can i rebuild a dell into a new case.....?

Question

ive got a recent dell 5150c, which is a compact desktop, so the video card is half height, and the dvd, a slimline.
The spec is good, so with thinking of gaming, can i strip it and rebiuld, with a better video card, cooling, into a full size case?
Sata 250 gig, 2 gig ram, pentium d 830 1mb cache (dual core) 2.9 hertz. worth bothering?

Thanks slugy, id heard something like that, but youve explained it really well. Thanx.

Answer 1

i cant see there being a problem with that,the only problem may be the motherboard screws,they might not be in a standard pattern so as with normal boards they are all compatible,you may find dell have there fixing screws located in different positions,however you wont know this until you investigate further
the only time i did a desktop to tower conversion was about 3 years ago when i transfered a compaq deskpro en to a tower case,this was,nt too much of a problem but the pci slots were on a riser card so a bit of adjustment was needed
with a tower case,like you have mentioned,cooling will be possible,i have a rear and front chassis fan,these can be picked up for around £8 but look at cooling forums on the web and they will show you were and how to place them for the most effective air flow for optimal cooling
the larger the case you buy the better aswell,as this will give you more room to work,theres nothing worse than trying to insert a memory module ,but having to work your way round a couple of ide cables
finally the advantage of having a tower case is the addition of a extra optical drive,this will make dvd/cd copying much easier and also you can add a second hard drive or even consider using r.a.i.d(reduntant array of inexpensive disks),this is were you can mirror or stripe your hard drives to make access times quicker,however you will need to re-install your operating system and invest in a new hard drive,but if you are going to be making it into a gaming machine you should be looking at using raid,and investing in a new graphics card,sound card and more ram
anyway i think its a great idea,so go for it mate,and if you need any advice with your build,let me know
good luck!

Answer 2

Probably not.
Dell use non standard motherboards which are unlikely to fit a new case and since the current case is slimline your expansion slots will be on a riser card and run in the wrong direction for a standard case.
I would suggest getting a new motherboard as well as a case as this will let you reuse all of your components.

Answer 3

Personally I would get a newer case. They run around $50 for a decent one. The motherboard may not support the devices you have purchased. When you are building a machine from scratch the motherboard is key, i always go high end. Also if you put the wrong Ram, Video Card in a motherboard it will kill it, and maybe even the card or ram your trying to use.

Answer 4

Dell do use customised motherboards, but they are still standard sizes - they just get them made without things like parallel and joystick ports, etc.

Answer 5

yes by all means i have a dell and i changed it to an alien with hallogen green lights and an extra coolant system, loving it.

Answer 6

if want a new case then visit the ignition design website they do custom made cases

Answer 7

2 points for me to answer and go to a strip join.