Graphics card - easy to change?

WilliC

secret_tramp wrote: »

Where does one get hold of such an item? Can anyone recommend any helpful retailers?

The best place to get one would be off the internet.

I would always use Ebuyer, but i know that its really personal preference.

The internet would almost always be cheaper than buying from a shop, unless they have a clearance sale on.

JasX

The dell website has an owners manual for the 531 and looks like you're in luck and it it does have a PCI-express card slot (assuming your son hasn't put another PCIe card into it).

The NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE does appear to be 'onboard' graphics (read: horribly slow & eating up onboard RAM too) so I'm frankly suprised he's able to run much at all games wise

Getting a graphics card of some form will definitely help things (afraid I skipped the 7-8000 series of Nvidia cards so can't give any specific advice off the top of my head).

You'll need to check your PSU can cope with whatever you settle for and might be worth checking the machine has a decent amount of RAM at the same time (very cheap these days)

Google gave me this yahoo answers thread which seemed pertinent:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080106000908AAZgjhB

JasX

secret_tramp wrote: »

Thank you WilliC.



I think it was a basic graphics card as I don't remember paying extra for this item like I did with the processor and the screen.

Where does one get hold of such an item? Can anyone recommend any helpful retailers?

lol, i take a few mins out to write a post and missed 6 posts since I started writing, definitely look online for a card, eBuyer is a good place to start -google will find it for you.

Plus if you're not happy with it / it doesn't work out for some reason you have 14 days to return for a full refund under DSR regulations.

...PS if you start hitting the 'Thank poster for a useful post button' at the bottom of a few of these posts we might hang around and help for a little longer

4743hudsonj

JasX wrote: »

lol, i take a few mins out to write a post and missed 6 posts since I started writing, definitely look online for a card, eBuyer is a good place to start -google will find it for you.

Plus if you're not happy with it / it doesn't work out for some reason you have 14 days to return for a full refund under DSR regulations.

...PS if you start hitting the 'Thank poster for a useful post button' at the bottom of a few of these posts we might hang around and help for a little longer

thats a little misleading

under dsr retailers dont have to accept cancellation of contracts if the product is used or if the packaging was opened when it was not necessary to which in this case it wouldnt be so forget dsr once you open the box

LeChuck_2

That Dell Inspiron 531 setup usually ran with a 300W PSU and an integrated card on an Nvidia MCP61 motherboard. Your son should have one unused PCI-E x16 slot...

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0 GHz processor
2 GB DDR2 RAM
Expandable up to 4 GB
250 GB SATA hard drive
DVD±RW SATA drive
No IDE channels
Integrated GeForce 6150 LE graphics chipset
Integrated 7.1 channel HD audio
Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet controller
56K PCI modem
Front panel digital media card dock
300W power supply (100-120, 200-240V)

JasX

4743hudsonj wrote: »

thats a little misleading

under dsr retailers dont have to accept cancellation of contracts if the product is used or if the packaging was opened when it was not necessary to which in this case it wouldnt be so forget dsr once you open the box

I DSR'd an open box Nvidia GTX 275 to them only last month with not so much as a raised eyebrow, I suppose in theory they could try to be difficult but I've never had any problem (other than them being a bit slow)

Though i read somewhere retailers are obliged to accept DSR where goods have been kept in good condition even if returned without original packaging...

bob_a_builder

Since we are on MSE I assume cost is a relavent issue

Recently upgraded ( not in a Dell) to one one of these
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152936

Its only £22, its PCIe and its passive cooled

Running ok on a basic PC with a 350 psu
Seems to cope with most of the modern games so far, far cry, COD, Assasins Creed etc

no extra psu connectors reqd - all comes in via PCIe slot
+ no fan - cheaper graphic cards fans always seem to get noisy very quickly- so this is a bonus

financequest

Here is the link to the service guide. http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/inspd531/en/index.htm. There are many cards available, generally, though not always, more cash = better. For £50-£60 Radeon HD 4670, or Geoforce 9600 are good buys. You may need a small/cheap adapter to connect your monitor depending on the existing connector type on end of monitor cable.

JasX

I found a review of Gaming with the £22 HD 3450 card bob linked to.

Seems to get a write up of performing 'alot better than expected' for a £22 card and ran all the games tested with a 'just about acceptable' performance.

They compare it to a couple of other cards that are more expensive (the HD 3850 is about £70 these days) you get what you pay for but might help you judge what you need.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/diamond3450/4.html

Perhaps send the above review to your son and see what he thinks?

Mobeer

How about a Radeon 4670?

There are a number of messages at the dell forums that suggest this should work, for example:
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19285384/19521530.aspx#19521530

It has some nice reviews, for example:
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15393&page=15

Priced from about £53 from places like Scan & Dabs.