Dell case

[luigionlsd]

Hey folks! I've got a little project I'd like to work on, and need some advice. Where better to turn than AT's case forum?

Well, lucky me has picked up a Dell P1130 (midnight grey), and it seems to be a wonderful monitor so far. The monitor is so great that I'd like to get a crappy Dell case, midnight grey style, to put my sweet rig in. The rig consists of an Athlon 64 3200, ATX board (Abit AV8 if you cared), GeForce 6800 ultra, etc. Just 2 optical drives, nothing special. I was wondering if anyone knew of a Dell case that'll house a standard ATX motherboard. A friend of mine has the case from a Dimension 8200 for sale, and I was wondering if anyone knew off hand whether that would work. I've tried google, and searched the forums, but no answer yet.

Your advice is appreciated! Thanks much

 

[Zepper]

Easy way is to ask him how many card slots are available to the back of his case. An ATX mobo needs a case with at least 7 card slots. A microATX only needs 4 and it is unlikely that an ATX mobo would fit. It would also be good if the I/O shield was removable as the Dell case is unlikely to match the I/O port arrangement on your mobo. But if it's not removable, you could always rev up the Dremel... Otherwise, the ATX mounting points are pretty standard and even Dell sticks to them reasonably well.

.bh.

 

[mindwreck]

It will not fit. The mounts on dell motherboards and other things in their case are proprietary, so you won't be able to get your motherboard in there without modding the motherboard plate and adding your own stand-offs.

 

[essasin]

Dell mobo, powersupply, case are all proprietary unfortuantly.

 

[cyberkost]

Originally posted by: essasin
Dell mobo, powersupply, case are all proprietary unfortuantly.

Yes, that's what experience seem to indicate (I guess Dell does not want us to buy just good cases and PSUs and then stuffing them with our decent mobos/cpus/cooling solutions). BUT, does your statement summarize just your (and your buddies) experience, or is it a fact that Dell acknowledges and warns users about? Does it hold true for ALL of Dell cases? I'm asking b/c we've just got a bunch of Optiplex 520 at work, and these cases are the best I've seen in terms of cooling (I've own(ed) some Lian-Li's and higher end Antec's and seen many others) ... also these new cases don't look nearly as ugly as newer XPSes ... in fact, they look pretty. They lack expansion slots and don't have fans in the back (firstly b/c they don't need any, and b/c they are Optiplexes) ... The question is: why on Earth somebody does not make a good computer case (sturdy, good looking, easy access, flow-through like design)??!!!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: luigionlsd
I was wondering if anyone knew of a Dell case that'll house a standard ATX motherboard. A friend of mine has the case from a Dimension 8200 for sale, and I was wondering if anyone knew off hand whether that would work.

Documentation

The PDF file shows the case to have FIVE slots, which is not an industry standard. IIRC from past experience, the PSU is "standard" in that it is wired to ATX spec, but the hole in the case won't accommodate most PSUs without some cutting. Also, IIRC some of the motherboard mounts are "slots" and not the usual mounting holes.