Dell Computer Replacement Parts (Source: crav3n.com)

In some Dell desktop computers the motherboard may also have just one special expansion card slot, in which only a special circuit board can be installed, thus rotating expansion slots in a 90 degree angle in low-profile Dell computer cases. If you replace such a mainboard with a standard one, then you'll not be able to install any expansion cards, unless you cut some metal from the back of the computer case of course.

Users – who like brand name computer cases and high performance – can replace the internal parts of an older Dell computer with the industry's latest parts. This is possible because the size of computer parts hasn't really changed and the power consumption is also in about the same limits. For example in an old Dell small form factor computer case with a 200W power supply you can install an LGA1155 motherboard and a strong quad core Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, so applications will run a lot faster. Using a motherboard and processor with a power consumption level very close to the power supply's maximum is not recommended, but can run safely after you adjust the power limitations of the processor. On Intel platforms the TurboBoost technology is responsible for managing the power, and on most motherboard it's user-adjustable from the BIOS or from the software suit provided by the manufacturer.

Dell Computer Replacement Parts (Source: regex.info)

Having a Dell computer with a BTX motherboard can mean a lot of problems, as you have very few choices for a replacement, just 1 to 3 on the most recent computer models. On the BTX motherboard everything is mirrored when compared to the ATX standard. Honestly I can't say why manufacturers have designed such computer parts, as there's no real improvement done to the airflow (cooling), noise reduction or computer part placement. The only logical reason for the standard change is to make it harder for users to replace components, a sneaky deed in which Apple is the master at this moment.

The small form factor Optiplex GX520 computer is so small that it only supports a laptop DVD drive, a standard floppy drive and one standard internal 3.5” hard drive.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: laptop-gate.com)

Today most retailers sell only the larger version of the Dell Optiplex GX520 computer, see in the picture above. It features a standard 5.25” optical drive bay, a 3.5” floppy drive bay and two internal 3.5” hard drive bays. The processor is usually a Pentium 4 2.8GHz model with HyperThreading, installed in an LGA775 socket. This was the cheapest high-end processor of its time, but the manufacturer also shipped its desktops with slower Celeron and early Pentium Dual Core processors.

The mainboard of Dell Optiplex GX520 computers is pretty standard, featuring two DDR2 memory slots, a couple of SATA, IDE ports and USB ports. To cool the processor, Dell installed a special heat sink with plastic casing to guide the air right between the fins, thus increasing efficiency.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: tekgems.com)

Although you can see three lo-profile expansion slots on the back, in reality this small Dell Optiplex GX520 desktop has only two PCI slots on the motherboard, which means no real video card upgrade. Sure, you can try installing an expensive low-end video card manufactured for simple PCI slots, but it won't have the same performance as the PCI-Express 16X slot version and there will also be a couple of features missing. The small form factor Dell Optiplex GX520 computer has the same video card limitation, as it features only one PCI slot.

Optiplex 520 Video Card (Source: esaitech.com)

The only real video card upgrade is supported by the mini tower version of the Dell Optiplex GX520 computer, select models only. Unfortunately most of these desktops also come with just two simple PCI slots, so you're probably left with the option to switch the motherboard with a Dell BTX board with an AGP or PCI-Express 16X slot or to use the on-board Intel GMA 950 video card, which can barely handle 2D and standard movie formats.

The two most important parts of the computer are the 1000/1000 Watt power supply and a very stable Alienware™ Approved Intel® X58 mainboard. The Intel X58 chipset allowed gamers to install a 4-core or 6-core high-end LGA1366 processor and up to four (two recommended) video cards in either nVidia SLI mode or ATI Crossfire mode (depending on the video cards' brand).

Alienware Area-51 5500 Series Video Card (Source: fastcursor.com)

Today the Alienware Area-51 gaming rig is not the best desktop computer for games, as Intel's new LGA1155 K-series processors have beaten the old Core i7 design in both gaming and multitasking. Soon the Intel LGA2012 processors will also be launched and they will outperform any previously released desktop processor. They will come at a price and their efficiency doesn't look either, but gamers that use 1000 Watt computers won't notice the slight (+40W) power consumption increase on the processor.

The 5500 series Area 51 AlienWare computer is very old, as it's based on Intel's Core 2 Quad Extreme X6800 processor, a 700 Watt power supply and two ATI Radeon X1950 XTX video cards. This computer configuration was very impressive at the time, but today it's outperformed by any new computer with a Quad Core processor and two mid-range video cards. It's unlikely that many people would still use such old computers, when the newer ones cost a lot less and consume about 3 times less power (at the same level of performance).

Alienware Area-51 5500 Series Video Card (Source: itpunya.com)

This new Alienware Aurora R3 gaming rig costs just $1000 at Newegg.com and includes high-end computer hardware. The processor inside is an Intel Core i7-2600 (just the standard version, with the locked multiplier) running at 3.4GHz. For some reason the manufacturer only installed 6GB of DDR3 memory, even though the memory controller is dual channel and works better with two identical modules. Please note that some kind of dual channel memory mode is activated with non-identical modules too, but this way performance may suffer. As this is a cheaper gaming computer, Dell (the owner of AlienWare factories) has chosen nVidia Geforce GTS 450 video cards. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as less expensive video cards tend to work better in SLI/Crossfire mode, meaning that the overall graphics performance may be increased by up to 100% when the second video card is installed.

Like in every industry, there's a group of professionals (or semi-professionals) that address the less pretentious customers. The design of posters for lesser brands or for average public events is usually handled by these cheaper professional.

Best Budget Lcd Monitors For Graphics Design (Source: roncowie.com)

They no longer works with pencils and erasers, but they don't need top of the line equipment either. Design work done in monochrome or with few fixed colors can usually be done on any computer and LCD monitor with a high enough resolution. In black and white for example you don't need to differentiate between shades of colors, just between black and white, complete opposites. There's only one very serious rule for such work: NO DEAD PIXELS ON THE MONITOR! In the high-end sector you never have to point out such a rule, but when a small firm is looking to buy the best cheap computer hardware, the boss may order used LCD monitors with A, B or C specifications, which may have dead pixels or clusters of dead pixels. The only acceptable used LCD category is A+ (or regional equivalent), which means that the monitor has been verified by professionals for any optical defect.

Best Budget Lcd Monitors For Graphics Design (Source: gizmodo.com)

The bare minimum for a graphics design is a 24” budget LCD monitor – not necessarily Dell, but without optical defects on the display surface. These monitors (ex: Acer V243HAJbd Black 24″ 2ms, 300 cd/m2, ACM 80000:1)

may cost just around 180 USD (new) and feature 1920 x 1080 or 1920 x 1200 resolution. To increase productivity, graphics design companies should buy bigger, 27” LCD monitors with RGB back lighting, which offer much higher resolutions (ex: 2564 x 1440) and a color quality that cannot be matched by any LCD with white back lighting. For color graphics design you definitely need RGB back lighting.

Another important issue – when it comes to any work done on computers – is worker eyestrain, a problem that doesn't go away if you don't try to fix it in time. Companies that have employees working on computers for more than 6 hours each day should purchase high refresh rate monitors as soon as possible. I would set the minimum at 100-120Hz, but many LCD manufacturers offer monitors with 200-800Hz refresh rate, which offer great comfort for the eyes.

Dell Computer Parts (Source: i.dell.com)

The Dell Inspiron 560 desktop computer has four DDR3 memory slots, so up to 8GB of system memory can be installed. This amount is more than enough to run Windows 7 Ultimate with all features enabled. Intel's G43 Express chipset is responsible for handling the four memory modules and for processing graphics with the integrated Intel GMA X4500 graphics controller. Dell also recommends an nVidia Geforce GT 220 video card for this computer, but an AMD Radeon 6450 video card would be more appropriate, because it offers much more compatibility and basic DirectX 11 gaming. For internal storage Dell recommends a standard hard drive of up to 1TB capacity, however there's no real limitation to the four SATA ports. Nothing will stop you if you want to install two 3TB hard drives or very fast SSDs.

Dell Computer Parts (Source: i.i.com.com)

The best thing about this Dell computer is that absolutely all parts can be replaced with any store-bought part, so you're not tied to an official Dell certified store. The mainboard is a standard mATX part with an LGA775 processor socket. It can be used with any Celeron, Pentium, Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processor released for this type of socket. If you don't like it, you can easily switch to a superior Intel or AMD platform by simply replacing the motherboard and processor. You can keep the rest of the components, as most motherboard today use DDR3 memory, SATA storage devices and PCI-Express 16X graphics cards.

You may change all of the internal parts, including the power supply, so you end up with a great looking high-end gaming computer even with two video cards.

Adding Second Video Card To Laptop (Source: laptopaid.com)

In this picture you see a Sony laptop mainboard without an additional video chip. You can clearly see the processor socket and the chipset, but there's no graphics chip or graphics memory chips on the right, only the shiny contacts are visible. This is of course the case of low-end and mainstream laptops, but high-end portable computers usually have one or two video card slots. Alienware laptop for example are well known for their awesome 3D processing power, but they do not come cheap.

Adding Second Video Card To Laptop (Source: dsnimg.dell.com)

Here you see an opened Alienware Area-51 m9750 laptop with two video cards installed. From left to right you have one video card (7), the chipset (6), the other video card (5) and the two memory modules (4). The interesting thing about this laptop is the huge difference between the heat pipes of the video cards (7. and 5.) and the tiny heat pipe of the processor (1). This should be no surprise to anyone who knows that a high-end quad core laptop processor needs at most 55Watt of power, while a laptop video card can consume as much as 100Watts. Power consumption always means heat generation too, so that's why the cooling solution has to be different for these components.

Let's say that you have one of these Alienware laptops with one video card and an empty MxM slot, so adding a second video card should be very easy, as Dell (owner of the Alienware brand) has an excellent support page. Problems may occur if you don't have an SLI cable, secondary video card cooler or an appropriate power supply that can deliver enough electricity for both video cards. It may cost a smaller fortune, but can get these missing components on-line (delivered to your home) or you can simply visit your local Dell repair shop for a fast upgrade.

Video cards inside Alienware desktops usually have their default cooling system, made by their manufacturers, but is some cases a common liquid cooling system is used for the processor and video cards. In none of these cases are we talking about Alienware brand video card fans, so let's look a an Alienware laptop.

Alienware Video Card Fan (Source: static.trustedreviews.com)

Alienware Area-51 m15x is an older gaming laptop model, based on a Core 2 Extreme X9000 2.8GHz processor and an nVidia Geforce 8800M GTX video card. These are the two components in the laptop which create the most heat, so two separate cooling fans were used in the design. If you look at the previous picture, the processor (and chipset) cooler uses a smaller fan on the left side, while the graphics card installed into an MxM mobile video card slot on the right uses a slightly bigger fan. The efficiency of cooling is increased by the heat pipe design (used in most laptops), which takes the heat away from the components, right to the back of the laptop chassis, where it can be extracted by the fans.

Because these high-end laptops can be used for up to 3 years, the odds are that passionate gamers will have to replace the cooling fans at least once, or suffer with a noisy laptop at the risk of burning down the video card.

Alienware Video Card Fan (Source: laptopking.com)

Luckily the video card fan in most Alienware laptops is really easy to replace, as the bottom cover of the laptop can be removed almost completely (one panel), exposing all replaceable parts from the CMOS battery to the video card and microprocessor.

The price of the replacement cooling fan is also acceptable, as it costs about $40 at laptopking.com. This is an average price amongst laptop cooling fans. Anyway, after you have purchased the new video card fan, you have to unplug and unscrew the old fan and simply replace it. It's held in place by just two screws on opposite corners.

Dell computers have always supported the most popular operating systems and they also used (mostly) industry standard hardware. This meant standard PS2, COM, LPT and USB ports for accessories and support for standard processors, expansion cards, memory modules and storage units.

Dell Computer Parts And Accessories (Source: shopsland.org)

The latest Dell computers are 100% compatible with IBM parts, but there's still a compatibility issue with the motherboard and power supply in these stylish computers. From the outside they look like any store-built computer, but when you open a Dell computer you see that everything is upside down, as the motherboard has a BTX layout instead of ATX.

Dell Computer Parts And Accessories (Source: img.tomshardware.com)

Yes, this is an important problem, because if you want to change a Dell computer's motherboard, in computer stores you'll mostly find ATX ones (~99%) with very few exceptions. As a consequence, you're tied to Dell for the rest of your computer's life, as only they can provide an appropriate replacement motherboard.

Some Dell motherboard even have additional connectors coming from the power supply, so the whole system won't work perfectly if you install an ATX power source or a motherboard from another manufacturer. For example the power button and frontal LED indicators won't work as they should, or some other minor annoying problem appears like fans spinning uncontrollably.

Dell Computer Parts And Accessories (Source: cdn2.iofferphoto.com)

I have recently repaired a couple of older Core 2 Duo-based Dell computers, and I have noticed other limitations too. In one of these computers the video card has burned out, so seeing that there's a standard PCI-Express 16X slot on the motherboard, I simply bought a Radeon 5450 video card and tried to install it. Naturally it didn't work, as it displayed a text error message and locked the system. The only solution was to obtain an older, Dell-approved video card, that didn't support the latest DirectX of course.

In conclusion, my advice for you is to buy Dell desktop computers only if you don't intend to make any significant changes in hardware with store-bought parts. About accessories you don't have to worry, most of them are 100% compatible with Dell computers and you'll easily find drivers for them too.

The meanest and toughest Alienware laptop is quite large with a 18.4″ FullHD screen. It’s simply called AlienWare M18x and is based on the beast hardware components the industry has to offer.

 

Alienware Laptop Video Card (Source: newnotebookinfo.com)

When ordering an AlienWare M18x laptop you have five processor choices: Core i7-2630QM, 2720QM, 2820QM, 2920XM and 2920XM with overclocked Turbo Boost. We have recently seen that there isn’t a very big difference between these fine quad core processors when it comes to gaming, but considering that AlienWare laptops come with one or two high-end video cards, it’s better to choose the best processor also (the overclocked Core i7-2920XM).

System memory isn’t a problem, as this AlienWare laptop has four SODIMM memory slots for up to 32GB of total system memory on two channels. Fast game loading is also helped by the two hard drive bays, which can hold two high-speed SSD units, delivering read speeds of up to 400-500MB/s in RAID mode. Games who aren’t concerned with loading times and want more storage space, can install two 500-1500GB classic hard drives, so they can take all their favorite games with them on the laptop.

The most important piece of computer hardware for gaming is the video card, two of which can be installed in the AlienWare M18x laptop. On the official website you can choose between one nVidia Geforce GTX 460M card, two of them in SLI, two nVidia Geforce GTX 580M cards or two AMD Radeon 6970M cards, depending on your budget.

 

Alienware Laptop Video Card (Source: notebookcheck.net)

I don’t have to tell you that a laptop with two video cards will generate a lot of heat, so in this case you have three fans in the AlienWare M18x laptop. To understand what kind of power we’re talking about, I will tell you that the combination with the two Radeon 68970M video cards is the fastest, as it can score up to 25600 point in 3DMark06, depending on the other components of course. The second best choice is with the two nVidia Geforce GTX 580M video cards, which score up to 22400 point in 3DMark06, but in some games they actually deliver a higher performance than the two Radeons.

In order to own this 5.41kg, 436 x 322 x 54 mm big laptop with the best hardware components you’ll have to spend about $6,554. This configuration will include the best processor, two Radeon 6970M video cards, 32GB memory and two high-speed 256GB SSD units in RAID 0 mode. I can honestly say that it will run ANY game you throw at it, in high or very high detail.

One example for best budget LCD monitors is the second hand or refurbished business class. For around $100 you can get a very high quality, dependable business class 17”-19” Dell monitor with warranty.

Best Budget Lcd Monitors

The Dell 1908FP for example has a lot of cool features for a $100 monitor. It has the standard 5:4 aspect ratio 1280 x 1024 resolution, but two video signal inputs are present, one analog (VGA) and one digital (DVI). An integrated active USB 2.0 hub makes your life easier, because the keyboard and mouse -for example- can be connected to the ports on the back, leaving the two ports on the side available for removable storage or other removable devices you may want to use occasionally. The USB HUB is active, meaning that it receives additional power from the monitor’s power supply, so the four ports offer up to 500mA of power each. Another practical feature of this business class monitor is the DC power plug, which is compatible with a Dell sound bar, so you won’t have to use the huge additional power supply. Another cool feature of this best budget LCD monitor is the advanced monitor stand, which is height adjustable for optimal viewing angle.

This kind of monitors aren’t really made for 16:9 multimedia or gaming, but for office work they’re excellent, assuming that you accept the higher than average power consumption between 32Watts (no devices attached) and 65Watts (with all devices attached).

For multimedia and gaming you may want to choose a new widescreen monitor like the Acer G185HAb for around $90.

Best Budget Lcd Monitors

Its main advantages are the very sharp image, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio with 1366 x 768 resolution and very low power consumption. This model requires only about 15Watts of power on average, which is much better than what the above mentioned business class monitor requires. The only downside is that statistically these standard LCD monitors are more unreliable than business class monitors, so you may be amongst the unlucky ones that have to return it (under warranty or not) for repairs, while business class monitor users may never have to do that for up to 7-10 years.