XPS 400 HELP

[VodKa420]

calling out for a little help here. i made the bad choice of buying a dell XPS 400 a couple years ago. I now build my

own. need to know if there are any other newer or better boards dell or other that will fit in my case. in another

post here it was said that a xps 420 would fit in a 400 case but by the looks of things the IEEE 1394a Port, 4x usb

Ports, and eSATA Port would either not fit or would not have an opening. i dont mind cutting into the case and or

basically making holes for things. need to know if the two boards have the same dimensions or like i said any better

board that would fit. any info on the dell xps 400 cpu cooler fitting on the 420 board would be helpful as well. just

trying to save a little green and if that 420 board would work then for less than $300 ill have a quad core and a

better board...thanks for your time.




VodKa420.........BF2 FOR EVER

 

[Shadow703793]

Why not just junk the Dell board/case and just get an Antec 300 + a good motherboard? That should be under $300 for case and motherboard.


So taking in your $300 budget:

Cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196
CM Scout $90 Free Shipping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
Antec 300
$54

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
Antec 900
$105 Free shipping


Motherboards:

EP45-UD3L (Single card, no RAID etc)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128372
$95 Free shipping

EP45-UD3P (CrossFire, RAID,etc)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358
$115 after MIR


Graphics:
9600GSO (NEED 6 pin PCIe)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121320
$35 after MIR

ATI 4670 (no need for PCIe 6 pin)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121329
$60 after MIR

9600GT Low power (no need for PCIe power)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130485&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL090309&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL090309-_-VideoCards-_-LH1D-_-14130485
$65 after MIR
All are pretty decent gaming cards.


PSU (if the Dell doesn't have enough power):
Corsair 400CX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
$30 after MIR.

edit:

If swapping out boards, you WILL need a new copy of your OS as the Dell/HP copy's will not activate. If you have the Win7 RC you can run it till next year.
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 x64 with Win 7 free upgrade:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116677
$110.




@OP: Do you already have the CPU?

 

[VodKa420]

thanks for the reply. the reason i would like to keep the case and all is to save a little green. i figured if i got

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131 and

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell--XPS-420-XPS420-Motherboard-TP406-PC-Mainboard_W0QQitemZ150366712868QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090819?IMSfp=TL090819168005r1533

that way i could use the same heatsink and Fan(since dell uses their own type on these boards) 4 gigs of ram

newer power supply and gfx card i have. basically i just need a cpu upgrade but the xps 400 wont accept any other

processor than a pen D. beyond all that i really would like to know if the board would fit just because ive been

looking into it for a couple of days now. thanks again


VodKa420

 

[OvrClkr]

I was on the same boat as you, have the same XPS as you (office) and banged my head on the wall just like you.... We both made the mistake of buying an XPS 400, but I look at it in a positive way, there is no going back so the only thing we can do is move forward... hehe that sounded kinda drastic.... Anyways I had the same issue as you and decided to upgrade the RAM, PSU and GPU only, the worst part of that mobo and case is the fact that it is almost impossible to upgrade the mobo ,none the less a CPU more in the C2D or Quad arena.... I gave up and like I said purchased a GTS 250, an Antec EA500 and 4x 1Gb of Patriot 667Mhz Ram.... To this date the PC runs fine, but still feel like I was ripped off in a MAJOR way...

Btw, Dell and HP do this on purpose, they think that since we already purchased the pre-built-pc, when it becomes obsolete, we will go and order another one and so forth.. Well we learned from that mistake... Hopefully many will read this and avoid companies like Dell among others....

Here are some pics :

The worst way to spend 1,100$ (2006)

 

[VodKa420]

one last shot at this....does anyone think i can use a Intel Pentium D 3.73 GHz

Extreme Edition 965 in my xps 400 and if so would it be worth it? found a couple

around $100

just noticed that my chipset is i945p and according to this.....http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Chipsets/945P/945P-overview.htm

it supports Intel® Core™2 Duo so do you think i could use this.....http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115059 and would it be a better option than the rest?

PC Wizard 2009 states that my max FSB is 1066 MHz so if im not mistaken all the numbers line up(fingers crossed)

also my current Manufacturing Tech is 65 nm on my Pentium D 930 Presler 3.0GHz. the Manufacturing Tech on that Core 2 Duo is 45 nm does that crush my dreams?

for real thanks for taking the time i would love to top this machine off and be done with it until i build my future machine

 

[OvrClkr]

The XPS 400 does not support C2D (unless your PC came with a C2D) , while it is LGA 775, The only CPU's that are supported by that particular motherboard ar Pentium D's. Like I said I had the same issue as you but back in 2007 the EE 965 was waaaay more expensive then a C2D so I decided to leave the CPU alone and upgrade other parts.

Here is one that sells for 160.00$ :
http://shop.ebay.com/items/intel%20pentium%20d%20965?_dmd=1&_sop=12

Back in 2007 the chip was around 329.99$

 

[Shadow703793]

$125 for a DELL board?!?!? Forget it. Why do you think you need a Quad? Get a E2180/E5200 and OC that. I doubt you need a Quad.

Do this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380
P43-UD3L $80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072
E5200 $63


That's only $143.

Add in a CM Scout, and that brings us to a total of $233. You can go cheaper on the case to save more money. I'd say don't go with the Pentium D. With your budget, you can easily get a MUCH better stuff. E5200 can OC to 3.6Ghz and higher easy.

 

[OvrClkr]

Good luck installing a standard mobo on a dell XPS 400.... The standoffs are no where near where they need to be. I tried and gave up so I decided to keep the Pent. D 820 and re-paste with AS5.

 

[fulle]

@Shadow
Dell XPS400-XPS420s all had locked down mobos, so you can't OC. Which is a damn shame, since my 410's E4300 should be able to run at a much higher clockrate without even increasing its voltage or heat dissipation. I'd have to pin mod the freaking chip in order to get it to run at a more acceptable clockspeed. Pretty lame having a CPU bottleneck only because you can't change the FSB.

 

[Shadow703793]

^I was telling OP to OC the E5200 with the P43-UD3L.

 

[VodKa420]

sorry if i annoyed any of you with this. was just going by the specs for the chipset.

ill probably end up putting my gaming card and extra ram in my secondary and

using that for gaming since it has a c2d e6750 overclocked to 3.0 and uses the

same ram. the dell just cant hold all my hard drives. guess i can just build a new

secondary using my p D