I bought a gaming-targeted system from Dell less than two years ago. Several months ago, the graphics card seemed to have given out. An IT-friend helped me replace it and it still didn't work, so we thought perhaps the PCI-express slot had gone bad somehow. I then bought a regular PCI card and it worked fine for a couple of months. Now I've encountered the same problem once again -- absolutely no input to the monitor (which worked fine on another computer). At this point we are both assuming that the problem is with the motherboard.

I planned to get a barebones kit and transfer everything else from my computer into it, I just worry about spending the money if it isn't necessary or if it potential won't fix the problem. I was just looking for input from anyone else before I dump more money into the POS.

Have you checked the Power Supply is supplying the correct Rail Voltages ?? It may have a cheap crap power supply..

Dell was not a good choice for a "gaming" machine.............

A store bought motherbaord *may* not fit in a Dell case. But if it does, Windows will have to be reinstalled due to the board swap & the Dell discs will become useless, also because of the board swap.

Make sure you've exhausted your troubleshooting efforts before deciding the board is the problem.

I'm assuming that my friend would have checked that, but I'll double check with him.

Thanks for the input.