PsycoCheerio
Member
+2|7187|Marysville, Washington
I was wondering if i bought a 520 Dimension Desktop could i potentially go out and buy extra or new RAM and a better video card, or is that not possible because it's a Dell.

Just wondering because my little bro wants a computer to play some games on and this is the cheapest way if it would actually work.

Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks in advance
Mong0ose
Will it blend?
+24|6936|UK
i personally wouldnt touch dell unless you paid me

In answer to your question, no reason you couldnt upgrade - HOWEVER:

Check there are spare dimm slots & what config u can use
Check the gfx card provided isnt integrated - if it is check u can disable it in bios
LT.Victim
Member
+1,175|7012|British Columbia, Canada
What a stupid Question..

Of Course..
jimmanycricket
EBC Member
+56|7105|Cambridge, England
if there is space for more ram then yes, if not you have to check to see what the maximum amount of ram the motherboard supports and then take out what is in there and replace with new ram.

Last edited by jimmanycricket (2006-10-17 14:36:52)

bobby177
Member
+129|6924|Texas.. getting out asap
Actually maybe not on the graphics cards because I have a dell and tried to do the same thing. I was planning on buying a 7800GT but realized that I did not have a high enough power supply. So I researched upgrading dell power supplies and they are un replaceable because they are made to not be removed. That dell might not be the same as mine but you would wanna check that out first
GuliblGuy
Zulu son, what!?!
+79|7235|Anaheim, CA

Mong0ose wrote:

i personally wouldnt touch dell unless you paid me
Agreed!  HP FTW
leftoverkiller
Member
+9|6913
Externally Accessible
Video: 1 DVI, VGA and 1 S-Video (with add-in PCI-Express video card)
IEEE 1394 (optional) - 1 6-pin serial connector
USB: 7 Ports (2 Front, 5 Back) + 1 internal
Audio: Audio – six back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, rear surround, side surround, SPDIF interface in rear, two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone, integrated 7.1 channel sound
Network: Integrated Ethernet
Integrated 10/100 network interface
Expansion Slots
PCI: 2 Slots
PCIe x1: 1 Slot
PCIe x16 (Graphics): 1 Slots

Chassis
305 Watt DC Power Supply Backup battery: 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell
3.5" Bays: 3 bays (one external; two internal)
5.25" Bays: 2 bays
Memory DIMM slots: 4 available

yes it is upgradeable. but did you buy it from dell with a video card? or dose it have  integrated video. your memory is ddr2 533MHz and according to dell it is upgradeable to 4 gigs . but here lies your problem. your power supply is only 305 watts. i cant tell how many amps your 12 volt rail or rails your power supply has.  lets say you buy the bfg 7950 256MB video card . you will need at least a 350 watt power supply with a 22 amp 12 volt rail. id go more toward 500 watts if you plan to max that rig out.and you also need to know if this is a dell with a non removable power supply. yep the did that to there machines.  here is the address to you machine at dell.                                        http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr … &cs=19

so bottom line you are looking for some new memory ( its best to buy matched sets id start with 2  1 gig sticks of good memory.) a new video card and a new power supply. hope this helps some. and if all else fails call dell on it 1800 number . after all you paid for tec support.

if you are looking for a good gaming rig you will probably have to build it yourself of buy one out of the may places in places like PC gamer magazine. the of the shelf stuff is to hard to say definitely if you can build them up.

Last edited by leftoverkiller (2006-10-17 14:58:43)

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