What MOBO do i have?

[hemi79]

How do i find out what MOBO i have? I have this DELL vostro 400 thats 6 yrs old and i would like to get a new case for it for better ventilation, but i dont know where to start in figuring out the MOBOS form (atx, micro, etc..). Below
is a pic. Thanks for the help!

Found manual online and for chipset it says ICH9 and IntelG33.

 

[JechtShot]

Download and install Belarc Advisor or Speccy. They will let you know your hardware information.

 

[dma0991]

That looks like a mATX motherboard. I could only guess as OEMs are notorious for making motherboards that doesn't obey the common standard mounts. I've done transplants on an Acer OEM case, it worked without mounting hole misalignment.

But I wouldn't change the case for ventilation, it looks solid. You're better off improving the ventilation by giving it a complete dusting and tying down that PSU cable clutter. Reapplying fresh TIM helps a lot if you've never done it in 6 years.

 

[hackerballs]

why on earth would you change it now? If it has run for 6 years with the air flow you now have, leave it alone. If you have a heat issue, buy a better CPU cooler as that one sucks a little (lot)

Start saving your money for a new PC, capacitors will start burning out now, 6 years

 

[hemi79]

Jechtshot: Thanks for the suggested softwares. I am currently trying to update my Netgear WG311v3 so that the pci wireless adapter works in Windows 8 and as soon as I get that running I will run the software. I used it on my laptop and its pretty cool stuff.

dma0991: Thanks for the recommendations. I spent about an hour today just cleaning it as much as possible. And please excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by "TIM"?

hackerballs: Thanks for the reply. Well, lately (past 3 months) the computer blacks out on me and then gives me a blue screen. At first the black outs came and I replaced the video card and all seemed to be fine. Long story short, I realized when I took off the side panels the computer would last the whole day without any black outs. I thought it could be the heat so I would like to have a better case to add more air movement as this case only has space for one fan in the back and the CPU fan. This computer is used ONLY to show our restaurant menus on two 60 inch flat screens. It used to be used in my construction company but I retired it from the CAD and Takeoff use and sent it to our restaurant business. I have recently ordered the following components and am expecting them by Friday for my new build.

Corsair C70 Vengeance Case (Gunmetal Black)
i7 4770K Haswell 3.5GHz Quad-Core
Sea-Sonic XSeries Gold 650W ATX 12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91
Nvidia Quadro K600 VCQK600-PB 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0x16
Gygabyte GA-Z87X-OC LGA 1150
G Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2x8GB) 240 Pin DDR3
Corsair Hydro Series H110 Water Cooler
Samsung Pro 840 Series 256GB
Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120GB
Apevia CF312SL-UBL 120mm UV Blue LED Cooling Fan
Cougar CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro Dynamic Bearing (FLUID) Fan
Asus DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-243ST/BLK/G/AS
TP-Link TL-WN751ND Wireless N150 PCI Adapter, 150mbs, IEEE 802.11b/g/n

Very excited for my new build.

 

[dma0991]

TIM is the material used between a CPU and the heatsink itself. It probably dried out after 6 years. Just scrape it off and reapply with something like Arctic Cooling MX-4. It should solve the heating issue. Also, that PC you've just quoted would be an excessive expenditure just to have it displaying menus on screens. There are a lot of cheaper and power efficient alternatives.

 

[hackerballs]

Alright!!! We can game on the restaurant menu displays.....LOL

I agree about the thermal paste should be renewed...........does not take too long (1/2 hour usually) and should be done regularly (I do mine every year)

good new build and you have every right to be excited

 

[VirtualLarry]

Corsair C70 Vengeance Case (Gunmetal Black)
i7 4770K Haswell 3.5GHz Quad-Core
Sea-Sonic XSeries Gold 650W ATX 12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91
Nvidia Quadro K600 VCQK600-PB 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0x16
Gygabyte GA-Z87X-OC LGA 1150
G Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2x8GB) 240 Pin DDR3
Corsair Hydro Series H110 Water Cooler
Samsung Pro 840 Series 256GB
Kingston SSDNow V300 Series SV300S37A/120GB
Apevia CF312SL-UBL 120mm UV Blue LED Cooling Fan
Cougar CF-V12HP Vortex Hydro Dynamic Bearing (FLUID) Fan
Asus DVD Burner Black SATA Model DRW-243ST/BLK/G/AS
TP-Link TL-WN751ND Wireless N150 PCI Adapter, 150mbs, IEEE 802.11b/g/n

Very excited for my new build.

Is that to drive the restaurant displays?

I'm assuming no, so consider picking up one or two Intel NUC units, and setting them up to drive those displays. They make them with both HDMI and mini-DP display outputs. They require laptop DDR3 RAM, and mSATA SSDs, and Intel miniPCI-E wireless cards.

Also in that market are the Gigabyte "BRIX" units.

 

[hemi79]

dma0991: Thanks for the explanation. I didn't know that and its very helpful. Regarding the use of my new build. Sorry for not explaining well. The new build is going to be a workstation running Autocad Civil 3d, Autodesk Revit and Robot Structural Analysis Pro. Other various take off and estimating softwares used in the construction. The current computer (in the picture) used to be my workstation and I retired it and sent it to the Restaurant to be used for displaying menus. I wasn't sure the menu displays was going to work so I didn't want to build a new system for it just yet, so I just used this 6 year old pc (in the picture).
In all honesty the last time I put together a PC was back in the Pentium III era. I put together a Dual Pentium III system to run video editing in Adobe Premiere (old job). I saved up some good money this time around and more than anything its because I like to have the best possibility for expansion in the future that I have this new setup coming. Obviously there are better components to use, but this setup I have is basically where I drew the line. I really wanted the Asus Sabertooth Motherboard and I just didn't do it because it was $50.00 more. I loved its extra protection from dust, being that I live in south Texas and there isn't anything green for miles where I live but the z87x-OC has some very cool features as well.

hackerballs: lol , believe me I so want to take my PS3 sometimes. Thanks for the reply and comment on my new build.

Virtual Larry: The new build setup is not for menu display purposes. It will be my new workstation for Autodesk 3d applications. Thanks for the recommendation on the NUC and BRIX units. The size alone makes the investment worthy as I don't have much space where the displays are located. Looking forward to getting one of these.

 

[RU482]

I know

old!!!

 

[dma0991]

That makes more sense now. The new rig looks pretty solid as well. The Vostro 400 should run those menu displays as is.

But old hardware such as that only supports VGA I presume. You can fix that with a low end GPU for the newer HDMI/DVI/Displayport connection. But in the long run, you should consider Intel NUC + VESA mount (more versatility, functions) or Android PC that plugs directly to the HDMI port of the screens. The Android PCs will be more power efficient and cheaper but it will still support static images or some text output.

 

[hemi79]

My MOBO arrived, and it wasnt sealed. Should i be worried?

Its the Gigabyte z87X-OC.