Change Board in a Dell?

[jjm]

My dad has a Dell that seems way too slow for the 800 Mhz processor that's in it. I suspect it has an inferior MB. Are Dell boards and cases customized, or can the board be upgraded?

 

[nemo160]

if you decide to replace the mobo replace the power supply too
i read a month or so back how some dells have proprietary power supplies, the pin out is different, but the connector is exactly the same as standard atx,
so its better to play it safe and put in a new psu for 30-50 instead of killing a mobo
the board may be upgradable depending on how the case is designed..i'm not sure though
a reformat and reinstall of the os and some bios tweaking and maybe more ram might pick up its perfrmance
post some specs on the system and maybe it'll be easier to spot the bottlenecks
ram,chipset,harddrive,vidcard,os,etc.

 

[Buz2b]

Dell motherboards and cases are proprietary in design and and not interchangable with "normal" MB's and cases. Same with the Power supply. Dell also doesn't sell upgrades for MB's, etc. You would have to rebuild the entire system with a new case, motherboard and power supply if you want to try it.
You might be able to cut, weld, move and change the case enough to take a "normal" MB but I have not seen it done before. Best bet might be upgrading the video card. Many times that gives the most "bang for the buck" when upgrading older systems.

 

[Vette73]

Buy a new case (with power supply) and Motherboard. Then use your old parts.

What kind of CPU is it, i.e. a socket 370 or Slot?

 

[jjm]

CPU is socket 370. Any suggestions?

 

[Vette73]

Look for a board that has the VIA Apollo Pro 133A. This chipset will support even the Newwest P3 chips.

These board can be had for less than $90 and most have on-board sound which you may need as most dells has on-board sound also.


Go to newegg.com and look for the SHUTTLE AV18E. It only cost $52 and will do what you want and have a good AC97 sound on board.

 

[flawedexistence]

Another option for socket 370 is the ASUS CUBX series. This is a loaded board that will run quite stable at up to 150mhz fsb. You can run a 133fsb P!!! and 133mhz memory. Actually I'm still using this setup on my main box: 733mhz P!!! @ 825, 512mb crucial 133 mhz sdram. Works like a charm.

 

[GMC]

I once had a Dell or should I say it once had me. I've since upgraded to a Asus A7v133. Some notes in upgrading. Get a new power supply (plan with future upgrades in mind). Your case should fit a standard ATX motherboard (mine did). One item of note is that Dell uses a small 8 wire ribbon cable for power, restart, LED's ect. You will have to splice or remake headers to turn on your motherboard. Most motherboards use individual headers (about 4-5 of them) to enable case switches and Dell uses a single 8 or 10 pin header. You'll have to follow traces and do a little testing with a multimeter to figure out all the pin asignments, then splice or soder new headers on. It can be done, but it is a pain I'd rather do with out. Dell has good cases but with cases selling as little as $30 go ahead and get a new one you like. As far as I know all of your other componets should work with a new board. Hope this helps.

GMC

 

[Buz2b]

You will have to splice or remake headers to turn on your motherboard. Most motherboards use individual headers (about 4-5 of them) to enable case switches and Dell uses a single 8 or 10 pin header. You'll have to follow traces and do a little testing with a multimeter to figure out all the pin asignments, then splice or soder new headers on. It can be done, but it is a pain I'd rather do with out.

Exactly my point. You need a new case. Even if you go through the pain of doing this, there is also a good chance that the board will not fit properly in the case. Most times they do not.

I once had a Dell or should I say it once had me

LMAO! I coudn't agree more. While I loved the system at first, they have you by the "short ones" once you buy. Limited upgrades, proprietary PS's, all designed to spoon feed you into buying yet another system when you need more speed, etc. They are not stupid. But sometimes us "customers" are.
Since I am "waxing nostalgic" here I will also mention that they (Dell) do have a nice forum for support. The DellTalk forum folks taught me a lot about not only my Dell system but also shared a great deal of information about sytems in general. Their forums are moderated so that you do have some sort of direct communication with the company but at the same time they don't interfere with the normal flow of information. Heck, it was commonplace to have discussions about flashing a Dell MB with an Intel BIOS so you could increase your cpu upgrade options. Anyway, go ahead and strip out your parts, get a new case, PS and MB and join us in the world of empty bank accounts.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Spen the extra $50 and get a new case, using your old parts.

 

[jjm]

Thanks for the suggestions. Since I will not need to get inside pften, I will try to find a relatively cheap ATX case. The Shuttle board seems like a good possibility. Does anyone know if Dells have integrated video too? I have not popped open the case yet to see as dad lives more than an hour away.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: jjm
Thanks for the suggestions. Since I will not need to get inside pften, I will try to find a relatively cheap ATX case. The Shuttle board seems like a good possibility. Does anyone know if Dells have integrated video too? I have not popped open the case yet to see as dad lives more than an hour away.

It might. If it does you have 2 choices....

1. Get another board with on-board Video

2. Get the Shuttle Board and add on a GF2 FTS-V. It only cost $45 and will rock most,if not all, current games. I know I got it to hold me over until the GF4 Ti cards come down.

If it does 0n-board Video that may be a cause of a weak system as the video will use some of the Ram up and the bandwidth to the northbridge. If it does not have 0n-board video then it might be a 440bx xhipset. The BX chipset is old and slow but stable. So the shuttle AV18E board will add a lot of life to it.

Tell use what it has inside when you get to it, like Ram, drives, video, sound, etc....

 

[rkoenn]

This is the big problem with Dell's, and to a certain extent, all the big name computer producers. Make the parts somewhat proprietary and you have your unknowledgable customer locked in. Anyway, to find out if it is integrated video or not, ask your dad if the video out is along the bottom/side of the case wehere the keyboard, printer, maybe sound ports are. If it is, then it is almost certainly integrated video. If the output is in one of the expansion card slots, then it is probably on a card. I have worked on Dell's and we have hundreds out at my daytime job and we seem to have a mix of machines, although most look the same on the outside. Some have discreet video and some have cards. Some have a motherboard with a riser for the rest of the slots and some have the slots on the motherboard. It does appear though that none would accept a generic ATX form factor board like all the clone machines do. Your plan for a new case is probably best and then you can lift the other devices and put them in it. One further possible problem is that sometimes the CD and/or floppy have a proprietary front on them. Then you may have to end up purchasing one of those as well. Have fun!

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: jjm
Thanks for the suggestions. Since I will not need to get inside pften, I will try to find a relatively cheap ATX case. The Shuttle board seems like a good possibility. Does anyone know if Dells have integrated video too? I have not popped open the case yet to see as dad lives more than an hour away.

You don't even have to pop open the case to find that out. All you have to do is look at the back where the video cable is plugged in. If it's not in line with the expansion card slots, then it's integrated, if it is in line with that, then you have a card. You could even tell your dad how to look for it on the phone by saying it should be in one of the several silver slots at the back. If it's in a grouping of your mouse/kb/serial/parallel/usb connectors then it's integrated. I would think it's integrated anyway cause most dells are unless you opt out for a more expensive machine and specify that you want a certain card. My friend has a P3 800 with an Intel AGP integrated video solution on his Dell, it could be like that.