Are there any video card upgrades available for a Dell Inspiron 531s?

Question

I want to be able to run team fortress 2 at close to full frames. I don't care about running it on high or anything, just somewhat smoothly. I've heard this specific model only has a 250 watt power supply. i can not afford to upgrade the psu, just the video card. I searched the internet and heard that the nvidea 8400 or the radeon 3850 would work, but i havn't actually confirmed that a 250 psu could power them, or that they would even fit in this tiny tower.

thanks in advance.

hahu077 · Accepted Answer

as the Dell Inspiron 531s is a slim line computer you need a so called low profile graphics card in order to fit in that case (this PC has a free pci-e x16 slot). the best 2 graphics cards a 250W psu can power are

the ATI HD 4650 low profile
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102829&cm_re=4650_low_profile-_-14-102-829-_-Product

the ATI HD 5570 low profile
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131341&cm_re=hd_5570_low_profile-_-14-131-341-_-Product

p.s.
the Radeon 3850 wouldn't work with a 250W psu (and doesn't fit in a slim line case) and the nVidia 8400 is much slower than the HD 4650 and HD 5570


added
if you would reach 60fps in tf2 is not only dependent on the graphics card but also on the cpu speed. recommended cpu speed (single core processor) is 2.40Ghz.
tf2 is an old game (2006) and the recommended graphics cards (GF 6600 or ATI X1600) are pretty much slower than the HD 4650.
btw, 1GB ram and Win XP is ok.

Trending News

Are there any video card upgrades available for a Dell Inspiron 531s?

1 Answer