Talk me out of buying a refurb Dell 518

[Adam B]

Everyone's been extolling the virtues of the "put a new graphics card in a cheap Dell" method of upgrading my PC's sexy. Seems like a good idea. Refurb Dells seems like the best idea because they're crazy cheap. My question:

Anyone have any experience with the Inspiron 518 chassis, or refurb Dells in general? I just want to make sure that I can fit a 4850 and another HDD in there without causing any irritating power, cooling, or noise issues, and buggered if I can find an inside look at the 518 chassis online.

[dannimal]

I'm not sure what exactly you're looking for (inside dimensions in detail, or just a roughly scale diagram of the inside?), but here's the service manual for the 518:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp518/en/sm/index.htm

It wouldn't surprise me if the design doesn't do a great job of accounting for "power user" expansion, in terms of airflow. Although, that applies more to the small form factor boxes. It's also an opinion on Dells in general from someone who has supported them for over a decade (hw & sw), and not a statistical analysis.

[Adam B]

Hah! Teach me for looking at the wrong system. The 518 doesn't have any PCIe x16 slots. So the 530 is what I should look at.

[anaqer]

Hah! Teach me for looking at the wrong system. The 518 doesn't have any PCIe x16 slots. So the 530 is what I should look at.
Say what? (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp518/en/sm/redding4.jpg) #26 looks a lot like one to me.

edit: this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9LX6A3us6s) video review seems to confirm it as well... I'm not sure why Dell doesn't list it among the specs. Maybe they are just mentioning expansion slots not already in use? ( Quite likely, since the 530s that have x16 listed all start out with integrated video, whereas the 518s have a Radeon 3450.)

[Adam B]

Oh, weird. I was looking at 518s sans video card and didn't see it listed either...apparently you have to go diving into the damn tech manuals =\

[dannimal]

Welcome to my hell...

[Midnight Son]

Don't do it.

[Lo-Volt]

I thought Dell et al still offered relatively low-rated PSUs in machines like that. I wonder how much clearance you'll have with something like that, depending on what you want to do with it further down the road. And there are already refurbs of this model?

[Moggraider]

I own a 530. It's got an underpowered PSU. I never tried upgrading it, but I wouldn't bother with buying a 518.

Even the XPS 420's only got a 425 Watt PSU; I think it's caused stability problems with my ATI 4870.

[anaqer]

300W... if it's not a quad-core, adding a 4850 and a second HDD shouldn't be much of a problem. I used to run an old Athlon64, a 6800Ultra and two disks off an uber-cheapo 300W PSU, but YMMV.

BTW, do Dells still come with a proprietary PSU connector, or was that just a thing of the distant past?

[Moggraider]

300W not a problem? Really? This isn't the era of the 6800, sadly.

In my case, it's not my first 4870, so I know it's not the card that's the problem.

[anaqer]

You, Sir, are correct. I remembered the 6800U chewing up a monstrous 70+ Watts (http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-vs-nv-power/6800u.gif) under load, and I figured an upper-mainstream card of today would hover roughly around that mark (what with the much smaller process they're built on and all). Not so! (http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-radeon-hd4850/hd4850_power.gif)

[Adam B]

Apparently Dell no longer uses proprietary PSU connections, so I can grab my 500W ATX PSU from my old machine and throw it in here. Hmm.

[Lunch of Kong]

In this economy, do you really need to be spending money on a computer? I mean, with the recent crash, shouldn't you be looking to invest your $500 in some stocks or something that will give you $10,000 in compound earnings over the next 10 years?

Hey, you said "talk me out of this".

[unbongwah]

Does the sensible argument (http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1125.html) ever work, though?

[Sarkus]

I have an Inspiron 530 and the stock PSU was plenty for a 8800GT type card. However, it did come with a quad core and my understanding is that more basic CPU equipped version have a weaker PSU.

Actually, I'm surprised Stusser hasn't commented. . . :-)

[KaoFloppy]

I have an Inspiron 530 with Pentium Dual (not Core 2), and it's got a 250W PSU. Inspiron with quad core gets 350W PSU.

[Adam B]

The 530 and 518, from what I can tell, both come with 300W PSUs.

[rei]

just put in a good cheap vx450w psu or an antec earthwatts 500.

i wouldn't buy refurb though and wait on a good new deal.

again, paid $369 CAD for my vista home 2gb ram core 2 duo E6400, 160gb hd, dvd-writer, microatx tower vostro 200.

[Jonathan Crane]

just put in a good cheap vx450w psu or an antec earthwatts 500.


Is it tricky to swap out the PSU on a Dell? I'm comfortable changing video cards and memory, but for some reason PSUs seem to require a few more skill points than I have.

[rei]

i haven't on mine but i know it's a standard size. if you get a lower spec video card (still an upgrade from integrateD) you won't have to change the psu but you still have to get power adapters since it doesn't come with anything but sata power connectors and the cards may use molex or the pci-e adapter.

it's not tricky at all. unscrew it out of the case. unplug all that's plugged into the mobo and then you put in your new one makign sure to plug all the connectors (not leaving any unplugged) that were in before.

it's much lower on skill points than video card install since a power swap does not involve anything software side like drivers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

430w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006&Tpk=N82E16817371006&CMP=AFC-C8Junction

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015&Tpk=EA650&CMP=AFC-C8Junction
$69.99 for 650w may be your best bet.

Check here for PSU deals: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/power-supplies

[rei]

If you have a brick and mortar Fry's near you:

http://cdn.travidia.com/rop-sub/23508424

Actually this is pretty sweet price for upgrade.

[Moggraider]

Yeah, I just got that Earthwatts off Newegg for $10 more.



BTW, do Dells still come with a proprietary PSU connector, or was that just a thing of the distant past?

Nope. Just replaced the PSU in my XPS 420 and everything's fine.


Is it tricky to swap out the PSU on a Dell? I'm comfortable changing video cards and memory, but for some reason PSUs seem to require a few more skill points than I have.

Not tricky, actually. I had a fair time of it. The case even had a push-lever to eject your existing PSU once you unscrewed it, and pull-tabs for some of the cables. But I didn't work on an Inspiron.

[Adam B]

just put in a good cheap vx450w psu or an antec earthwatts 500.

i wouldn't buy refurb though and wait on a good new deal.

again, paid $369 CAD for my vista home 2gb ram core 2 duo E6400, 160gb hd, dvd-writer, microatx tower vostro 200.

Lo and behold, this morning I google up "dell inspiron coupon" and come across a new quad-core inspiron with everything I want for $500 (reg $700). Hot. 3-5 business days can't come soon enough!

[rei]

which model did you buy? just make sure you don't get a slimline one.

[Adam B]

No, it's the full tower. The slimline one is the 530s.

Also, that Antec Earthwatts 500 is on sale right now at newegg for $50 and free shipping, so I got me one of them as well so we can give my old machine to my parents-in-law, who are struggling with some ancient piece of garbage that chokes on anything more complicated than Facebook.

[rei]

Good luck! Give us the update with pics!

[Adam B]

No pics yet, but I'm posting this from the new machine!

...at 640x480 because the Catalyst drivers are still downloading, but still!

So exciting!