Dell Upgrades

[Raptor9]

If I bought a Dell (mostly because of the coupons and included monitor), would I be able to upgrade it on my own? Will normal memory and videocards fit into the system, or does Dell make their own sockets? Also, how respectable are Dells cases and powersupplies?

 

[alimoalem]

i really doubt any of the online stores make their own sockets but i have heard that dells are really hard to upgrade. their cases and PSUs should be fine but i'm nto sure if the PSUs would be stong enough to overclock with

 

[wetcat007]

Well dell powersupplys are a joke. Dell motherboards are a pain. It may or may not have PCI-E in it, check the particular model before buying. Cases are cheap plastic and ugly. Memory should be upgradable. On the plus side they're very quiet.

 

[bruceb]

With Dell computers, the newer models (say 1 yr ago & newer) use a normal ATX Power Supply & connector, so power packs are no problem
Dell has gotten away from RAMBUS RDRAM & now uses normal, buy it anyplace RAM ... so no problem there
Most Dell cases can take a normal ATX motherboard .. however, the Pinouts to the Front Panel Connector on
a Dell are usually Custom to hookup to a Made for Dell Motherboard ... so rewiring a new Mobo to the Front Panel Jacks is difficult
Dell also uses a unique way of checking the CPU Fan Speed .. most Mobo & BIOS check for actual RPM
Dell checks to see if the CPU FAN has Stalled ... as such an Off The Shelf replacement CPU fan Will Not Work without an error from BIOS

Other than that, there products are good ... my Dell came with Western Digital Hard Drive .. no problems, but I did not like the
low end CD-DVD/RW Drive ... a Phillips ... otherwise fine

 

[Slowlearner]

The best place to get good suggestions is at http://forums.us.dell.com/. You really have to look at the product documentation on line to make sure that the upgrades you have in mind can be done. The cheaper $399 dells may not have a usuable video card slot - so check the product manuals carefully - extensive documentation is available on line.

Dell's main drawbacks are a (1) limited power supply, (2) usually no place for second hard drive - unless it originally came with two, (3) Case fan cools the CPU, so changing the CPU with an an aftermarket cooler is usually a challenge.

All sockets are industry standard, but the mbs are picky about memory.

 

[GrammatonJP]

Cases - Dell Designed
PSU - Some are ATX standard since early 2001 some are not. - Support.dell.com you can look it up yourself in the docs section
Processor - standard intel
Memory - standard micron, samsung, etc,etc
They had rambus because intel force them to use rambus
Expansion slots - standard pci/pcie/pcix/agp
Drives - standard drives, use their ugly green rails

They're pretty much all standard crap. If you buy a mini case, dont expect to put in more than 1 drive, thats given with all manufacture

Those higher end larger system can fit 3-4 drives.. but these are target for noobs so if you dont like it, you dont have it buy it.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: Raptor9
If I bought a Dell (mostly because of the coupons and included monitor), would I be able to upgrade it on my own? Will normal memory and videocards fit into the system, or does Dell make their own sockets? Also, how respectable are Dells cases and powersupplies?

Dell what?

I hate questions like this.