...DELL overhaul (something went a bit wrong)

Crawlerz

Crawlerz

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Nov 17, 2008
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continuing my self-imposed troubles... got the DELL xps410. changed the burned-out 8800GTX and the PSU to a 910W p&c. also put in a new 640GB HDD.
now something went screwey - before finding I had no spare SATA cable, I still connected the power cable to the HDD. so basicly, it's connected to "nowhere". no the PC worked fine. then it sloooooooowed down. nearly stopped. I could not understand it. why? the video is in place. the power's connected. RAM isn't knocked out (otherwise it wouldn't've worked). what I did was take the box open again and fiddle with the wires. I disconnected the extra power of the HDD that went nowhere (it was warm to the touch - obviously spinning.) now it seems to work - was that really the problem? or it cooling problems due to the gargantuan amount of cable? why has it nearly stopped working? and btw, it's still slow on start-up.

oh oh! almost forgot - about HDD power cables... I have (as I'm sure you do) several power connectors in a row on one PSU wire. which is better to use for a HDD first - the first or the last one in the row? does it even matter?

thank you for any and all answers.
 
Im kinda confused by whats going on.... but...

Dell is big on proprietary parts. AKA they require you to purchase their parts or risk compatibility issues. Youd be better building from the ground up because the motherboard is where the issue most likely lies and is refusing to recognize the non-dell parts.
 
Phlame said:
Im kinda confused by whats going on.... but...

Dell is big on proprietary parts. AKA they require you to purchase their parts or risk compatibility issues. Youd be better building from the ground up because the motherboard is where the issue most likely lies and is refusing to recognize the non-dell parts.
Click to expand...


This guy is correct. None Dell parts will equal problems! Dell is big on you using only their parts and not your own or anyone else's for example you cannot take a old hard drive out of a HP format it and install windows on it and then stick it in a dell computer, the dell computer will simply say F-you and you'll need to contact them, the same as if you took a hard drive with a dell installed OS on it, the OS looks for the dell motherboard and will not work with any other system.
 
Have you guys ever had a Dell?

Remember to update your graphics card drivers.
 
my dell uses its own motherboard, but kingston RAM (which has been replaced twice)

-Blue
 
yeah well *update* guys I wanna throw at ya!

about the non-connected HDD, I bought a SATA wire. and meanwhile (before it comes in the mail) I disconnected its power (to nowhere)

about parts being nonDELL unfriendly with DELL - I said the exact same thing before. (I probably didn't say it loud enough, so you didn't hear me). yes, they build PC that cannot be upgraded. to get the old PSU out, I had to literaly cut it out (all the wires were tucked under the mobo/heatsink) - it was amazing. Frankenstein.

*EDIT* can the slowness at startup be explained because Radeon is AMD- and not Intel-based?
 
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Crawlerz said:
*EDIT* can the slowness at startup be explained because Radeon is AMD- and not Intel-based?
Click to expand...

I dont thinks so. I f your talking about the motherboards chip set, both Intel and AMD chip sets will support Nvidia or ATI. The differance is Intel Chip sets wont support Crossfire, and AMD chip sets wont support SLI. Single cards should work fine in either.

I'm not a real big computer expert (yet) so I'm not sure what would explain a slow startup.
 
RationalInsanity said:
I dont thinks so. I f your talking about the motherboards chip set, both Intel and AMD chip sets will support Nvidia or ATI. The differance is Intel Chip sets wont support Crossfire, and AMD chip sets wont support SLI. Single cards should work fine in either.

I'm not a real big computer expert (yet) so I'm not sure what would explain a slow startup.
Click to expand...

wait wait wait... hold on. I didn't know this. so a Intel mobo with a i7 will not support xFire?! oh snap. :facewall::cursing::facewall:this is something I did to myself then. I was going to buy a i7 and use the new Radeon 4890 and if need be later xFire. but if youre saying that's impossible, then I'm sunk...

I read at overclockers club (very helpful) that they (for review purposes) crossfired ATi cards (like the 4870 with vapor-x) on an intel machine. can you please show me a link where it says that intel can't crossfire? because I just sunk 170$ into a ATi card, and I'm really edgy, man, edgy!

quote from wikipedia "ATI has opened the CrossFire architecture to Intel, allowing CrossFire to be enabled on many Intel chipsets which boast two x16 PCI-E slots. SLI, however, requires a motherboard which is SLI certified, which includes all nForce chipsets (such as the nForce 590 SLI, nForce 680i SLI, and nForce 790i), and most Intel X58 based motherboards."
 
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Crawlerz said:
yeah well *update* guys I wanna throw at ya!

about the non-connected HDD, I bought a SATA wire. and meanwhile (before it comes in the mail) I disconnected its power (to nowhere)

about parts being nonDELL unfriendly with DELL - I said the exact same thing before. (I probably didn't say it loud enough, so you didn't hear me). yes, they build PC that cannot be upgraded. to get the old PSU out, I had to literaly cut it out (all the wires were tucked under the mobo/heatsink) - it was amazing. Frankenstein.

*EDIT* can the slowness at startup be explained because Radeon is AMD- and not Intel-based?
Click to expand...

Slow startup at the windows screen or slow start up at the main start up at POST?
 
Crawlerz said:
wait wait wait... hold on. I didn't know this. so a Intel mobo with a i7 will not support xFire?! oh snap. :facewall::cursing::facewall:this is something I did to myself then. I was going to buy a i7 and use the new Radeon 4890 and if need be later xFire. but if youre saying that's impossible, then I'm sunk...
"
Click to expand...

Wait, I should of explained that better!
The Processor isnt what I was talking about. The chip set is what determines if you have crossfire or SLI. There are motherboards for AMD processors that support SLI and ones for Intel processors that support Crossfire.

You said you have a Core i7, Alot of the motherboards for core i7's support both Crossffire and SLI.

Sorry I should've explained better the first time. My bad.
 
RationalInsanity said:
Wait, I should of explained that better!
The Processor isnt what I was talking about. The chip set is what determines if you have crossfire or SLI. There are motherboards for AMD processors that support SLI and ones for Intel processors that support Crossfire.

You said you have a Core i7, Alot of the motherboards for core i7's support both Crossffire and SLI.

Sorry I should've explained better the first time. My bad.
Click to expand...

I said I wanted to buy the i7 but it kinda fell through so for now I only bought a 910W PSU (p&c) and a Radeon 4890.

p.s. the PSU is a monster! the cables (inside metallic netting) are thicker than my damn arm! huge part of the cables stick outside the box (as there's just no place for tham inside.)
p.p.s. I wasnt talking about the CPU either. I was going to buy the foxconn bloodrage mobo for the i7 (as far as can see it's for SLI and xFire)
 
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