I Am Thinking Of Dissecting My Dell...

Hey guys.

Here is what I am thinking...

...I am thinking of scrapping the usable parts of my computer and stickinging the usable parts on a new motherboard...

...but I am wondering how much it would cost and what other components I would need to purchase to have it up and running.

http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...jMXY_1_5_l.jpg

I definatlely want the ABIT IC7-MAX3. It is clearly the best Intel based motherboard available.

here's a review

Okay, I already have the hardware that is in my signature. I think that all I would need to do is buy the motherboard and some *qualtity ram. Some that could handle an overclock to approximately 3500 MHz. The multiplier on my CPU is 3.75.

What do you think?

:)

I would just like to ask you why? What doesn't your current board do?

Yeah...whats wrong with your otherone? And why new ram? Your ram looks pretty good to me...It might not be high performance but its quality...which is what you said you were going to get anyway. What is PAT enabled?

If you have a computer..and all you want to do is upgrade the motherboard then all you need to do is buy another motherboard probably.

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Originally posted by adamp2p@11 January 2004 - 09:42
http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...jMXY_1_5_l.jpg

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Holy fucking shit! why in god's name do u need a mobo which has a cooling system on the voltage controllers!!??!!

i seriously doubt ur going 2 overclock that much

btw i think the DFI lanparty pro875-b is better

oops wait, scratch that. this thing has AGP PRO... man i want this board! http://www.mcbriens.net/liam/img/smi...00tdribble.gif

oopsies... this cant fit the best Zalman fan around... man, i loved that fan!

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Originally posted by GCNaddict+11 January 2004 - 12:23--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (GCNaddict @ 11 January 2004 - 12:23)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-adamp2p@11 January 2004 - 09:42
http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...jMXY_1_5_l.jpg

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Holy fucking shit&#33; why in god&#39;s name do u need a mobo which has a cooling system on the voltage controllers&#33;&#33;??&#33;&#33;

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Gn, the voltages you have going to your system are a very integral part of the overclocking balance that you must keep in check. Its mostly the Mofsets their cooling there, and those do just what I just mentioned, regulate the voltage going to your motherboard and perepherials. Thats why you need to keep them cool, so they can operate at full ability.

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Originally posted by _John_Lennon_+11 January 2004 - 17:36--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (_John_Lennon_ @ 11 January 2004 - 17:36)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

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Originally posted by GCNaddict@11 January 2004 - 12:23
<!--QuoteBegin-adamp2p

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@11 January 2004 - 09:42
http://www.hardocp.com/images/articl...jMXY_1_5_l.jpg

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Holy fucking shit&#33; why in god&#39;s name do u need a mobo which has a cooling system on the voltage controllers&#33;&#33;??&#33;&#33;

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Gn, the voltages you have going to your system are a very integral part of the overclocking balance that you must keep in check. Its mostly the Mofsets their cooling there, and those do just what I just mentioned, regulate the voltage going to your motherboard and perepherials. Thats why you need to keep them cool, so they can operate at full ability. [/b][/quote]
i understand that, but i really dont see a need to overclock that thing in the first place&#33;

Overclock what thing? His processor?

Understand here that its not overclocking his board with that cooling, just making them run at opimatal setts better.

The reason I want to do this is to extend the value of the dollars I spent so far on this system. I am seeing if it possible to squeeze more value out of the components that I already own.

From what I know about Intel&#39;s D1 stepping, it is not unheard of overclockers to be able to reach speeds of 3400+ MHz on only air cooling.

So I am thinking...why can&#39;t I do this? I have already invested several hundred dollars improving my system to the point where I am finding myself unsatisfied with the limited options available to me in the Dell BIOS.

I mean I guess I could effectively build a entirely new system with just a new mainboard...I guess I might need a new case as well...but who needs a new case...but I would need new RAM if I wanted to overclock at all, which would imply that I would have wasted even more money on RAM.

According to my friend Simguy over at Neowin:

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Well, the IC7-MAX3 offers the best in Canterwood performance and overclocking performance for the P4C lineup.


Basically, all you would need would be:

All your old parts from your DELL system.
The ABIT IC7-MAX3
A New Case
A New PSU.

Dell PSU&#39;s are NOT (I repeat NOT COMPATABLE) with non-Dell motherboards. Dell reverses some of the leads on their PSU&#39;s to make their PSU&#39;s proprietary. Even though they have the same 20-pin ATX connector on the end, if you plug the DELL PSU into your IC7-MAX3, you&#39;ll kill the motherboard, and possibly everything connected to it.

A friend of mine didn&#39;t listen to me and ended up frying his 3.2, Corsair XMS3700 and his P4C800-E when he refused to purchase a new PSU and wanted to use his old Dell ATX PSU. Trust me on this one and make sure you purchase a new PSU and proper case with enough fans to aide in cooling. :)

As well.. you&#39;ll want to look into the ThermalRight SP-94 to cool your CPU properly while overclocking.

Oh, BTW, your multiplier is 15, not 3.75 (200 FSB x 15 = 3,000 MHz). :)

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I explained to him that my PSU is not Dell, and he continued:

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PC Power & Cooling Silencer 400? Nice PSU :D

As long as it didn&#39;t originally come with the Dell PC, you&#39;re fine. If it DID come with the Dell PC, buy a proper Antec/Enermax/Vantec/PCP&C that conforms to ATX specifications.

For 3500 MHz from a P4 3.0C, you&#39;ll need good overclocking RAM.

234 FSB x 15 = 3510 MHz, memory DDR466.

Any of the following will work for you:

Corsair XMS3700, XMS4000, XMS4400
Mushkin Black Level II PC3500 (you&#39;ll have to play with the timings to get it to work at PC3700 levels).
Kingston HyperX 3700, 4000, 4200

AFAIK, there is no memory currently available on the market that can work at DDR466 speeds and mainstain a CAS latency of 2. Best you&#39;ll be able to do is with the Mushkin Black Level II at 2.9V. You may get 2-3-3-6 out of it, as its great RAM. You&#39;ll need to play. I can assure you that you&#39;ll get better performance out of the Mushkin (IE, lower CAS/RAS/TPD/etc// timings) than with any Corsair XMS stuff at XMS3700 or higher, as its&#39; all rated for 3-4-4-8 operation and can&#39;t reach anything lower than 3-3-3-7 @ 2.8V. :(

OCZ? Personally, I don&#39;t recommend OCZ DDR SDRAM.

ABIT IC7-MAX3 &#036;189.99
2 x 256 MB Mushkin Black Level II PC3500 &#036;167.00
ThermalRight SP-94 &#036;46.99
92mm Panaflo FBA09A12H (H1A) &#036;11.00

Total: &#036;414.98 USD

www.newegg.com

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then the famous xStainDx entered in and said:

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189.00 :blink: wtf

you can get a an ASUS P4P800 for &#036;59.00 from newegg and it&#39;ll have everything you&#39;ll ever need.

update its bios and now you have PAT.

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With the introduction of the Prescott impending in the beginning of next month, and the new chipsets Alderwood and Grantsdale including DDR 2 and PCI express effectively dramatically increasing system perfomance, I am thinking to myself it would not be such a good idea to the first guy with one, I think it might just be a better idea to wait until these new technologies are out for a little while for the bugs to be worked out before adopting an entirely new platform. At first I was thinking summer 2004 would be a good time to step up to the new platform, but due to later than expected release of Prescott, maybe it would be a good idea to wait for these new technologies to "mature" a bit before adopting it.
B)

Buying a new motherboard just so you can overclock more?

On an already extremely fast (3 GHz) system.

That doesn&#39;t sound cost effective to me.

I would do it, get off that half ass dell Bios... :blink: if not that mobo get another mobo at least... i hate Dell bios, that board works well, i had it in my test rig for some time, wait i may still have it in there... i don&#39;t know for sure, but a very nice board, if you plan to expand, watercooling (*subliminal message* or My kinda new Heatpipe cooling system) when used on this board can overclock extremly crazy amounts... the poeple that claim to have high speeds with thier P&#036;s are using this board... (oops sorry oi used SHIFT key... i mean p4 not P&#036; like pentiums = &#036; :P ) no dis intented... what you have is very nice... looks like your mobo is what is possibly bottlenecking other componets... also in response to the new stuff coming out... i would keep the 32 bit stuff you have right now as is... it is fine... when 64 bit, the ddr techsnologies, and the price comes down allitle... then get a whole other computer... you WILL be using new parts on most of it anyway...

hope it helps :blink: