Getting rid of my dell

[ihatemydell979]

i purchased a dell xps 420 about 2 years ago i would say and up until recently i have been happy with it. I have recently decided to upgrade my graphics card and while doing some researched realized im completely #@!#ed.

The tower and motherboard are all BTX and the case is entirely too small to put a new pretty chip inside of not to mention the airflow is like sucking air through a coffee straw.

So i have decided that i will switch out the motherboard for a ATX board and get a new case. While doing some research a came across a thread saying that i would also need a new hardrive.

In short what i would really like to do is get rid of my dell but not buy an entirely new system i want to build one using all the parts i can from my xps 420 and go from there.

I have picked out a psu and a graphics card already.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

If anyone could possibly help with a reasonably priced MoBo and what i need to do to get this done all help is appreciated.

Dont know if needed but im running four ddr2 ram chips at 3.072gig ram
2 of them are 1g and the other 2 512mb

If anymore information is needed just let me know thanks in advance.

 

[MU_Engineer]

i purchased a dell xps 420 about 2 years ago i would say and up until recently i have been happy with it. I have recently decided to upgrade my graphics card and while doing some researched realized im completely #@!#ed.

The tower and motherboard are all BTX and the case is entirely too small to put a new pretty chip inside of not to mention the airflow is like sucking air through a coffee straw.

So i have decided that i will switch out the motherboard for a ATX board and get a new case. While doing some research a came across a thread saying that i would also need a new hardrive.

In short what i would really like to do is get rid of my dell but not buy an entirely new system i want to build one using all the parts i can from my xps 420 and go from there.

I have picked out a psu and a graphics card already.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150314
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

If anyone could possibly help with a reasonably priced MoBo and what i need to do to get this done all help is appreciated.

Dont know if needed but im running four ddr2 ram chips at 3.072gig ram
2 of them are 1g and the other 2 512mb

If anymore information is needed just let me know thanks in advance.

Your Dell's BTX case is not compatible with ATX motherboards, so at the very least you would be looking at a new ATX case and ATX motherboard if you want to add that graphics card and the new PSU. You would basically just be keeping the hard drive, CPU, RAM, and CD/DVD drive from your old system in this "upgrade." I would say to get a new case and a new motherboard with a new CPU (ditch the old P4 or Pentium D in your Dell) to pair with your new GPU and power supply. You will most likely be able to keep your RAM as it's most likely DDR2 and most new motherboards take DDR2. You can keep your CD/DVD drive and hard drive with your new system as well. I don't know who told you that you needed a new hard drive, but they're probably wrong. What you will have to do is get a new copy of Windows as the copy that came with the Dell will only activate on a computer with a Dell-supplied motherboard.

 

[ihatemydell979]

I have decided to go with the Antec P-182 for my case so now all i need is a MoBo if onlyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated

The current CPU i have is a intel core2 quad not really sure what you ment by get a new MoBo with a new CPU i kind of figured i would have to get a new one... is it possible to use my Intel? I really have no idea.