Dell Woes, New Motherboard?

[villo]

I'm not sure if any of you have ever done this, but I need help with my dell. I was given this computer as a gift about a year ago, but as I upgrade it i'm getting concerned about dell non-standard parts (I don't want to ruin anything). Here's my question: what would it take to move the parts in my computer to a new case? A new motherboard perhaps? I need a solution that will not require a lot of electronics experience (reverse wiring, soldering, etc.)

 

Can anyone help?

[crash]

Shouldn't be too tough. As long as everything fits it shoudl be ok. I think PSU and vid card may give you some problems though.

[gravy]

shouldn't be too hard with a case that has universal mounting points, but i don't understand your question.....

 

moving your dell parts to another case makes it a dell in another case, you are still limited as far as what components will work with the existing motherboard, etc......but, getting a new motherboard and case(with a good power supply) would be the first step in getting away from the dell proprietary parts issue, if that's what you mean

[MindDrive]

yeah - your still going to have a "dell" but the only things that you are limited by are the motherboard and the power supply

 

everything else is interchangeable given that its somewhat of a newer dell

 

things you cant change:

power supply (due to its proprietary 20pin connector) there are online solutions to this

 

things you CAN change:

 

memory

harddrives

processor

floppy

cdrom drives

graphix cards

pci cards

heatsinks

 

pretty much everything on a dell can be swapped out and changed EXCEPT the power supply

 

if it was a high end dell it migh have RDRAM (800mhz rambus) which is MASSIVELY expensive and must be bought in pairs