UPGRADING DELL PIII PC

DevenM · Jan 10, 2006

Hi

Could someone please advise me on what I need to do to upgrade my
existing PC. I want to replace the Motherboard, the soundcard, upgrade
memory etcetera. Kindly advise on what are the appropriate hardware to
acquire which would be compatible with the Dell Tower. Also I am a
student programmer using .Net Software. So I need equipment which can
sufficiently handle the software capabilities. Any other advise on
this area is welcome.

nobody · Jan 10, 2006

Hi

Could someone please advise me on what I need to do to upgrade my
existing PC. I want to replace the Motherboard, the soundcard, upgrade
memory etcetera. Kindly advise on what are the appropriate hardware to
acquire which would be compatible with the Dell Tower. Also I am a
student programmer using .Net Software. So I need equipment which can
sufficiently handle the software capabilities. Any other advise on
this area is welcome.

If the Dell you have is a regular ATX tower case, you definitely can
reuse it. The rest has to go, including power supply - if you want to
use a modern AMD or (especially so) Intel CPU, it must be at least
350W, preferrably 500+. What CPU to use? I'd advice to use Athlon 64
(socket 939 - avoid 754). If you insist on using Intel, you can go
with P4 (slower and more expensive than A64, but will do the job), but
avoid Celeron - this one will be a real dog at compiling and
especially when switching between HTML and Design view in ASP.NET.
The choice of motherboard is defined by the CPU. The chipset matters
less, especially in case of AMD, where the CPU handles the memory
directly, just make sure it's PCIe, not older AGP - this will make the
pick of video easier. If you need the system for .NET only, any
video, including integrated, like on motherboards with ATI chipset,
will do. If you want to do gaming, the choice of video is determined
by your budget and the list of games you play. NIC and sound are
included with most modern motherboards. Memory - at least 1GB, get
more if your budget can handle it. If you don't use 64 bit OS, you
don't need more than 4GB, otherwise the motherboard defines the limit.
Good luck
NNN

Gary L. · Jan 10, 2006

On 10 Jan 2006 00:11:30 -0800, (e-mail address removed) wrote:

If the Dell you have is a regular ATX tower case, you definitely can
reuse it. The rest has to go, including power supply - if you want to
use a modern AMD or (especially so) Intel CPU

Many Dells come with some of the power supply wires reversed (but
still use a standard ATX connector), so the Dell power supply cannot
be used with a new motherboard. The O.P. will have to buy a new power
supply, regardless of the wattage rating.

At this point, the only parts that are reused are the box and maybe a
CD drive, floppy drive or other inexpensive peripherals. IMHO, the
O.P. would be better off selling the existing system on eBay for
$50-100 and just starting from scratch with a new system.

Neil Maxwell · Jan 11, 2006

At this point, the only parts that are reused are the box and maybe a
CD drive, floppy drive or other inexpensive peripherals. IMHO, the
O.P. would be better off selling the existing system on eBay for
$50-100 and just starting from scratch with a new system.

Last time I upgraded a semi-proprietary system, I ended up getting a
new case, MB, RAM, and CPU, and reused the hard drives, floppy, and
CDR. There was a bit of a performance hit using the old HDs, but
those can be changed in the future as funds allow.

Reusing the case and PS was an option, but you can get a decent new
one for under $60, and we decided it was worth it.

GSV Three Minds in a Can · Jan 11, 2006

from the said:
Last time I upgraded a semi-proprietary system, I ended up getting a
new case, MB, RAM, and CPU, and reused the hard drives, floppy, and
CDR. There was a bit of a performance hit using the old HDs, but
those can be changed in the future as funds allow.

Reusing the case and PS was an option, but you can get a decent new
one for under $60, and we decided it was worth it.

Yes, but that was probably before you could get a new HDD for about $80,
and a new CD/DVD reader/burner for even less. Heck a CDR is almost
impossible to find now, but you can get CDRW+DVD for under $30, and
floppy drives are $15 or something.

I'd concur with whoever said 'sell the current box as a going concern'
(or keep it as a spare). There is really nothing worth keeping, and what
there is will likely turn out to be proprietary / lack drivers / be a
performance bottleneck.

George Macdonald · Jan 11, 2006

Hi

Could someone please advise me on what I need to do to upgrade my
existing PC. I want to replace the Motherboard, the soundcard, upgrade
memory etcetera. Kindly advise on what are the appropriate hardware to
acquire which would be compatible with the Dell Tower. Also I am a
student programmer using .Net Software. So I need equipment which can
sufficiently handle the software capabilities. Any other advise on
this area is welcome.

No modern mbrd/CPU is going to be able to work off your old PSU - even if
the Dell power connector is compatible with a new mbrd, you need a ATX12V
2.0 P/S with a 12V mbrd connector, which your old PSU does not have. If
you compare prices, you'll find that a new case including power supply is
only going to be ~$20. more than a bare PSU and you'll want the improved
ventilation of a modern case anyway.

Unless your into serious sound processing, you won't need a sound card -
current mbrds have pretty good sound integrated.

My advice: unless you have recently upgraded with a modern hard disk which
will not drag down the performance of your new mbrd, junk the whole thing
and start afresh.

DevenM · Jan 12, 2006