Dell Dimension 8100 - Is there an upgrade path?

KinchTheBlade

Hi there
I have an old Dell Dimension 8100 (1.3 Ghz, 256 MB RAM - don't laugh - it was quite good when it came out - ok maybe not).
I don't want to shell out on a new machine but I could do with beefing this old dear up bit by bit
The only problem is that I'm totally thick about hardware and would be grateful if anyone could suggest (preferably in detail) a workable upgrade path for this machine

Many thanks in advance

Kinch

Mac daddy

If i was you i would first ring dell and ask them they can check what is supported by your MoBo!! because if it is still in warranty and you put a third patry hardware in pc they will tell you not supported unless it is there Cr*p-

Secondly i would think of placing a add in the buy&sell and get rid of it-but if you really are

'm totally thick about hardware and would be grateful if anyone could suggest (preferably in detail) a workable upgrade path for this machine

maybe get them to upgrade it for you

KinchTheBlade

Thanks for the comments
Just to clarify - maybe I exaggerated when I said totally thick - I'm capable of taking apart and putting back together the PC and its bits - I've added new disks, dvd recorders etc - certainly not genius stuff but I have opened the thing :-)
But when It comes to stuff like choosing a new motherboard that will fit the case and a new cpu that will fit the motherboard etc than I don't really know where to begin looking or how to make the right decisions
Ultimately I am looking to do three things

1. Upgrade the cpu
2. Add more ram
3. Add a new video card

So comments on this would be great if anyone has the time

Thanks again

Kinch

Stephen

You won't get a motherboard to fit the Dell case unless you buy it from Dell, which sucks balls. And your Dell PSU won't work with a standard ATX motherboard unless you modify it.

So as you say you're pretty much limited to installing whatever is the fastest CPU that board will take, adding ram, and replacing the graphics card.
The best way to give it a kick in the arse would be to add an ATI 9800 pro (good bang for buck, anything faster will be totally bottlenecked by your CPU) card, and a big bucket of RAM, at least 512MB, preferably 1GB. I'm not sure what type of RAM that takes, but given its a Dell and a P4 (I think... hardly one of the end-of-the-line P3s is it?), it probably takes RAMBUS memory, which is an utter pain in the hole as it has to be installed in matched pairs. (and it is quite expensive).

Calibos

I upgraded my Dell 8200 a few weeks ago.

I upgraded my 256mb RDRAM to 512. Got it from an Irish company-Shop4Memory. They were as cheap as anywhere else I could find and where an Irish company to boot. The 256mb cost €123. Expensive stuff. What ever about the worth of upgrading to 512mb, the cost of upgrading to 1gig would have been prohibitive.

I upgraded my 1.8 P4 400FSB 478pin to a 2.8 P4 400FSB 478pin which I got from Powerleap who are an american based company. It cost €160 + another €50 customs which DHL collected on delivery. In your case you, because you have a socket Dell 8100 423pin you would also need the adapter to use the 478pin 400FSB processors (my 8200 is native 478pin). The 3.0ghz 400FSB 478pins are expensive and in very short supply and as a result cost a lot more. The most cost effective CPU would be the 2.8 which I got. With the adapter and taking into account customs, you would be looking at €260ish

I replaced my Dell oem GF ti200 with a Sapphire Atlantis 9800Pro 128mb (256bit) from Komplett which cost about €210 IIRC. I flashed the card to turn it into a 128mb 9800XT (most sapphires have the XT's R360core) and added ramsinks and an arctic vga cooler. I also have it overclocked from stock(378/336) to 435/380

Total cost for me was about €540. I can run FarCry and Doom3 at high detail with very acceptable frame rates.

Because Dells are proprietry designs (ie mobo, PSU, case etc are all proprietry)this is the only kind of upgrade path for your Dell. Other than upgrading, your choices are purchasing another prebuilt PC or building your own.

The reason I upgraded this time was that although I could buy a new PC for only another €200 over what I spent, it would have had to have been a lower end model/spec for that price. I decided to spend a little less by upgrading my Dell now which will keep it going for another year or so and then next year I will buy or build a new machine when all the new standards (PCI-E, etc)have matured. There are 4 people sharing our PC atm so selling my Dell was out of the question too cause we could really do with 2 PC's.

ie my train of thought was that rather than having 2 crap pc's now (the 'new' €700 pc would undoubtably have a crap graphics card and thus both pc's would be useless for gaming), I would upgrade the Dell to an acceptable standard now and then next year i could afford a second PC and a kick arse one at that. Unfortunately after getting a new car and few other bits and pieces this year I could only afford to spend about €500 on a PC whereas I would love to have spent €2000!! Next year my budget wont be as tight.

KinchTheBlade

thanks guys for your excellent replies. It's good to see that there is life in the old dog yet. I will probably do as you have done and let you know how I get on (I know its not that interesting but just for closure!).
Thanks again
Kinch

unkel

KinchTheBlade wrote:

Ultimately I am looking to do three things

1. Upgrade the cpu
2. Add more ram
3. Add a new video card

Hello Kinch

You most likely have a PIII 1.3 GHz. That's about the highest that processor went, so no upgrade possible there

Your ram is probably PC133 SDRAM. How many sticks do you have and how much memory per stick? How many memory slots do you have? Possibly only 2 that might be taken already by 2 * 128 MB?

If the latter is the case, I would advise to sell the old sticks here and get yourself either 1 * 512 MB or 2 * 256 MB, whichever is the cheapest...

For the graphics, as suggested a 9800 pro is under €200 new. That might already be overkill (anyone confirm this?). If your budget is lower, get a 9600 pro second hand for around the €100 mark

Oh, and a complete reformat / reinstall of the OS helps. You might still have Windows 2000. Get Windows XP and upgrade to SP2. Should be another big improvement

RicardoSmith

Some people should really do some research before posting a reply. At least read the posts in the thread!

A quick glance at the dell talk forums would suggest its a 423 P4@1.3ghz and PC800 RDRAM? DellTalk but then Calibos has already told you this. I have to agree with him that a PL-P4/N 2.8GHz seems to offer the best bang for buck at the moment. The 3ghz fsb 400mhz are too dear for only 200mhz more. 512mb ram is enough, and a 9800Pro would be enough for most games too.

unkel

RicardoSmith wrote:

Some people should really do some research before posting a reply

OMG, that's me

Sincere apologies to everyone concerned. I was totally wrong. I had no idea the P4 range started as low as 1.3GHz and indeed with RDRAM - not SDRAM. I shoud have known this...

RicardoSmith

unkel wrote:

OMG, that's me

Sincere apologies to everyone concerned. I was totally wrong. I had no idea the P4 range started as low as 1.3GHz and indeed with RDRAM - not SDRAM. I shoud have known this...

To be fair Kinch hasn't said what it is.

RicardoSmith

Theres a review of the powerleap adapter here

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040830/index.html

Looks like it does a decent job!

Dr Bolouswki

Great post from Calibos

seems the only way to go

although you could build a PC for nearly what he spent....

check it out

AMD 2500, NF7V2, 512mb, PSU, 80GB hard drive, 9600 pro - scab a case and monitor somewhere and you have a decent enough machine IN ADDITION to your Dell machine at a cost of of less than €450????

RicardoSmith

If it were me I think I'd get a decent gfx card like a 9800 pro, and not spend anymore. Because you can take the GFX card with you to the next machine. But the RAM and the powerleap adapter you can't.

A 1.3ghz should be fine for everything bar games. And a 9800pro even on a low spec machine will give games a decent boost. It would probbably make most new games playable at lower res.

I'd avoid spending too much on the Dell. So do the sums carefully. Maybe get a powerleap adapter but a cheap cpu like a 2ghz 2nd hand.