Dell® Dimension 3000 mini-Tower and Windows® 7.
I know there are no Windows® Vista or Windows® 7 drivers released by Dell® for the Dimension 3000 desktop. The actual computer had no add-on cards installed so this article will focus on the motherboard components only. Windows® 7 did a good job of installing device drivers for most of the components. The only component that needed a new device driver was the audio system and I found that by searching the Internet. I did install the Windows® XP device driver for the video system because it offers more resolutions than the bare bones version that got installed. I have installed every driver listed so I know they work under Windows® 7.
In order to get the full video performance out of Windows® 7 I would recommend that you disable the motherboard video and install an add-on AGP video card.
Windows® 7 install procedure for Dell® Dimension 3000 mini-Tower.
All the drivers used in this article can be downloaded here. (11.7MB)
Some files may require that you set compatibility before the install. You only need to set compatibility on the acutal executable file (the install program to run).
-
Install Windows® 7
-
Install Windows® 7 Service Pack 1 - if needed
My Windows® 7 Ultimate included Service Pack 1
I would recommend installing Service Pack 1 before installing the drivers
-
Install Intel Chipset INF drivers:
Run infinst_autol_9.2.3.1022 found in "Vista - Win7\Chipset INF"
-
Install Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller drivers:
Run R126991 found in "Vista - Win7\Video" to extract files
Go to the extract folder to set compatibility to WinXP SP3 first, then
Run setup
-
Install SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio drivers:
Run R145551 found in "Vista - Win7\Audio"
During the install you will get a "can't verify publisher" warning, install anyway
Dell® Roxio Creator Premier SD.
I have found that Dell® Roxio Creator Premier SD v10.2.606 CD/DVD burning software will install and run on Windows® 7. I only did a fast CD copy test but it did work correctly.
Dell® Dimension 3000 mini-Tower observations.
The Windows Experience Index is only 1.0 because of the gaming graphics component. For this reason I recommend that you disable the motherboard video and install an add-on AGP graphics card. The 4x/8x AGP graphics card should support DirectX 9 and provide better graphics than the on-board video. Check with the Dell web-site to verify that 4x/8x is supported.
