a used computer, a Dell XPS 630i. It runs on Vista 32-bit. I will be upgrading my OS to Windows 7 64-bit. I am also looking at getting a new graphics card, Geforce GTX 750 Ti and 8GB of ram total.

-----------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/22/2016, 06:11:47
Machine name: ADMIN-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.101014-0432)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc
System Model: XPS 630i
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3324MB RAM
Page File: 2229MB used, 4612MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode
I'm also using GeForce 9800 GT and 4GB of RAM currently.

My question is when I do get the Windows 64-bit, that's when I can finally install 8GB of RAM total right? Because 32-bit only limits to 4GB RAM. Also, the last two steam games I installed (CS GO and 7 days to die) both crashed. Does anyone know why or have a suggestion? I'm not too computer tech savvy so please simplify it for me. Thanks

Format Flags: 0xFFFFF

 

[hang-the-9]

Correct, to go past 4 GB of RAM you need 64 bit, but you can still install more RAM at any time, they system just won't use it.

About games crashing did you do a clean Windows setup when you got the system? If not, do that, install all the drivers, try it again.

 

[King_V]

I'm coming late to this thread. Recently acquired one of these myself, and installed the latest BIOS Dell had available for it.
Mine's:
Q9550 CPU
4 GB RAM
Radeon HD 4870 video card
Dual WD 250GB hard drives (RAID can be configured through the BIOS, but I went for a non-raid setup)
Windows 10 Pro (clean install - when I got the machine, the partitions were hosed - don't know if previous owner was using RAID or not)

Basically, everything as it came from Dell as ordered by the original owner.

In my various searches, which have been of only limited success, and my inability to sign up for the my630i.com website (whether at home or at work, I try to sign up and it says my IP is blocked - though my searching is not limited to that site), I've found that:

- The GTX 660 is confirmed to work. I've never found anything conclusive on the 660Ti, nor on the 7xx or 9xx cards
- There are sometimes issues when upgrading to 8GB. I'm not clear on why. Whether it's having all 4 slots filled, or whether it's the 8GB total amount (would a pair of 2GB and a pair of 1GB sticks work? I don't know), it seems that people sometimes experience problems with it.

Definitely looking for more info myself.

I'd definitely say feel free to upgrade to Windows 7 x64, or even Windows 10. I wouldn't worry about the RAM just yet, though if you have gone for it, please let me know how it went. My guess is that the issues might be mixing some of the original RAM with new sticks, or the MB is very fussy about slight variations. It'd be pricey, but it might be advisable to get a full set of matched 2GB sticks from one supplier - I couldn't say whether this would guarantee success or not, though.

Have you tried the 750 Ti card? Did it work?

Interesting tidbit - the video card slots are only PCIe x8, though from what I understand, this has only a very small effect, or sometimes no effect at all, on video performance (maybe 5%? Can't recall exactly from my searches on this)