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Mounting MOBO in Obselete Case - How?
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Malenko:
so use a tiny drill bit and screw in the brass leads. If the only problem is the lining up of the holes, that's a fix
Paladin:
I don't remember the sizes, but I mounted a mobo to the metal back panel of an LCD touchscreen.  I layed the mobo on the panel, and marked the holes.  Next I drilled holes just smaller than the diameter of the metal standoffs.  Then I used a tap to thread the holes to receive the standoffs.  I'm lucky enough to have inherited a bunch of various sized taps.

So basically, if you don't have a tap set handy do what Malenko said :P
Beretta:
it should fit, micro atx is just like a atx board but in a smaller form factor, it should fit, it just wont use all the slots at the bottom of the case cause the mobo is'nt tall enough or have as many pci/pci-e/isa slots.

for the back pannel usually a mother board will come with a I/O shield plate, you can get standard shield plates but a lot of boards are puttings usb connectors everywhere so they've become somewhat custom..

honestly i'd see if the mother boards mounting plate can be taken out of the case.
probably not since most dells i've seen are fixed.

in which case fire up your rotary tool and cut it out.

there is litttle to be gained with a case inside of a caibnet it will surely lead to higher tempatures, take up more room, add to weight.. only thing it might be useful for is if you have loose quarters running around or if by some freak accident the monitor collapses on it.

if you dont want to cut on the case make your self some stand offs.

number of ways you can do this.

you can use some plastic or rubber washers..

or you can make some out of a ball point pen.. just take it apart cut it up.
they dont even need to be exactly the same size although the closer they are the better.

then lay them on a piece of wood, line them up with the mounting holes on the board, then put a small would screw, 3/4 inch would do the trick.

some people will run a ground wire to the psu from the mobo, there is nothing wrong with this as in a metalic case they would be connected though it's mountings, but it's always been my understanding this is more out of safety then electrical necessity, if there was a fault the case would be grounded, without the case being grounded it could possibly shock you, but no case no possibility of shock

with that said you dont have to if you dont want to, there are many ground wires on a atx cable, i've had a p2 350 running mounted on a piece of scrap wood for the last 4 years 24/7.. it just sits in my room in the open air.

as for the hdd, i'd recommend some L-brackets.

you can get buy with as little as 2 of them if you mount the drive vertically

do the same on the power supply, L-brackets.
mvsfan:
Hey beretta your absolutely right, it will run a lot cooler if its just mounted somewhere in the cabinet.

it gives the electronics a whole greater volume of cool air that they have to heat up before they fail.

Ill put it this way for the guy whos asking this.

a car with a 10 gallon gas tank will run out of gas long before one that has a 25 gallon tank.

just put your Mobo somewhere inside screw it to your cabinet and stick a big 4 inch fan on it.

what you might want to do though is steal the drive cages from that old dell case, figure out a way to mount them somewhere inside and it makes it so simple to have a place for your hard/disk drives without having to fabricate anything.

Or if your like me and happen to own a mig welder, cut the drive cages out of that old case and weld them in behind a happ door on the side of your cabinet.

King Nerd:

--- Quote from: mvsfan on July 12, 2009, 06:40:35 pm ---just put your Mobo somewhere inside screw it to your cabinet and stick a big 4 inch fan on it.
--- End quote ---

Only 2 problems with that.
1) The motherboard needs spacers between it and the place you're mounting it. PCB Feet help with that.
2) A 4 inch fan, I would think, would be quite loud. Even no fan (besides CPU and PSU fans) would probably be all right. The hot air will rise up through the cabinet into air vents (which most cabs have). Case fans are to keep cool air flowing from outside, to inside, to outside again, because it's such a small space.
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