Replacing board in Dell Dimension 2350

Does anybody know off hand....would replacing a dell motherboard in this specific model (Dimension 2350) require some case mods to get a aftermarket board in there!!??

If not...I'm trying to figure out what socket is the cpu?? Looking up the "Service Tag #" at Dell.com it gave me the following specs for the mobo and cpu...

CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), DIM2350, AUDIO/VIDEO/NIC

PROCESSOR, 80532, 2.0G, 512K, 400, SOCKET N, C1

Doing some research...I think it is a socket 478...but just looking for some reinforcements!!

Also...if a third party board would fit, no problem...what about the wiring connectors for the psu, usb headers, power/reset button, etc, etc.

I contacted dell and they said (After having to tell her my life story!!!!) that a replacement motherboard would be $109.00 and the non-english speaking idiot assured me that the pre-existing os that is currently married to the system, would work with the new motherboard!!! Does that sound correct?? If so...then we will probably go that route!! Like I said before...just looking for reinforcements on my thoughts!!!!

Sorry for rambling...but I wanted to make sure I got it all in there!!

Roger

 

OEM boards are often non-standard in many ways. Although not a common as it once was, OEM manufacturers have been known to rearrange the pinouts on the motherboards and power supplies making it nearly impossible to use the old case with a 3rd party motherboard. Big name brand manufacturers go out of their way to force you to buy equipment directly from them, thus ensuring they get more of your money.

You should be able to replace the mobo without an OS reinstall. At work we get PCs with identical hardware in lots of 50. When something other than the HDD dies, you can just take the old HDD and throw it in a new system and be good to go. The only thing that might happen is you might need to reinstall your NIC drivers, since the MAC address on the onboard NIC obviously changed. Also, be sure to put your adapter cards and disk drives in the exact same slots and channels as they were in the old system. Moving them will make Windows think they're new devices.

 

Thanks for the help!!!!

I'm actually aware of most of what you said....I just wanted to make sure that since the OS that dell ships with their systems are tattooed to the motherboard that it comes with...will the new motherboard have the same tattooeing....but like you said...I'm pretty sure it will work...just wanted some outside opinions!!

Thanks a bunch for the opinions!! I will still check this thread for a couple of days, if anyone else wants to throw in their two cents!!

Thanks Again
Roger