Dell is Dumb

JtH · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:56 am Post subject: Dell is Dumb

Well my mom bought a dell computer and im thinking of upgrading it a bit. Just along the lines of installing a high end graphics card, and some more ram.

I just cant figure out for the life of me what type of graphics card and ram it takes.It has a little connector space for the graphics card. Like around maybe an inch and a half long. I know its not AGP, but i have no clue what else it could be. Maybe pci express? Who knows.

And the ram. Looks like normal ddr ram but it could be ddr2 and i have no way of knowing. I went to dells service and support and they said that "i must have purchased the computer through a business partner or affiliate, and that i would need to go to them." Now, i watched my mom order it right off their website and it came with dell boxes. Could be anyones guess what that means.

But anyway. Ill try to get pictures up of the mobo and stuff so maybe you guys could give me a clue. But i dont know when that will be because my dogs chewed my camera. I guess i could just keep buying them and taking them back till i get one that works.

pfft
Dell is poopoo

John Doe · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:20 pm Post subject:

Jack, tell me the model of the PC and I can tell you what you need to know.

Depending on the model of Dell, some dont have a expansion slot for a video card. These low end models are the 1100, 3100 and various other flavors.

Anything above that will have a PCIe slot or a AGP slot if its a older model.

Again, tell me the model and I will tell you what you need to know. BTW, the model would be something like a Dimension 3100, Dimension 5150, or similar.

Oh, and with the model information I tend to go to www.crucial.com or www.kingston.com to find out what type of memory can go into the PC and what limits there may be.

JD
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rANCOR hUNTER · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:43 pm Post subject:

I don't know much about Dell stuff. Is it an AMD or P4?
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Mike · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 2:02 pm Post subject:

dell used to have a thing on their site where you could put in your comp model # and it would give you the type of ram. I would just get the model # of the ram and do a search for it.

if its not agp, then its probably pci-e, but it could be one of those small pci-e slots because i dont know how big the normal ones are.
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John Doe · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject:

JtH · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject:

Its a Dimension E510

At least thats what the case says

When i go into dxdiag it says its a DM051

ROOFCUTTER · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:02 pm Post subject:

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JtH · Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:50 pm Post subject:

uh.... english roofio.

John Doe · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:59 am Post subject:

Right, a Dimension E510 uses DDR2 dimms, and supports a max of 8GB in the 4 memory slots.

It supports PC3200(400) and PC4000(533) DDR2 Dimms.

So, you most likely have 2 dimms in it right now and can put in two more. If you only have 512mb right now, chances are its two 256mb dimms, and I would recommend upgrading by adding two 512mb dimms so that you have 1.5 gb.

As for the video card slot, from what Roof posted you do have a full PCIe slot available to you to put in a better video card.

JD
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JtH · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 5:09 am Post subject:

wonderful. And im pretty sure its 1 gig of ram but if not. No biggy.

The reason i asked this is because im going to buy a new computer eventually and i want to get all the high end stuff. Like ddr2, PCIe and stuff.

so instead of buying everything at once and dropping a lot of money. Im gonna go and buy it all at separate times and put them in my moms comp until im ready for them. itll be easier on my pocket that way.

well thanks again everyone. i appreciate it.

Mike · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:25 pm Post subject:

Bull · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:41 pm Post subject:

Do yourself a favor and don't 'settle' for a middle of the road graphics
card, 'cause you will wish you had gotten a faster one! Just wait and save your coins. I know, I know, it's painful, but you will not regret it in the long run.

Sarge
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Mike · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:13 pm Post subject:

I normally just google it when I have a problem with my comp, but for some reason the other night I tried Dell's support and found out that it sucks, the other night i used the chat feautre on the site to chat with "Deepak" in India

and was asking how I could sync my monitor with my vid card because the auto adjust was making my pixel clock and phase settings out of sync and i got a few lines of blurred text. I was told to do some stupid "monitor self test" that involved disconnecting my monitor from my comp which was part of the problem. It ofcourse didn't work.

After a quick google, I came across this nice web page that has a brackground that makes it obvious where blurred lines where so i could tweak the settings until they were gone.
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JtH · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 7:17 am Post subject:

wow nice mike. i just used that site to get a few blurred lines out of my girlfriends monitor.

I always thought that the pixels were just messed up in a few places and that her monitor was crapola.

oh and bull, on the graphics card note. Im getting a bfg tech geforce 7800 for around 300 dollars. 256 mb ddr3 and a bunch of other nice goodies.

I figure, its better off to put the money in now, and have top of the line pretty much then to buy a cheaper one, and not be able to play the higher end games.

Also, need i mention it is SLI ready.

Eventually, i will be SLI ready as well, and when that time comes. WHAM!

8 billion fps for me. Ill be able to see you move before you even know you are moving.