Upgrade a Dell

Rezident · 4 Aug 2008 at 16:48

I presume you can upgrade most things in a Dell computer nowadays?

My brother has a Dell Dimension 4700 with:
Pentium 4 3GHz
512Mb DDR2-400
Radeon X300 128Mb

I was going to tell him to get more memory and a new graphics card, is anyone aware of any compatibility problems with Dell's and any types of memory?

Also, for graphics, I was going to say either a Nvidia 9600GT or a ATI 4850 depending on budget. Would a Pentium 4 be powerful enough for modern graphics, like a 4850?

Cheers.

Ben M · 4 Aug 2008 at 18:25

Those cards require an extra power connector which i doubt that his psu will have.

my dimension 5150 the old card (ati something, possibly an X300) slipped out, and a 8600Gt went straight in. I think he's pretty much limited to only cards that have no power connector requirement.

also, check that his card is pci-e

Rezident · 4 Aug 2008 at 18:42

Ben M said:
Those cards require an extra power connector which i doubt that his psu will have.

my dimension 5150 the old card (ati something, possibly an X300) slipped out, and a 8600Gt went straight in. I think he's pretty much limited to only cards that have no power connector requirement.

also, check that his card is pci-e

Oh right cheers. Yes it is PCI-e x16.

Skeeter · 4 Aug 2008 at 21:24

Ive always treated Dells like laptops. You buy a spec, upgrade very little, then ditch it when it gets old. I always find that OEM machines like Dell have wierd layouts and highly machine specific connections which make changing anything realy hard.

For example, my mates OEM machine (not dell) was damaged, just the mobo ports on the back, so a simple mobo swap, right - wrong

the case and mobo were custom, non standard aringements, the CPU and case cooling were combined and no new off the shelf mobo would fit. Replacing the mobo meant a new case and a new CPU cooler, aswell as use of a hacksaw and a file to get the CD drives and media bay into the new case.

Indy500 · 4 Aug 2008 at 21:26

Check the PSU. If you're lucky Dell will have implemented a PCI-E 6pin power connector. If not, you're limited to a Geforce 7600GS or thereabouts.

celliott · 4 Aug 2008 at 22:14

sr4470 said:
Check the PSU. If you're lucky Dell will have implemented a PCI-E 6pin power connector. If not, you're limited to a Geforce 7600GS or thereabouts.

Wrong.

I have upgraded a number of dell's recently, the new Core 2 Duo Optiplex and Vostro machines at work. These do not have PCI Express power connectors or even Molex connectors for the Molez > PCI converter. However you can get SATA > Molex converters which will then allow you to use PCI-E cards that require additional power.

We upgrade these machines as they are used in the medical field for high res/3D image capture witrh 8600GT's and the real high end ones see some 8800s.

Skeeter · 4 Aug 2008 at 23:50

celliott said:
Wrong.

I have upgraded a number of dell's recently, the new Core 2 Duo Optiplex and Vostro machines at work. These do not have PCI Express power connectors or even Molex connectors for the Molez > PCI converter. However you can get SATA > Molex converters which will then allow you to use PCI-E cards that require additional power.

We upgrade these machines as they are used in the medical field for high res/3D image capture witrh 8600GT's and the real high end ones see some 8800s.

High end cards in the Medical Field? Where do you work? I worked for the NHS for 2 years, and have just got a new job starting in September doing IT in the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, and having a machine running Windows 2000 was a luxury! We even had some Dell GX110's running Windows 98! 8800GTs would make the IT department faint!

PhoenixUK · 5 Aug 2008 at 01:41

GET RID OF THE DELL!! FAST!!

No upgrades for dell, just sell it and never buy any of those again...
dell... is terrible choice... unless you're buying 300 of them for big company.

To be honest the only thing he could upgrade will be adding extra 512 of memory which will give significant boost, not much more than that in dell to be honest.

I would sell it to some moron and get better stuff for the same or lower price to be honest.

Also the p4 will be bottlenecking even HD2900, not to mention the 4850 or anything new.

-------------------

On the side note, I've actually got a bit better system for a good price that he might be interested in. E-mail in trust for more details

.

Skeeter · 5 Aug 2008 at 01:51

Lol.

Dells are overpriced if you buy from Dell, thats why you dont.

I Just bought a Dell Vostro to be used as a Media Centre PC:

Intel E4600
2GB DDR RAM
500GB SATA HDD
SFF HTPC Style Case
Low power PSU
DVD RW
Keyboard
Mouse
Windows Vista Home Premium

Ive priced up the spec on OcUK using the cheapest of everything, and it comes to £354.74 before delivery.

I paid just over half of that for it.

Dells make sence if you want something that works and doesnt need to be upgraded.

Indy500 · 5 Aug 2008 at 07:34

celliott said:
Wrong.

I have upgraded a number of dell's recently, the new Core 2 Duo Optiplex and Vostro machines at work. These do not have PCI Express power connectors or even Molex connectors for the Molez > PCI converter. However you can get SATA > Molex converters which will then allow you to use PCI-E cards that require additional power.

We upgrade these machines as they are used in the medical field for high res/3D image capture witrh 8600GT's and the real high end ones see some 8800s.

I said *if* they have one. Please look before you leap

Rezident · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:43

celliott said:
I have upgraded a number of dell's recently, the new Core 2 Duo Optiplex and Vostro machines at work. These do not have PCI Express power connectors or even Molex connectors for the Molez > PCI converter. However you can get SATA > Molex converters which will then allow you to use PCI-E cards that require additional power.

We upgrade these machines as they are used in the medical field for high res/3D image capture witrh 8600GT's and the real high end ones see some 8800s.

OK that sounds good. I haven't opened it up yet, I'll have a look at the PSU.

Rezident · 5 Aug 2008 at 10:45

PhoenixUK said:
GET RID OF THE DELL!! FAST!!

No upgrades for dell, just sell it and never buy any of those again...
dell... is terrible choice... unless you're buying 300 of them for big company.

To be honest the only thing he could upgrade will be adding extra 512 of memory which will give significant boost, not much more than that in dell to be honest.

I would sell it to some moron and get better stuff for the same or lower price to be honest.

Also the p4 will be bottlenecking even HD2900, not to mention the 4850 or anything new.

-------------------

On the side note, I've actually got a bit better system for a good price that he might be interested in. E-mail in trust for more details .

ha ha, I know, but he can't afford a new PC, he got it second hand from someone he works with for €300 (including the monitor) over a year ago. I hope he can upgrade the memory cheap enough (you don't have to buy Dell memory do you?) and he can spend around £100 on graphics.

Rezident · 5 Aug 2008 at 13:37

PhoenixUK said:
Also the p4 will be bottlenecking even HD2900, not to mention the 4850 or anything new.

Yeah that was my other worry. Any idea what graphics a P4 3GHz can power? Would a 9500GT be ok?