An old fart needs help to keep up with grandson.

DG8 · 28 Mar 2011

I am far from being computer savy but I need help to get my grandchild off my back.

He as a big fan of games and I hate them, but he has been complaining that the games are very jumpy and he has asked me to get a bigger memory? Known very little about this form of computing I'm not sure whither he means a larger graphic card - more memory or both?

If I attache a Beleric Advisor could someone tell me the best way to upgade the computer which will enable my grandson and myself to be happy whit our own projects

** Removed file since it contained your key numbers **

johnwillyums · 28 Mar 2011

We're quite a majority of old farts on here so a very warm welcome to the forum

Most members post their system specs in their user cp (see at top of the page) then they display in My System Specs (bottom right in the post box)
Can't say I've ever seen a Belarc Advisor before. Quite complicated. Seems you have plenty of hard drive space for some games and you have 2gb of RAM memory, am I right?
Can't see a graphics card in there. Have I missed it?
Your Grandson probably means both more RAM and a graphics card (or a better one).
The card would be the priority I'd have thought although 4gb of RAM rather than 2 would also speed up the frame rate in games.

Cheers, John.

ignatzatsonic · 28 Mar 2011

You have "only" 2 GB of RAM. Windows might be a little snappier on 4 gigs and your motherboard will certainly accommodate another 2 GB---you have 2 empty RAM slots.

But improving the video card would likely make a more noticeable improvement in gaming performance. It's a Dell Inspiron 530. Looking at the Belarc report, it appears to have graphics integrated on the motherboard, rather than a separate card.

You need someone to confirm that the Dell in fact has integrated graphics and that it has a spare slot that can accept a separate video card. Then shop for a compatible video card. I'd try that first and if your grandson is still unhappy, try upgrading the RAM to 4 GB total.

If money is no particular concern, do both at the same time.

johnnya · 28 Mar 2011

Hi DG8. Please check your private messages now.

Regards
JohnnyA

Edit: Disregard, someone beat me to it. RE: Belarc

johnwillyums · 28 Mar 2011

Ah. I see one of the moderators have removed it as it contained your serial number. Don't worry, it was only there a minute and I never noticed it amongst everything else.

ignatzatsonic · 28 Mar 2011

I just downloaded a user manual for a Dell Inspiron 530.

It says you have Intel integrated video, as suspected.

And it says you have 4 slots:

2 PCI
1 PCI Express x1
1 PCI Express x16

So, it certainly appears you can upgrade to a separate video card easily. Anything compatible should be an improvement, even at the $50 range. Intel integrated video wasn't too good 3 years ago when your PC was designed.

fafhrd · 28 Mar 2011

The Dell specs for this PC is here:

Dell Inspiron 530 Desktop PC Product Details | Dell UK

Assuming 32-bit Windows 7, the maximum addressable ram is 3GB, the further 1GB in an upgrade will only be utilized if the Windows 7 OS is upgraded to 64-Bit. (this may mean that some installed software and hardware may not work properly)

From the current Core 2 Duo installed, the processor could be maximally upgraded to a Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad-Core Q9450 Processor (2.66GHz, 12MB cache, 1333MHz FSB), and there are possibly even faster compatible processors, I didn't look further.

The Graphics card upgrade has been mentioned in another post above.

apollodominion · 28 Mar 2011

ignatzatsonic said:

You have "only" 2 GB of RAM. Windows might be a little snappier on 4 gigs and your motherboard will certainly accommodate another 2 GB---you have 2 empty RAM slots.

But improving the video card would likely make a more noticeable improvement in gaming performance. It's a Dell Inspiron 530. Looking at the Belarc report, it appears to have graphics integrated on the motherboard, rather than a separate card.

You need someone to confirm that the Dell in fact has integrated graphics and that it has a spare slot that can accept a separate video card. Then shop for a compatible video card. I'd try that first and if your grandson is still unhappy, try upgrading the RAM to 4 GB total.

If money is no particular concern, do both at the same time.

I Agree more ram and a mid range GPU will make the PC fly!!
a good bang for buck GPU i use on the pcs i havd built for friends i have eather put one of these cards in it
Radeon 5770
Radeon 6850
Radeon 6870
Radeon 6970
Geforce GT440
Geforce GTS450
Geforce GTX570
Geforce GTX560Ti
Ranging from $150 - $500 MID to High end cards

Extreme cards are around $ 700 - $1000
For an Idea
Geforce GTX580
Geforce GTX590
Radeon 6990
Radeon 5870

i have a 3rd pc for gaming when friend come over basicly same specs
Q6600 with a G41 with 16x PCIe and 1x PCIe so i got a radeon 6870 for video and a Physics card a Geforce 9600GT PCIe 1x 512MB

DG8 · 29 Mar 2011

May I thank everyone who replied to my problems. I will need to keep the replies and take my time to try to digest the information provided (I'm a slow learner)
I appreciate the effort you have put in to try and help me.

Blessings to you all.

ignatzatsonic · 29 Mar 2011

According to Crucial.com's highly reliable configurator, a Dell Inspiron 530 has these RAM requirements:

4 GB maximum overall

1 GB maximum per slot (you have 4 slots)

Each memory slot can hold a 240-pin DIMM of DDR2 PC2-5300 (aka DDR2-667) or DDR2 PC2-6400 (aka DDR2-800) non-ECC RAM, preferably rated at 1.8 volts.

Dual channel is supported--this means you should think in terms of buying 2 more sticks rather than 1--presumably 2 sticks of 1 gig each, giving you a total of 4 GB of RAM overall.

1 GB sticks sell for about $20 in the USA.