Chip upgrade

[patnliz]

Hi All,

 

I have a Dell Dimension XPS D233 with Mandrake 2005 LE on it. I want to upgrade the motheboard or chip (very weedy!!) as I've basically upgraded everything else. I put this on the DELL support site and a very helpful user suggested I try not to upgrade the motherboard as it may be very hard and to save up for a new box or, alternatively, try the following:

 

The Evergreen Technologies Performa SE 533MHz upgrade

 

http://www.evertech.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...&category_id=22

 

This seems very sensible to me.

 

Has anyone any experience of this upgrade with Mandrake. As its a hardware upgrade, will it or should it be transparent to it?

 

Thanks again for all your support

Pat

[Ixthusdan]

Honestly, a motherboard/chip combo for $110 can blow away the "upgrade" you are considering. If your Dell uses a non-standard case, then add $30 for a cheap case. If the Dell uses a standard case, then do the combo.

I used Evergreen technologies years ago with a Packard Bell. It did not work. It's not Evergreen, it's the proprietary motherboard that Dell is using. If the Evergreen does work, so will a standard processor upgrade. Your best bet is to look at a processor that might work on your present board. Don't get a jazzed fix; the odds are 50/50 that it will work.

 

Think about building a machine. You have enough parts to get going, and you won't have to "save up" all that much.

 

Give me the model # for yoe Dell, and I'll tell you if the case is good or not. B)

[patnliz]

Hi Ixthusdan,

 

Thanks for the offer.

 

Its old and weedy and not worth putting a 2 bit CPU upgrade in, I agree. Its obvious I know squat about this kind of thing but all I want is some useful information about it, which you have been kind enough to publish.

 

I've learned a lot about what I am trying to do in the last hour both here and on the Dell site, which are both very active. I have had to justify myself in the face of some real astonishment at my perseverence with what has been a worthy computer that in all fairness should be bound for a skip :D.

 

That said, I am still interested in what you said about the combo upgrade and would be interested in any other information you may have about it.

 

Model number? Where would that be. Below is what Dell have about the machine. Its a desktop. Do I need to take off the side?

 

Dimension XPS D___

 

P2,233,KLAMATH

Service Tag: MT7CY

Service Code: 38314114

Ship Date: 19/3/1998

 

 

Thanks again

Pat

[pmpatrick]

Most of the Dells I've seen will not take a standard mb; you may also have trouble with a proprietary power supply in the case. The best thing is to buy a new case with a decent psu, pull your opticals, hard drive and any expansion cards you want to continue to use out of your dell and build yourself a new box.

[Ixthusdan]

According to their documentation, it might just be an atx board. And it looks like a standard power supply. Check out this link.

[pmpatrick]

Hard to tell from your link. I can just tell you from my experience, nothing quite lines up in a dell box when you try to put in a standard atx mb. Dell is huge and has mbs made to their spec. Like many manufacturers, they don't like to make it too easy to upgrade but they're not nearly as bad as old compaq. The psu probably has standard pinning unlike some old compaqs but I'd get a new quality psu if I was doing a new build anyway.

[Ixthusdan]

Yes, I agree. My summary:

new board/cpu combo

new power supply

new RAM

The detail specs indicate a standard set up here. It is an older Dell, which actually used industry standards at one time. Their cases hold stuff funny, but the stuff they hold id standard. (Check out the detail on the motherboard removal!)

 

Note: you have pc66 ram in your present system. I didn't think about it before, but that'll have to be replaced as well. Still, you can get all this for 160-180, which is cheaper than a new computer, and it will indeed be a new computer.

[aRTee]

Actually it was dell who used non-standard pinning on their psu's and mobo's - not compaq afaict, and I've seen and had some compaqs from Pi to PIII's...

 

Dell used to do it from some PII to PIII models if memory serves; the Inquirer had an article about it at some point.