Replacement for a horrible Dell motherboard?

Brucethemoose · Dec 5, 2010

It's time to upgrade my friend's ancient 3.0ghz p4 system without buying a new computer. At first, I was simply planning on getting him a new agp graphics card, but as I can save more than $30 if I use a PCI-e gpu instead, I may as well buy a whole new overclockable board anyway.

But that's not so easy. Unfortunately, the board needs to be compatible with his old hardware. In other words, I need to find a board with 4 DDR (not DDR2) dual channel ram slots, a 478 socket for the old pentium, AND a PCI-x 16x slot for a new graphics card. Fortunately, he has a PCI sound card and Video capture card, so I don't need a board with integrated graphics or audio. Just 2 normal PCI slots.

What are the odds of me finding a board like this, as I can't find anything close. Does he have to stick with the old dell mobo?

jazon1 · Dec 5, 2010

you might want to try one of those mom and pop pc stores that sell old *** used pc's,other than that i think your going to be out of luck unless someone nice on here has one laying around they will send you

muddocktor · Dec 5, 2010

Yeah, that is pretty much it as far as choices go. Tell your buddy to save a few bucks together and just upgrade the mobo/proc/ram/vid card as a unit instead of trying to find an old 478 board. That would be just throwing more good money after bad, as 478 is now ancient history and AGP and DDR are too.

theflyingrat · Dec 7, 2010

For something like this, I think you have exactly one choice: ASRock, the guys who love doing unholy, unnatural things with chipsets and CPU sockets.

ASRock P4Dual-915GL

Now, good luck finding one. And you're stuck with 2 memory slots, sorry.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813170143 - There was this one, too, but Albatron left the US market years ago. You're kinda stuck with eBay and sources like that to find one.

However, it's certainly not worth buying a whole new motherboard just so you can use a PCI-Express graphics card with archaic DDR RAM and a Pentium 4. It's going to be most cost-effective to move to a newer, budget-oriented platform anyway, given the poor performance you'll get with any Pentium 4 in any case. With a $50 CPU, $75 motherboard (AMD or Intel platform, either way), and $50 worth of DDR3 (4GB!), you've got your choice of PCI-Express video cards to use from there. There's simply no point in chasing down obscure motherboard models and possibly paying a premium for them when, performance-wise, isn't going to do your friend any good in the first place...

nzaneb · Dec 7, 2010

theflyingrat said:
There's simply no point in chasing down obscure motherboard models and possibly paying a premium for them when, performance-wise, isn't going to do your friend any good in the first place...

Unfortunately this is the truth. Have him save up for a nice little dual, micro board, and 4gb of ddr3. This time of year you should be able to snag some excellent combo/sale prices

For an i3 530 combo you should be able to do it for $250-260 (CPU, mobo, ram)
For an Athlon II x2 you should be able to come in under $200 (CPU, mobo, ram)

Old Thrashbarg · Dec 7, 2010

ASRock P4Dual-915GL

Now, good luck finding one. And you're stuck with 2 memory slots, sorry.

And I don't believe it has much for overclocking ability either.

Also, there are going to be issues installing a standard board in a lot of Dell cases. Some models will take regular mATX boards, but many will not, and most use a proprietary front panel connection that can't be easily adapted to the standard motherboard headers.

theflyingrat · Dec 7, 2010

Old Thrashbarg said:
And I don't believe it has much for overclocking ability either.

Also, there are going to be issues installing a standard board in a lot of Dell cases. Some models will take regular mATX boards, but many will not, and most use a proprietary front panel connection that can't be easily adapted to the standard motherboard headers.

Not sure why I didn't mention that, but it's also true.

Not sure which Dell model OP is looking at here, but all of the S478 Dell models I've purchased/used at work here (Dimension 4400, Dimension 4500/4500S, Dimension 4550, Precision 360) used the weird "clamshell" style plastic case. There are no mounting standoffs for a standard motherboard on any of them. The motherboard form factor was proprietary, and heavy modification was usually involved to make standard ATX/mATX items fit inside of them. Actually, an ATX board is a virtual impossibility in one of these cases, as the Dell motherboard form factor was slightly smaller than ATX. If it's a Dimension 4600 (ugh! *shudder*) then you might have a bit more luck, since the 2350/2400/4600 chassis was a bit more accommodating to be modified for micro-ATX motherboard use.

So, you'll need (or at the very least really, really want) a new case anyhow.

Leonardo · Dec 9, 2010

If your local Craigslist is anything like ours, it should be overflowing with ancient P4-Win XP machines, for next to nothing. You can even find early Socket 775 and AM2 machines for fairly cheap.

I really don't think your friend should put any money into his old machine. But then, perhaps you can find the same model of computer on craigslist, and just yank the motherboard. Then your friend might not have to reinstall Windows.

Theocnoob · Dec 10, 2010

Pentium 4 at this point = squeezing water out of a stone.

Socket 478 systems are really only good for youtube, DVD playback, playing counterstrike, stuff like that.

Leonardo · Dec 10, 2010

Agreed, but it sounds like his friend is either a tightwad or has little to spend right now on a computer.

MacGruber · Dec 11, 2010

I have one of those old Dells. They modified an Intel D875PBZ board to add 5.1 audio and a proprietary Dell front panel connector. For a Dimension 8300, that is power button, pair of LEDs, (2) USB and 1 audio jack all to one mobo connector.
Old board has 20-pin Power connector. New PCI-E board could have 24-pin connector.

OR, If decide to just buy a used AGP gaming card, FYI that BFG Tech is out of business, so if any problems no repairs, RMAs.

OR, DDR RAM is selling at high prices on ebay. Desktop PC3200 seems to sell for $20/stick no problem.

I also have been looking at PCI-Ex16 motherboards. I just assumed any ATX would fit in it. I also didn't see the point of a Socket 478 DDR PCI-E board.

He never said what AGP video card is in it now.

Old Thrashbarg · Dec 11, 2010

I have one of those old Dells. They modified an Intel D875PBZ board to add 5.1 audio and a proprietary Dell front panel connector. For a Dimension 8300, that is power button, pair of LEDs, (2) USB and 1 audio jack all to one mobo connector.

You may want to look a little closer. While it does use a board with an 875P chipset, the Dimension 8300 definitely does not use a D875PBZ in any form... it's a completely proprietary board, including the weird proprietary form factor.

MacGruber · Dec 14, 2010

Dell OM2035 vs. Intel D875PBZ: Visible differences are: Dell has Audio. Intel has case fan plugs, very diff. front connectors. Intel has Gigabyte Ethernet std - Dell could have PRO/100. Intel has 5 PCI slots- Dell has 4. The Dell board is smaller and has that cutoff corner.
Other than that Dell forum posters still ask if can flash Dell with Intel bios. I'd guess that is a bad idea.

Old Thrashbarg · Dec 14, 2010

Other than that Dell forum posters still ask if can flash Dell with Intel bios. I'd guess that is a bad idea.

Well, it can't even be done, since those things use a completely non-standard BIOS, including a special utility for flashing it, and have protections in place to prevent flashing anything other than the specific Dell firmware for that model.

But it would indeed be a very poor idea if it were possible.

CAD_piot · Dec 19, 2010

Similar problem here myself. Just bricked it by pulling ram while in stand-by when I thought it was shut down. Anyway, I'm not that all that when it comes to computers, but will this mobo work?
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=D865GLCLK-PB&cat=MBB
Intel D865GLCLK Intel 865G Socket 478 mATX Motherboard w/Video, Audio & GbLAN
Can I pull the parts from my computer (Dell 8300) and put them on this mobo or am I just being foolish? I can spend $60 no problem, but my wife may go berzerker if I say I just fried our computer and I'm going to have to spend several hundred dollars.

I have P4, 3.0 Ghz, 2GB of DDR 400 pc3200, AGP vid card (Nvidia Geforce FX 5200)

Thanks for your input everyone.

Old Thrashbarg · Dec 21, 2010

Can I pull the parts from my computer (Dell 8300) and put them on this mobo or am I just being foolish?

You can use the video card, CPU and RAM, assuming you didn't kill the RAM. But you cannot put a standard motherboard into that Dell case. You'll either have to get another Dell motherboard, or a different case.

CAD_piot · Dec 21, 2010

Thanks Thrashbag! That's what I expected.
Update - tested my RAM in another computer and it worked fine. Tried it back in my machine and nothing. Diagnostic lights A&B are yellow, C&D are green = memory detected but error exists (roughly). Tried unplugging nearly everything, no good. Tried each ram slot, nothing. Prognosis - R.I.P. mobo. *TAPS*.
New mobo listed above on order with new case and a new cpu cooling fan. I'm in for another $130 but I did get a case that I can upgrade in the future with a new mATX or ATX board. So, I now have a new project for the holidays.
Thanks to all for your comments and thanks to BruceTheMoose for starting this post.

futymed · Jul 20, 2011

Extending the life of a Dell 8300

I got a bit of extra miliage from my Dell 8300 3Ghz by:
Installing a 1TB SATA drive and 3GB of ram.

Installing a Sapphire Radeon 512MB AGP x1650 graphics card, didn't make much diference over the 128MB DDR NVIDIA GEFORCE FX 5200.

Replacement for a horrible Dell motherboard?

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