Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL | reply to ninjatutle
Re: Can I upgrade or do I need a new system...
I don't think the dell bios let's you get the full use of ram with good timings |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA | reply to The Flash
I like my monitor. It's a 19" Samsung 931c 4:3 panel. The colors are very nice. |
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The Flash
You don't win friends with salad
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON | reply to ninjatutle
Might as well get a new monitor while you're at it. lol |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to ninjatutle
I added a Razer Barracuda sound card today. A few more items and I'll be able to dump the Dell and have a different stand alone system. I just need a CPU, MB, HD and case. I'll go for a Phenom and Raptor hard drive. Probably will do this before the end of the year. I'm buying an HD camcorder so all of this is also good for video editing as well as gaming. |
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The Flash
You don't win friends with salad
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON | reply to ninjatutle
Next get a Phenom or 6000+  |
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Grief
join:2004-04-05
St John'S, NL | reply to ninjatutle
 good job pulling it all together |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to ninjatutle
I got my replacement motherboard today. Installed it and everything is working. The Corsair PSU is more quiet than the stock unit. The HD is the only thing making noise that I can hear.
When I went to take the old MB out, I unscrewed and unhooked the heatsink from the sockets. I yanked it out and out came the CPU with it  The clamp holding down the CPU was still in the locking position. A half row of the pins were at a 45° angle. A few other pins here and there were also bent. Luckily no pins were missing.
I bought the MB off a vendor on ebay. The description said it was New. I can see smudges around a few items and the screw mounts on a few holes had the metal peeled off. It looks like this thing had been used before. My old MB had a few holes with the peeling as well. I have never seen a brand new MB with this peeling. No dust can be found so they cleaned it pretty well.
The upgrade from Hell is very fitting. I played about 20 mins of the COD4 demo, so far the CPU is holding up. I'll try a few more games to try to stress it out. |
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signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
Premium
join:2001-11-22
LOSTinSpace
clubs:  | reply to ninjatutle
Another reason to build your own I suppose. |
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The Flash
You don't win friends with salad
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON | reply to ninjatutle
Next time, don't buy a Dell. |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to The Flash
loot | 
lemon |
The last of my bounty arrived today. So now the only old thing I'm using is the HD, DVD drive, case and AMD chip. Not what I intended  |
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The Flash
You don't win friends with salad
Premium
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON | reply to ninjatutle
Wouldn't hurt to try. |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to jouno53
I'm not going to even bother calling Dell. I am 2 months out of warranty. I read the Dell support forums and there are pages and pages of other people who have done the same. If I was still under warranty, they might send one out but in my case they wont. A new motherboard will cost $80-100. I'll just cough up the dough even though it wasn't fully my fault. I ran the bios updater from within Vista, there was an error. I reran the update, same error. Rebooted, now the bios is shot. Same problem others have ran into. |
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Boogeyman
Drive it like you stole it
Premium
join:2002-12-17
Huntsville, AL
| reply to ninjatutle
I have 4gb in my 32 bit Vista and the only problem I have is that my mem usage apps wont read the mem usage correctly due to the OS not wanting to see all 4gb at once. Right now I am using 1.12gb of ram, but my ram usage only says 123mb used.
Anyway, my point is that you can still make use of all 4 gb, its just that most apps that try to look at total ram and total ram usage wont recognize a gig of it. They will still use it, but wont report what they are using correctly sometimes. (On my system, the first gb used is ignored, so most of the time my system says I am using 0 ram) |
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jouno53
Palin 2012
join:2006-03-04
United State | reply to ninjatutle
Aw man, that stinks. I hope Dell will help you out, let us know how it goes |
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Grief
join:2004-04-05
St John'S, NL
| reply to ninjatutle
the upgrade from hell....I've had a few of those 
This is where Dell helps,either installing your new bios(not sure what bricked means  ) or supplying the operating system cause I'm not sure your hard drive will accept a motherboard switcharoo so you may need to repair your OS or reinstall(I'm assuming Dell didn't give you a cd of your OS).
I was going to say your processor was a little weak |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to jouno53
I ordered a new one already. A Corsair 650TX - a 650W one @ $99 total
I wish I would have never upgraded and gone with a full build instead or drop the whole gaming idea altogether. I flashed the bios yesterday and bricked the Dell. I didn't even get to play anything except for 10 mins of the COD 4 demo. Now I will wait until Monday to see if Dell will give me a new MB or I will have to order one. |
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jouno53
Palin 2012
join:2006-03-04
United State | reply to ninjatutle
You'll probably need a new PSU |
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poppster
Tell the truth and then run.
Premium
join:2003-12-23
Midwest
clubs:
| reply to ninjatutle
I would look to upgrade the PSU, 450+ watts. ZZZ has a good deal on this thermaltake psu, with active PFC.
»www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe···e=371258
Dual, and Quad core ready. |
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ninjatutle
Premium
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to Mustang
I just ordered 2 GB of ram and the video card. I read somewhere that XP or Vista will not see 4 GB unless you had the 64bit version which I don't.
Hopefully the card will fit, its a single slot card I did measure the length I had. I would have gone with a dual slot card if there was space for it.
Looks like I could drop in any powersupply with this MB. Its a non proprietary one. If the PS is too weak, I'll order something. |
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Mustang
Premium
join:2005-06-27
Fort Lauderdale, FL | reply to ninjatutle
A BIG concern will be your power supply....the 8800 GT sucks power and I believe it comes with minimum requirements (450 watts) comes to mind.
Its also a big card, make sure you have the room to physically put it in your computer.... |
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