Just recieved a new “budget” server that I’ll be converting to a powerhouse of a workstation on a budget. The server, brand new, from Dell only cost $349.
- Intel Pentium 4 2.26 GHz (512KB cache, 533MHz FSB)
- Intel 875P (Canterwood) Chipset
- 128MB PC2700 DDR RAM (This will be upgraded…)
- 40GB Hard Drive
- 48X CD-ROM
- Floppy
- SATA Onboard
- PCI Graphics (Already upgraded with AGP card…)
- SATA
I’ll add a guide to install Windows XP Professional and other software/hardware in the 400SC FAQ, located in the forum. See the gallery for some pictures.
41 Comments
I just got my 400SC on Friday. I went with the 2.8Ghz with 800Mhz FSB and H/T.
This machine screams for being less than $500 delevered.
Just ordered mine last night. THis morning I check the site and its 100.00 cheaper today than yesterday
(P4 2.8) I contacted Dell to see if they would pass the savings on to me but they declined saying ” If you want to take advantage of the new pricing you’ll have to cancel your order and re-order”. Is this a problem?
That’s typical of the Dell ordering system. Since you ordered last night, it shouldn’t be too much of a delay. I’d suggest placing a new order, then call Dell and cancel the order from last night.
Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll do that.
When running in dual channel mode does the memory have to be a matched set or just two pcs of the same exact memory. Just curious. Big diffrence in price.
Two of the same should work. “Matched” pairs usually cost more because they’re tested together. (Marketing thing really…)
I’m not a very hardware saavy computer user, but I’ve recently been at my wits end over my current PC and I’m aching to get rid of it. I found this site through craigslist.org and was wondering: is the conversion of a server PC to a workstation a painstaking ordeal? Is this option of buying one and converting (which, based on the price, sounds like a great money saving option) worth it for someone who isn’t necessarily a computer genius and hasn’t ever done much work with computer hardware? Let me know what you think.
This is a server by name only. All you need to do is boot it, install an OS, and you have a workstation/desktop computer. The base configuration is slightly lacking in the RAM, video, and optical drive departments, so updgrades in those areas should be done. Technical skill is not a requirement for using this machine as a desktop.
I’m not a hardware oriented computer user. I just got my Dell 400SC, and I am having problem in converting the server to a desktop.
I use Windows XP Pro. for the server.
Steps:
1. Put the Windows XP OS installation CD on the CD drive and the OS got installed automatically.
Is this the correct procedure?
2. Install Bestdata dialup modem using available PCI slots. PCI slot 1 is used for Dell installed ATI graphic cards ( the graphic card comes with the Dell server). First, install the modem PCI card on PCI slot 2, but XP through Hardware add Wizard could not add the modem. Tried for PCI slot 3 and 4, and both PCI 3 and 4 work well. Is the PCI slot 2 damaged? Also, I tried the DSL connection using the available gigabyteport installed on the mobo, but I cannot go online with the DSL? I don’t know why.
Can you give details step by step guidelines in converting the server to the desktop?
How can I check that the PCI slot 2 is working or not? I am thinking to refund the server because it’s been hard to make a conversion to desktop.
Thank you very much for your advice Oliver.
Some PCI slots do not work well with certain cards (usually a resource conflict). Try the video card in the “broken” PCI slot and see if it works.
DSL setup is different depending on provider, so I’m not sure about the setup issues you’re having. I suggest contacting their support and see if there’s something you need to set on the modem, PPPoE software you need to install, etc.
These have to be the coolest-looking systems Dell makes in a tower. The 400sc is really just a normal desktop needing some aftermarket upgrades. I am certified on all of the Poweredge models Dell offers, of which most are not for home use, but this is an awesome little box that makes great for lan-gaming and doesnt require much ingenuity to config. Slap in a couple gb of ddr, an 8x Radeon 9700 or similiar card, and a midnight gray or black dvdrw/cdrw, an Audigy, and wah’la. Honestly, the XPS is king of the hill when it comes to Dell’s but these 400sc’s are just damn gorgeous (price & looks) in my opinion.
I just bought 2 400SC’s and I agree with Ryan, it is a great deal. Hyperthreading turned on in the bios makes the OS think there are 2 – 2.4 processors in it, which makes it much faster. I threw in a black dvdrw and an extra half gig of RAM. Also, this is a very quiet sounding server.
Will the audigy 2 soundcard work in on the 400sc??
Dell told me through support that servers such as this 400sc do not have enough IRQ resources to be a workstation or desktop. I looked (Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Info, Hardware Resources, IRQ) and found that I have 23 IRQs. I am running my 400sc 2.4 HT with Win XP Pro, 1 Gig of ECC 400 3200 RAM, an old LITE-ON CDRW, RTI Radeon 9200 128mb 8x AGP video, Audigy SC w/ firewire and a Diamond Supra 56k modem. Runs well if it is not infected with Blaster virus. I have been told not to download anything from Windows Update – I agree, it slows down the machine after updates.
Dell reps are ill-informed. The 400SC is a perfect workstation/desktop and uses the same internals as their Dimension 8300 series of desktops and Precision 360 series of workstations.
Don’t listen: you NEED to update Windows regularly to stay on top of security patches. Updating regularly means you will not have to worry about Blaster or any new viruses.
I haven’t noticed any slowdown from updating.
I agree with Oliver, you need the Win Updates. I have noticed no slow down at all with either using as a workstation or with win xp on it. Dell reps are “trained” to tell their customers that the power edges are not good for home use because they want to sell their home computers for that purpose, but it is the same guts as the Dim 8300 with a more powerful front end bus.
I installed XP pro on 400sc..cannot find driver for NIC card. The one that came on the “System Support” disk shows up in system devices as an error and can’t be installed. Please help…first time doing this type of conversion. I uninstalled NIC and tried again…no luck.
As far as I know, the standard NIC in one of these 400sc's is the Intel PRO 1000MT. Do a search on yahoo or google for that driver, and you should be good to go. Make sure to install it before working with the rest of your internet connectivity, or at least restart the system after installing the driver, then launch the Internet browser.
Read the FAQ:
http://www.aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8
Hi Oliver,
Like others, I just ordered the 400sc in the base configuration plus the 2.8/800 upgrade. I plan to augment the 128MB of ECC memory; can you tell me if, in order to keep using this DIMM, I am required to 1) buy other ECC memory, and/or 2) use the same size DIMM — eg, can I just buy a piece of 512 non-ECC and have a total of 640mb working? Thanks for your help!
Andy
Hello Everyone
Finally from reading all the great postings on this and other sites I finally decided to jump in the pool so I ordered a 400SC with the 2.8 upgraded processor on Feb 18th at 12:40pm CST. To my surprise the order is already on the way and should be here by the end of the day. One strange thing that the Dell Rep did was that he told me that he can throw in a 16 Port switch in for the same price but when the Order conformation came in it showed that they have charged me $454.65 for the PC and $85.52 for the Switch. To be honest I really don’t need the swict so would I just be better off getting the RMA generated to return the switch so that I can bring the total price for the unit down to $354.65 after $100 rebate(462-7482 $100 MAIL-IN REBATE 46306). If some one can email me and give some suggestions on it. I would really appreciate it. Just cant wait to get the hand on that new baby. I already have got a nice DVD+/-RW NEC|ND-2500A/BLACK ordered for $105 including tax and shipping from http://www.newegg.com. Will just need to upgrade some ram and I should be set for a while. Hope to hear from you guys soon. Good Luck with your orders.
Wow! I just ordered mine and I love it. Due to budget constraints I had to order the base config, but it runs Fedora Linux excellently. SILENT! The case is gorgeous, too, especially compared with the Gateway SMB servers. The price is right, and the server is lovely.
Hello Oliver & everyone. I’ve read this thread and your 400sc faq page (thanks!) I bought a 400sc & had hoped to swap my HDD from an Athon 900/asus A7v MB (XP home) into this 400sc. However, when I turned on the 400sc, it won’t boot. In the bios it sees my old HDD but it won’t boot in normal or safe mode. I tried all jumpers on HDD & still won’t work. I have a new 120GB HDD that I want to clone w/my old HDD but it doesn’t seem to be working. What’s your advice? If I have to do a fresh install, can you give me advice on transfering the files from old drive to new drive, so I don’t lose any data?
Hey Everybody,
I received the 400sc and love it but have two questions.
In converting from a dell 4550 P4 2.4 with XP Pro I just took the HD out and plopped it in the 400sc.
I’m having the same problem as Jason, it will see the drive in BIOS but will not recognize it to boot. I can hit F12 and choose Boot from Master drive… and it will load everything just fine but it would be nice for it to boot from power up.
Have checked jumper settings, boot.ini etc.
Second question… it really does not seem to be much faster than the P4 2.4 I’m running 1Gb of DDR ECC in the 400sc and 1Gb of DDR in the 2.4.
Any thoughts?
I recently received my Dell 400SC as well. However, I am unable to get the AGP port to recognize any cards I put in there, even though I know they are working in other machines. Yes, Dell says AGP is “not supported”, but I’ve read so many others that say it works perfectly. What am I missing? Yes, I’ve tried the BIOS “auto” and “AGP” modes with no difference. Idea’s?
Make sure you read the FAQ. Specifically, some AGP cards are not supported. This is all covered in the FAQ…
I RECENTLY GOT A 400SC, INSTALLED A MODEM, EVERYTHING WAS FINE UNTIL I LOOGED IN THE NET,
THEN EVERYTHING WENT BLACK, WHAT COULD IT BE?
I CANT GET IT TO COME ON ANYMORE SO I UNPLUGGED IT
I just received my 400sc and performed a few upgrades to it. I was wondering though, before I install an OS on the hard drive, is it necessary to keep the Dell files that are on there? Because I was wanting to clean it off and make it dual-boot XP and Gentoo. Just wanting to make sure it won’t malfunction without the dell files, since it’s a proprietary machine.
My new 400sc keeps restarting on me randomly! I go about doing my work on Photoshop or any other application for about 2 hours (more or less each time it occures) and, out of nowhere, I get a blue screen for a split second and the computer reboots. I did a clean install of WinXP Pro 9 times!!! thinking it may be to OS, swapped out the hard drive with a 120GB Seagate, swapped out 1GB of PC-2700 RAM, disabled HT in the BIOS, performed ALL the patches from Microsoft’s website, all the latest updates from Adobe’s website thinking it may be Photoshop causing the problem, and updated the .inf files for the chipset from Intel’s website. I don’t know what it is. Has any one encountered the same problem? Please Help. I’ve tried everything I could think of. Calling Tech Support is not going to help becuase they’ll just give me the run-around.
Kien,
Please ask for help in the forums, as you’ll get much more assistance there.
I have a dell poweredge 400sc. 2.26. I have 1 gb of memory. When I add another stick of pc 2700 1gb memory the box no longer sees the rest of the memory. I have 2 sticks of pc 3200 256mb and on stick of pc 3200 dell 512. When I add the single pc 2700 memory and take out one 256 stick the box only sees 1 gb of memory. Any ideas of how I can fix this problem?
Zack,
you cant mix different speeds of memory. buy some more 3200 memory.
Where is the 400SC XP installation assistance?
I have just ordered an SC420. I haven’t been able to find anyone elses experiences with installing XP Pro on this machine. I you can give me any tips, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Read the FAQ:
http://www.aaltonen.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8
This FAQ site listed in google is no longer valid. Please help.
NE
The new site…
http://www.poweredgeforums.com/showthread.php?t=8
For future reference, DragonflyBSD and FreeBSD are both supported on the PowerEdge 400SC. I have ran both successfully.
where did the pics go? they are not at the link that is posted
You posted the following a couple of years ago on your website:
News: Dell PowerEdge 400SC
Posted in News by Oliver Aaltonen on the July 28th, 2003
Just recieved a new “budget” server that I’ll be converting to a powerhouse of a workstation on a budget. The server, brand new, from Dell only cost $349.
- Intel Pentium 4 2.26 GHz (512KB cache, 533MHz FSB)
- Intel 875P (Canterwood) Chipset
- 128MB PC2700 DDR RAM (This will be upgraded…)
- 40GB Hard Drive
- 48X CD-ROM
- Floppy
- SATA Onboard
- PCI Graphics (Already upgraded with AGP card…)
- SATA
I’ll add a guide to install Windows XP Professional and other software/hardware in the 400SC FAQ, located in the forum. See the gallery for some pictures.
I would like to have the guide for installing XP professional on the 400SC, because the system becomes highly unstable (locking up) after installing the OS. Thanks.
Where did the FAQ go?
I split the forms off from my site:
http://www.poweredgeforums.com/showthread.php?t=8