Upgrade this Dell dimension C251

[uniq1]

HI i just got a dell dimension DIMc251 computer. When i first opened it and saw it was soo small i was delighted (got it from dell business cuz it waas cheap!!)
AMD Athalon 64 x2 dual core 5000+ 1 gb ram (512x2) I dont know the mobo. BUt the case does not allow me to freakin install a tv tuner because of the fact that the case is tooo small to let the tv tuner fit!!!!.
My question is what can i do????
DO i buy a new case??


I also want to make this computer get ready for vista+ some light gaming. How much would it cost to upgrade it? Tell me seperate cost to change the casing or whatever to fit the tv tuner and a seperate ammount to upgrade it and make it light gaming ready as in command and conquer 3 (does not need to be the highest graphics possible or sumthign)

Also I only have one dam pci slot so is changing the Mother board and option?? I heard that some mother boards come with built in vga cards(powerful ones not just the 32/64 mb) that would be great. I can increase the pci slots and get vga card built in and i dont care for looks so the cheapest possible case possible does not hurt as long as it works i.e. power button does not snag or sumthin.

 

[tlharrell]

My run-ins with Dells (and several others.... eMachines- yuck!) has been that a lot of these manufacturers use some pretty non-standard parts. Make sure you do your homework before investing in something that's not going to fit/play nice with what you've got. They use specialized hardware, and have specialized drivers. Sometimes even things like the ram modules are funny, hard to find / expensive items if you're trying to upgrade by yourself. Geez, even keyboard drivers are sometimes a pain in the butt.

If it's that outdated, I'd likely scrap it, or use it as a file / music server in your closet. For $500 which you could spend on upgrading that mess, you could part together a far better system and have no crapware / adware / oddball hardware / other nonsense.

Just my opinion, others may have more to add.

 

[UA_Iron]

It's the small form factor thats preventing you

if it came with another smaller bracket you could put that on - chances are the card is too wide to fit on the smaller bracket.

 

[uniq1]

lol this pc IS BRAND NEW. The tv tuner fits in the pci slot the prob is that the case gets in the way of one of the parts thats sticking out of the back from the tv tuner.

 

[siddanth3]

dude, you could try getting a new case, but make sure u know if your mobo is an ATX form or a BTX form. i have a dell dimension E510 and this happened to me 4 days, ago.
i wanted to change the case, so that i could upgrade some parts. so i bought a cheap but nice loking case . when i opend up my dell, it was weird coz apprently mine was a btx mobo and the case that i got does not support a btx form. so my new case is just sitting in my room somewhere

so be sure that u know what form of mobo it is, unless u get a huge case that supports all mobos

 

[Trotter]

My run-ins with Dells (and several others.... eMachines- yuck!) has been that a lot of these manufacturers use some pretty non-standard parts. Make sure you do your homework before investing in something that's not going to fit/play nice with what you've got. They use specialized hardware, and have specialized drivers. Sometimes even things like the ram modules are funny, hard to find / expensive items if you're trying to upgrade by yourself. Geez, even keyboard drivers are sometimes a pain in the butt.

If it's that outdated, I'd likely scrap it, or use it as a file / music server in your closet. For $500 which you could spend on upgrading that mess, you could part together a far better system and have no crapware / adware / oddball hardware / other nonsense.

Just my opinion, others may have more to add.

Thanks for the input, but you're way off base.Dell has moved away from using proprietary parts (size-wise), and eMachines don't use them at all).

The mobo is... different, because it is a SFF (small form factor). Here's a basic image:

I'm not real sure about the form factor on it. AMD doesn't "officially" have BTX, so I dunno.

All that will be needed for Vista will be a graphics card, if even that. If it has a 6100 or 6150 chipset, it should be good to go.

 

[peterhuang913]

This is the answer to all your problems, also DONT get Vista, yet...