Dell E521 Upgrades

[brawleyman]

I am a new member that just started yesterday. I currently own a Dell E521. You can see my specs below in my signature. I am wanting to upgrade to a decent graphics card. The last graphics card I had on my old Athlon XP 2800+ system was an NVIDIA FX 5700 LE which ran my games decently...Star Wars Battlefronts and NFS Underground 1. I also use AutoCad and Sketchup for house designs. Obviously, I don't need major horsepower or anything.

I do not plan on upgrading to Windows Vista for several years which by then I will get a new machine. Until then, I would like something that will allow me to speed up my computer and make my games and graphics programs run good. My Dell is very quiet and I would like to keep it that way. I have been looking at the 7300GT's and 7600GS' which have passive heatsinks and are running about $60+. I am not going to upgrade the stock power supply (305w). I would also like to upgrade my memory.

Has anyone upgraded an E521 with aftermarket parts? What did you put in it and how much better did it run? I am on a limited budget and want to get the best bang for the buck. The big problem is that the programs I use and games I play don't really have any good benchmarks for me to compare. I was going to upgrade to 2Gb ram, but if I add a graphics card, will I really need that much? I am sharing 128mb ram for the onboard 6150LE.

I would appreciate any info or opinions! Also, I will not use ATI or the new 8000 series because I have compared them to the 7000 series and they are not as good, especially when using older games and Windows XP.

 

[saberceltan]

I have a Dell E521 as well, and have upgraded it significantly with a Geforce 8600GT graphics card. I would highly recommend this card, even though you said that you dont approve of the 8000 series. This card is cheap and a powerhouse for budget gaming needs.

 

[bryanW1995]

yes, 8600 gt would be ok except that 3850 kills it and is only a few $$ more. Also, 8800gt 256 will be out in a week or 2 and will also kill it, probably at a competitive price with 3850.

however, OP appears to be leaning towards very inexpensive gpus, which none of the above listed qualify as. I have the fanless 7300gt in my fileserver, it's great as long as you have decent airflow. I have an older dell at work (4000+ but otherwise identical system specs) and it doesn't seem to possess very good airflow so you should be careful with it. My fs has an intake in front of the hd, an intake on the side, an exhaust on top, plus the standard rear exhaust fan. both the intakes actually blow the air directly at the 7300gt, so my airflow around it is outstanding and I've been fine.

 

[brawleyman]

What about the stream processors that the new 8000 series has? How do those work compared to the old 7000 series that had 8 pixel pipelines and all that? I am using only Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005...how well does the new graphics cards run with it and is it any better/worse than if I were to use the 7000 series?

 

[bryanW1995]

sure, 8800 and 3850 will both destroy older cards out there. in fact, anand said last night in his 38x0 review that 3850 got 97+% perf of 2900xt at 1280x1024. it's probably more like 90% at 1680x1050, but that's still outstanding. 8800gt 256 should get similar or better performance at a similar tdp so you might be best served by waiting for a week or two to see what shakes out.

 

[brawleyman]

bryanW1995: I don't know if you have ever looked inside the new Dell cases, but the way they are designed, they are the BTX motherboard and there is a 120mm fan on the front that sucks in air and blows it straight across the processor and right over where the video card would sit at, which is a plus since the video card's heatsink would be facing up. That is the only fan inside, but it seems to work very well. I was leaning towards the ASUS 7300GT or Gigabyte 7300GT @ newegg...would a 7600GS be any better or would it be a waste to get one? How well can any of the mentioned cards overclock or would I even need to? I have coolbits that I install so that I can overclock Nvidia hardware easily. I am currently sharing 128mb for the onboard video...how much of an increase will I see in overall pc performance?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

 

[Arkaign]

If you go old gen, get 7900GS or higher for Nvidia, X1950Pro or higher for ATI. New gen, ATI 3850 or NV 8800GT.

Don't forget a quality PSU. Check the +12V rail on your current one, if it's less than 26A (or 26A combined on multiple +12V rails), then spring for a better unit from Antec, Enermax, etc. It's always a shame to have a bunch of good parts, and then the borderline PSU fails, taking your mobo and brand new video card with it.

 

[bamacre]

brawleyman

If you want a video card that has a 6-pin power connection (like the 8600 GTS) you need to open your case and make sure there is at least one free 4-pin molex power connector. Some of the E520 and E521 systems have shipped with power supplies that only have SATA power connectors. If it does, then you will also need one of these...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16812201004

I also hear that the 8800 GT won't fit, however, I have not tried this.

Also, do NOT buy a dual-slot video card, it will NOT fit. Only single-slot cards will fit in your case.

 

[brawleyman]

bryanW1995: Remember also, that I am not going to playing newer games or anything...the newest game I have Star Wars Battlefronts! I saw on newegg that the 8500GT's are about the same price as the 7300GT's and have 16 stream processors compared to 8 pixel pipelines. I also am not upgrading to Windows Vista either. I guess my main point is how well does the 8000 series work with Windows XP compared to the 7000 series which have been proven well for WXP?

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: brawleyman
bryanW1995: Remember also, that I am not going to playing newer games or anything...the newest game I have Star Wars Battlefronts! I saw on newegg that the 8500GT's are about the same price as the 7300GT's and have 16 stream processors compared to 8 pixel pipelines. I also am not upgrading to Windows Vista either. I guess my main point is how well does the 8000 series work with Windows XP compared to the 7000 series which have been proven well for WXP?

They work just fine for XP. You may want to look at an 8600 GT for ~$110.

 

[brawleyman]

Oh, I know that dual slot won't fit, and that there are no extra power connectors in the E521's, that is why I am wanting to stick with something that doesn't need the extra power to it, and something that is quiet without a fan. The 8800Gt would be out of my price range and so would the older 7900GS'. I don't plan on changing out the PSU. I just want something that will improve my performance with what I have now until a couple of years down the road when I upgrade to all new stuff.

Thank you again for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: brawleyman
Oh, I know that dual slot won't fit, and that there are no extra power connectors in the E521's, that is why I am wanting to stick with something that doesn't need the extra power to it, and something that is quiet without a fan. The 8800Gt would be out of my price range and so would the older 7900GS'. I don't plan on changing out the PSU. I just want something that will improve my performance with what I have now until a couple of years down the road when I upgrade to all new stuff.

Thank you again for all the suggestions! Keep 'em coming!

I know you said 'no ATI', but it would be crazy (considering your wants/budget/PSU), to not consider the X1950GT.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102034

That's no rebate, $112, and will be = or faster than 7900GS. They overclock well, and easily, they aren't psycho on the power draw, and the image quality is better. I have a 7900GTX, and the shimmering problem I see on games like Titan Quest isn't there on another system I have an X1950Pro in.

 

[brawleyman]

Thank you Arkaign, but as I mentionded before I want NVIDIA because it works much better with OpenGL which is what AutoCad and Sketchup use. Also, the card you are refering to needs an extra power hook up and the E521's don't have an extra power connecter to use. Also, from everything that I have read, the X1950GT is more power hungry compared to Geforces. It is also outside of my budget and has a fan, I want something with a passive heatsink. I just want to know what would be the best thing for what I need and what I have right now. I don't want to spend too much, just enought to increase my current performance until I upgrade later. Also, I would like to know how much of an increase I will see in overall performance just by adding a graphics card since I am using some ram for that. I am considering upgrading my ram from 533 to 800 soon as well, don't know if 1Gb will do or if I should go ahead and get 2Gb.

 

[Arkaign]

Hmm, that leaves a 7600GT. It's going to be really hard to find something with a passive fan that doesn't perform horribly, unless you're willing to buy it and mount it yourself.

 

[Arkaign]

If you can find one of these in your area for under $100, you'd be doing pretty good :

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-g.../msi-nx7600gt-t2d256ez

Low power requirements, no 6-pin power plug, no fan, giant heatpipe/heatsink cooler.

 

[brawleyman]

Well, I am located in the States and I am comfortable with newegg.com. I had been looking at the 7600GT, but they all have fans and I don't think that there would be enough cooling in the case for that graphics card. I don't want to do anything to the case or computer other than change out the ram and add a graphics card. I would rather not add a fan in the back if possible.

I guess I am looking at the 7300Gt vs 7600GS and how much of an overall performance gain I will get just from adding the card and how much better it would be if I also upgraded my ram.

 

[Arkaign]

The 7600GT with fans don't put out very much heat, and both perform a *LOT* better than the 7300GT/7600GS.

The performance leap from 6150 to 7600GT should be massive. Getting a 2x1GB DDR2-800 Ram pack should also give a large boost, particularly in memory-hungry games like BF2 and the like.

 

[brawleyman]

Has anyone used this card?

XFX 7600GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150185

This is the one that I have been considering, but then again, the fan thing...I don't know how loud it is or anything.

 

[Arkaign]

I own a PC shop, and have installed literally dozens of 7600GTs (along with pretty much every other common card). They are very quiet (about the same as a PSU fan), and put out very moderate heat. If you are truly concerned, you could add a card-slot exhaust cooler to the general area.

 

[brawleyman]

Well, I finally got an XFX 7600GS with a passive heatsink!!! You can see the specs of it below of how I worked it. Overclocks nicely and the hottest it has ever gotten so far is 71c overclocked in a Dell E521 with a single 120mm fan blowing across the processor and graphics card. I am very pleased with it.

Now all I have to do is upgrade my ram! I have a thread started under the system memory topic if anybody wants to give their 2 cents on what I should do. Thank you everyone!