No you cannot upgrade that computer with a PIII, you'll need a new motherboard at least. When was your Dell XPS R400 made? Any PII 400 from before 8/98 can be overclocked by covering the B21 pin. You simply cover the B21 pin with some electrical tape and pop it back into the motherboard, and your chip is now unlocked. In maintenance mode select 450 and you have a PII 450 now.
Of course like I said, this only works on PII 400's from before 8/98, so if yours is much older than that don't even try. I had an R400, and so did 2 of my friends. All 3 were from before 8/98, and all 3 were overclocked to 450 very easily.