Sorry. I'm just happy. This isn't a brag thread, I swear - people who've known me for a while on GOG know that my ancient, dilapidated Dell laptop has been on its last legs for years. I finally was able to upgrade to a modest machine that I can upgrade further as money permits. It's no gaming machine, but it got good reviews and should run all my GOGs and indie games just fine.

The old machine was a Dell Inspiron E1505 with a 1.66ghz Intel Core Duo, an ATI Radeon X1300 with 256mb memory, and 1G of RAM running Windows XP. It had 80GB of storage space. I bought it in 2006 and it was already a year or two old, iirc. I had to upgrade because my hard drive makes loud noises now, the computer overheats a lot, and for some reason despite constant virus scans and cleaning it takes me two or three minutes to open OpenOffice documents or open a web browser. Not to mention the keyboard has issues, the speakers are long gone, and I have to duct-tape the cord to the back. Oh, and the hinge is broken, which I also had to fix with duct tape.

The new machine is a refurbished Dell Inspiron 560 Desktop with Windows 7 Home Premium. It has a 1TB hard drive, an Intel Pentium Dual Core E6700 Processor (3.20ghz) that got very nice reviews, 6GB of RAM, and some kind of graphics card that you can apparently replace. Or maybe you add one. Also, it is shiny. I wish it were red, though. Red makes it go fasta. (WAAAGH!)

Which brings me to my question! If I need to replace my graphics card, what would a low-end graphics card be that's comparable or better than the X1300 and would work in this machine? I really appreciate the help! :D

We need to know what your slots are to know for sure.

Edit: Okay, seems you're likely PCI-E.

However, AMD recently released some cheap, low power draw ones that, while it's not gonna play Battlefield 3 on ultra, it will save you cash on energy.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/15/amd-releases-radeon-hd-7750-and-7770-gpus/

I would think that a desktop would support any and every video card that you put into it, so long as you have the driver software for it. As far as a comparable alternative, first you need to figure out what the specifications are for your current card, which I think you can find in your computer's hardware configuration.

You could check a list such as Tom's Hardware's Best Graphics Cards For The Money: February 2012.

A more powerful video card will probably require a more powerful power supply since the ones OEMs use tend to be only suitable for low-end cards.

Yea, any really good graphics card will likely require a power supply upgrade, but the new 7750 or 7770 would likely work with any old one he has in it.

Thanks so much!

Thanks to everyone that responded :D

I won't know what works until I get it and unbox it and see if I even NEED anything else (apparently the ones that come with it aren't great, but they aren't HORRIBLE and since most of my games are 5-10 years old, I might be okay). Ooh, that is an immensely helpful link. Much appreciated!

Nice. I love those core ranges, you can overclock the hell out of them if you have a half decent cooling system (I just have a massive 120mm fan mounted to the side of a giant copper tubed heatsink) infact I just checked and I have the quad core version of the same chip.

Also I'd go Nvidia for graphics. I'm still running a Geforce 250GTS which is a nice cheap one. I can play most console ports maxed out, I played Crysis 2 all on high and Shogun 2 I get all highs too, it really pulls it's weight. Plus Nvidia have PhysX now so...

If you want to check your graphics card goto the search bar on the start menu and type dxdiag and press enter then tab over to display and it'll tell you what you're rolling with :) post it here if you like.

Edit: As for PSU's people are right, however bear in mind that I am running 5 hard drives (2 pata, 3 SATA 2's) a dvd/rw, my geforce 250gts, 4gb gaming ram, sound blaster xfi all on a 385w power supply all because it's 85%+ efficient. Prior to this I was struggling on a cheaper supposed 680w 'Gaming' PSU (was in a rush the day I got it & it was the only one instore). Modulars can be great though.

Ah, that's reassuring. I had post-order-confirmation panic attacks while I was posting this thread. And I will most certainly check when the new computer gets here - probably Tuesday or Wednesday of next week :D

Oops processor isn't quite the one I was thinking of. It's not quite as good as it's duo variant but it's still a damn good processor so I shouldn't worry. ^_^. Either way it's a decent rig and for most older stuff having more raw processing power is better because most of them only utilize a single core (& some newer games like Skyrim which I think does now support dual but didn't on release.... and console ports).

Looked at the specs on Dell and it's most likely to have an intel onboard graphics chip. These are ok for HD video in most cases but suck at gaming a bit (tend not to support newer shader models & features) so you'll want to upgrade if it's that.

Aye, I anticipated that. I really am at the point where I just needed a new machine for work and school, but it sounds like a new graphics card (and maybe a power supply) and this one's fine for the gaming I'll be doing, too. Maybe I can finally run Minecraft at a decent framerate! :D

This is the 560 tower, not the 560s slimline, right?

The Inspiron 560 has a cheap 300W power supply. Dell has (since the Dimension 4600 fiasco) been better than other builders about using decent power supplies, but don't expect miracles. In particular, don't try to run any card that requires an auxiliary PCI-e power connector.

The AMD HD 5670 or 6670, or nVidia GT 440 or 530, is as far as you can go without also upgrading the power supply.

Do not pay a premium for the AMD 7670, even if you can find one. It is the same card as the 6670.

Cards like the nVidia GTS 250 that another poster recommended draw far too much power. The same is true of mid-range AMD cards like the 7750/7770.

If you want to upgrade the power supply too, of course you can get a more powerful card. But do not expect miracles from the little microATX case. Trying to put a high-power card like the nVidia GTX 560Ti in that little case will just make everything else overheat too.

I use the gtx 460se and I'm pretty happy with it for a low end card. Can't max every game with 60 fps, but it definitely outperforms the console versions of games. I'd say the only games that really give me a disappointing framerate are Total War :Shogun 2 (can get down to 20 fps, ) and Arma 2 (probably about 28 average fps), though the low framerates are probably because of my cpu (athlon quadcore) I also haven't tried Battlefield 3 yet .
But still the 460 will play hundreds and hundreds of games very well, and that should last you a long time



I don't think they make the se version anymore, but they still have the regular gtx 460, which is a little more powerful and costs $140-$150.

Item Description:
-- Inspiron Desktop 560 Mini-Tower Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
Unit Price: $359.00
Quantity: 1
-- Inspiron Desktop 560 Mini-Tower
-- 120V Power Cord
-- Operating System Label
-- Certified Refurbished
-- No Modem
-- DataSafe Online Backup Software
-- Software
-- Processor Label
-- 1 TB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)
-- Documentation
-- Piano Black
-- USB Keyboard
-- Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E6700 (3.20GHz 2MB)
-- Shipping
-- Software
-- 16X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
-- Thermal Module Heatsink,65W
-- Wave Systems Software
-- Dell Support 2.0 Software
-- Dell 2-Button Mouse
-- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
-- Mini Tower
-- Software
-- No Media Selected
-- Microsoft Office Starter
-- 6 GB DDR3 ECC SDRAM 1333MHz (3 DIMMs)

Thank you very, VERY much :D

I appreciate it. No muss, no fuss advice that I can understand. I can work the hardware easily, but picking it, I'm a bit of a mess.