New CPU/Mb in Dell XPs 720 system

[Valar]

Hi guys - I have an XPS720 system. Can I use the parts from this system to build a new system around an Intel i7-870 CPU and a DP55KG motherboard? Is the power supply from the Dell system compatible with the i7? Thanks in advance for your help

 

[WR2]

Hello Valar;
Your XPS 720 uses a BTX motherboard and case. You won't be able to slip an ATX P55 motherboard inside the BTX case.
Did you get the 750W power supply in your 720? How old is it?

 

[Valar]

Hi WR2

Thanks for taking the time. Ok, I'll get a new enclosure that can fit an ATX board.

My 720 is from Feb 2008.

Valar

 

[Proximon]

Your operating system will have issues with the new board, so you'll have to install fresh... and this may or may not be allowed depending on the version of the OS and Dell's license.

 

[Valar]

Yes, I did wonder about that. I'm running Vista 32.

 

[Proximon]

Yes it's very likely the Vista will be OEM and so a MB change will require that MS signs off on the re-activation. If you explain to them that the old board died, they will probably be OK with it ... unless Dell wants to sell you a replacement real bad.

 

[BerggreenDK]

I have upgraded my DELL Dimension 720 to 4 x 2 GB RAM, as I found out that 4 GB wasnt the limit, I went for 8 GB which is.

I'm currently running Core2 E6580 on it (3.0ghz) but I am considering to upgrade to the biggest Quad core I can get to work with BIOS A06... think its Q9550 or something.

It has two 8800 GT running SLI from DELL so those might get a replacement next too, as their fans are terriblely noisy... even in "normal" desktop mode... just running windows.

I got my machine with Vista 32-bit... and I must say, that was NOT a happy time. I decided to try Windows 7. Downloaded the beta, installed it... ran pretty good.. but still bad... then I found out that eventhough I bought it with 3 GB RAM, the two graphiccards with 512 MB each ate up more than 1024 MB of address/memoryspace, so I had less than 3 GB in total for VISTA.

AHA... downloaded Windows 7- 64bit and BINGO!... that worked... suddently I had 4 GB RAM + graphiccards available.
Decided to upgrade my RAM and buy a Windows 7 license, eventhough DELL states its not compatible... sure... just buy another machine from us... right? NO WAY

So I upgraded my RAM to 8 GB and switched to 64-bit...

Windows 7 (Home Premium or Professional) in 64-bit just installes the needed drivers by itself... after network and basic drivers are up, then go to nVidia and grab the drivers for the motherboard (680i chipset) and the latest nVidia Geforce drivers too and BOOOOM you have a GREAT desktop computer.

VISTA MUST DIE... ) (or is already in my mind, going to throw away any DVDs containing any VISTA image)