12-21-2008, 07:33 PM
Quote:So, I have a Dell Dimension 8400, looks like.
I'm not at work to grab specifics, but from searching around the net it looks like the 8400 uses a microATX form factor motherboard. Your current CPU is pretty close to the max it can support (max being in the neighborhood of 3.6Ghz), and it doesn't support dual-core CPUs. The good news is that your hard drive interface (SATA) and video card (PCI-E) are current, so you could theoretically swap them to a new motherboard without an issue. You may need new memory depending on what you get.
I found lots of posts about updating the motherboard in a Dimension 8400, but none really admitting to success- most of the replies were along the lines of "I'm pretty sure Dell stuff is proprietary". I always thought that, form-factor wise, an ATX motherboard was an ATX motherboard as far as the dimensions and mounting holes went. The one thing I did see was that the front panel connectors on Dells (i.e. the power switch, lights, etc.) are proprietary, so that you can't just plug them in to a new motherboard and expect them to work. Those are usually just little jumpers running to cables, so if you wanted to bust out an exacto knife you could probably splice together something that worked, but I don't know if that would be worth the time and effort.