Dell Dimension 8100

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim
  • Start date Start date
J

Jim

Friend of mine has a dying Dell Dimension 8100. Most likely the power
supply, motherboard, or combination of both. Replacement parts from
Dell are a joke and of course a waste.

Curious if both components could be replaced with industry standard ATX
parts? Basically wondering if the mounting holes and dimensions would
accommodate them or if those factors are proprietary as well?
 
Jim said:
Friend of mine has a dying Dell Dimension 8100. Most likely the power
supply, motherboard, or combination of both. Replacement parts from
Dell are a joke and of course a waste.

Curious if both components could be replaced with industry standard ATX
parts? Basically wondering if the mounting holes and dimensions would
accommodate them or if those factors are proprietary as well?
Click to expand...

Technical Overview: Dell Dimension 8100 System Reference
http://support.dell.com/support/edo...chovu.htm#system_board_connectors_and_sockets

At one time, the 8100 was described as having an Intel D850GB
motherboard, but in name only. This is the D850GB manual,
and while the chipset used is probably the same, the layout
isn't even close.

ftp://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d850gb/A2608002.pdf

The power supply pinout looks to be proprietary, so the PSU
probably cannot be reused. PS_ON# is on the wrong pin.

If you look at the board outline on that support.dell.com
page, it has a weird shape.

I'd open it up and marvel at what you find. Maybe what
you could do instead, is buy a new case, keep the hard
drive and CDROM etc. Then bung in a new motherboard
and power supply. Since the 8100 uses RDRAM, you might
even be able to sell the RAM on Ebay, and make enough
money to make a down payment on the new hardware. It
all depends on whether the RDRAM sticks used are
high capacity ones or not.

With the old case, it is quite likely that the front panel
wiring (switches for power on and reset, LEDs for power
and IDE) may have strange spacing, and may not line up
with a different motherboard. And the cooling solution
for a Dell, may not be suitable for another motherboard,
if the cooler is ducted and built to fit just that
motherboard.

Maybe you could use the Dell computer as a boat anchor :-)

Paul
 
Paul said:
Technical Overview: Dell Dimension 8100 System Reference
http://support.dell.com/support/edo...chovu.htm#system_board_connectors_and_sockets

At one time, the 8100 was described as having an Intel D850GB
motherboard, but in name only. This is the D850GB manual,
and while the chipset used is probably the same, the layout
isn't even close.

ftp://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d850gb/A2608002.pdf

The power supply pinout looks to be proprietary, so the PSU
probably cannot be reused. PS_ON# is on the wrong pin.

If you look at the board outline on that support.dell.com
page, it has a weird shape.

I'd open it up and marvel at what you find. Maybe what
you could do instead, is buy a new case, keep the hard
drive and CDROM etc. Then bung in a new motherboard
and power supply. Since the 8100 uses RDRAM, you might
even be able to sell the RAM on Ebay, and make enough
money to make a down payment on the new hardware. It
all depends on whether the RDRAM sticks used are
high capacity ones or not.

With the old case, it is quite likely that the front panel
wiring (switches for power on and reset, LEDs for power
and IDE) may have strange spacing, and may not line up
with a different motherboard. And the cooling solution
for a Dell, may not be suitable for another motherboard,
if the cooler is ducted and built to fit just that
motherboard.

Maybe you could use the Dell computer as a boat anchor :-)

Paul
Click to expand...

Here are some current links for an 8100 power supply:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Dell-Dimens...0121224QQihZ014QQcategoryZ80173QQcmdZViewItem

http://ejcomputers-ystore.stores.yahoo.net/03e466.html

http://www.computergiants.com/items/one_item.asp?part=114236&cat=97&subsubcat=848


and some current links for the motherboard:

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-DIMENSION-...692-9D307_W0QQitemZ230068510882QQcmdZViewItem

http://www.discountelectronics.com/index.php?action=item&id=1332

http://www.softarcade.net/Dell-8E309-VRM-Motherboard-4H665-90-20GHZ_p_2574-5370.html


but I really think you'd be better off spending your time & money on
something more modern. A Dimension 8100 just isn't worth putting much into
anymore.
 
Jim said:
Curious if both components could be replaced with industry standard
ATX parts? Basically wondering if the mounting holes and dimensions
would accommodate them or if those factors are proprietary as well?
Click to expand...

Hey guys thanks for the input but you ignored the question being asked.
I've quoted it above for reference. I don't want to consider a
replacement Dell power supply or motherboard.

The question was, and is, whether industry standard parts could be
substituted for both IF they could be mounted with the existing mounting
brackets, etc.
 
Unfortunatly, the connection between Dell motherboards and the front panel
of the case is also proprietary.

The best you could do is to by a case/MB/PS and use the drives and cards
from the 8100 in the new system.
 
Jim said:
Hey guys thanks for the input but you ignored the question being
asked. I've quoted it above for reference. I don't want to consider a
replacement Dell power supply or motherboard.

The question was, and is, whether industry standard parts could be
substituted for both IF they could be mounted with the existing
mounting brackets, etc.
Click to expand...

Really doesnt make a lot of sense to try to keep the original case,
decent cases are so cheap that you're wasting your time going that route.
 
Rod said:
Really doesnt make a lot of sense to try to keep the original case,
decent cases are so cheap that you're wasting your time going that
route.
Click to expand...
Totally agree however it isn't my system. Actually hoping for more
responses like this to support building a new system, including case,
from scratch and perhaps only use existing items like optical drives,
floppy, sound card, etc., until ready to upgrade them as well.

All things said and done for those not wishing to build a quick trip to
Costco to pick up a remaining XP machine is a better deal overall.
 
hdrdtd said:
Unfortunatly, the connection between Dell motherboards and the front panel
of the case is also proprietary.

The best you could do is to by a case/MB/PS and use the drives and cards
from the 8100 in the new system.
Click to expand...
Concur. See my note to Rod
 
Back
Top