New CPU + mobo in dell system (what to go for?)

BenJ

BenJ

BenJ

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Ok, either the cpu and/or mobo have died in my sisters Dell Dimension 8400. So i am going to replace them both. The ram is DDR2 and the G/c is PCI-E.

The computer shop who diagnosed the problem are going to charge £45 for looking at it, and then a total bill of £187 to put in an AMD 64 3200 AM2 with a Gigabye GA M51 board.

This seems both pricey and old technology to me. I was thinking at least the AMD 64 3800 AM2. The budget is around £150 idealy, but can easily go slightly over. So could someone spec me a good Cpu and mobo combo. (The mobo can be quite basic, it just needs to house a soundcard,wirelesscard,pci-e g/c,two harddrives (Not sure if they are sata/ide.) and not going to bother overglocking.

Thanks in advance.
 
Does it need to be a micro ATX or can the case fit a standard ATX mobo??

£150 is enough for an dual core X2 3800+ and a sli mobo too.

However if you can stretch to £180 you can get a nice E6300 with a gigabyte 945P-S3 mobo.
 
Ok regarding them fitting it, they havent got another cpu or mobo to fit apparently so they cant find out exactly. Its a good 3 years old with a p4 3.2 in it and things have moved on.

Ok they recon that the case will only fit the mirco boards, so i need a mirco board and decent cpu. As regard intel vs amd, if its going to be AMD then it will be one of the single cores, but if its intel then obviously the core2duo.

Edit: Looking at the overclockers site it looks like i can get a e6300 for £125 and then a budget intel socket 775 micro atx board. Just wondering if there will be any compatability issues with any of the parts? like will the power supply still be enough e.t.c.
 
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What is the rated wattage for that PSU?? In particular how much ampage does the 12V+ rail give??

Also some Dell have dodgy PSU connections which may not be compatible for retail mobos, just make sure that PSU has 24pins + 4pins connectors then it will be compatible. However judging by the age of your PC it will most likely come with a 20pins + 4pins PSU, which is not a problem since you can just get a 20-24pins adapter, provided that your PSU offers enough wattage of course.

Any reason for avoiding the X2 range??
 
As have been said by other, dells are known for being a pain to modify. In my experiance both the PSU and the mobos are so beyond standard! Some times even the psu has the right number of pins but is the wrong shape. The trouble is they are such a big company they get away with it!

Take the mobo out and see what shape it is, and see where the screw holes are. if your unsure post an image of it here.

I recently upgraded a dell and could be doing with all the hassle, just got a cheap new case
 
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Ok the P.C is still at the shop who diagnosed the problem, I will be picking it up Saturday and will check what the psu has writen on it and the connections e.t.c before i got ahead and buy the parts.

As for avoiding the Amd dual core, just simply by reading the masses of "Intel Vs AMD dual core" threads and also various benchmark results i believe that the core2duo is the better buy?
 
Yes C2D is the way to go, but X2s are still worth considering since they are slightly cheaper than C2D and has lots of cheap mobos to choose from.
 
ok the core2duo e6300 and Asrock conroe 945G mobo came today. However the motherboard is too small, so im guessing it was not a mirco atx board that i need and in fact needed a standard socket 775 board.

So now, do i send this board back, or order a case that will hold the mirco board?
 
But this is a dell system remember... there are no holes on the case mountings that align with the motherboard holes ....
 
If the holes don't align then it's usually as easy as taking off the mounting screws on mobo tray and re-install them to mounting holes that align with the mobo screw holes. If this is not possible then a new case is needed I'm afraid.
 
yer with the dells they dont have the mounthing screw things on the mobo they have some stupid metal tray that has just four holes on it, so unless i re drill some holes in it theres no way to screw it down. And also the cover for the inputs to the mobo (Mouse keyboard USB's e.t.c) is not removable and is not the same formation as the new mobo, so ill have to cut this off if I use the same case lol.

Curse dell...to think i used to like them aswell :rolleyes:
 
I think that the best answer is going to be another case such as this:

Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £50.51
 
yer im deff going with a new case, now its the problem, do i get one with a psu or without, and pref the case needs to be as cheap as possible..

So whats the best budget case about at the moment?
 
Go for the ASUS if you want it cheap without the PSU.

Otherwise go for the one suggested above.

I'd just get one with PSU in case there is something incompatible with the DELL PSU.
 
I have just checked the psu and this is the information it has on it:

combined power on +3.3v and +5v rails not exceed 150watts.
combined power on +12v-a and 12v-b rails not exceed 336watts.
max continuous total DC output power shall not exceed 350watts.

I was thinking probs best to go for one with a psu, just to rule out any further compatability probs.
 
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