Lookin to upgrade the old fella...

[Dr. Kramer]

Ok, so here's the deal. I currently am running a 3 and a half y/o Dell 4300 with P41.7, 640 SDRAM (PC133), Geforce4MX440 w/ AGP 8x (although the MB can only utilize 4x). As I am thinking of upgrading,
My question is...what do I upgrade first?

And my follow-up question is this, The 4300 has extra goodies in the front (as most dells do nowadays). More specifically 2 USB1.1 and an audio out port. However, the power button feeds into this board. The board then has a cable of different size going to the MB to transfer the power signal.
SO...if I upgrade the mobo, how can I be sure that I will be able to connect the power switch to the mobo? (or do i have to buy a new case too?)

And i am hoping of being able to upgrade the MB, vid, and RAM, whilst keeping the proc and case (to save some $$$)...

Thanks for any advice / input
DK

 

[soldier1st]

upgrade the video card and ram and mobo to support ddr ram instead of sdr but dells are kind hard to upgrade cuzz you gotta go thru them,another reason dells aren't very good.

 

[FishBoy]

the goodies on front arent from the mobo they're from the case they connect to somewhere on the mobo (all mobos have these features), i do suggest to change the cpu if you're willing to upgrade, which means you also have to upgrade your mobo because they're kinda old/slow, get amd it's better and more efficient, a 512mb memore should be more than enough and i can't think of the rest i just woke up my brain is still off

 

[ming]

You can upgrade the vid and ram without too much of a problem, but you'll definitely find upgrading the motheroard a hassle unless you search ebay for used items.

These days you're probably better off just purchasing a new machine from Dell as the cost has come down quite considerably. Upgrading all those individual components will probably add up to the same as purchasing a pre-build one from a manufacuter.

 

[Dr. Kramer]

I guess one thing I forgot to mention is that I'm not looking to upgrade from Dell. I'm looking to move AWAY from dell.
this being said, I can get a 9800pro for $115 buckero's, but still not sure about the mobo / proc / ram status. by the way, is this a good price for the vid? (i'm told it is)

So I'm somewhat of a gamer, but usually a few years behind (I just got into halo, who knows how long before doom3, HL2) but basically I just do audio editing, web stuff, with a touch of video editing. What would be a resonable price range?

And I'm still curious about the power switch thing...Is there a standard power switch cable size? If so, what size is it?
DK

 

[Land Locked]

I have not posted here in along time, call me lurker, I had to

re-register to respond to your question.

I've upgraded the MB on some old Dells for friends and it is not the
easiest upgrades I've done in the past. On both units I had to move
the power supply down in the case 1/4" since the cable was too short
to plugin to the new MB. As for your question on the power and system
re-set switch, I had to pull the individual pins from the plug and pin them
out on the new MB.

My advice, buy a new system or if you REALLY want to do this, get a
new case also.

Good luck, I'm back to lurking.

Chris

 

[xsivforce]

Look around, some prices for barebones kits are very good in some places. http://www.tigerdirect.com and http://www.newegg.com come to mind. Fairly inexpensive to upgrade all at once. 😉

 

[Dr. Kramer]

Well, if I do decide to go barebones, what are some recommendations? And with the whole 32 vs 64 bit, i've read it's not really worth it to go with the AMD64 yet. Any opinions? And likewise, i still have to decide the P4/AMD thing. But I'm more looking for MB brands.

I'd like to have at least 4 PCI slots (maybe 3), at least 3 RAM slots, and an AGP slot. I've got lots of investigating to do, but a little help would go a long way...thanks!

 

[LeeJend]

Since you like to run a behind the cost/power curve the upgrade choices are easy:

$120 9800 Pro (That's a great price, best I've seen was $128.)
$90 2 sticks 512meg XP3200 DDR RAM
$55 NF2 MB
$115 XP2500 Sempron 400mHz FSB
$30 Case w/front panel plugs
$50 Decent Antec power supply 350-380W. (you don't need more for that system.
$460 Worst case pricing

Going with a barebone system can shave the proc/mb/case price significantly. Frye's hand the 2500 sempron and nf2 MB combo for $59 special this week. A 350W PS (not an Antec) and decent case can be had for $30-40.

Buy a case and power supply locally if you can. $hipping hurts on the heavy stuff.

The bad news...
Be warned you may not be able to use the Dell copy of Windows and reactivate it. Some of them check the MB bios to make sure it is a Dell system. SAZAAR may be able to tell you if your old copy of XP is going to be a problem.

Figure the above configuration will play all the games available right now. Next years releases may be a problem with the 9800 PRO.

 

[Land Locked]

My wish list,
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1778731,00.asp
Depends on what you want out of the machine, $$$ and longevity.
I tend to try and build my machines on what Alien is using for hardware.
Start your search here,
http://www.extremetech.com/category2/0,1556,236,00.asp

 

[Dr. Kramer]

Hey LeeJend, happen to have a link to the fry's combo? I've been searching for it but can't seem to find it...thanks!

DK

 

[Dr. Kramer]

Fry's Electronics online store is Outpost.com:

http://www.outpost.com/

Well, i know that's where to go for Fry's :lick: , but allow me to clarify...Leejend, where on outpost.com did you see the deal on the mobo and proc?

DK