New mobo for my P4 processor

[rockman]

I have a dell dimension 2400 with a 2.66 Ghz P4 processor (and from my research I believe it is on a 478 socket mobo) and recently I've wanted to upgrade my video card (and in the future the HD...the dell only supports an 80 gig drive). The mobo doesn't have an agp slot and the tower only has a 200w power supply, so putting a video card in doesn't seem a very feasible option (especially only a pci card).

I've decided to buy a new case (Dell towers are not ATX) and a new mobo then use the components from my current machine to build the rest. I've never built a computer before, but I've been doing some research and I think this will work. Since I don't have alot of experience, I would like to pose the question here if this will work.

Here are some of the specs from my current machine (that I would like to put in the new machine):
-2.66 Ghz P4 processor socket 478
-640mb ram (PC 2700)
-40 gig HD (I believe it's ATA)
-JLMS DVD rom
-Sony CD burner
-floppy disk drive

Here's the mobo I am looking at buying:
# MSI PM8M-V Socket 478 VIA P4M800 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

AGP Slots: 1x AGP 4X/8X
CPU Type: Intel Pentium 4/Celeron
DDR Standard: DDR 400 (PC 3200)
FSB: 800/533MHz
Maximum Memory Supported: 2GB
Number of DDR Slots: 2x 184pin DDR
P ATA: 2 x ATA100 up to 4 Devices
PCI Slots: 3
South Bridge: VIA VT8237
Supported CPU Technologies: Hyper-Threading Technology
# Model #: PM8M-V
# Item #: N82E16813130519

(can be found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130519 )

Thank-you in advance for looking and helping someone out new to the pc world.

 

[luvhuffer]

The problem you are going to be having is determining what in your old system is proprietary. That is ade to Dell specs and only usable on their systems and only replaceable with dell parts. Especially the power supplys and placement of lines on the 20 pin connector being non standard ATX configuration, and motherboards and their mounting holes being specific to Dell cases and not compatable with mounting holes on standard ATX mobos. Another thing is your operating system if it's on a proprietary Dell CD probably won't install on a new non Dell mobo. what I would suggest is sell the Dell and build one from scratch as you are almost going to spend enough buying new things, and for the few dollars more you could get with selling yours you could get hooked up with a nice case good power supply and a decent video card. There are plenty of forums like this one with a lot of knowledgable people that are glad to help you put it together. We all remember when we were new at this too.

 

[iss]

Forget the MSI board. get an Asus P4P800 SE motherobard. they have them at newegg. they are an Intel 865PE chipset, 4 ram slots supporting PC2100\PC2700\PC3200. it supports P4 and CeleronD Cpu's at FSB of 400\533\800mhz has onboard 6 channel sound. 1AGP slot, onboard lan etc.

I just upgraded my kids computer using one of these boars and have been so impressed with it I ordered another one to upgrade my wife's.

 

[rockman]

Thanks for the advice. Just to clarify, my plan was to get a new power source with the case, so they could both be ATX. The parts I would take from my DELL would be the CPU, RAM, hard drive, dvd rom, and cd burner...these are the parts I hope aren't DELL proprietary. Do you think carrying over these parts has a chance of working?

I didn't think about the OS. I was kind of hoping (probably a bit niaively) that having the OS already on the hard drive would ease the passing from one computer to the next. I do have a connection at Microsoft, so I could get the OS for very cheap.

The last wrench in the project is I do have a limited budget, so I was hoping to do this as inexpensively as possible to get me through a couple more years till I get a job.

Does this change any of your recommendations? Thanks.

 

[iss]

Do you think carrying over these parts has a chance of working?

there shouldnt be any problem using those components, with the exception of the hard drive which will have to be reformated and windows reinstalled. and a dell XP disk will not load on a non dell motherboard.

The last wrench in the project is I do have a limited budget, so I was hoping to do this as inexpensively as possible to get me through a couple more years till I get a job.

one word of advice dont go cheap on a motherboard, it is the heart of your system. And if yourr running a P4 stick with Intel chipsets. VIA chipsets are buggy dont go that route.

 

[luvhuffer]

I agree with the advice on not going the VIA chipset route. I use an ABIT and don't want to start a mobo brand flame war, but MSI make good boards. I see a lot of people having problems with ASUS boards. And from what I've dealt with it's mostly user related and not hardware. The ASUS BIOS is very consice and not real user friendly unless you know your way around BIOS settings. As for the other components you may have a problem with the ROMS. I'm not sure about Dell but the CDROM in an older Compaq I have is proprietary and won't work without a Compaq CMOS chip. But ROMS are so cheap anyway, it's not that big of a deal. The HDs should be OK unless they have one of those proprietary 8MB partitions that are reserved for the system recovery app, but that can be got around as well.

 

[MetalX]

I have a VIA Chipset and it is VERRRY stable....

 

[iss]

Abit makes good boards. I have built several P4 systems using abit boards. the problem right now is that the supply of Intel based, 478 socket abit boards is drying up.

 

[tipstir]

I have two MSI boards and there very much stable and quick!

 

[formetopoopon90]

Hello :wave: ! I am going to do exactly what your going to do in the near future. I was looking at my specs on my dell computer (dimension 4550), and it says that its processor is a microprocessor. I didn't know exactly what that ment, such as if its only something dell does. I am going to put that processor *hopefully* into a new gigabyte board i have. Does anyone else know anything about these so called "microprocessors"? Is that a different kind of processor, or did they just want to sound more technical ? Thanks :grinthumb

 

[luvhuffer]

No they all are micro processors. They control all the processing and so get called central processing unit or CPU. The "unit" is a microprocessor. Whether an Intel, AMD, or whatever brand.