I called Dell today, not that I would be purchasing any parts from them seeing that they are twice the price of everyone else, but I wanted to see if my system could benefit from Multi-Core Processing. Well, Dell says my motherboard will not support that technology, so I asked about upgrading the motherboard and they said the Dell Dimension 8400 cannot have the motherboard upgraded. What the heck does that mean? I have never heard of this before. What is to keep me from upgrading the motherboard? Will another one not fit in the dell case? Is there something attached to the motherboard that will cause my system to not work if I change the mother board? I want to upgrade to a multi-core processor, and I have to have a compatible Motherboard to do it. Any suggestions? Will my Boot-drive, which is configured for dell no doubt, not work with a motherboard upgrade? Thanks. John

Without seeing the case or anything I'm going to assume that could be the problem. You have to be careful when picking out new hardware to make sure all your components will work with each other. Upgrading your motherboard may make your RAM obsolete as well.

If you are still wanting to go this route, cases are one of the cheaper components you can buy so just see if you can get one that will fit.

The other possibility may be that if you have an OEM version of Windows (likely), it will be tied to the original hardware.

What is to keep me from upgrading the motherboard? Will another one not fit in the dell case?
Some Dell computers have non-standard motherboards with holes in different places.

My experience with computer upgrades is that computers tend not to be upgradeable. Your power supply may not be good enough, your motherboard's chipset may not support the new processor, the new motherboards might need newer generation RAM, the new video cards are pciE (not AGP), etc. etc. You're likely better off getting a new system and cannibalizing select old parts... i.e. the optical drives, the hard drives.

All very good points. After considering everything, I know my 3GB of Ram would be a loss. I remember that I had to order it, no one had it in stock. My operating system is OEM, so the drive probably wouldn't boot with another motherboard. I am not prepared to attempt an upgrade on this system. I am certain it would cost more than getting a new system. Right now, the system will get the job done. I will probably build my own when the time comes using the multi-core technology. I have another system I could Network Render with. But, I think I read where some of the plugins will not work with network rendering. Magic Bullet being one of those. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks. J