Adding a GTX 295 , need to find PSU and case

[t_blake07]

I Recommend you avoid a Inspiron 530 because it produces too much heat. I recommend you also get a new case and mobo for the GTX 295.
If you want to use the GTX 295, get a 750+ Watt Power Supply.

How can he avoid something he already owns? He has stated that he is upgrading his case as well.

Why do you think he should upgrade his MoBo? Do you know what MoBo he has? Not all Inspiron 530's have the exact same MoBo's.

[t_blake07]

Specifications
Output +3.3V@24A,+5V@30A,+12V1@20A,+12V2@20A,+12V3@20A, +12V4@35A,
+12V5@35A,+12V6@20A,[email protected],[email protected]

I'm still confused on how you came up with the dedicated rails. The specs only tell you what the max output is for each rail. This PSU has six +12V rails. Four of them are PCIe. Isn't it possible that all four are the 20A? Or maybe three are 20A, and one is 35A? I don't know. I'm confused.

[t_blake07]

Ignore that last post. There are six +12V Rails, four of which are PCIe. You can use either both 35A rails, or one 20A and one 35A if thats all you'll need. I was up way past my bedtime lastnight. Or should I say this morning. 

[cruisin702]

Ignore that last post. There are six +12V Rails, four of which are PCIe. You can use either both 35A rails, or one 20A and one 35A if thats all you'll need. I was up way past my bedtime lastnight. Or should I say this morning. 

That's what I thought the rails are for by reading the label on the side of a different PSU, don't remember which one. I was getting a bit of brain freeze when I finally went to bed this morning also.

PC Power and Cooling is an excellent resource for more info on making a buying decision...
You don't have to buy 1 of theirs but you will learn quite a bit about what you are paying for...

Thanks, I will check that out in a little bit when I get back on for the night.

[Crosshair]

Just a little input, feel free to ignore me as other people are already giving advice and I don't want to tread on anyone's toes.
Personally I would avoid the GTX 295 as it doesn't make sense at current pricing, instead I'd buy an ATI HD5870 which gives around the same performance whilst using less power and having DX11 capabilities.  Due to it not being a multi-GPU card, frame rates are also more stable.
I'd advise at least a quality 650W PSU for a GTX 295 if you do go that route though, a Corsair 650TX or HX (HX is the modular version, for easier cable management) would be more than adequate whilst a 750 or 850TX/HX would give even more headroom for further upgrades.  I highly recommend Corsair power supplies, excellent quality and support.
As for a case, it depends what you're looking for other than having room for large cards.  If you like to show off your machine, an Antec 902 would be a good choice, as it has a side panel and blue LED fans as standard, with decent cable management options.  The Antec 1200 is a bigger version, only really useful if you want more drive bays.
The Coolermaster CM690 is a popular alternative to the 902.  At the higher end of the case market, Lian Li, Corsair and Silverstone have excellent cases, some of which are flashy and some of which are very subdued.
It depends very much on what you want from your case and your overall budget.
Again, I hope I'm not butting in or treading on anyone's toes here, but hopefully there are some valid points in there which you may consider

[cruisin702]

Do you think a 295 GTX will fit in that case? (which by the way is a cool looking case)

I'm going to say yes! I ordered my case and psu monday and received it while I was at work yesterday (nice advantage of having a newegg warehouse in state, if it weren't for that pesky state sales tax). They call it a mid-tower but this thing dwarfs the little dell inspiron 530 case and looks even better than the pictures on newegg. Now I have to clear a larger spot for it.
 I spent a couple hours last night getting things swapped over and am happy to report that all went well and my temps dropped a full 10 degrees Celsius. I went from 45 and 40 down to 34 and 33 on my cpu cores and dropped from 31 to 21 on my motherboard.
 I was able to get a NIB BFG GTX295 OC on ebay for $20 cheaper than the standard BFG from newegg(when they ever get any back in) and it should be here tomorrow or Friday.

[t_blake07]

Ah, so you think it will fit. Well if you're confident then thats good to hear. One of the worst things is buying 2 components online, just to find out one might have to go back.

I ordered all my parts at the same time this past Friday morning, (2am), and I got them all today around 1pm CST I think. My case and PSU came from Cali, and all the rest came from Tenn. It took 6 days total to process, (I chose expedited processing), and ship to my door, even though I went with the 3 day select with UPS. I can't complain though, all the parts work so far, the case isn't dinged or scratched, and my younger brother is happy.

One thing I have noticed, is that, the RAM I ordered is PC2-6400 at 400GHz according to CPU ID. I ordered PC2-5300 at 667GHz. Thats what the other two 512MB sticks are that are already in the system, so I just went with that.

[cruisin702]

I ordered all my parts at the same time this past Friday morning, (2am), and I got them all today around 1pm CST I think. My case and PCU came from Cali, and all the rest came from Tenn.

I live in TN. I ordered my RAM and it came out of NJ . Took about a week. Then I ordered my cpu and it unexpectadly came the very next day out of their TN warehouse and the UPS guy just left it outside in the rain with no protective plastic. Luckily my neighbor saw it and took it inside. Now I have everything shipped to work to avoid that from happening again.

One thing I have noticed, is that, the RAM I ordered is PC2-6400 at 400GHz according to CPU ID. I ordered PC2-5300 at 667GHz. Thats what the other two 512MB sticks are that are already in the system, so I just went with that.

I got a 4x1GB G-skill kit when I upgraded and stored my original 2x1GB away for hard times to make sure I had no issues with mismatching.PC2-6400 is what I got when I ordered.

[t_blake07]

Do you think it's worth the hassle of returning it and hope they send the right speed? Or will it even make that much of a difference? My system doesn't seem to mind the difference in speeds right now, but I don't wanna have to put up with it later if it could cause problems.

[cruisin702]

I don't think the mismatching in speed will cause any issues but you will only get the speed of the slowest stick. Whether or not the difference in speed will really be noticable I can't say. This might help

[cruisin702]

Do you think it's worth the hassle of returning it and hope they send the right speed? Or will it even make that much of a difference? My system doesn't seem to mind the difference in speeds right now, but I don't wanna have to put up with it later if it could cause problems.

I had things a little backwards in my head last night. You had PC2-5300 and you just bought PC2-6400. The PC2-6400 is 800MHz effective clock. Everest will only show 1/2 of it. If you go down to the bottom in Everest and run a memory benchmark test you should see somewhere around 333 which is 1/2 of your slowest RAM. Depending on how much memory you added, you may be better off just to remove the old memory and just use the new.