Is my old PC case still compatible with modern stuff?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

My first computer was a good old Dell Dimension XPS M200s. Out of sentimentality and plain old tinkerers spirit I want to cram a modern PC into it's old case. I'm planning on spiffing the slowly yellowing case up with some black vinyl die after a good cleaning (Insane mounts of clumped up dust inside from years of disuse and sitting in a corner of my room.) so it'll match all my newer components and give it a fresh look.

It's 5 1/4'' wide, 12'' deep/long (It's actually 15'', but only 12'' is available for mobo space) and 15'' tall.

I'm guessing that I'll have to purchase mostly or all slim/low profile parts given the size of the case, but I don't really know as I mostly game console 90% of the time.

Can anyone help me out?

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Here are some pics:

Case Front (Cover On).JPG (47.75 KiB) Viewed 997 times

Case Front (Cover Removed).JPG (48.68 KiB) Viewed 998 times

Case Inside.JPG (39.86 KiB) Viewed 997 times

Case Rear.JPG (48.4 KiB) Viewed 998 times

Hopefully a new mobo and other stuff will fit inside it with only a little or no tweaking of the case.

[Hobie-wan]

I checked that size against my old AT style case which also has a Pentium I-200, and sure enough its about the same. A small ATX board might fit crammed in there and still have room for the drives to fit, but maybe not since processors are usually at the top of the board now whereas on old AT Pentium and older boards they were down at the bottom. Plus DIMM memory is a lot taller than the old AT SIMM style. Another potential issue is the standoffs for mobo mounting not being in the right spot with that AT case. I can't tell if those are the pressed sheet metal type standoffs that you can move to some of those other squares. Another thing to check is whether the shield from around the keyboard/mouse/sound plugs will come out so you can put the new one that matched your motherboard in.

I would suggest first finding a motherboard from the last 4-5 years that you can borrow, or heck, even a dead one, and see if you can move the standoffs and make it fit with nothing plugged into it. See how close a HD and DVD drive come to to the processor, memory, video card slot, and any other important plugs you'll need to use on the board. Remember that memory will stick up about 1 1/2 inches, the proc cooler will be in the way, and most video cards are fairly long these days. If it looks feasible at that point, make sure to check the size of any mobo you might buy. Newegg has sizes, manufacturers usually do too. Buy everything else and see how it goes, just take it slow and be prepared for having to buy or find a temporary case if it won't all fit.

Ahh, AT computers, back when processor coolers were tiny, having 6 of your 8 slots crammed with cards, and a birds nest of wires was normal.

[Hobie-wan]

Oh, and definitely put 80 mm fans in that back slot blowing out and one in that bottom front area blowing in if there are screw holes. The newer guts would need the extra circulation.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Thanks for all the advice Hobie!

I'm really hoping that I can reuse this case I love the design as it' all clean straight lines accented by how the front vent seem to draw in all the energy from the front.

The nice thing too is that the original Dell setup had the CPU up at the to of the mobo but after it was all wired up left it with just enough room for it to be right near the cooling fan, plus the HDD cradle is actually the small white plastic cage on the bottom right of the case right behind the front vent so the HDD will be held vertically an out of the way from the board.

I'm not looking for a state of the art Crysis machine, just a good box for L4D or other current but not ultra intensive PC games. Hopefully miniaturized or smaller components are cheap enough for me, but I'm planning to build this over the course of this month and December with my bonus cash from extra holiday hours at work.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Oh, and definitely put 80 mm fans in that back slot blowing out and one in that bottom front area blowing in if there are screw holes. The newer guts would need the extra circulation.

Damn, that would eat up my front vertical HDD sled.

Oh and the Little metal mobo screw mounts should be movable, but I can't seem to get the plastic cover on that side of the case off.....

I'm guessing that all I'd have to do is squeeze and pull towards me to remove them or should I just leave them alone until I make sure?

As for the plastic mount supports, I don't know if they're removable at all unless I snap them off to make room for new plastic mount clips.

[Hobie-wan]

Damn, that would eat up my front vertical HDD sled.

Maybe not, looking at the front view with the face removed, I see 4 bigger plastic clips, and 4 smaller ones just inside those. There might be a fan cage in there.

Oh and the Little metal mobo screw mounts should be movable, but I can't seem to get the plastic cover on that side of the case off.....

I'm guessing that all I'd have to do is squeeze and pull towards me to remove them or should I just leave them alone until I make sure?

Usually there are 2 kinds of mobo standoffs. Threaded hex ones, and cheaper ones made from a folded bit of metal so it ends up being kinda square. If you have the square kind, you should be able to pinch them vertically or horizontally and pull them out.

As for the plastic mount supports, I don't know if they're removable at all unless I snap them off to make room for new plastic mount clips.

I've only ever seen supplemental plastic mounts in one machine, but it was one that snapped into a hole on the board, not one on the tray that was part of the case, so I dunno there. That's why I suggested a junk mobo for practice. If you accidentally shear off a tiny surface mount resistor getting supports in the right places, no biggie.

[fastbilly1]

You could put an Atom/Ion board in there. They run L4D at decent settings/FPS, are 6.7x6.7 and you would not have all the issues with height. Sure it wont run everything, but well just look for yourself:


It does take some finagling in your OS though. And it only pulls like 30 watts of power.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

You could put an Atom/Ion board in there. They run L4D at decent settings/FPS, are 6.7x6.7 and you would not have all the issues with height. Sure it wont run everything, but well just look for yourself:


It does take some finagling in your OS though. And it only pulls like 30 watts of power.

Meh, I like my things massive and modular as hell.

[Dylan]

Meh, I like my things massive and modular as hell.

Well, you are the Mod Man.