Upgrading Mother Board

  • Thread starter Thread starter dachay2tnr
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dachay2tnr

dachay2tnr

One Hit Wonder
I have a Dell Dimension 266MHz, which I would like to upgrade. Essentially everything is fine (CD, CD-RW, monitor, case, speaker system, floppy, etc.), except I want a faster processor, more memory (64Mb at present) and a bigger, faster HD.

I don't plan to do any recording on it, but I do want to take Cakewalk .bun files from our studio system, and edit them on this home system. They currently won't play for any longer than about 1/2 second on my current system (too many tracks and realtime FX).

My thought is that the cheapest approach would be a new motherboard with 256 memory, and adding a second (7200 RPM) HD.

Any advice on doing the above. Any concerns I should be on the lookout for. Any guesses as to cost. Any suggestions on where to buy the MOBO?
 
I think you have the right idea about the memory and the hard drive (256MB and 7200 RPM.) You could upgrade the motherboard, CPU, hard drive, and memory fairly cheap and really increase the overall performance with what you are doing.

Is the current motherboard standard ATX and will the Dell case take a standard ATX board as a replacement? Most of the Dell machines I've seen have things slightly different about the case and motherboard, but I was able to make an ATX board fit in there with some minor adjusting to the case on the one I worked with. Look for the price break on processors. There will most likely be a spot where the jump in performance due to speed increase is not worth the jump in money. I just bought a 1Ghz PIII, but it was cause I wanted it. The best deal would have been more in the 700-800 MHz range.

For some prices on all this stuff, go to www.pricewatch.com. Just watch out if you decide to order online, cause some of those companies posting prices there will be using OEM stuff with 15 day warranties. For processors I think it's worth the little extra amount to get a retail boxed version with a 3 year warranty. Also double check the shipping prices. Some companies will go way low on price and make up for it by charging you $35 to UPS Ground a single DIMM. If you want to check what other people have thought of the online places, go to www.resellerratings.com. They have a huge list of places with overall ratings and comments. Not that it's always right, but might give you an idea of what kinda place you might be thinking about doing business with.

I think Maxtor and IBM hard drives are both good, and I would go with an Intel processor just for the sake of compatibility with any future audio hardware I might buy. I also like Abit motherboards. That's just my preferences though.
 
Jon - thnx for the reply.

Do you know how I can tell if the current MOBO is ATX?

I did some price shopping and it looks like I can get an ABIT board, a PIII 800 Mhz and 256MB memory for under $450.00. Another $150.00 for the HD and I figure that's maybe $800 - $1000 less than a similar new system would cost me.

The only other problem I see is that it appears the sound card on my current system is integrated into the MOBO. I guess that means I need to also get a sound card, which I wasn't counting on - but I figure that's only another $50.00 or so.
 
It's more than likely ATX. Take a look in the case, should be one solid power connector going to the motherboard. If it's AT it will be two connectors, side by side. Your mouse and keyboard are probably PS2 - small round connectors? Usually an indication of an ATX system.

Like Jon X said, DELL and other companies (PB, HP, IBM) usually use proprietary components, cases etc. So it makes it almost impossible for the customer to upgrade. However all is not lost. Certainly the rest of your components are all standard, hard drive, cd-rom floppy etc...

So, worse comes to worse, buy a new ATX Case. In-Win makes the best IMO. Little more expensive ($50 for an S700) than the cheapo generic, but you wont cut yourself up working on them.

Yeah $50 would get you a SBLive! soundcard.
 
I thought this would be easier than this...

Thnx Emeric. While I do have PS2 connectors for my mouse and keyboard, there appear to be two side-by-side cables from my power supply - one single-row 6-wire connection and a double-row 20-wire connection (10 per row).

I've looked at some of the online places for mobo's, and I don't even see them offering AT boards - just ATX's. Plus all the various chipsets offered have me a little confused.

I priced out a new Dell. If I use my existing monitor, modem, and CD-RW, I can get a system as described above for about $879.00. This is around $300.00 more than buying all the parts I need (not even considering if I would need a new case and even possibly a new power supply).

I thought this would be some fun and maybe save me a few bucks in the process. Now I'm not so sure.

BTW, I'm always amazed at the amount of knowledge on this BBS. While you would expect some expertise on recording, the amount of computer knowledge is quite impressive. Thnx guys.
 
Dachay2tnr,

I watched the Dell tech guy put a new motherboard in my computer. It really is a peice of cake. The new pentium lllr board cost 279 dollars from Dell and Aardvark paid the piper. Although they say the boards are Dells, they really are Pentium lll r baords. I went to the Pentium website and found a picture of mine, but did not match numbers to check for sure.

The thing you have to watch out for is that all the parts have to be compatible with each other. And all the parts bought seperately sometimes end up costing more due to the fact that computer companies can get the parts at a better price.

Call Dell and ask about purchasing a faster chip, with motherboard and ram.(SDram is cheaper).
 
While building a computer is easy if you know all the ins and outs and very fun when it goes smooth, it can be very frustrating at times when things don't work out right. If you decide to give it a shot, since you aren't sure about the case, I would do like Emeric mentioned and spent an extra $50 on a new ATX case and power supply. Then you can be safe buying an ATX board and not have to worry about whatever Dell might have OEM'd in you current computer. And BTW, I saw a Dell tech come to replace a board under warranty where I used to work and I had to escort him around the building. As I was waiting for him to change the board out, he somehow set the thing on fire.. with flames shooting out above the top of the case. So even they can really screw it up sometimes.

Here's my limited take on motherboard chipsets : BX chipsets have been around a while in one form or another and Intel is trying to move on to the 815 or the 850 or whatever their latest 8xx thing is, but the BX is still very stable and I think one of the better deals. The VIA chipsets seem to be in a lot of boards as well, and I've heard things about compatibility with them sometimes, but I'm not sure about that. I'm not familiar with any of the VIA chipsets cause I've never owned a motherboard with one of them. Hopefully someone that has used it can talk more intelligently about it. What I know for sure is I have 3 relatively new BX boards (all Abit bought within the last 1.5 years) and won't buy anything different until I know for sure there's something else that's proven to be far and away better. If you are getting a PIII, I would get a board with a 133 FSB. On a side note, not buying the latest chipset is normally a good thing I think. Intel seems to have had more chipset failures than successes recently, and they are already working up a new chipset for the P4, so their lastest one pretty much sucks as well.
 
I took the plunge...

Tonight I ordered the following:
In Win Mid Tower Case
Abit ATX Motherboard (BX133-RAID)
PIII 933 Mhz
IBM 20 Gig, 7200 RPM, ATA 100 HDD
256Mb Memory
SBLive Soundcard

Thanks for all the advice. I may be back for more help when all this SH$# arrives, but I've got my toolkit ready, and the Gin bottle nearby. The total package ran me $700.00, which is more than I wanted to spend when I started this adventure (and that's using my existing monitor, CD, CD-RW, graphics card, floppy, keyboard, etc.) I could have saved close to $100.00 if I had gone with a 733MHz PIII - but I only want to do this every so often.

I'll let you know how the story turns out.

BTW, I'm assuming I can use the second fan from my Dell. Is that (hopefully) a good assumption.
 
Hey good choice of components. By second fan I assume you mean case fan? Don't use it unless you really think you have to. People go fan crazy, all it adds is more background noise to recordings, and sucks in smoke, dust, hair and all sorts of other debris. I've never run case fans and have 2 X 7200 RPM, 1 X 5400 drives, mid-tower, PIII 800. Unless of course your overclocking, than you may need additional cooling.
 
I warned you I'd be back...

Parts all arrived today. Assembled everything, and all appeared to go well. Plugged it in, turned it on and...nothing.

There is a small light on the motherboard which goes on when I turn the power on, but otherwise I get NOTHING. Even the fans don't move - including the power supply fan (shouldn't the power supply fan go on, even if nothing else works?). If it wasn't for the light on the mobo going on, it almost seems like there's no power. But the light goes on when I turn it on, and off when I turn it off.

Anyone have a clue? At this point, as you can imagine, I'm very frustrated.

<hangs head in shame for being mechanically inept>
 
<face turns red>

The good news is that I am now speaking to you from my new 933 MHz PIII, with 256Mb Ram, and 7200 RPM ATA100 HDD, and yada yada yada.

Here's what the problem was. There are two power switches on the In Win case. One in the back, and another in the front. The one in the back was the one turning the light on the mobo on and off. The one on the front wasn't doing anything. It wasn't doing anything because I had it jumpered to the wrong pins on the mobo.

The pins weren't labeled, and I thought pin 1 started on the right. Turns out pin 1 was on the left. When you put the power switch connector on the right pins, quite amazingly the power actually comes on when you push the button.

Anyway, I'm up and running. It's 2:00 AM and I'm gonna shut 'er down for the night. Thanks again for everyone's help. Over the weekend I'll tune it up and really take it for a test drive.
 
Congratz to a successful upgrade. What OS are you using/planning on using?

/Ola
 
Well I'm no genius but I've done a LOT of upgrades. As I was reading through the posts I was glad to hear you went the way you did. I think Dell are one of the better mass producers but I hate proprietary anything and they have buttloads of it. You will be much, much happier with what you have.

As you have discovered ATX systems are "soft switched" - rather than a real power switch on the front running to the power supply (like in AT systems) there is a switch that runs to a motherboard jumper. Getting that jumper wrong can lead to panic attacks, but you got it.. congrats.

I would not be ashamed of Win ME. I use Win98SE on my two music systems, I have WinME on another (just to test it) and it seems to work as advertised. While the NT/2000 familiy is more crash proof, the 98/ME family has much better driver support (and plays games too). My only advise would be to -
a) not load a pile of programs on it
b) as soon as you get your music stuff installed and are satisfied it works, BACK IT UP!

Good luck....
 
Well it's a week old and so far running great. Still tweaking some small things, but so far I'm very happy (and proud of myself, despite a few wrong turns).

This exchange was quite helpful to me. I took most of your advice, and it was right on the money. I'm pleased with the "brand" recommendations you all made.

I've said this before, but I continue to be amazed at the "collective" depth of knowledge on this board. It's taken me from "I know nothing about computer recording" to the point where I can also help others out. Glad to be a part of it.
 
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