Dell 531s upgrade

You also have the cost of the new Intel processor and you'll maybe limited in what processor you can use with only a 250w PSU.

I have a Dell Inspiron 531s desktop and recently its motherboard failed. I contacted Dell for replacement parts but found that in the price quoted, I could buy myself a completely new system (excluding the LCD monitor). Even after going in for the repairs I would essentialy be stuck with a motherboard and processors which is a few generations old. Searching on the net I found 2 items, TFX0250D5W 250 watt slim power supply and N826N LGA775 motherboard meant for Dell Inspiron 545. Since the cost of these 2 items was roughy equivalent to the cost of the replacement board, I started thinking if it could be possible for me to upgrade from AM2 platform to Core 2 duo platform using the new motherboard. I checked on the net and the physical dimensions, mounting holes and rear IO ports appear to be identical (RY206 and N826N). Is it possible for me to swap the motherboards and put in a new C2D processor with the 2 items available?

Hi, Your motherboard will not fit your case I/O, because the 531s and the 531 tower uses different motherboards. So the 545 will not fit the I/O of and 531s case. Your 531s will have a 250w PSU as standard. What your better off doing, is to buy a retail board, and move everything across to it. By doing that, you will not be able to use your Dell OEM OS software, and you will have to buy a case. But the cases are cheap, and a new motherboard is upgradeable at a later date.

I checked and 531 and 531s have the same motherboard RY206. So I guess even if 545 case corresponds to 531 and not 531s, the IO shouldnt be an issue.

let me try it out. If it works it works. If not then I just have lost 1 motherboard. Will be an interesting experiment. Lot many people say cant be done. Let challenge that "cant". I could always go in for a new case but to be honest, I dont have lot of choices in the slim ones and no way am I inclined to go in for those huge full tower cases.

Thanks for the posts.

I think the IO ports on RY206 and N826N are the same. Dell has 2 models for Inspiron 545....545 and 545s and 545 has N826N motherboard whereas 545s has T287N. If you check T287N and N826N they are virtually same (physicall) except for the processor capability. So I think the rear IO ports shouldnt be an issue. Maybe you can look at images of the motherboard on the net and decide for yourself. Maybe in the worst of case I "MAY" have to make very small modification to my rear IO plate...I stress MAY.

Regarding processor, I checked the new core 2 duos and pentium dual cores, and their wattage is significantl lower than the 85 watts my existing AM2 processor. And I am not using too many devices except for a simple graphics card (8400GS) so th 250W power supply I guess should be sufficient.

I am only worried about the power consumption of the board itself. If that is significanly higher then it could pose issues.

Just to be clear, both the 531s and 531 use the same motherboard.  As for the 545 I can't say if it has the same I/O ports or not so I'll leave that up to you.

http://www.redplanettrading.com/ebay/motherboards/ry206/ry206-top-800.jpg

http://www.redplanettrading.com/ebay/motherboards/n826n/top_800.jpg

I have attached images of the existing RY206 mobo and the planned N826N mobo. At least from the images the IO looks similar.

You're right they do look about the same.  Good luck.