First off, let me introduce myself to this forum as I am a new member, My name is Nath Williams, from Bristol, England and i'm 23 years of age.
Okay now thats over with I am in need of some help which I hope you guys can help me with.

Does anyone own a Dell Dimension 9200, have you upgraded it?
If so I hope you can help me with some questions.

I'm hoping if I can to slowly upgrade my new computer bit by bit, i'm hopefully going to be getting a new graphics card for it first, then maybe something else and something else.. etc.

Also if anyone knows much about upgrading these machines it would be awesome if you could help me in advice on where to get parts and upgrades.
I am not at all good with computers, I want to hopefully by the time ive upgraded it quite a lot to have a real great performance machine.

Kind regards
Nath Williams

i didnt no u cud upgrade them, a computer techniqion told me that dell built them so people could change parts in them? :S, unless they was 'dell' parts

Ive heard from a few people that I can, though first off I did hear you couldnt

Edit: By the way, these are my specs:

Dimension 9200 Viv Core 2 Duo E6400
Memory: Duel-Channel 4096MB [4x1024] 667Mhz DDR2
Hard Drive: 500Gb
Graphics Card: 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro
Windows Vista Home Premium
Monitor: 22" Wide Flat Panel

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own, unless you`re only replying to a specific section, in which case you would only quote that section.

well give dell a phone first then see what they say, but if your gonna fit urself make sure u say ur qualified or something.. lol, dells are built in a weird way i know that, as i achually had 1 open today...and i have a little 1 as a backup pc, but i easily could find the right slots and things... have you opened it before?

I've heard of Dells being finicky with hardware upgrades but anything you put in an expansion slot should work fine, i.e. a graphics card.

If you make sure the new card is PCIEx16 it should be compatible with newer motherboards.

Upgrading RAM, CPU, and motherboard are a whole 'nother set of issues.

No, it's new. I havent even got it yet lol, i'm awaiting arrival soon

ahh,umm well personally i hate dell computers i figure they build them cheap n ****ty, but thats just me.. have you decided what vid card ur gonna get yet??

I bought it because it WAS cheap for what you get (I think), anyway.. ive heard some people say that the ATI Radeon X1950 Pro would be the best option for me cause they say that the GeForce Nvdia 8800 would not fit.

What are your suggestions?

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own, unless you`re only replying to a specific section, in which case you would only quote that section.

Anyone know what would be the best graphic card I could put into my new machine, also could I put this card into it?

http://images.play.com/covers/3320575x.jpg

Regards
Nath

I'm afraid you can't put a high end card like that in your Dell. The power supply would blow up.

It may be a standard ATX PSU, so you could change it and get a better one.

Ah I thought so , so where can I get a better PSU too? and what do you recomend?

Thanks

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own, unless you`re only replying to a specific section, in which case you would only quote that section.

First, we need to be sure that your Dell's motherboard can accept normal ATX PSU's.

I'm gonna Google a bit, and I'll try help you out.

If it works with normal PSU's, I'd recommend this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104954

Regards :wave:

Wait, maybe your PSU can handle the load.

Check it's sticker, how many A does it have on the +12V rails? I hope it has dual 18A rails.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1969448&enterthread=y
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061030224509AA9Yszm

Thanks for helping me Thats the thing though... I havent gotten my PC yet, i'm awaiting arrival, it's a new machine.
I just wanted to get a new graphics card for it as the one supplied with the machine is not a great performance card.

Wolfram, I was reading the thread http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1969448&enterthread=y

There is alot of discussion about weither it will support the 8800gts or not but some of them do say that the Dell Dimension 9200 (the one i'm getting) can support it. It's annoying cause I don't wanna blow up my system or whatever lol.

Hey Nath,
Did you ever get your Dell and was wondering if you managed to upgrade your video card. I am in the same boat now with a Dell 9200 and want to upgrade to either a 8800GTX or 8800 Ultra.

Hi, I did get the Dimension, and no I havent tried to upgrade it as it's fine at the momment for what I need

Ultra might be pushing it, GTX is good. 375w psu @ 30a

mine came supplied with an 8800gtx, so if you've got the same psu as me then it should be fine. I can check when I get home if you like?

Same problem, can you give the spec'?

Thanks!

i have upgraded many dell PC's and i tell you that replacing graphics in them is easy, its when you come to the CPU. The seems to have a "lock" where it detects a different CPU and can sometimes act funny about it. I recently upgraded a P4 2.66ghz to 3.0Ghz and it didnt like it even though it was same model, just higher hertz.

Best way to upgrade a pc, is to build one yourself. Its not a big challenge, imo its pretty fun and you can customize to how you'd like it whenever you like.

Simon

Ive got a dell dimension 9200 with a 8800GTX running 650 core clock, 1500 shader clock, 1044 memory clock, Ive got a thermal take 750watt psu fitted in fine, 4gbs of ram and ive got a q6600 processor.

Its a good machine i can play crysis and other high end games on very high with full 16Q AA.

I got my dell off ebay with the GTX for £490, then soon found out that the psu isnt powerfull enough. The thermal take psu was only £75 and is slightly small than the dell psu so nothing to worry about fitting it in.
You can find intel q6600 going for about £150 on ebay sometimes £110 if you lucky as i was.

If i were you i would choose the new 8800gts 512mb, As its better than the old gts card and it runs cooler than any of the the 8800 range.it uses less power. You can also overclock it alot and it can out perform the gtx. Alos alot cheaper.