The 2400 has a side panel with a curve in its front edge (matching curve in
chassis) and an 845 chipset supporting 400 and 533MHz FSB.

The 3000 has a rectangular side panel and an 865 chipset supporting 400, 533,
and 800MHz FSB. Not sure if it supports hyperthreading or the newer Pentium D
and Celeron D (Socket 478, of course).

The Optiplex 170L motherboard is identical to the 3000 board, AFAIK. Different
BIOS, of course.

The Dimension 3000, like the 4600, came along relatively late in the life of
Socket 478/DDR, and not as many were ever built.

There was also a B110 with the same style of chassis, but I have never seen one.
Not many were built.

A Dimension 4600 board makes for a nice Dimension 3000 or 2400 upgrade, adding 2
DIMM sockets and an AGP slot, with 865 chipset. Repaired a 3000 with a dead
mobo recently by dropping in a 4600 board, which was all I had. Even Windows
did not complain, because the major chipsets lined up perfectly. Owner got a
nice memory upgrade, too, so he was ecstatic... Ben Myers

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:35:37 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

Hello all...

Another Dimension 3000 has crossed my bench for service, and once again I'm
struck by how similar it is to the Dimension 2400. Looking around seems to
reveal that both were budget boxes. They are virtually identical inside and
out. I thought that perhaps the 3000 might pick up on the
also-closely-related OptiPlex 170 tower and have SATA or something, but it
does not have any SATA connectors. And there's no AGP slot--just solder pads
for one.

I've also noticed that Dimension 2400 systems are present in much greater
numbers than the 3000.

So what's the difference?

William