Hi everyone, im new to these forums.
I want to upgrade my dell dimension 4600. It has a P4 2.66gHz, and agp video card interface. I want to upgrade the motherboard/cpu(core 2 duo)/graphics.
do they make a board that will fit in my case, and connect properly to all the other things in my computer.
will i have to do a fresh install of windows?
how difficult is it to get a dell to run properly with a non-original mobo?
any other comments/help would be much appreciated.
thanks,
Will
You may as well put the Dell away and start from scratch as you will need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU, and graphics card as these new boards use PCI-e or PCI cards.
You may as well put the Dell away and start from scratch as you will need a new motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU, and graphics card as these new boards use PCI-e or PCI cards.
i know i would need a new mobo, cpu and gpu. the psu is 450 watt y wouldnt it work? is the connection different for the aftermarket mobos? also, y wouldnt the ram work? its already been upgraded to 2gb.
thanks
You have stated that you want to go with a core 2 duo CPU, this means that you will need DDR2 RAM. The new motherboard for that CPU is going to require the (P4) square four pin 12V connector for the CPU, your old PSU doesn't have it.
Are you going to try to build this yourself?
yea i WAS planning on doing this myself. but seeing as there doesent really seem to be a cost effective way to upgrade, i might as well just save up the extra cash and start from scratch. this would probably be my better option, correct?
yeah, just buy a new generic 'puter with everything you need in it, and move the compatible parts (like the CD, HD, FD etc) to the new machine
i did that to upgrade my 5150
i looked on www.novatech.com (UK site) and went into components -> barebones and i built a new pc for under £400 - they sell OEM stuff too so if you buy XP with the hard disk / mobo / cpu etc.. you can get it for wholesale prce (£70 or so)
... and the generic PCs are easier and cheaper when it comes to maintenance and upgrades :)
... and the generic PCs are easier and cheaper when it comes to maintenance and upgrades :)
That's not true, retail computers have the same problems as custom rigs, it largely depends on how competent the builder is. The maintenance is the same with either one.
As for upgrades, one of the biggest problems that I see is that the manufactured computers generally will have a PSU just large enough to run the components it has installed. If you want to install one of the newer graphics cards there is a good chance you will need to up grade the PSU. Now we get into another problem with manufactured computers, there are companies that are very proprietorial about their parts. This is true to the extent that they will install non-ATX PSUs, this means that in order to upgrade the PSU for that graphics card you now will have to buy one from that manufacturer.
All manufacturers have failures, that's a given. But I will bet that if you did a study you would find that the custom builds out live the manufactured ones.
by "generic" I meant custom built, as opposed to originally made HPs/Dell/IBM etc
yes my dell is BTX so i cant upgrade basically anything :(
it also only has a 305w PSU so i cant add many new things :(
We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.