Getting a Dell 530 desktop - what video card should I get?

[stuman74]

I just ordered a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop computer that only comes with the integrated Intel 3100 graphics controller. Processor is quad-core 2.4 ghz Q6600.

I really don't play graphic intensive games at all (mostly just browsing and playing video and office apps), however, I do some engineering drawing and modeling that needs 3D rendering from time to time. What's a decent mainstream video card that I should get (below $150 target...lower the better of course). 8600 GT maybe? At least I'm assuming the 3100 isn't sufficient.

Thanks!

 

[MarcVenice]

8800gs or 9600gt, both can be had for less then 150$. Those will also handle 3d games. Or consider spending a LOT less, and get a 50$ HD3650 or HD3450.

 

[IL2SturmovikPilot]

You're gonna need a new PSU if you want anything better than a HD 2600XT,HD 3650 or 8600GT,300W WON'T cut it for a 8800/9600GT.

Though one of those should serve you well if you're not doing demanding games anyways,if you're willing/have the money for a PSU upgrade though,get a 8800GS or 9600GT.

 

[stuman74]

I wasn't planning on swapping out the PSU. I know, my other PC (which isn't exactly a powerhouse) even has a 380W PSU. Why do they only put 300 in it?

I've really been out of it for a couple of years. I read good things about the nVidia cards, but I had usually had ATI along the way. Or for what I want, does it really matter?

Also, does the brand of the card really matter? I'm searching newegg....

 

[IL2SturmovikPilot]

Originally posted by: stuman74
I wasn't planning on swapping out the PSU. I know, my other PC (which isn't exactly a powerhouse) even has a 380W PSU. Why do they only put 300 in it?

I've really been out of it for a couple of years. I read good things about the nVidia cards, but I had usually had ATI along the way. Or for what I want, does it really matter?

Also, does the brand of the card really matter? I'm searching newegg....

Because Dell puts in cheap parts in their PC's and raises their prices,thus maximizing profit!

Seriously though,you can't go wrong either way IMHO,though i don't know whos the better performer for 3D Rendering and the like.

eVGA,XFX and BFG are the best for NVIDIA,Sapphire,HIS and VisionTek for ATI,and MSI,ASUS and Gigabyte for either NVIDIA or ATI,though i'm sure i'm missing some

 

[Dream Operator]

I hear a faint voice saying "If you build it, it would be better."

Have you compared the price for the Dell vs building a rig yourself?

The 8600GT was really a sad effort. The HD3850 would be a better pick, though I'm not so sure about it on a 300w PSU. I would research the 12v on that PSU and see what others are running that card on if you are interested.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Your PSU should be fine. There is a huge thread on fat wallet for the major deal on the Dell 530 series. It is reported that it can handle an 8800GT. So, imo, I would go with a 9600GT and pin mod the chip to run at 1333 FSB. Seriously, fat wallet has a thread with hundreds and hundreds of people who are getting in on this deal. I almost pulled the trigger too, but I don't need more computer parts.

Edit **

I meant SlickDeals, not falt wallet. Anyway, this is what the OP says on there.

The Inspiron 530 with a Quad comes with a 350W power supply that should handle a video card up to an 8800gt without upgrade (I'm running an x800xl that consumes around the same).
Also the Quad is G0 stepping (lower consumption + use the Bsel mod to bring it to 3 GHZ on air completely stable).

Also, if you never heard of this deal, basically, you get the following

Dell Inspiron 530
PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic - English
MONITOR 24 inch E248WFP Entry Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor
MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache?
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
VIDEO CARD Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
KEYBOARD & MOUSE Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive Included
MODEM & WIRELESS 56K PCI Data Fax Modem


Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB), Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic - English $1,019.00

Save $300 on select Inspiron Desktop purchases $999 or more! -$300.00

10% off Select Inspiron Desktop systems priced $649 and above! -$71.90


Sub Total $647.10

Additional Discounts and Coupons
Receive 2% off systems priced less than $800 with 1/2yr At-Home service! - $12.42
Save 4% when you buy online and pay with Dell Preferred Account! - $25.88

Free Ground Shipping on Select Inspiron Desktops!

Total (before tax) $608.80 w/ free shipping!

Check it out here

 

[happy medium]

I agree with ArchAngel777. A 9600gt uses 60 watts and a 8800gs uses 56 watts. Thats less then 5 amps for your gpu.

The only thing that worries me is the quad core cpu you got.Seems most Dell 530's have the duel core cpu which may be why the psu can handle such a video card.

The 8800gs can be had for 120/130.00$

I would suggest a 380 watt Antec earthwatts psu but I don't know if it will fit in a dell or if its compatable. Might have to go with a pc power and cooling psu.

Edit: I see its a 350 watt psu. Your good to go.

 

[IL2SturmovikPilot]

Originally posted by: happy medium
I agree with ArchAngel777. A 9600gt uses 60 watts and a 8800gs uses 56 watts. Thats less then 5 amps for your gpu.

The only thing that worries me is the quad core cpu you got.Seems most Dell 530's have the duel core cpu which may be why the psu can handle such a video card.

The 8800gs can be had for 120/130.00$

I would suggest a 380 watt Antec earthwatts psu but I don't know if it will fit in a dell or if its compatable. Might have to go with a pc power and cooling psu.

Then why do they need a PCI-E Power Connector if they use less than 75W?

 

[happy medium]

Mabe my source is wrong?

Mabe its not load watts?

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

Edit: It seems it will work with a 8800gt so a 9600gt or 8800gs will easily work.

 

[IL2SturmovikPilot]

Originally posted by: happy medium
Mabe my source is wrong?

Mabe its not load watts?

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

Edit: It seems it will work with a 8800gt so a 9600gt or 8800gs will easily work.

I also have a Inspirion 530,last time i checked,it was only 300W with 18A on the 12V rail,though its possible Dell put in a beefier PSU recently with the newer ones,that or i'm on something... o_0

 

[happy medium]

It seems they put a 350 watt psu in the quad core units.

 

[stuman74]

I had home-built PCs from 94 to 2005, but after having twins I just didn't have time to tinker much anymore. They each actually have the two older home-brew PCs that I last built (good enough for kids).

I bought the Dell on their outlet site. Seemed to me like a pretty good deal as a replacement for system #1 in my sig. Just adding a video card is all I figure to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inspiron 530

Inspiron Desktop 530 Mini-tower: Intel Core 2 Quad
Processor Q6600 (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

System Price : $429.00

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

Memory
2 GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)

Hard Disk Drive
500 GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

Modem
V.92/56K PCI DataFax Modem

Media Bay
16X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
48X CD RW/DVD Combo Drive

Certified Refurbished
Certified Refurbished

Base
Inspiron Desktop 530 Mini-tower: Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (8MB L2
cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

Hardware Upgrade
No Floppy Drive
USB Keyboard
Dell Optical USB 2-button Mouse

Software Upgrade
Microsoft Works 8.5 with MS Office Trial Version Software

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[IL2SturmovikPilot]

Originally posted by: happy medium
It seems they put a 350 watt psu in the quad core units.

Considering that a Q6600 consumes considerably more power than a similarly clocked dual core,that would be the most logical explaination.

 

[stuman74]

I'd even be content with my current Visiontek 9550, but it's AGP and this Dell doesn't have an AGP slot (man, I'm behind the times!).

Per the manual, there's a PCI Express x16, PCI Express x1, and only two regular PCI slots.

I'll be transporting over my Hauppauge TV card and my DLink Wireless network card so that's gonna fill the two PCI slots. It says this thing comes with a 56K modem, but I don't know what slot it's currently in (should get the PC between Wed and Fri). Eitherway, I'll take it out and throw it on the shelf.

Some of these video cards seem pretty tall so I suppose I need that space where the PCIx1 is to be empty.

 

[stuman74]

Wow, I saw this other thread on here and this sure seems like a good deal for this card, right?

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2167041&enterthread=y

Not in stock yet, but I placed an order for one, even if it takes over a week or so to get. I'm just not familiar with PNY brand video cards.

 

[happy medium]

Thats an excellent price! Go for it! That cards as fast as a 7900gs/gt.

 

[IlllI]

what resolution is your monitor stuman74?

 

[stuman74]

Originally posted by: clandren
what resolution is your monitor stuman74?

It's a Dell 1905FP. I currently run WinXP MCE at 1280 x 1024.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: stuman74I really don't play graphic intensive games at all (mostly just browsing and playing video and office apps), however, I do some engineering drawing and modeling that needs 3D rendering from time to time.

Sorry - gotta ask - if you only are concerned with web browsing and 3D *RENDERING*, why upgrade the video card at all?

3D *RENDERING* will use the cores on the CPU, and stress the GPU not at all. What is the specific problem you'd like to address with Intel 3100 integrated graphics?

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: stuman74

Originally posted by: clandren
what resolution is your monitor stuman74?

It's a Dell 1905FP. I currently run WinXP MCE at 1280 x 1024.

that 8600 you linked will probably be good enough for you then

 

[stuman74]

Originally posted by: dclive

Originally posted by: stuman74I really don't play graphic intensive games at all (mostly just browsing and playing video and office apps), however, I do some engineering drawing and modeling that needs 3D rendering from time to time.

Sorry - gotta ask - if you only are concerned with web browsing and 3D *RENDERING*, why upgrade the video card at all?

3D *RENDERING* will use the cores on the CPU, and stress the GPU not at all. What is the specific problem you'd like to address with Intel 3100 integrated graphics?

The program uses OpenGL for 3D. Doesn't that use the GPU and not just the CPU? If I'm wrong and it's totally CPU dependent, then maybe I don't need the card upgrade.

Also, the built in 3100 is a VGA adapter and my monitor is a DVI. I've seen adapters for the reverse, but do they also have them for what I need?

 

[dclive]

You'll want a video card then, for the DVI outputs. That's a good reason to get a video card.

If you aren't sure there's a performance benefit, there usually isn't. In your case, if you're going to be computing 3D landscapes, there's no benefit. It's only when you have to display that to the screen that the 3D card can benefit you, and for AutoCAD and other pro-level apps, the Intel graphics are fine for many people.

3D cards are really targeted at gamers currently. Other than that, most people are fine with built-in video.

 

[dclive]

What's the program, and what does a quick overview of their website tell you you should buy?

 

[stuman74]

Originally posted by: dclive
What's the program, and what does a quick overview of their website tell you you should buy?

Primarily for SolidWorks 2008. I know, the Quadro cards are different than the GeForce cards. But for the money, I'd think the 8600 GTS should work well for me (I think).

http://www.solidworks.com/page...ystemRequirements.html