jgodby46
03-10-2008, 02:31 PM
Last summer I acquired through a company upgrade/surplus sale a Dell Optiplex GX270 and, based on its size (small footprint), features, speed, price ($30), etc., it was love at first sight! Almost immediately I bought a larger hard drive (80 gig) and an Nvidia AGP video card, then I was literally on cloud nine when it came to playing my combat flight sims. However, about two weeks ago, the motherboard went out, and, after much troubleshooting to determine that it was, indeed, the mobo I muttered a bunch of dirty words, especially since I’m retired and don’t have much income at this time. Now my dilemma: Dell wants $180 for a refurbished mobo, but for $185 I can get from Tigerdirect a new PCI Express video card and a barebones kit featuring a new mobo inside a new case with a new power supply. I first considered a new micro ATX, generic, mobo, but the Dell mobo has one connecter the generic ones don’t have. It’s called the “front panel” connector” and I can’t quite figure out its purpose. I am currently using my daughter’s old Compaq Presario with my Dell Windows XP loaded on it, which brings up a secondary problem: Microsoft won’t allow me to activate Windows, because, they say, it is licensed only for use with the Dell and cannot be used on any other computer. I’m told by a friend/computer technician that if I fix the Dell, activate Windows via phone and explain that I had a hardware failure, that M$ will give me an activation code. Meanwhile, I have just about decided to wait for my income-tax refund and rebate, buy a new computer, and try to sell the remaining Dell parts as surplus. Any suggestions?