From: Robert L. Hooton Sent: Friday, April 23, 1999 10:44 PM

> b       I have a Dell Dimension XPS D300.  I upgraded my video card to a
Diamond
> Viper V550 16 Mb AGP card.  The rendition is improved but the frame rate
as
> tested in Quake went from 15 fps to 16 fps at 640 to 840 resolution.  I
> purchased my computer in January of 98, before 2x mother boards came out,
so
> I suspect that my moo doesn't support the 2x of the Viper.  The answers I
> got from Dell were:  no it doesn't ,it is a function on the chipset and
> can't be changed and from another tech that it was a function of the video
> card, independent of the mobo.  I suspect that the first opinion is
correct.
> Would changing the mobo help the video performance?  I figure the answer
is
> of course.  The big question is what brand of mobo is the best.  I want
> something of excellent quality, fully featured and as upgradeable down the
> road as possible.  I really appreciate the help and the info from the PC
> Build mailings.  Thanks.


I also have the Dell XPS D300 and you will have to buy a new case or replace
the power supply to upgrade the motherboard.  The connectors from the power
supply to the motherboard will only fit Dell motherboards.  Instead of
having one connector like all of the ATX power supplies I have bought the
Dell power supply has two connectors to the motherboard.  To upgrade my dell
I bought a new case and motherboard and then migrated the hard drive, etc.
to the new case.  I did not check whether a regular ATX motherboard would
fit the dell case as the power supply connectors would only fit a Dell
motherboard.  Also the Dell Dimension XPS D300 that I purchased only has an
LX motherboard and does not support the 100Mhz bus speed or 2x AGP video
cards.  If you do upgrade your motherboard I would make sure that your get
the 440BX  Intel chipset to keep your options open for further upgrades.

Mary Wolden

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