I want to change my motherboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter gio.gee
  • Start date Start date
G

gio.gee

I have Dell Sc440 server with a 6600 cpu, the board has no pci express slots,
So I now want to change it.

What board Type will fit my existing case and will allow me to use the CPU
and ddr 2 memory ?

Or would it be easier and cheaper to start with 6600 and build a new system?
 
Go to www.newegg.com and select (from their drop down menu) Motherboards,
then select 775 as the CPU and DDR2 as the memory and a list of compatible
boards will appear. Then tell it you want at least 1 x PCI-E x16 slot.

There will be quite a few so you might want to decide on a budget.
 
Looking at the Dell website I see what seems to be a full tower case for
that system.
So the question is what type of motherboard did they use...ATX or mini ATX.
and by opening the case and measuring the mobo you should be able to
determine the size.
A quick Google search on ATX....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX
will give you the dimensions and specs.......now you know what your dealing
with and what will fit in the case.
Then comes the question on operating system...you bought it with an OS
installed which will only work with that
particular mobo...its called an OEM installation and is tied to the mobo.
Then you need to look at the Power Supply and see the specs on it to match
up with the new mobo and PCI-E Video Card..most newer cards require\a
specific power connection...chances are your Dell Power unit will not have
that connection and most likely will be a little short
on amperage
So now you need to buy a Mobo and an OS and a new PSU
......and you need to match the other components to the new mobo that will
need to be
socket 775...DDR2 slots...Sata connectors....PCI-E....

Its really is just easier to buy a newer system...unless you like tinkering.
peter
 
peter said:
Looking at the Dell website I see what seems to be a full tower case for
that system.
So the question is what type of motherboard did they use...ATX or mini
ATX.
and by opening the case and measuring the mobo you should be able to
determine the size.
A quick Google search on ATX....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX
will give you the dimensions and specs.......now you know what your
dealing with and what will fit in the case.
Then comes the question on operating system...you bought it with an OS
installed which will only work with that
particular mobo...its called an OEM installation and is tied to the mobo.
Then you need to look at the Power Supply and see the specs on it to match
up with the new mobo and PCI-E Video Card..most newer cards require\a
specific power connection...chances are your Dell Power unit will not have
that connection and most likely will be a little short
on amperage
So now you need to buy a Mobo and an OS and a new PSU
.....and you need to match the other components to the new mobo that will
need to be
socket 775...DDR2 slots...Sata connectors....PCI-E....

Its really is just easier to buy a newer system...unless you like
tinkering.
peter
Click to expand...


Guys

Dell home computers open on the 'other' side of the case to almost all other
computers, don't they? As a result, the motherboard is a mirror of a regular
ATX motherboard. The PCI slots are at the wrong end if one tries to fit a
Dell motherboard into a regular case.

This may be true of Dell tower servers too..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx
 
Mike Hall - MVP said:
Guys

Dell home computers open on the 'other' side of the case to almost all other
computers, don't they? As a result, the motherboard is a mirror of a regular
ATX motherboard. The PCI slots are at the wrong end if one tries to fit a
Dell motherboard into a regular case.

This may be true of Dell tower servers too..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx




firstly thanks guys for your input.
Click to expand...

The mirror thing is now so clear no wonder all the boards i would look at
would look mirrored.

After doing some research the motherboard may be a BTX it may not, but i
have come to a conclusion that i will need to start a new build,

I will get a list of all the components i have and ask for your advise on
building a new machine.
 
gio.gee said:
The mirror thing is now so clear no wonder all the boards i would look at
would look mirrored.

After doing some research the motherboard may be a BTX it may not, but i
have come to a conclusion that i will need to start a new build,

I will get a list of all the components i have and ask for your advise on
building a new machine.
Click to expand...


The power supply plug to board may also be proprietary, but you can buy
adapters that go between it and a standard motherboard.

To be honest, I would dump the Dell case and purchase a regular ATX case in
which anything will fit other than Dell motherboards..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx
 
gio.gee said:
firstly thanks guys for your input.

The mirror thing is now so clear no wonder all the boards i would look at
would look mirrored.

After doing some research the motherboard may be a BTX it may not, but i
have come to a conclusion that i will need to start a new build,

I will get a list of all the components i have and ask for your advise on
building a new machine.
Click to expand...

This is the info I got from the Dell page. Board takes a Xeon and
uses a 3000 chipset. (I'm not sure the "lane count" on the PCI
Express adds up, as there seem to be more PCI Express lanes in
use, than are available on the chipset.)

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_sc440?c=ca&l=en&s=bsd&cs=cabsdt1

"I/O
5 total I/O slots
3 PCI Express slots
(one with x8 connector,
one with x4 connector,
one with x1 connector), all 2.5GHz [PCI Express Version 1]
2 32-bit/33MHz PCI slots 5V.
Slots can support full length or half length cards."

So I gather your complaint, is an x16 video card won't fit in the slot ?

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pe440sc/en/HOM/HTML/install.htm#wp1058948

"NOTE: The size of the expansion card connectors for the PCI x4 card is PCI x8,
and for the PCI x8 card is PCI x16."

In fact the x8 wired slot is big enough for a video card, because it is physically
x16 sized. The video card should still work. In this article, an experiment
was done, to run a video card with various numbers of lanes wired up. The
video card is in fact quite flexible in what it can use.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sli-coming,927-1.html

My problem right now, is I don't have good closeup pictures of the
SC440 motherboard, to verify the above Dell information. This is the
best I've found so far. The biggest PCI Express slot looks like it is
x16 sized in that shot.

http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages...115099917&images=115099917&formats=0&format=0

Have you tried to fit a card and it didn't work ? Or do you have
some other information that says it won't work ? The user manual
that came with the computer, must have mentioned something
about the slots.

Paul
 
EncinoMan said:
Why ask here? This has NOTHING to do wth XP.

Ask elsewhere
Click to expand...

Indeed. You should ask in a hardware group.

As this is a hardware group just ignore our resident ****wit instead.
 
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