What type of motherboard will fit in my Dell Dimension 8300?

[DoogieTheHowser]

I have a Dell Dimension 8300 and I am interested in upgrading the motherboard so I can have the functionality of PCI-Express, which is not supported. I am also running Windows 7 and my ATI Radeon 5200 is way outdated and plays my videos really choppy. I dont have the budget to buy a whole new computer so I wanted to keep my tower and upgrade my components piece by piece. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chronobodi]

http://www.colindiponio.com/images_wp/gx1024x768.JPG

Micro-ATX will fit, but might be a tight squeeze with ATX.

check pic to give you an idea.

 

[DoogieTheHowser]

Awesome..thanks a mill

 

[foscooter]

Be awere that the Dell "case plugs" may not plug directly into another motherboard.

I mean things like the power on switch, HDD LED, case speaker, and USB plugs.

I wanted to put my Dell Dimension 2350 setup into another case for better cooling (cheaper than all the fans, parts, and tools to do a case mod). I found that the new case plugs (Antec 300) could not plug into the old Dell motherboard. And I wasn't about to try to "re-wire" it and botch the whole thing!

Seems that Dell "modified" their motherboard connectors to work with their cases.

I wish I had pictures for you, but one thing I can tell you is that (my) Dell case had all these "wires" for their case compontents into one connector, that was incompatable with the case I wanted to put it intos wiring. I even looked at my other case(s). No Deal!

You have beed warned!

BTW: What is your systems processor base? Pentium 4, D, Dual Core, etc?
Nevermind, I just saw it's a upper-end P4 system >2.4GHz. What socket? 775?

Good luck finding a P4 board with PCI-e....but I guess they are out there!

 

[Guest]

Awesome..thanks a mill

Doogie, I have an 8300 and thinking of doing the same for a HTPC build on the cheap. Did you manage to upgrade? Would be interested in your story.. issues, gothcha, before i spend any $$$.

Cheers, Hoodie