upgrading a Inspiron 531

[lancefiles]

I got my son a Dell Inspiron 531 desktop a few years ago and now he wants to upgrade it. He wants more memory, it came with two gigs of ram (Which is in two slots 1 gig x 2 ) the specs I checked online at Dell.com says the cpu should have 4 slots leaving two available. Can I just get 1 2 gig chip and add to it or do I have to get the chips in pairs and get 2 2 gig chips? And if I do get the two chips will it just add to the two I have giving me a total of 6 gigs of ram? Or do i have to take out the original chips first?

He also wants to upgrade his graphics card and I don't know how to read the specs on his current one......read as follows.........



Quantity Parts # Part Description
0 01323 INFO,NO ITEM
1 WN592 INSTR,DVAT CHAS L6 TO L5+,531
1 TP601 ASSY,CHAS,MNTW,531,NPFC,L6
1 RU305 Assembly,Heatsink,Fan,Mini Tower,Slim Tower
1 WP896 Processor,LE1250,2.2G,512,45W Sempron,G2
0 702EX INFO,PREP MTL,DEV,PWS,INCRS,#1
1 JY172 PLCMT,GETS,DIM,DAO/BCC
1 JP208 HD,160G,S2,7.2K,8M,ULD,SGT-NH
2 CM633 Dual In-line Memory Module 1GB,800,128X64,8,240,1RX8
1 X146C Kit,Speaker,1.2W,AX210,Nmb,Ship In Box
1 JF495 Modem,V.92,Data Fax,Internal SON2,Lead Free,Dell Americas Organization
1 NM467 Keyboard,104,Universal Serial Bus,United States,Entry Silver,Liteon
1 K257H KIT,Software,VHP32SP1A,DigitalVideo Disk Drive,Multiple,5
1 TR687 Technical Sheet,Terms And Conditions,Generic,Retail
0 83535 INFO,PART,ATAPI,DEVICE
1 XN967 KIT,MSE,USB,2BTN,OPTCL,PMX
1 P005H KIT,SW,RXO,10.2-0,DE
1 R020C Kit,Software,Works,9,English
1 HX872 Assembly,Compact Disk Read Write/Digital Video Disk Drive48X,Half Height,BARE,PBDS
1 XN285 DIS,FPL,17,SE178WFP,SLVR,RTL

And are any of the following better than the installed ?

1. Galaxy - 210 Series NVIDIA GeForce 210 1GB DDR2 PCI Express Graphics Card

2. XFX - Radeon HD 4550 Graphics Card

3. PNY - GeForce 210 1GB DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 Graphics Card

4. EVGA - GeForce 6200 512MB DDR2 PCI Graphics Card

and are they compatible which the referred cpu?

[glc]

Please post the service tag number.

[lancefiles]

[quote=glc;1535488]please post the service tag number.[/q]

JJD2RH1

[glc]

Memory:

2GB kit (1GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 upgrades for Dell Inspiron 531 Desktop/PC, CT764977 from Crucial.com

That will max it out. 2gb modules are NOT compatible.

Assuming you don't have the slim case (you should have 4 standard height slots and a 300 watt PSU, please confirm) this is the strongest video card you can get without a PSU upgrade:

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N440D3-1GI GeForce GT 440 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

The cards you listed really aren't any better than the onboard video.

[lancefiles]

well If I read the specs right it should have two empty slots left for memory can I add two I gig sticks of ram and take it to 4 gigs?

[glc]

That's EXACTLY what I'm suggesting...........click the link and buy it.