Upgrading DELL Inspiron 570

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*Moved thread from Case section as most of the query is regarding part upgrades*

Hi all - I hope someone can answer the following few questions before I part with my hard earned wonga!

I purchased a Dell Inspiron 570 last year and am looking to pretty much replace everything that came with the PC.

I have replaced the GeForce 310 that came with the computer for a GeForce GTX 550Ti. Due to the size difference of these graphics cards, the 550 doesn't seem to fit in the case very well. Also, because of the way the Dell case is designed, I can't screw the 550 in. The holes in the case don't seem to be compatible with the screw holes in the 550.

I've been looking at the Antec Three Hundred Midi Case and was wondering if this will accept the 550 as well as be versatile enough to accept a better Motherboard and Processor?

I am also looking to upgrade from the standard Motherboard that came from Dell. I'm not sure what make the current one is - Belarc Advisor says the following:-

Board: Dell Inc. 04GJJT A00
Serial Number: ..CN7016301S01BU.
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. A01 01/25/2010

Would the Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) microATX DDR3 Motherboard be a worthy upgrade from this?

Also, my current processor is a 2.90 gigahertz AMD Athlon II X3 435. I am looking to upgrade to a AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz. Would this be a worthwhile upgrade and would it be compatible with the Motherboard I've chosen above?

Lastly, my current RAM is the 4GB that came from Dell (4 x 1GB DDR3 sticks). I'm running Windows 7 64 bit and I remember someone saying to me that by replacing my RAM with 4 x 2GB sticks, I may not add any performance to my PC - can someone confirm?

In summary, I'm looking for a new PC case, new motherboard and new processor that should help me play the latest games for at least the next year or two.

Any advice anyone can give would be much appreciated :D

Thanks!
 
copied reply from case section:
to answer a lot of your questions i need to know what your going to be doing with the PC (gaming, video editng, CAD/CAM, etc)

however, what i can answer is:
if you plan to upgrade the processor as well as the motherboard there is very little reason to go AMD. equivalent intel processors wipe the floor with AMD's.

the antec 300 will work fine with what you have, but the antec 100 is cheaper and a lot better.

if you have win7home premium 64 bit then the maximum RAM that can be recognised is 16GB (including graphics card VRAM). if you have professional or ultimate then the computer will recognise up to 196GB RAM. wether this will give you a performance increase or not depends on what you are doing with the PC
 
From the other thread... (posting 2 exact messages in different forums is frowned up by the way ;))

Do not spend more money on a dead platform (ie. AMD AM3 CPUs and motheboards). Intel completely outstrips everything that AMD sells with Sandy Bridge - AMD is going to launch their new Bulldozer platform in the next few weeks on the AM3+ socket.

The Gigabyte 970A-UD3 or Gigabyte 990XA-UD3 will be good for your current CPU and for the future due to the AM3+ socket and allows overclocking capabilities so that you can push your current CPU higher until Bulldozer is released. As for your RAM, the 4x1GB sticks will slighly strain the memory controller more which will require more effort to overclock. If you do want to overclock, buy the Gelid Tranquillo as your CPU cooler.

The Antec 300 was a good case back in the day, but is completely archaic these days. Go for it if you like the plain, understated styling though. Better, modern alternatives in the same price bracket include the Antec 100 (direct replacement for the 300), BitFenix Shinobi and Zalman Z9. Many people highly recommend the Zalman Z9 (like stulid) due to lots of included fans.
 
copied reply from case section:
to answer a lot of your questions i need to know what your going to be doing with the PC (gaming, video editng, CAD/CAM, etc)

however, what i can answer is:
if you plan to upgrade the processor as well as the motherboard there is very little reason to go AMD. equivalent intel processors wipe the floor with AMD's.

the antec 300 will work fine with what you have, but the antec 100 is cheaper and a lot better.

if you have win7home premium 64 bit then the maximum RAM that can be recognised is 16GB (including graphics card VRAM). if you have professional or ultimate then the computer will recognise up to 196GB RAM. wether this will give you a performance increase or not depends on what you are doing with the PC

Thanks for the response.

In regards to the "equivalent intel processors", could you suggest one? Perhaps an Intel Sandybridge i5-2500 Core i5?

I have seen the "AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Six-core Processor - 2.80 GHz" on ****** for ***. All of the Intel i7 stuff seems to start from around double this price so not sure if I should be aiming that high.

I do intend to use the PC for gaming.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
The Intel I5 2500k cpu with a Z68 or P67 which would allow you to over clock the cpu.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
(£144.99) £173.99
(£144.99)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** LOWEST UK PRICE ** £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £45.98
(£38.32) £45.98
(£38.32)
Sub Total : £266.63
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £55.23
Total : £331.36

RAM on offer, finishes first thing tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
just the i5 sandybridge processors would be enough to beat the phenom X6 1100T, no need to look at i7's. however, the main reason not to bother with the i7 over the i5 is because the only difference between the two is hyperthreading, which games cannot take advantage of, as demonstrated in the FPS scores of the two processors:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

not knowing what your budget is heres a mid range sandybridge spec:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £173.99
1 x MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
1 x Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £44.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) £23.99
Total : £365.05 (includes shipping : £11.75).
 
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