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March 12th, 2007 19:00
Optiplex GX280 Small Desktop upgrade questions
I have a Optiplex GX280 Small Desktop (going by what my computer looks like in reality and according to the Dell Support pages), and would like help with a few upgrade questions.
Firstly, my machine has a Intel Celeron 2.66Ghz processor (as it reads in the Bios anyway - also says something about being 64-bit enabled?!?!) - what is the best, and fastest Pentium processor I can put into this board instead of the Celeron junk?
Secondly, regarding the memory, what Brands would you recommend using DDR2 533Mhz? I'd like to upgrade from my current 1.5Ghz DDR2 400 to the max of 4Gb - would it be better to use the 400Mhz or 533Mhz with this amount of memory?
Thirdly, regarding the PCI-E 16x slot on the board, I have tried a conventional graphics card with the correct slot, but it would stick out of the case by at least 2 inches. What is the best graphics I can hope to put into this machine to upgrade it from the standard and plainly useless 128Mb onboard graphics, of which you cannot tell the machine to use some of the main System RAM to help with the graphics?
Fourthly and Lastly, my 3.5 inch floppy drive never worked on my system. Can I instead use the mounting brackets from the floppy drive to install a secondary HDD running off the IDE cable connected to my DVD+/-RW drive?
Any help you guys can give you be greatly appreciated.
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Dev Mgr
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March 13th, 2007 13:00
- to be sure of the system model you have, look at the little 'donut' around the power button; this tells you which system model you have.
- the GX280 doesn't support dual core. I believe the processors are limited to the 500-series of the Pentium 4's
- don't waste money on 4GB of memory, unless you run a 64-bit OS. A 32-bit OS (e.g. XP) will probably not see anything over about 3GB. This is a limitation to the 32-bit architecture
- use guaranteed compatible memory. Crucial.com has a wizard to guide you to their guaranteed compatible memory. Kingston and Dell have similar options.
- you will need a half height PCIe 16x videocard. This does limit your choices to low-mid range offerings.
- there have been some mixed reports about mixing SATA and ATA drives in a single system. You can try it, it may just cause odd behaviour (boot preferences, recognition, etc, but nothing 'permanent' from what I've seen).
stevewhite
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March 13th, 2007 13:00
Dev Mgr
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March 13th, 2007 14:00
An X1600 Pro seems to be among the top that you can get in low profile.
Message Edited by Dev Mgr on 03-13-2007 10:21 AM
Margitsw
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March 23rd, 2007 15:00