Help with upgrading a Dell Inspiron desktop

Azul_KoolAid

Azul_KoolAid

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I've been putting off upgrading my computer for awhile but with Dragon Age coming out and holiday sales going on, I think now's the time. Here are the specs...

Graphics card- NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
RAM- 2gbs
CPU- AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, 2009 MHz

I normally use my computer for the internet and such., so I not looking to do anything too crazy. Any help is appreciated.
 
[quote name='SEH']Need to know the wattage of your PSU before really giving any kind of upgrade advice.[/QUOTE]

300 Watt PSU and it's the standard size one
 
Luckily I think your Dell motherboard has a pci express x16 open (you are currently using the onboard graphic). You can spend about $50 to $80 on either Radeon 4670 or nVidia 9600GT.
 
[quote name='SOSTrooper']Luckily I think your Dell motherboard has a pci express x16 open (you are currently using the onboard graphic). You can spend about $50 to $80 on either Radeon 4670 or nVidia 9600GT.[/QUOTE]

Don't those cards require a mininum of 350-400W PSU's? I've spent the last week looking for a card for my roommates
HP Pavilion. All the ones I've seen so far say they do. My roommate has a micro-atx tower and there doesn't seem to be too
many reliable alternatives for PSU's. Even the 4650's and 9500's were showing 350-400W requirements. Not too many
choices for someone stuck with a 300W. He's got a decent rig otherwise.

HP Pavilion a6550f
AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-core 2.2Ghz
6GB RAM
300W PSU
Exact same integrated gfx as OP, 6150se
open PCI-E x16 slot
 
The wattage that's recommended for video cards is always higher than what is actually needed. However, that being said, your PSU is still not really going to cut it. This is personally what I'd recommend.

PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008

While it has a low wattage, Corsair PSU's are VERY efficient and will easily run your PC along with the following video card:

Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125272&cm_re=9600GT-_-14-125-272-_-Product

May not be the most powerful card on the block, but its a very nice option that is relatively inexpensive. It'll run most games out there with a little bit of eye candy. A 4670 would also be a nice option, like SOSTrooper mentioned.
 
[quote name='Azul_KoolAid']This might be a stupid question but is there any difference between the Radeon 4670 and the Geforce 9600GT?[/QUOTE]

Depends on the game. In most cases, it seems like the 9600GT gets slightly more frames. Here is a chart from Toms that compares the cards.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-2009/benchmarks,54.html

Keep in mind, those are results for higher resolutions with the graphic settings maxed/turned up pretty high. Those aren't really the ideal testing solutions for the cards, but Toms chart showing lower quality game settings didn't include both the 9600GT and the 4670.

Here is the chart anyways that shows how the 4670 does with settings turned down though.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...q3-2009-mainstream-quality/benchmarks,63.html

For instance, in L4D, with the settings low and a resolution of 1680x1050, the 4670 gets an average of 136 frames. I'm sure if you turned AA & AF up a little and put the settings somewhere between a mix of medium and high, you could easily wind up with your game looking good while maintaining 60FPS constant.

EDIT

Actually, here is a nice little benchmark comparing a 4670 and a 9600GSO (the cheaper, slightly lower performing version of the 9600). You could expect maybe a few more frames with a 9600GT that has 512MB of memory (the GSO has 384MB), although that really doesn't come into play until you start getting into higher resolutions.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_9600gso_384mb_vs_sapphire_hd4670_512mb/1
 
The Radeon 4670 doesn't require external power source from the power supply, so the 300W Dell power supply is more than enough to power it, even though they recommend 400W. Check this link to see that in a full load test the entire system with a Quad Core processor and 4670 video card only needs 140W.

For the 9600GT tho, a new power supply is needed just like SEH said because the included 300W does not have any PCI Express power connector to connect to the video card. I missed that in my first post. If you are curious, the total system power consumption for 9600GT on an Intel Quad Core (QX9650) is 200W during full load.
 
Based on those links I'm leaning toward the 9800GT and a new PSU. Gonna go ahead and pick up 2 gigs of RAM and a external HD too. Thanks for all the help
 
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