L
leegold
Can I put an ATX motherboard into a DELL Dimension XPS D233?
It's a PII 233 DELL tower. Has anyone tried?
Thanks
It's a PII 233 DELL tower. Has anyone tried?
Thanks
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M
Michael Cecil
Can I put an ATX motherboard into a DELL Dimension XPS D233?
It's a PII 233 DELL tower. Has anyone tried?
I've done that. You must consider that the RF shield will need to be
replaced or modified to fit the replacement motherboard. Also, you
will need to figure out how to connect the power, reset and hdd led
connectors. Finally, you will probably need to replace the
proprietary Dell power supply with a standard ATX power supply.
B
Bob Knowlden
I doubt that it's impossible, but it would require some modifications.
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/dalex/board.htm
The machine uses nonstandard power connectors. In addition to the
standard-looking 20 pin ATX power (which probably has nonstandard pinouts),
there's a proprietary 3.3V connector.
The front panel switches and indicators use a nonstandard connector.
The Dell case has six card slot openings (one ISA, one AGP, one shared
ISA/PCI, and three PCI). Seven would be more standard for that vintage,
although recent mainboards may have fewer (and no ISA slots at all).
It has a single serial port; two would be normal. You may have to modify the
case to take a third-party mainboard.
(My belief is that Dell does this to make it more trouble than it would be
worth to install a non-Dell mainboard in one of their systems. Profit
motives aside, imagine the service tech who is called to repair a Dell, but
finds that it's not a Dell inside any more.)
Also, P4 systems need ATX 12V power (normal ATX connector, plus a four-pin
one for additional current at 12V). (I don't know what an Athlon systems
need.) The Dell power supply is also pretty weak by present standards - it's
a 200W one. (Dell now uses a 250W supply in their P4 desktops, which would
still be considered small for anything but a compact system.)
In brief, re-using the case and power supply is more in the line of a stunt
than a practical upgrade. If you're using a recent mainboard (P4, P4-based
Celeron, AMD Athlon), you'll need new RAM (DDR rather than PC66), and you'd
probably want a newer (faster) hard drive.
Sorry that I can't be more encouraging.
Bob Knowlden
Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems/dalex/board.htm
The machine uses nonstandard power connectors. In addition to the
standard-looking 20 pin ATX power (which probably has nonstandard pinouts),
there's a proprietary 3.3V connector.
The front panel switches and indicators use a nonstandard connector.
The Dell case has six card slot openings (one ISA, one AGP, one shared
ISA/PCI, and three PCI). Seven would be more standard for that vintage,
although recent mainboards may have fewer (and no ISA slots at all).
It has a single serial port; two would be normal. You may have to modify the
case to take a third-party mainboard.
(My belief is that Dell does this to make it more trouble than it would be
worth to install a non-Dell mainboard in one of their systems. Profit
motives aside, imagine the service tech who is called to repair a Dell, but
finds that it's not a Dell inside any more.)
Also, P4 systems need ATX 12V power (normal ATX connector, plus a four-pin
one for additional current at 12V). (I don't know what an Athlon systems
need.) The Dell power supply is also pretty weak by present standards - it's
a 200W one. (Dell now uses a 250W supply in their P4 desktops, which would
still be considered small for anything but a compact system.)
In brief, re-using the case and power supply is more in the line of a stunt
than a practical upgrade. If you're using a recent mainboard (P4, P4-based
Celeron, AMD Athlon), you'll need new RAM (DDR rather than PC66), and you'd
probably want a newer (faster) hard drive.
Sorry that I can't be more encouraging.
Bob Knowlden
Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.