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Move a Dell motherboard to a Antec Case?

Pghpooh

Pghpooh

Senior member
HI
I have a Dell pc. It is a quad core with 8 gig ram, etc.
The Dell case that the mobo is mounted in only holds 2 hard drives. I want to add more hard drives.
If I bought a Antec brand case or any other case will the Dell mobo fit??
Or,, to say it this way, will the screw mounting openings on the Dell mobo match the screw holes on a different brand case?
 
Why do you need to move it to a new case just to install additional HDDs? I'm pretty sure that there are at least 1-2 more HDD slots available in an OEM case or at least that is what I know about OEM cases that I've owned. Depending on the OEM motherboard, you may not have additional SATA ports, you might want to check that out first before doing anything.

If in doubt about the standard size of the motherboard, go with a standard ATX sized case, it will fit ATX sized motherboard and smaller sized ones. As for the mounting holes, they should be standardized and remain the same according to my old Acer motherboard that I've removed from its original case for newer parts.
 
That is very hard to answer, Dell often uses non-standard form factors. You can see the current ATX standard here. I don't know where to point you for for screw hole and back panel compatibility. Also, you should make sure the the power supply is also standard ATX in form factor as well as the power connectors on the motherboard.
 
danjw said:
That is very hard to answer, Dell often uses non-standard form factors. You can see the current ATX standard here. I don't know where to point you for for screw hole and back panel compatibility. Also, you should make sure the the power supply is also standard ATX in form factor as well as the power connectors on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

that was a problem years ago but shouldn't be much of an issue now, I believe that changed around 2000.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/t/19303537.aspx

the only thing proprietary now is the wiring for the front panel and back panels are non-standard, you may have to move the move the shield, if possible, from the dell case to the antec. those shields vary between motherboards anyways, even for the same vendor.
 
^That reminds me about something that I forgot to mention. The back panel of my Acer is standard sized and removable so you could reuse them on the Antec case.

As for the front panel connector, remember to tag all the connectors in pairs by tracing back the color of the wire. Map the pins on the motherboard to its respective button/LED as they might not have markings on the OEM motherboard.
 
My Dell 5150 only has 2 HDD slots, and, for that matter, only 2 SATA plugs on the board. The way the case and board are laid out... it's OEM all the way.
 
if he has only 2 sata ports on-board, add-in card are cheap to provide more, depending on how many slots he has available.
 
Sorry it took so long to get back here. The grand kids live a few houses away. This is their second home and they hog the pc, tv, refrigerator, etc! LOL
Found out that the mobo is a micro atx. http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/specs-dg33m06-motherboard/ (I assume this is accurate info)
The ps is a atx and depending on where you look is rated at 160 to 320 atts.
The Dell case has two hd slots, both on the side of the case. It has a open 5.25 slot at the top front of the case.
I already used the second hd slot for to add a second drive for storage, etc.
The mobo had 4 sata ports and 3 are in use.
My goal is to add 2 more hard drives. Preferably 1 tb drives. That means adding a controller card with the sata ports I need.
Here is a link to how the drives are mounted inside of the case.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/insp535mt/en/sm/drives.htm
I’d love to “piggyback” the new drives on top of the existing drives.
Are there brackets that will let me do this?
On top of that I feel I need to replace the ps with a larger capacity ps.
Thanks
 
If you're willing to do a simple mod with some mild 1/2" steel bent in a L shape, make 8 of them, drill a couple of holes on the bracket and screw it to the case holes, it could potentially fit an additional 2 HDDs. Should be something like this except this is an easier U shape.

Metal-Shelf-Bracket-L-Bracket-Metal-U-Bracket-Flat-Bar.jpg


As for the PSU, it should be sufficient for 4 HDDs but OEM PSUs are often made with just the right amount of connectivity and limited number of SATA or molex power connectors. Changing the PSU might be necessary.
 
zip ties and duct tape are a lot easier and cheaper.

dell stuff hasn't been proprietary in years. all computers are made on the same 4 assembly lines in shenzen nowadays so you're just hurting your own margins to make things proprietary. you may need the pin-out for the front panel connector but the schematic is available online i'm sure at pinouts.ru
 
Pghpooh said:
HI
I have a Dell pc. It is a quad core with 8 gig ram, etc.
The Dell case that the mobo is mounted in only holds 2 hard drives. I want to add more hard drives.
If I bought a Antec brand case or any other case will the Dell mobo fit??
Or,, to say it this way, will the screw mounting openings on the Dell mobo match the screw holes on a different brand case?
Click to expand...

If I understand you want to move your existing SYSTEM into a new ATX case in order to add more hdds. Am I correct? I am a DELL die hard and I can tell you from experience this is never easy. Fierst you need to determine whether the mobo/psu is ATX or PROPRIETARY. ALL DELLS from 1996 through 2000 or so WERE proprietary. As were the cases, pin outs, headers, ect. The mobobs of that era used either one screw or multiple screws. The stand off locations are also proprietary. It is doubtful any standard ATX case will have the multiple stand off positions for the mobo although you could use an ATX mobo. You would have to change the PSU as well. As for the front panel heade that is different as well. I use the proper front panel switch with ribbon. Then I identify the front switch wires/colors/leds and SOLDER them in parallel with the appropriate switch/led on the DELL switch board. As for the case's rear this will need to be modded as well. The back plane will not fit. And finally the PSU will more than likly need to be relocated provided there is space. Point to point extentions are added to reach the mobo. Lots of work for very little gain. Currently I am building a specialized system for the purpose of cloning PATA HDDs, Minimal parts in a custum case as small as I can make it. I intend to hang it on the wall like a tv with the cables hanging and hdd ribbon accessable. I have mounted many DELL mobos in whatever case I could find. Every modding is different. Every result is dfferent. I would not do this unless the case is damaged in some way. To do it for asthetic reasons may not be worth it. You may be able to find a hdd cage you can use to add two more drives to. Since there is typically only two channels you might need to give up your OPTICALS to get 4 hhds. Beyond that I do not think this mobo will support. Happy modding.
 
T_Yamamoto said:
Aren't dell mobos btx?
Click to expand...

If its a quad core / 8GB, probably not, but I'm not familiar with more modern dells.

Stuff around the Pentium D era was where dell was using lots of BTX. I have a Precision 390 (early core 2 duo) and a Inspiron 9150 (Pentium D 945) that are BTX.

I also have an Inspiron 530S that has a newer motherboard and takes late core2duo chips thats ATX.

I think most stuff after the late core2duos are ATX. I think BTX was dead by then.
 
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