Recently bought a Gen 4 case off ebay. Starting to look for a motherboard for it.After searching various dell forums I saw that some people have had trouble because only the dell motherboard will hook up to plugs for the power supply and fans and front led. My question is do I have to buy the motherboard from dell or is there any only that will fit and still have everything work properly? Also I hear that XPS has BTX form factor not ATX like normal. Is there any board that anyone would recommend? any help would be great.
You may be screwed, dude. I don't know if any mobo manufacturers came out with BTX mobos. I think the formfactor was ditched. I have also heard that Dell uses proprietary connectors. Problem is, I don't know if you can by motherboards from Dell...
Yea, Im not so sure now. I'll call dell when I get the case and see what I need. I know about the connector problem, but Ill see what i can do when I get the case. If not ill sell it on ebay or something. I found 1 BTX Motherboard from Intel but it was like $250 from tigerdirect. Pretty expensive and its not even SLI compatable. Will probably get a normal ATX case so I don't have to screw with all this. Unless anybody else has a good idea?
make your own mobo. it cant be that hard.
Dell uses all proprietary shit. You're screwed.
I found this out on my old Dell when I went to upgrade my video card, found I needed a better PSU, and that their custom shaped PSU would require me using tin snips to cut a hole in my case to get a standard PSU to fit.
Result? Brand new custom built PC that I'll be able to upgrade modularly.
I found this out on my old Dell when I went to upgrade my video card, found I needed a better PSU, and that their custom shaped PSU would require me using tin snips to cut a hole in my case to get a standard PSU to fit.
Result? Brand new custom built PC that I'll be able to upgrade modularly.
im not that expierienced so building my own mobo is out of the question. Will probably get at normal case and build from there. I really want to do SLI so ill start there.
u should have never bought that.....
You can purchase replacement MOBOs from Dell. Not sure how difficult it is through home purchases but i have done it several times for business. That is most likely your best bet since the cases are designed specifically around the motherboard so your cables and housing may not fit any other dimensions. Fare warning, the Mobo will not be cheap. You may want to keep an eye out on ebay or search the web for an alternative source.