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DELL!! CURSE YOU TO HELL!!

RoachycaL

RoachycaL

RoachycaL

Soldato
Joined
2 Jan 2006
Posts
3,152
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Hey guys,

A few of you might know I own a Dell Dimension 9100 barebone which I bought off ebay for a very silly price :) It included the chassis, Power supply and motherboard - it only needed a CPU, HDD and Ram to complete the system and to run a very nice silent pc. I learnt that it only takes Smithfield and Prescott CPU's which I was ok with aswell.

Now I have learnt that the CPU the machine is origionally shipped with is the only one the motherboard looks for. IE if I want to put a smithfield in there - the motherboard wont look for it. Now I have been told that if I flash the BIOS, it basically resets the BIOS and detects all of the hardware again *bingo*. Only problem is how do I get the BIOS flashed since there is no CPU or Ram in there? :P

My mum has a Dimension 5000 which houses a 3ghz pentium 4 HT which I belive is what this dell was shipped with. Have any of you guys had this kind of experience before? I have yet to convince my mum to take her CPU out and put it in my Dell just to get the BIOS flashed :).

Am I correct in thinking I would flash the BIOS in windows - turn the PC off and then swap the CPU's?

Could I just buy the CPU from here the place it in there or would it need to be Dell's own CPU?

Sorry I need to get my facts right before I buy a Smithfield CPU for this Dell :)

Thanks guys,

RoachycaL
 
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It wont boot no, you can update the BIOS which the dell rep I talked to said it resets the information and detects the hardware again
 
GeezerButler,

Thanks for the help - I really appreciate it. Basically Im getting told so many stories its untrue but all of the dell rep's ive spoken to say it supports only "Prescott" and "smithfield CPU's" up to 820. That includes from OcUk:

Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core

The reason I havent put 805 is becuase it says "Only compatible with Intel based 945/955/975 series mainboards". I think the motherboard in this model is a 945i so I cant imagine it would work - can anyone tell me?

I dont know anywhere that would sell one to me and let me return it if It didnt work - would OcUk let me do you think?

I understand the thing about corperate computers with the Optiplex series so I suppose it makes sense. I just know that dell dont like people upgrading their computers especially the CPU's.
 
ALso I need to ask - will the Intel Pentium 4 820 Dual Core from OcuK sit nicely in the Dell? They dont use their own CPU's do they? Ive never installed an LGA775 CPU before so I wouldnt have a clue how to
 
I appreciate your advice but its not going to be used for gaming. Dell sell their pc's all over the world to all kinds of people so I wouldnt say motherboards made by foxconn are rubbish tbh. Its going to be used as my main pc for surfing the web/downloading things/playing music etc. Its got an X300 in it and Im putting a spare Audigy 4 in it.

As for my main pc - thats going to be used for gaming
 
I appreciate allll of the concerns here - especially the guy that said I can take the battery out :) Ive never tried that.

I know you cant overclock a dell and to be honest - who would want to? I actually have a spare socket 939 board in my cupboard but to be honest I really dont know what to do now. I like the look of the case and thats one of the reasons I would like to keep the PC. It would sit on my desk - their very quiet and they really do look the part. It would work out costing more if I was to buy a processor for the skt 939 board, some ram and an AGP card me thinks.
 
Ok im very confuseled now :confused:

Basically at the moment I have 1 pc owned by me which is used for everything I do.

Specs are:

AMD 64 3000+
MSi NEO4
1Gb Pc3200
2x 80Gb HDD's
1x 250Gb HDD
ATi X850 XTPE

At the moment this pc is doing me fine but I think when the new AMD Quad core comes out - Im going to renew this system almost completley except for a few parts. This is the pc I use for multimedia and games etc.

I was planning on using the dell almost as a workstation - just for net surfing, emails, leaving it on overnight to download stuff becuase its very quiet - I was also planning on using this machine to store most of my information - 1 small windows drive - one large drive for doewnloads. Now I really dont know what to do :confused:

The thing is, and please forgive me - Im very attached to the dell for some reason :eek:

Any advice or ideas greatfully appreciated since I dont have a clue what to do :)
 
Thanks for the advice mate - I will end up going Conroe soon-ish. Its hard at the moment because ive got a tempoary placement that will rake in £800 for me, so I was thinking I could get a HDTV for my 360 and get some form of new pc with that. Is it possible if £400 went into the TV?

Thanks
 
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