Mounting MOBO in Obselete Case - How?

[candycabguy]

Basically, I want to put a new MOBO in an old Dell case, but the mount holes dont line up at all.  How can I mount this sucker w/o having to invest in a new case & transfering all components?

Its an old Dell Dimension 8250 case, I DONT need this to look all clean & neat, as long as I can upgrade to a P4 3.2 & 4 gigs of ram (found a used Biostar mobo & 4 gigs ram CHEAP).  This puppy should push MAME .126 fine.

The new board is micro atx, original is atx.

How can i retrofit?  I mean, heck, I've seen mobos on here screwed to wood!  I would like to keep it in the case though.

Thanks, any help GREATLY appreciated

Lee

[mlalena]

I don't have the answer to your question, but forsee other potential issues.

1) Have you verified that the power supply in the 8250 has the correct plug for your new motherboard.
2) Is the micro ATX board SATA only? Power & connector differences here.
3) Sometimes Dell & other cases have proprietary connectors for the front of the case (power, reset, HDD light...). This doesn't mean it won't work, but you will have to do research to find out which wire is which.

[candycabguy]

1.  power supply plug totally compatible
2.  micro atx mobo is IDE
3.  working on the front connectors, but they appear to function as before, powering the board on now..........

Thanks!

[Ginsu Victim]

One problem you might run into is on the back where everything plugs in. They probably won't line up with what the Dell has. (Plus, the PCI slots might not line up)

[candycabguy]

One problem you might run into is on the back where everything plugs in. They probably won't line up with what the Dell has. (Plus, the PCI slots might not line up)

It'll line up IF the mobo is positioned correctly..............

[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

[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]

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

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.

[mvsfan]

okay, so i can admit that i overlooked one detail when i wrote this.

my board is in fact mounted to pcb feet.

the other thing is when youve got a cabinet with a few fans on the back of it running at once, its almost always drowned out by the game sound, providing you like sound that is.

[jeremymtc]

Here's a picture of an old full-size ATX motherboard tray and backplane assembly I cut down to size for use in my cocktail project. I needed to preserve the backplane in order to easily and securely install the PCIE video card I plan to use. The motherboard is Micro-ATX form factor.

The cut-work is pretty easy to do - I used a bandsaw, but a cutoff wheel mounted on a die grinder or dremel tool will work just as well.

[bkenobi]

A few general statements (even if you already have some of this worked out):

1) Dell (as well as all of the other big manufacturers) used non-standard hardware for a lot of their stuff back in the day.  This included PSU's among other things, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did that with their cases and mother boards as well.  I don't know when they stopped doing this (or if they did), but that means that some things couldn't be replaced without getting Dell parts.

2) If the motherboard doesn't line up, you can't necessarily just drill a hole and install your brass screws.  The problem is that the case is steel (I assume) which is much harder than brass.  If you drill the hole (which will dull the hell out of your bit if it's not a metal bit), you better tap it as well or else you will just shave the threads off your brass screw (been there, done that).

[Bluedeath]

A few general statements (even if you already have some of this worked out):

1) Dell (as well as all of the other big manufacturers) used non-standard hardware for a lot of their stuff back in the day.  This included PSU's among other things, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did that with their cases and mother boards as well.  I don't know when they stopped doing this (or if they did), but that means that some things couldn't be replaced without getting Dell parts.

I can confirm that is better to avoid using the dell PSU while the physical layout could be sthe same the pin arrangment on the atx psu and Dell psu are  different (plus the PSU tha you have in that case is 99% not enough for the P4 mobo), al least check the color code of the cables if you dont want to fry the mobo, a standard atx psu should fit in the case with no problem at all. 

[bkenobi]

The physical size of the PSU might fit, but it's always possible that Dell didn't use the standard screw locations.

[thecheat]

Dells occasionally use differently wired power supply connectors and almost always use non-standard screw locations. You're better off spending $25 on a new case and power supply, then mounting your old drives in it rather than taking the chance of smoking the new motherboard.

[severdhed]

i agree, you can pick up a cheap case at newegg.com for under $20.  it is not worth the hassle of trying to rig it up to work in the dell case