Dell into custom?

[RowdyRob]

Hello, first post SO lets do this.
Im currently using a Dell demension Got it for christmas last year. I cant complain about it since it was a gift and better than my last system. But now its kinda falling behind in performance. So i had this idea. Change out the motherboard and it is no longer a Dell. I play alot of games so i figured that i could do some overclocking and get better RAM. I was wondering if this would be possible before i go and spend money on sumthing. Because if i werre to change out the mobo and use the other components it would be fine since its a normal ATI card intel proc. I would think it would work but if anyone knows for sure if this would work it would be great. Becuase i'de much rather spend less money to get a performance boost.

 

[michaelahess]

What model? Lots of dell's have propriatery ps's and mb's, the case also might not accept a standard atx ps. Give some specs also.

 

[RowdyRob]

Dell Dimension 8400
CPU: 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 HT (Prescott)
RAM: 1GB DDR2 533 MHz
Video: ATI Radeon x800 SE (Sucky Edition)
HD: 73 GB WD Cavair
unknown PSU

Case is not a problem i have another case i ordered to build another computer. I think that should be good. As I said i Got it for Christmas so i cant complain about it being a Dell.

 

[michaelahess]

So all you're doing is putting the parts into a new machine basically, as long as you get the right mobo for the chip and ram, should work fine.

 

[RowdyRob]

Thats what i was thinking but i wanted to make sure before i go and buy parts and have them not work.

 

[rochin]

I have almost the same set up.

8400
P4 3.4 ht
160 GB HD
it came with the x300 now has a nvidia 6600

The case is big enough for another MB. I would measure the Powersupply and see if you can get another one to fit in that space. Other than that, I think it would become a "new" computer easy.

 

[RowdyRob]

Thanks for the input guys. Well now i need to buy a new mobo and mabey a new PSU.

 

[unsmart]

It should work, except your windows disk I beleive will only work on your dell. The ps's are on the low side, might need something better for OCing. Can you flash the bios or replace it? I worked on a dell a few months ago and it used a standerd intel board so you might be able to use clockgen http://www.cpuid.com/clockgen.php to OC. The vcore will most likely still be locked but the fsb should move up. Lower the fsb in bios if you can [ 200 down to 166] and then raise it back up with clockgen to 200. You may be able to save some cash for better ram or heatsink.

 

[lateralex]

I have/had a dell 8250. I decided to sell the Dell as is and build a new machine. Granted my system was less powerful than yours, but you will get more money selling a working PC than it is a old processor/mobo

 

[EllisD420]

I dont know how the new dell's are setup, but in the old one that i had, even the processor was modified so it could only be used in a dell mobo. I also wouldnt be surprised if they added an extra piece of plastic to the agp/pci-e card to make it not work in normal slots. I would double check to make sure that all your hardware is transferrable to a new board before you spend the money on something that would be of no use.

 

[rochin]

I dont know how the new dell's are setup, but in the old one that i had, even the processor was modified so it could only be used in a dell mobo. I also wouldnt be surprised if they added an extra piece of plastic to the agp/pci-e card to make it not work in normal slots. I would double check to make sure that all your hardware is transferrable to a new board before you spend the money on something that would be of no use.

Ok, I have the same model as the poster. The MB is a standard board, the cpu can be and in my case has been removed and tried on another non Dell board. The PCI-E slot is a normal slot. So I think the poster can for sure use the case and anything left over, cd drives , ram etc. If they fixed it to where you couldnt use other parts in it. Then parts people vid card, ram, etc would have to make parts that just fit into Dells. That would not be very good from a business stand point.

 

[EllisD420]

Well thanks to you i guess he now has confirmation. Its good and bad for buisness simply because of the fact that many ppl are going to buy dell no matter what, and wont think twice about going to dell for upgrades. Smarter ppl just wont buy dell and not have to worry.

 

[RowdyRob]

Not true if this is the case. I got this dell about 1.25 years ago for $1,000 Right now if i were to put together the same system it would cost me about $800-$900 to build it. Back then i would have spent much more than $1,000 to build this same system. I would have costed about $1,400 approx... Since back then the parts were all reletively new. And if were to buy it change out the mobo from an ASUS for $100 and another OS about $90 OEMi just saved myself more than $200. So even though the savings is not amazing its still sumthing...

 

[Crashman]

I dont know how the new dell's are setup, but in the old one that i had, even the processor was modified so it could only be used in a dell mobo.

You can leave the forum. Really, you have no room to give advice, Dell has never uses a modified CPU in a desktop PC. I've worked on nearly every model up to the early P4 versions.

Dell can't get custom CPU's. They did get some CPU's with custom multiplier/bus speed, such as their PIII 1.10GHz (11x100), but even those were standard Socket 370 processors that worked on any board that supported that core and an 11x multiplier.

 

[Rustol3um]

damm Crashman....on another note..... how does one get almost 40,000 posts on a forum site??? holy crap.... 8O