Dell Inspiron 531 Graphics Card Upgrade?

**justwizzy** · February 27th, 2012, 02:38 AM

I need to upgrade my graphics card but I'm lost. I read a lot about them and I realize that power is an issue when choosing a graphics card but I don't know where my computer stands power-wise. If I just had a list of compatible cards, I'd be good. I want to go super cheap with this card but I want it to do the job. I downloaded a game that barely plays even in low res. I just want it to run this game very well...that'll be the hardest thing this old PC will ever have to do

The requirements listed by the game are in the attachment. I don't know if either of those cards are compatible with my old Dell. Everything else is at least on par with the list.

After a system analysis, it says I have 1982 MB RAM so do I need to upgrade that as well or will the new card cover it? I just want one that's old and cheap as long as it will be a little more than good enough to max this game out in high res. Thanks so much for any help.

Oh yeah...the game is Worms Ultimate Mayhem. The graphics are HD but it's really just a rehashed combination of 2 older Worms games. One of them was for Gamecube and one for the original XBOX. I don't know if that will help or not. Thanks.

**bigBonehead** · February 27th, 2012, 09:10 AM

Specs:
Inspiron 531/531s

The Dell Inspiron 531 is Dell's AMD desktop counterpart to the Inspiron 530, and with exception of the CPU and motherboard, is virtually identical. Starting with the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ it can be customized up to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+. The Athlon X2 7000, Phenom, Phenom II and Athlon II series are not supported. It uses 1 GB of DDR2 SDRAM at 667 MHz, which can be upgraded up to 4 GB 800 MHz under JEDEC DDR2 voltage specification. The model features the M2N61-AX OEM motherboard made by ASUS [9] and uses nVidia GeForce 6150 integrated graphics with the nForce 430i chipset, and has two PCI slots, one PCI-e X1 and one PCI-e X16 1.0a slot. Due to the arrangement of the expansion slots, however, use of a double height video card renders the PCI-e X1 slot useless. The motherboard also features four SATA 1.0 Ports, one EIDE (floppy) plug, three USB plugs for front USB, a Firewire plug, and a front audio plug. Cooling is somewhat limited, as the motherboard only provides one 4-pin PWM CPU fan plug, and one 3-pin rear fan plug. Installation of a fan controller will be required to use additional fans. Recently, the 6.05 version of nVidia's System Performance Tools allows minor FSB overclocking, but does not allow voltage or multiplier adjustments, limiting overclocking potential. The case is Micro-ATX sized, lightweight aluminum and features one 92 mm Rear fan, one external 3-1/2" drive bay, two 5-1/4" bays and two vertical 3-1/2" internal drive bays. It also features a standard ATX sized 300 watt power supply with four SATA plugs, one 24-pin ATX12V 2.0 plug and one 4-pin P4 plug, oddly excluding any standard 4-pin Molex connectors. The I/O Shield is also part of the case, preventing the installation of third-party motherboards without modifications to the case.

As can be seen by the bolded text, you have an upgrade route for the GPU, but, the power supply is weak...

**justwizzy** · February 27th, 2012, 10:52 AM

First off, THANK YOU!!! I really appreciate the help.

Now someone correct me if I'm wrong, but according to that, I can choose any card I want as long as it fits a PCI or PCI Express X16 slot, and is designed to run on 300w or less, and it'll work just fine, right?

**osprey4** · February 27th, 2012, 02:25 PM

My buddy on the Dell forum, rdunnill, is a big fan of the Sapphire cards. He suggests a Sapphire 5670 PCIx16 card for the Insp 531.

**ShyguyXPC** · February 27th, 2012, 02:46 PM

if they can't find a 5670, then the newer 6570 would be fine as well, similar performance range, and a bit lower on power consumption.

Usually the 5670 is 1 to 2, maybe 3fps better in most situations, but they're harder to find now days.

with the 6570 the GDDR3 equipped one is lesser yet in performance, though is about 44W, the GDDR5 equipped 6570 is the one closer to the 5670, and is about the same power consumption.

**justwizzy** · February 28th, 2012, 03:35 PM

Thanks guys but those cards require too much power. The Dell Inspiron 531 only has 300 watts. Also, I'm looking for something cheap. The best deal I could find after shipping on either one of those was $70. If I have to run at slightly lower res I will but I didn't want to spend more than $30 or so.

**justwizzy** · February 28th, 2012, 03:44 PM

AMD ATI Radeon HD 6450 2GB DDR3 PCI Express

What do you think? It says it recommends 350 watts. Will it work? I can get it for a good price and it's got 2GB of built in memory.

**Steve R Jones** · February 29th, 2012, 05:36 AM

When I bought my Inspiron 530 Dell listed the following cards as add ons.

8300GS
8600GT
2400Pro
2600XT

I went with the 8600GT.

**ShyguyXPC** · February 29th, 2012, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by justwizzy

Thanks guys but those cards require too much power. The Dell Inspiron 531 only has 300 watts. Also, I'm looking for something cheap. The best deal I could find after shipping on either one of those was $70. If I have to run at slightly lower res I will but I didn't want to spend more than $30 or so.