Does Dell make its own motherboards?

Lem wrote:
Do all Dell PCs (for the UK market) come with Dell's own
motherboards?

I am thinking of getting a Dell but I don't want to find that it uses
a Dell proprietary motherboard that may have little technical data
available.

ISTR hearing that Dell used a non-standad wiring on the 20 or 24 pin
mobo power connector. And I imagine there may be several other Dell
quirks.


They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel) to their specs. I don't think they do the nonstandard
power connector anymore, but they do still do the nonstandard front
panel controls connector. Also, some boards have had a somewhat
nonstandard shape which may prevent replacing with a standard ATX board.

Essentially, don't count on being able to change out the motherboard in
the original case..

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

Robert Hancock wrote:
Lem wrote:

Do all Dell PCs (for the UK market) come with Dell's own motherboards?

I am thinking of getting a Dell but I don't want to find that it uses
a Dell proprietary motherboard that may have little technical data
available.

ISTR hearing that Dell used a non-standad wiring on the 20 or 24 pin
mobo power connector. And I imagine there may be several other Dell
quirks.


They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel)

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !

There was a big hubbub in the IT/tech news about it at
the time - how could everyone have forgotten already ?

to their specs. I don't think they do the nonstandard
power connector anymore, but they do still do the nonstandard front
panel controls connector. Also, some boards have had a somewhat
nonstandard shape which may prevent replacing with a standard ATX board.

Essentially, don't count on being able to change out the motherboard in
the original case..

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 02:05:17 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:

Robert Hancock wrote:
Lem wrote:

Do all Dell PCs (for the UK market) come with Dell's own motherboards?

I am thinking of getting a Dell but I don't want to find that it uses
a Dell proprietary motherboard that may have little technical data
available.

ISTR hearing that Dell used a non-standad wiring on the 20 or 24 pin
mobo power connector. And I imagine there may be several other Dell
quirks.


They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel)

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !

Really? So these two dual-Prestonia/Lindenhurst server boards that we got from
Intel (one is a "Roadrunner" and the other is a "Coyote") don't actually
exist? Wow - that's a scary reality! ;-)

There was a big hubbub in the IT/tech news about it at
the time - how could everyone have forgotten already ?

Possibly because it wasn't true?

/daytripper

daytripper wrote:
On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 02:05:17 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:


Robert Hancock wrote:

Lem wrote:


Do all Dell PCs (for the UK market) come with Dell's own motherboards?

I am thinking of getting a Dell but I don't want to find that it uses
a Dell proprietary motherboard that may have little technical data
available.

ISTR hearing that Dell used a non-standad wiring on the 20 or 24 pin
mobo power connector. And I imagine there may be several other Dell
quirks.


They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel)

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !


Really? So these two dual-Prestonia/Lindenhurst server boards that we got from
Intel (one is a "Roadrunner" and the other is a "Coyote") don't actually
exist? Wow - that's a scary reality! ;-)

You weren't paying attention. I didn't say Intel
wasn't selling motherboards - I said they weren't
/making/ them.



There was a big hubbub in the IT/tech news about it at
the time - how could everyone have forgotten already ?


Possibly because it wasn't true?

/daytripper

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 04:22:22 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:

daytripper wrote:
On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 02:05:17 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !


Really? So these two dual-Prestonia/Lindenhurst server boards that we got from
Intel (one is a "Roadrunner" and the other is a "Coyote") don't actually
exist? Wow - that's a scary reality! ;-)

You weren't paying attention. I didn't say Intel
wasn't selling motherboards - I said they weren't
/making/ them.

Define "make". Do you mean simply that Intel doesn't have any board shops of
their own and thus contracts out fab and assembly?

If that's it, I must have missed what significance was being attached...

/daytripper

daytripper wrote:
On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 04:22:22 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:


daytripper wrote:

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 02:05:17 GMT, Rob Stow wrote:

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !


Really? So these two dual-Prestonia/Lindenhurst server boards that we got from
Intel (one is a "Roadrunner" and the other is a "Coyote") don't actually
exist? Wow - that's a scary reality! ;-)

You weren't paying attention. I didn't say Intel
wasn't selling motherboards - I said they weren't
/making/ them.


Define "make". Do you mean simply that Intel doesn't have any board shops of
their own and thus contracts out fab and assembly?

That is what I meant.

However, I should have qualified it a bit.
Intel no longer makes boards for x86 but I
have no idea if they make any for Itanic.

If that's it, I must have missed what significance was being attached...


The significance goes back to someone else's statement
that Intel makes motherboards for Dell. Intel contracts
out - just like Dell.

As a matter of fact, the reasons Intel cited for getting
out of the x86 motherboard market were low profit margins
combined with their failure to land any of the big OEMs as
a customer.

Essentially, don't count on being able to change out the motherboard in
the original case..

We had a similar discussions just before Christmas. Dell UK had a stunningly
good offer available which for £420 got you a fast Celeron, 256MB, 80GB HDD,
17" TFT, printer & DVD-writer. When I looked at reviews of this obviously
low-budget system, I can to the same conclusion that it's not very
upgradable. Only thing I wished it had was an AGP graphics port which meant
you were stuck with the on-board graphics card.

But when I did the math, it worked out that even if you threw away the
entire base unit less the HDD, the rest of the bits bought separately came
very closed to the £420 price, esp. considering the 17" TFT.

So what I said was "if you need to upgrade, don't worry about throwing the
base unit away - you almost got it for free anyway".

Just how they are making money, I just don't know :-)

Rob.

Howdy!

"Rob Stow" wrote in message
news:xRmCd.683192$nl.106222@pd7tw3no...
Robert Hancock wrote:

They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel)

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !

*blink* Funny, this 3.2G Dell P4 with the Intel logo'ed board is a
bit newer than 6 years old. (Not the machine I'm on - the one with the
knackered 120G drive in it)

RwP

Ralph Wade Phillips wrote:
Howdy!

"Rob Stow" wrote in message
news:xRmCd.683192$nl.106222@pd7tw3no...

Robert Hancock wrote:


They don't make their own boards, but they do have boards made for them
(usually by Intel)

Intel hasn't made a motherboard for about 6 years now !


*blink* Funny, this 3.2G Dell P4 with the Intel logo'ed board is a
bit newer than 6 years old. (Not the machine I'm on - the one with the
knackered 120G drive in it)


The logo says nothing about who manufactured it.
It is quite common for one company to rebadge a product
that they had contracted out to someone else.

See if you can find something on the board about where
it was made, then see if you can find an Intel plant
in that country.