Graphics improvements over Intel Integrated UHD 630

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what size video card would it take to make a noticeable improvement over the integrated setup?

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Unfortunately, there isn’t a “size” when it comes to graphics cards- you need to get into specific model numbers, needs, and wants.
And to get into specific model numbers, it would help to know what sort of games he plays (maybe just like his favorite 2 or 3) + the model number of the monitor he is using.

And then, unfortunately, we are missing two little but important pieces of info:

The little slots between the power plugs and the ports on the rear are empty here (and there are four slots). This is a Dell Inspiron, so it should look pretty similar to this. Are all of them empty on yours? And how many are there?
If you have the link to where you bought it from or some papers from when you bought it, it may include the size of the PSU (power supply unit). That would be the last piece of info that could help (looks like they put 180W PSU in some of their Inspirons.

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Any separate video card will push the limits of that PSU.

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False

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Standard Dell has a 450 power supply unit. Any separate video card will push the limits of that PSU

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1660 Super would work brilliantly with a 450w psu and a single m2 drive in a fairly basic off-the-shelf computer. And it would probably be more than enough for most people asking the question like it’s asked above.


But it’s probably overkill if he’s playing AoE III for hours a day on a 720p 17” square monitor from 10 years ago.
It’s not going to run at all if it has a 180w psu that is listed on Dell’s website for some Inspiron desktops. And 300w…I’d read a lot before I said it may be able to handle it (and I would lean towards “not well” if we are talking about GPU-intense games). There’s very little (minimum requirements), practically speaking, that would exceed what it can do, and it can run a lot of great games at good enough settings. But there are lots better. At its price, I think it’s really difficult to beat (if you’re not buying an offloaded 2xxx-3xxx series card and have a PSU) capable of running it), but $200-250 may also be well outside of what OP was thinking when he asked.

You would get far more performance adding something like a GTX 1650 then upping the RAM since upping the RAM likely won't give you any performance increase.

There are plenty of GTX 1650s that only draw 75w, which would keep you below (barely, at ~240w total for the machine) 260w. Not highly recommended, but something that could work in the short term