TheVille

Well my other system is in the shop for repair. I am looking for a replacement for my old dell xps 400.
Any suggestions?

What are the requirements?

The org. is a BTX design. But all I want is for it to work.

Do you need a fancy video card?
Do you need a cd/dvd/bluray player/burner?
Would a netbook do?
How much storage do you need?
Roughly how fast would you like?
Do you want it for gaming or is it a work laptop only? What do you do for work?
What's the price range?

edit: I need more sleep, I just realized you wanted a MOBO replaced, not the whole thing. My bad.

BTX? Ouch. That's not made anymore, nor is it compatible with ATX equipment. Does your system manual indicate whether your case is cross compatible? Some cases are, but I don't know that a stock Dell case would be. The components would work fine on an ATX board, it's just that if the screw mounts in the case aren't laid out correctly, you won't be able to attach the mobo to the case.

If, in fact, it does have the mounting array for ATX, the other things to check are your CPU socket type, and your RAM type. All versions of the XPS400 I could find use basic DDR2 ram, so that's easy, but worth double-checking. I did, however, run in to versions that use a Socket 478 processor, while others use LGA 775. If it is a "Pentium 4" it'll be a 478, while if it's a "Pentium D" it's 775. If it's something else... we'll look it up.

If you have the 478 version, AND your case can take an ATX board, THIS is just about the only thing still on the market that'll work. It's a micro-ATX with many of the same specifications as the old XPS400 Socket 478 board. If you have a newer LGA 775, you'll have far more options - hundreds in fact, but again dependant on if your case can take an ATX. That is the key to this whole issue.

Thanks for all the help guys.
My wife found a refurb on the Ebay.

Ah, good to hear mlite. Definitely the easiest way to ensure compatibility.