Absolutely love it!

Taking an OEM machine and maxing it out is something I always love to see. OEM machines don't get much love for some reason, but they make awesome retro gaming machines.

Is the PSU wiring propriety?

BX form factor?

I do like the idea of such a P4 system very very much 😀

Starting with Northwood, and especially when Hyper-Threading was introduced, the P4 was a really good CPU. Although Prescott is in my opinion not that good, I'd prefer Cedar Mill when going with the Socket 775 P4 (of course it is another thing when you have the Prescott already lying around). Only the Athlon64 gave it a very hard time later, but that's when you start employing Core 2 to blow it away 😉 I still have my Pentium 4 3,0GHz HT and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3,4GHz. Although I have no use for them currently, I do plan on something comparable to your idea (although I'll be staying with Socket 478 for obvious EE reasons 😉)

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

BX form factor?

I'd say, given the I/O panel position in relation to the add-in card slots, definitely BTX, yes.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

....OEM machines don't get much love for some reason, but they make awesome retro gaming machines.

There are plenty of reasons actually 😈
1. Lack of overclocking and advanced BIOS tweaking.
2. Usually limited CPU upgrade options
3. Non-standard MB format (+ heatsink mounting)
4. Non-standard PSU (both size and pinout)
5. Weak PSU wattage and often lack of PCI-E 6/8pin cables
6. Stupid case layout, often incompatible with long PCI-E / PCI add-on cards.
...

So all in all these OEM machines have so many weak points it is hard to even consider them. Maybe the only advantage is low price.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

Is the PSU wiring propriety?

BX form factor?

Yep, it's BTX.

The power supply uses standard ATX connectors, but the case is shaped in such a way that normal PSUs don't quite fit. (There are a couple of metal tabs that slide into the power supply and hold it in place.) It wouldn't be a Dell without some kind of proprietary nonsense, right? 🤣

Instead of cutting into the case, I figured I'd just find a better Dell power supply. The one I bought usually shipped with the newer Precision T3400, but it fits the Precision 380 just fine.

havli wrote:

[quote="PhilsComputerLab"1. Lack of overclocking and advanced BIOS tweaking. 2. Usually limited CPU upgrade options 3. Non-stand […]
Show full quote

[quote="PhilsComputerLab"1. Lack of overclocking and advanced BIOS tweaking.
2. Usually limited CPU upgrade options
3. Non-standard MB format (+ heatsink mounting)
4. Non-standard PSU (both size and pinout)
5. Weak PSU wattage and often lack of PCI-E 6/8pin cables
6. Stupid case layout, often incompatible with long PCI-E / PCI add-on cards.

All valid points. I have some other upgraded OEM machines (like this one), so I was expecting some pitfalls going in.

There are some upsides to working with OEM systems, though:

1. Price / availability of the system itself. (This one was free, my Dimension 4500 was also free, and my Dimension 4100 was only $10.)
2. Price / availability of replacement parts.
3. Builds get off the ground quickly. (Instead of starting with a pile of parts, you start with a working system.)

Also, while there are plenty of stupid case layouts, there seem to be just as many good ones. This one was obviously designed to make life easy for the IT department: it's easy to get into and easy to swap out parts.

havli wrote:

There are plenty of reasons actually :evil: 1. Lack of overclocking and advanced BIOS tweaking. 2. Usually limited CPU upgrade […]
Show full quote

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

....OEM machines don't get much love for some reason, but they make awesome retro gaming machines.

There are plenty of reasons actually 😈
1. Lack of overclocking and advanced BIOS tweaking.
2. Usually limited CPU upgrade options
3. Non-standard MB format (+ heatsink mounting)
4. Non-standard PSU (both size and pinout)
5. Weak PSU wattage and often lack of PCI-E 6/8pin cables
6. Stupid case layout, often incompatible with long PCI-E / PCI add-on cards.
...

So all in all these OEM machines have so many weak points it is hard to even consider them. Maybe the only advantage is low price.

The only issue that concerns me in that list is the PSU. Everything else is fine IMO. The layout doesn't really matter, it's going to stay an OEM machine. Of course, if you want to transplant it into another case then you might have issues...

It's worth noting that OEM machines from Dell, HP, and IBM (Lenovo) usually have good quality power supplies which are safely and cleanly able perform to their ratings.

I have an identical case Dell Precision with a C2Q and Quadro card, unfortunatly it is dirty as hell. It was a gift but I haven't had time to check it exactly what is in it.
😈 But I guess I can make something usefull of it after cleaning.

really like the look of those early to mid 2000s workstations , quite classy (unlike many modern gaming rigs which seem try to appeal to teenagers)

greenhamgaming did a video on the C2D version of this PC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teH2okeA3v4
I've got the related T5500 myself, Duel CPU running my sandbox ESX server as I'm not sure what to do with it really, It's a nice machine though.

Re the OEM vs custom build battle, it really depends on what you want but basically if your not an overclocker OEM = stable, but think that's a good topic for another thread rather then hijack this one

and here is that thread
OEM vs Generic/custom builds

I had a simliar machine. It also had a P4 670 HT, but had 3GB RAM and a Geforce 7900GT. One of the best I've ever had.

I wonder how Netbust would scale with more cores, more cache, and 4.0ghz clockspeeds on a modern 14nm process.