upgrading dell 530s graphics card

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skinticket

New Member
hey, my brother currently has a dell 530s, which is one of their slimline pc's. he wants to put a better graphics card in it, but we're unsure about what would be the best thing to do. he has $300ish to do whatever he needs. can he get a normal sized case and transfer all the parts over to that case, and then use a normal sized graphics card? ( assuming he'll need a bigger power supply too ) or would it make more sense for him to just get a low profile graphics card? which low profile graphics cards would you recommend? thanks!
 
The 4650 is not a bad card and plus he would have to end up buying a new motherboard if he was gonna get a new case as Dells parts are mostly proprietary.
 
i know that he'd like to get a new case so he could get a full sized graphics card... how much would a decent motherboard run him? could he put the current processor on it to save him money? what would i be looking at all together for a new motherboard, case, better power supply, etc?
 
Device manager will tell you. Look under cpu or system properties will also tell you.
 
Probably about 80 bucks or so for a decent motherboard, with it being Asus or Gigabyte but you'll be limited to ddr2 support since thats what the dell system has unless he upgrades that as well. All depends on what he wants to spend. Would also need to upgrade the power supply.
 
Most likely the dell is running ddr2 533 or 667 but most likely 533. The 530s uses a different type of power supply as I had to replace one for a client, they will not fit into a standard case so he would have to buy a new case, motherboard, psu. Might as well build a new system, cause he will have to buy a new copy of windows anyway.
 
ah, okay. so putting his motherboard in there will not work for sure? what's the reason why?

also, if we were to stick with the current case and all, what would be the best graphics card he could buy? what's the best psu he could get for it as well?
 
Dell uses proprietary case connections for the power button and usb connections, usually all combined into one connector that gets attached to the motherboard. You would not be able to make this work in a standard case without some serious connection modding.

According to this site, a 4650 will run ok on a 300watt dell power supply.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=86605

However, I think the 530s only has a 250 watt supply. I think your brother would be better off getting new parts, case, PSU, motherboard, possibly ram.
 
Probably will just have to buy one to see if you can even buy one. Or find someone that has one.
 
i am almost certain that you can pull the board and screw it in to a different case as long as it is an atx case. as far as the usb and power button configurations i wouldnt worry too much about. the usb should be wired the same as any standard usb. the power button will be different but all you have to do is follow the 2 wires coming from the button and follow them down to the motherboard and remember which 2 pins they connect to and simply put the button from the new case on them. same goes for the hd led, power led ect ect. if it doesnt fit in then you would be good in just getting a cheap asus, msi, gigabyte board, $60-$80 power supply, and that should leave you with about $160 for a video card. just reuse the ram, cpu, and drives from what you already have and your golden.
 
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