The Dell XPS 700 Series to me are the best looking OEM cases ever made. I am in the process of doing the BTX to ATX mod and I wanted to post my project from start to end. This is my first time ever modding a case and I am really pumped to get this done.With my dremel in hand and some items from Performance-PCs I am off to work.
Here is what I started out with - Dell XPS 720 Red Special Edition
I forgot to take a picture of the back of my case before I started to drill the rivets that held in the I/O Shield. Here is a stock picture of the back of the case.
As you can see I need to change the the entire back of the case to get this to work. The I/O shield and the PCI expansion slots need to be switched.
I decided to order a Lian-Li ATX motherboard tray. They are around $30 bucks and will save a lot of time and make for a clean look.
Here is where i cut the back of the case to fit the motherboard tray.
I had to notch the area where the 120mm fan will go as you can see.
Then I installed the motherboard tray, using some nuts and bolts for the back and self tapping sheet metal screws to hold the tray.
The tray fits nice and tight. It's not going anywhere. The Lian-Li motherboard tray I ordered only comes with a 80MM fan and cutout. 80mm fan is to small for exhausting air for the entire case, so I opted for a 120mm. I am not that good with a dremel and cannot enlarge the opening by hand, so I ordered a 80mm to 120mm adapter plate by nexus.
Problem is the fan gets in the way of the side door when you slide it on. I had to trim back the fan on the corner so it would fit. I tried pushing the tray up to the top of the case more but it left a big gap at the bottom -I guess I cut to much.
The case came with a front fan bracket that came stock with the XPS. I decided that one 120mm fan will not be enough for this huge case as intake. I also need a fan to blow cool air to my video card. I cut some plastic out of the bracket and drilled some holes in it to use zip ties to hold the top fan in place.
And the last thing I did for the night was to start the wiring for the power button and front panel. The connector was proprietary Dell of course, so I used some KK header connectors to make my own.
That's it so far. That took me about 2 1/2 hours to do and I can't wait to start working on it some more. I also got the Dell 1000watt PSU with the case as well. The next step is to make the Dell 1000Watt power supply work with my ATX motherboard.
until then...
Here is what I started out with - Dell XPS 720 Red Special Edition
I forgot to take a picture of the back of my case before I started to drill the rivets that held in the I/O Shield. Here is a stock picture of the back of the case.
As you can see I need to change the the entire back of the case to get this to work. The I/O shield and the PCI expansion slots need to be switched.
I decided to order a Lian-Li ATX motherboard tray. They are around $30 bucks and will save a lot of time and make for a clean look.
Here is where i cut the back of the case to fit the motherboard tray.
I had to notch the area where the 120mm fan will go as you can see.
Then I installed the motherboard tray, using some nuts and bolts for the back and self tapping sheet metal screws to hold the tray.
The tray fits nice and tight. It's not going anywhere. The Lian-Li motherboard tray I ordered only comes with a 80MM fan and cutout. 80mm fan is to small for exhausting air for the entire case, so I opted for a 120mm. I am not that good with a dremel and cannot enlarge the opening by hand, so I ordered a 80mm to 120mm adapter plate by nexus.
Problem is the fan gets in the way of the side door when you slide it on. I had to trim back the fan on the corner so it would fit. I tried pushing the tray up to the top of the case more but it left a big gap at the bottom -I guess I cut to much.
The case came with a front fan bracket that came stock with the XPS. I decided that one 120mm fan will not be enough for this huge case as intake. I also need a fan to blow cool air to my video card. I cut some plastic out of the bracket and drilled some holes in it to use zip ties to hold the top fan in place.
And the last thing I did for the night was to start the wiring for the power button and front panel. The connector was proprietary Dell of course, so I used some KK header connectors to make my own.
That's it so far. That took me about 2 1/2 hours to do and I can't wait to start working on it some more. I also got the Dell 1000watt PSU with the case as well. The next step is to make the Dell 1000Watt power supply work with my ATX motherboard.
until then...
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