Proprietary OEM systems vs upgradable systems.

[davidj]

I wonder if companies like Gateway, Dell, & Compaq use mostly proprietary(non upgradable) parts in thier game rigs. :confused:


I know that every part of my Monarch system is 100% upgradable and I assume that Velocity Micro, FNW and Voodoo are the same.

So are there any advantages or disadvantages with a Dell game rig versus a Voodoo regarding upgrades a year or two from now???

[icthus13]

Well, that depends what you mean by "proprietary." Can you change PCI cards, graphics cards, drives? Sure. Motherboards? Probably not in the cases they use. Powersupplies often not either. What do you mean?

[davidj]

Thank for the swift reply. :)

Well my last system was a Compaq and the HDD died. It cannot use anything but a Compaq HDD and this applies to the mobo as well. It is a old 5400 rpm HDD but they want $200.0 bucks for it. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Yes Compaq does offer a gaming pc on thier web site. I have to assume that the same practices apply to the gaming pc and companies like Dell.

[icthus13]

How old is the Compaq? I've messed with old ones that use this *odd* 5.25" hard drive, but I slapped a 3.5" in there and it worked flawlessly. The newer ones, at least that I've seen, use standard drives.

[davidj]

It is 4 years old and counting. The mobo is new wave or something like that with a Via chipset.

My hard drive died about 6 months ago so the entire system is worthless now :mad:

Since Compaq has the public by the . That is why they charge so much for an obsolete hard drive. Really sick business practices and most of thier "tech support" speak english poorly.

Buyer beware! Just know that most of these companies focus on money and not the customer. Once they have our money we are virtually on our own. Not all of them but most :( :mad:

[Dan_D]

Thank for the swift reply. :)

Well my last system was a Compaq and the HDD died. It cannot use anything but a Compaq HDD and this applies to the mobo as well. It is a old 5400 rpm HDD but they want $200.0 bucks for it. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Yes Compaq does offer a gaming pc on thier web site. I have to assume that the same practices apply to the gaming pc and companies like Dell.

Not at all. You could use a non-Compaq HDD. You had to alter the bootsector of the drive so the Compaq Quickrestore would recognize it. The newer ones do not have that issue.

As far as the gaming PC, its all built with off the shelf parts. Asus motherboard, WD hard drive, all of the parts are OEM. The BIOS for the mobo has a custom Compaq logo and that's all.

Whereas the Dell has a proprietary motherboard form factor. The PSU's aren't proprietary any longer. They have been in the past. As have Compaqs.

[MemoryInAGarden]

A lot of times an OEM system would just have a micro ATX power supply in it. I've had an HP once (an old Williamette P4, but don't remember the model #) that had a micro ATX PSU and it was replaced by an Antec mATX without a problem. But some of the older Dells would supposedly burn up if you hooked a non-Dell PSU to the motherboard.

[Dan_D]

A lot of times an OEM system would just have a micro ATX power supply in it. I've had an HP once (an old Williamette P4, but don't remember the model #) that had a micro ATX PSU and it was replaced by an Antec mATX without a problem. But some of the older Dells would supposedly burn up if you hooked a non-Dell PSU to the motherboard.

Older Dell's yes. Newer ones no. I've actually done some replacements on socket 478 P4 systems and LGA775 systems. They've got normal PSU's.

[Lazy_Moron]

I currenty have HP a630n as my main rig. I soon going to get a 6800 GT or something along those lines. The PSU is 300 watts. So im thinking of getting a 400 or 450 watt power supply. It should all work right. Anyone have experiences like this in HP"s that were made a year ago. My model number came out in June of 2004.

[Paul_Johnson]

But some of the older Dells would supposedly burn up if you hooked a non-Dell PSU to the motherboard.

In case anyone actually ever needs that info here are the Dell proprietary pinouts versus standard:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1027761113&postcount=4

And PC Power and Cooling has some models that will work in dell proprietary systems.

[Dan_D]

I currenty have HP a630n as my main rig. I soon going to get a 6800 GT or something along those lines. The PSU is 300 watts. So im thinking of getting a 400 or 450 watt power supply. It should all work right. Anyone have experiences like this in HP"s that were made a year ago. My model number came out in June of 2004.

The HP PSU is of good quality. I wouldn't worry about it until you go to a 6800GT or better. The 6600GT should be fine.

[lithium726]

I've messed with old ones that use this *odd* 5.25" hard drive.quantum bigfoot yo ;)

[Lazy_Moron]

The HP PSU is of good quality. I wouldn't worry about it until you go to a 6800GT or better. The 6600GT should be fine.

Thats what I want to get though. A 6800 GT or 6800 Ultra.

[GeForceX]

Upgrade. :)

-J.

[WhiteGuardian]

I wonder if companies like Gateway, Dell, & Compaq use mostly proprietary(non upgradable) parts in thier game rigs. :confused:




dunno about compaq, but Dell and Gateway's gaming series are fully upgradable. I don't think Compaq has any "gaming" computers though.

[michael.pa2]

I'm sure Compaq's have changed since HP took them over,but when they made the 5000 series Presario's like I had,seemed like everything was proprietary! They made their own motherboards,so just about all the connectors were non-standard.The big killer was the PSU,you could only use theirs,and they only came in 235 and 250W,which pretty much left out any decent vid cards.Even the CPU heatsink fan had a non-standard connector.