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Dell XPS BTX to ATX Conversion :D

post #1 of 29
10/15/11 at 8:33am
Thread Starter 
I'm going to be posting up all the work I do to make this dell xps 720 work with my atx motherboard... Feel free to ask questions along the way and I will do my best to answer them.

So First Step is to empty the case and take it all apart:


I would reccomend not taking the other side panel off unless you have to because it is a pain to get back on...There are probably about 30 screws and a bunch of adhesive holding it on.

Now here's the problem that everyboey has with these cases:


The I/O Sheild is backwards!


I decided the best way is to mount the motherboard upside down. So I used a dremel and cut away at the back panel and Heres how I did that:


Next I'm going to show you how to mount your motherboard onto the stock motherboard tray.
Edited by cdXhizors - 10/15/11 at 8:36am
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post #2 of 29
10/15/11 at 11:37am
Looking good soo far, sub'd to keep upto date on your progress

_Fri
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post #3 of 29
10/15/11 at 12:13pm
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Well I ordered a new tray(temporary so I can paint the whole inside black. I'm gonna water jet the side panel so that I can put a clear panel in it with led's(Thanks friburg ). Heres how I mounted the temporary one:

I pushed the tray flush with those mounts(triangles) And only used 2 screws with nuts on the back side(Circles). Theres a half inch over hang so it's flush with the back panel(square)...


The tray just slips back in and heres how I attatched the back:
Circles are how I reatatched that peice I cut off. The squards connected the PCI slots.....Becareful because you may need washers to space it out...When I mounted it before it was pulling on my video card and it unplugged my gtx460 se while the pc was on and shorted it out. Just make sure its a 90 degree angle so that the cards fit flush.


Thats about all. Now I'm waiting for all my parts to get here. Should be an update tommarow or maybe tonight.
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post #4 of 29
10/16/11 at 12:35am
I have an old XPS case lying around as well. I was hoping to sell it off but I dont think anyone is in the market for BTX cases, I might try this as well
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post #5 of 29
10/16/11 at 10:40am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cj3waker View Post
I have an old XPS case lying around as well. I was hoping to sell it off but I dont think anyone is in the market for BTX cases, I might try this as well
It's worth it. I wish I could get rid of the dell symbol but other than that it's an amazing case. Cooling is very amazing.
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post #6 of 29
10/16/11 at 11:44pm
Cool I think Ill give it a go, let's see some pics of it with hardware inside
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post #7 of 29
10/17/11 at 12:49pm
Thread Starter 
Got new parts



Now it's time to install everything back in...

Again watch out for the I/O sheild to make sure it doesn't pull on the card..


Done.



I'll be posting up a video of how to wire up the LED's...Right now I have em wired up to 4 toggle switches in the floppy drive panel...

Hope this helps somebody
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post #8 of 29
10/18/11 at 12:14pm
Thread Starter 
I haven't got to the video of the LED's but I made a small change last night that actually made a huge improvement......I don't have a picture of it yet but heres what I did.....

In this picture I have the 180 mm fan at the front...I added another on top like so.....:



It helps cool the video card and will probably help when I put the other video card in. It lowered the temps from 29 to 26 celcius.

I'll start recording that video in a bit
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post #9 of 29
11/17/11 at 1:57pm
Thread Starter 
I haven't updated this thread in a while....I've been occupied on a diffrent build. If anyone looks at this thread and has questions just post on here and I'll get back to you.
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post #10 of 29
12/16/11 at 9:55am
Dear cdXhizors,

First of all, nice work on the case!

I own a XPS700 case and having problems with the front panel!
I bought the case with not everything connected yet.
The front USB is working but the sound&mic, firewire and most importantly the powerbutton arent working yet.

In your post on 10/17/11 i see u connected the power button?!
Basicly i've got the same case and the same dell powerbutton (so it seems).

Could u share information on how to fix the powerbutton (and maybe how i could get the rest of the frontpanel to work 2)?

I look forward hearing from you,

(I just made an account here so, i'm pretty new to this)

Illusan
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