Dimension 9100 Upgrade

Introduction

Feb 21, 2010

This upgrade never really went anywhere beyond the research phase. We decided to put the PC behind the living room TV to stream Netflix movies. I think I am going to keep an eye on Ebay for cheap, compatible parts but its not a priority.

Legacy System Info

    • Dell Dimension 9100 Sevice Tag H47PV71
    • Pentium 4 CPU 3.00GHz Socket-T LGA775 630?
    • 1GB Ram DDR2 dual channel 533
    • Chipset Intel 945P
    • System Clock 800 or 1066 Mhz
    • NVIDIA GeForce 6800

Component Research

Random comments I found while researching on the web.

CPU

"PD945 will need bios A03 Bios"

"no, the D-9100 does not support any Intel Core 2 Duo, or Core 2 Quad processors"

"The Dimension 9100 does not support any Intel Core 2 Duo, or Core 2 Quad processors

some bios tricks to make it work, sometimes"

"I've made a few upgrades to my Dimension 9100 since i first purchased it. Primarily I've taken the CPU up to a Pentium D 950, upgraded the RAM to 4GB"

"pentium D 820 at 3.0 or 840 at 3.2 ghz"

"Pentium D945 - recommended as better value 950 and 960 only 5% inc"

Newegg/Ebay:

Pentium D 945 $75 used $100 New

COOLER XIGMATEK HDT-SD964 92mm Rifle CPU Cooler - Retail

MEM

2 x G.SKILL Extreme Series 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory Model F2-4200PHU1-1GBLA - $22

"needs to be 1.8V"

"Only unbuffered, non-ECC memory is supported"

"If you install mixed pairs of DDR2 400-MHz (PC2-3200), DDR2 533-MHz (PC2-4300) and DDR2 667-MHz (PC2-5300) memory, the modules function at the slowest speed installed"

"Your computer supports a maximum of 4 GB of memory when you use four 1-GB DIMMs"

"The max speed on that 945P mobo is DDR2 667"

"Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300,DDR2 PC2-6400 with a maximum of 1GB per slot"

"get some Crucial Ballistix"

"Dells can be finicky about the ram that is put in them. Crucial is the brand most often reccomended but Kingston KVR and Corsair Value Ram also work well in my experience."

"And yes PC5300 will work as will PC6400, get what ever is the least expensive. "

"I got 2Gig of corsair "

Newegg:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F2-4200PHU2-2GBNT - Retail $41

G.SKILL Extreme Series 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Desktop Memory Model F2-4200PHU1-1GBLA - Retail

DELPC00001GA0375066 IG 240 Pin DDR2 NONECC unbuffered

Crucial 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT6464AA667 - Retail $26

Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 400 (PC2 3200) Desktop Memory Model KVR400D2N3/1G - Retail$22

GPU

"Antec Earthwatts 500watt power supply and my XFX 250 GTS graphics card"

"Hi davisno. I'm not a computer expert, but I have a nVidia geforce 8400gs (which is PCIe 2.0) in my dell dimension 9100 and it's not the greatest card ever, but it does work. So, you shouldn't be limited to PCIe 1.0"

"You do not have the required two 6-pin power connectors on your power supply for the HD 4890. The HD 5770 only takes one which you do have"

"The GTS250 is the most powerful card that will fit into this case."

Newegg:

ATI HD 4850 $100 new

Radeon HD 4850

SAPPHIRE 100253HDMI Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card - Retail

HIS Hightech H467QT512P Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

ASUS EAH4350 SILENT/DI/512MD2(LP) Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card - Retail

HDD

I already upgraded the hard drive about a year ago so it is currently not a priority.

PSU

"You didn't need to upgrade the psu in the first place. The D9100 came with a 375 watt/ 30 amp psu that is more than enough to handle a 1950XT or a 4850."

"The D-9100 system does not use a Dell proprietary power supply, you can use a ATX/BTX power supply with a 24-pin or 20+4-pin main motherboard power connector. Because the D-9100 has an open back panel, a power supply with or without the on/off switch can be used."