I need nice graphics cards for 2 computers. I'm kinda on a budget, but it needs to play Skyrim decently. Right now my computer (the 530) can't really play the Witcher very well and it has an All-in-Wonder x800. Probably a relic, considering it was a quick fix when my new graphics card's fan went out.

Would 2 of these cards be good?

EVGA GeForce 8400 GS DDR3

Or do they tear up easily? They don't cost much (about $50) for a 1gb card, so it makes me suspicious....

Do you know what wattage the PSU in your computers has?

I'll assume for now that it is a 300 Watt as that is usually what is in PCs from Dell, Gateway, etc. If so I would recommend getting a GT 440. I have one in my current PC and while it is certainly not top of the line, It is probably the most powerful graphics card that you can run safely on a 300 Watt PSU. You can probably find one for $60 - $80 depending on the VRAM. You can get a GT 440 with 1 GB of DDR5 right now from newegg for $75 and it is significantly better than a 8400 GS.

What brand name are you using? Does it seem pretty reliable? I would like something that is both functional AND that will last. It doesn't matter how powerful it is if it has a crappy fan on it that tears up after just one year of use. xP

You can do better. Just don't imagine that any graphics card will turn either of those into a Witcher 2-eating monster.

With Inspirons, the important question is always, do you have a slimline model? (The ones that end in "s", usually.)

Slimline cases are tight on interior space and will only take a low-profile graphics card. AMD makes some good ones. The HD 5570 and HD 6570 are available in a number of low-profile models. These are far better than an 8400 GS and the best you can do in low-profile.

The tower cases have plenty of interior space and a decent power supply. Without replacing the power supply, you can go a step above the 5570/6570 that will fit in the slimline case, to a 5670 or 6670.

With the tower case, you can upgrade the power supply and graphics card; the sky's the limit, but you won't turn one of those sow's ears into a silk purse by throwing money at it. The 6670's an ideal upgrade for such a unit.

So for the 546s I should get this:
SAPPHIRE 100323L Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready

And for the 530 this?:
SAPPHIRE 100326DDR3L Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready

There's no EVGA cards with those numbers, so I'll have to go with Sapphire. They sound like the most reliable of the bunch.

Would 1 gb of extra RAM help my two machines out much? Or would it pretty much be a waste on these "old sow's ears"?

Sapphire is AMD's first-line manufacturer; they get new chips first and usually have the widest selection of product. But I don't much like those two cards.

That 100323L appears to not come with the low-profile bracket that you need. You would have to search for one and buy it separately. What good is it to ship a low-profile card with only the high-profile bracket, I'll never understand.

This one comes with the low profile bracket: Sapphire 100293L Radeon HD 5570 1GB 128-bit DDR3

The 100326 is a DDR3 card, in a line that usually gets the much faster GDDR5 memory. Although you have to settle for DDR3 on a 5570 or 6570, a 5670 or 6670 should have GDDR5.

This one is a 5670 with GDDR5:
SAPPHIRE 100289-2L Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR5

And this one is the somewhat faster 6670:
HIS H667F1GD Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5

And yes, if you have only 2GB RAM now, increasing it to 3 or 4GB will pay off with the more demanding games. The motherboards in both of those have 4 RAM slots, so you can configure memory pretty easily. You want to add DDR2 RAM; add it in pairs so you get interleaved memory access. Kits of 2x1GB (2 sticks of 1GB each) are common and inexpensive.

I'd get an extra 2GB. Are you still using XP? If so then it will only recognise 3.25GB so yeah, with XP there's no real point in going over 3GB and ideally you're going to need at least 4GB for more modern games.

I just checked and the 530 has 4GB, and the 546s actually has more, 8GB. So I'm guessing that will be enough once I get the graphics cards.

Thanks for all the help. I'll get the one in the first link for the 546 slim and the HIS card for my 530.

I have an Elitegroup GT 440. It works great and I've had no problems with it.

If you get any of the ATI cards mentioned above, make sure your PSU can handle it. There's a reason I did not recommend an ATI card and that's because even the lower level ones tend to require more power. I believe you'll need at least 400 Watt PSU for those cards.

That is not so. Please check your facts before posting; I do, and I expect others claiming to offer advice to do the same.

I specifically recommended those cards because they all draw the same, or less, power than the GT 440. Here's the manufacturer's stated TDP for each:

HD 6670 66W
GT 440 65W
HD 5670 GDDR5 64W
HD 6570 GDDR5 60W
HD 5570 39W

Any of those cards is well within the capacity of the stock power supply that Dell used in those Inspiron towers. I, and others I've worked with, know that power supply well.

For the slimline, the HD 5570 is much the better choice, even though there is a low-profile GT 440 (MSI) that you may be able to find. The slimline has a weaker 250W power supply and a much more confined case. Even the GT 440 would be too hot for it.

There's no need for a lecture, I never claimed absolute knowledge. All I did was go to ATI's website and lookup the 6670 they recommend a PSU of 400 Watts or greater. That is why I suggested making sure your PSU can handle it... If you can run those cards on a lower power source than their site suggests then that's great news.

Not sure about the newer cards, but I would definitely recommend against the 8400GS.
The 8xxx series are getting horribly outdated.

I use a 4-year-old factory overclocked 8600GT DDR3 that's built on the GTS platform. While it was a super awesome deal at $100 back in the day because the speeds were GTS-like at a GT-like price, I'm having more and more trouble playing newer games that use Shader 3.0. The card also seems to be optimized for DirectX 9 and below. I wouldn't expect an 8400GS to even be able to fully utilize 1GB...

If I followed correctly, the 8xxx series were superseded by the 9xxx series, which were later superseded by the 2xx series, 4xx series, and now the 5xx series. That's a lot of generations :)

I'm sure you'll get better value for your money for a longer period of time with a newer card.

I got the two suggested cards:
The HIS H667F1GD Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
works fine.

But the Sapphire 100293L Radeon HD 5570 1GB 128-bit DDR3
card isn't being detected by the 546s. Any suggestions?

Make sure it's seated properly. Getting a card to seat in those slimline cases is sometimes trickier than it is in proper towers.

Also, check the BIOS. IIRC, Dell BIOS have an "Init Display First" setting under "Advanced Chipset Features". Make sure it's set to the PCI-e 16x device.