Project Reality Forums

Hi

I'm now determined to try to build my own PC and everything in my old HP desktop computer is so old that I'm going to throw everything out except the graphic card, which is only a year old or so.

I'm just curious, before I throw the whole damn thing in the dumpster if I can use the HP case as a build frame? No need to buy a new if that's the case.

I'm not at home right now but I think my computer is an old HP DC7600 which looks like this:




Could a standard ATX motherboard fit in that? Let me know, please

No need to buy a new if that's the case.

icwutudidthar

I couldn't find any decent info on the case but from the looks of it a standard ATX should fit. Keep in mind though that the case has horrible airflow so if you put any serious heat producing parts in there you risk letting them overheat. Also, cable management will be a massive pain.

whatshisname55 wrote:Keep in mind though that the case has horrible airflow so if you put any serious heat producing parts in there you risk letting them overheat. Also, cable management will be a massive pain.

I agree. I say just spend about $50 and get a purpose made gaming case.

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case
Newegg.com - Antec Gaming Series One Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Newegg.com - Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Gaming Chassis Mid Tower Steel Computer Case Fully Black Powdered Interior VM30001W2Z

(I know you live in Denmark and Newegg doesn't ship overseas, but these are just for reference)

The Cooler Master is hands down going to be the best bang for the buck on that list. The Thermaltake only supports a rear exhaust fan, the Antec supports a front and rear fan, while the Cooler Master supports front, side, rear and dual 120mm top mounted fans. Plus you get a sweet viewing panel to impress your friends. TBH, I don't even think I should've linked the Antec or Thermaltake.

the motherboard that it was using before what factor was it?

mini ATX? ATX? etc

if it was regular ATX size than you can reuse the case and there is no need to buy a new one unless you will be doing overclocking or getting big components that wouldn't be able to fit in that case

also you can get mini atx motherboard which are cheaper than normall ones the only sacrifice you make is less slots and space for components

Hmmm, by the looks you got mATX mainboard in it now, and fitting full ATX or eATX in it is going to be a close call. What other said you're going to have problems with cabling and airflow.

If you want to save some money then its a valid point for a start, then buy new one later, but definitely dont go on with it.

the HDD bays are a ***** to work with on pre-built cases.

A decent case with pretty LEDs and everything is like 40 dollars.

might as well

Hi Mahi,

Acoording to the tech specs for this, IF you indeed have the HP DC7600 CMT minitower, you can only use a MicroATX form factor motherboard, and the longest graphics card you can use is 10.5 inches without cutting out the lowest HDD drive bay..

Go to the page marked as "2-3"
http://static.tigerdirect.com/pdf/c00383428.pdf

Defintion of MIcroATX form factor:
microATX - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Now, if you are handy, you can reuse the case, instead of spending $50 on a new case, you can use a Dremel and a free online template to cut out a (92 or 120 MM) side vent or top vent on the case. Plenty of tutorials out there for this. Here is one:
[TUT] How to cut a 120mm / 12cm fan hole

Think of it as, you have to spend $50 bucks, you can either buy a case ,
or reuse this case, and then buy a Dremel and a cheap metal file which will last you for many years for many projects.

I personally would reuse the case. I don't give a **** about what my PC looks like. Every single time we've played together I've been using my PC case as a foot rest. I am cheap, I like modding stuff and I like not throwing out perfectly good stuff.


P.S. when using Dremels and meatl files to mod cases, make 100% certain all the metallic case shavings are cleaned out, or they will short out the motherboard.

EDIT: I see no reason to buy a ATX mobo unless you have a large number of physical drives attached to the motherboard.

[R-COM]LITOralis.nMd wrote:Every single time we've played together I've been using my PC case as a foot rest.

HAHAHA!!!

I agree with what you said. I know not everyone has money to drop on computers like I did. I just dropped $40 on 4 120MM fans to make a push/pull on my CPU cooler radiator. If it was me, I would buy a new case and a few fans. But like what you described, making your own ports with a Dremel works well too. Not to mention the awesome uses of a Dremel you can have in the future.

You have to consider the width of the case aswell, because of big graphic cards if you are considering one. I reused my old fujitse siemens full atx case until recently, when i went from a 4850 to 6870 the latter had side power connectors so that i could not shut the side of the case anymore. The card would fit but not with the connectors on.

FU siemens was 18 cm to antec one 19 cm with circa 1/1.5 cm bulge.

Epim3theus wrote:You have to consider the width of the case aswell, because of big graphic cards if you are considering one. I reused my old fujitse siemens full atx case until recently, when i went from a 4850 to 6870 the latter had side power connectors so that i could not shut the side of the case anymore. The card would fit but not with the connectors on.

Good point,

Again from the pdf file above in section 2-3 http://static.tigerdirect.com/pdf/c00383428.pdf , here are the size specs for the video card

"[4] Accepts standard height, normal (non-reversed) layout ADD2/SDVO card: height = 4.2 in.,
length = 10.5 in."

And if you cut off the lowest HDD tray, you can get the length to about 14 inches.


EDIT: Mahi, there is a very good selection of MIcroATX motherboards available on the market,
search for these features:
socket 1155,
Z77 chipset
Two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, or (one PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot and one PCI Express 2.1 x16 slot)
and as many SATA6 connectors as possible
here are three options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627+600093976+600315497+600009017+600176035+600079335&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=280&description=&hisInDesc=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

I'm going to throw everything out except the graphic card, which is only a year old or so.

Just to state the obvious, If your current Graphic card fits , it will fit with a new mATX motherboard too.

I just made an system upgrade using DC7600 case and everything worked out well.
I used full size ATX board and got an I5 2400 socket 1155. After removing the original board i noticed that there is metal frame that is on top of the case frame, removed that and there were all the holes for attaching ATX board. Only they were not threaded. Since the case is made of steel its not easy getting the threads without the correct tools. Messed up two standoffs then used regular case screw and an cordless scredriver.
Front USB with audio ports was ok, the HDD, power led and power button i had to take of the original plug and used some old plugs i had from before.
And i got a new PSU, currently only two screws are holding it in place, have to get that sorted.

I am overall pleased with the result, cant say anything bad for the case, it solid, temperatures are ok with stock cooler for CPU and only one case fan.

Just tought i share my experiance.

Oh dang! I almost forgot I posted this

Well I'm going to reuse the case... well that'll say my friend is . He agreed to help me build a new PC. That way I won't go wrong somewhere and I can learn the basics. Always nice to have someone by your side the first time you go through something like this ...

I asked my friend if the case would be usable and he pointed out the problems that you did. Like airflow and size of modern graphic cards (which is kinda getting ridiculous)...

Well as to quote my friend when asked about the HP case: "Sure it'll fit and if not... We will make it fit!!!" ... He has build over 200 PC's and is a educated technician so I trust him

Thanks for all your great advices.

Edit:

freakadell wrote:I just made an system upgrade using DC7600 case and everything worked out well.
I used full size ATX board and got an I5 2400 socket 1155...
Just tought i share my experiance.

So what are your specs now? What did you buy? And how much?

Sgt. Mahi wrote:
Always nice to have someone by your side the first time you go through something like this ...

We all had someone holding our hand when we did it first time. I know I did. My big bro ( cousin as youd westerners say ), taught me the basics of pc repairs ( and that was almost two decades ago ), the rest I got on my own.

Once you know the basics its quite easier, but Id advise you not to play too much with expensive parts.

Actually i built my first pc by myself without much experience and i was in 5 grade i think
That being said my specs currently:
The board is GA-Z77-D3H GIGA-BYTE powered by SeaSonic M12II series Modular 620W,
with Intel Core i5 2400,
8GB RAM
HDD: 2*1TB for raid, 250GB for OS and stuff, and few 160GB for other ****.
Graphics card is ATI HD 5400 series, with 1GB RAM
Thinking of getting an SSD for OS, using it in my laptop and its so damn fast.
Whole thing cost about 500 euro. I was actually hoping to get by for half the amount but when i began searching for parts it became clear its not possible.

Ill just remind you that 20 years ago there was no google or forums around and YT videos and PC was basically Pentium I 133Mhz or DX486. Just to be clear of what era I talk about. Most advanced PC available was PENTIUM and that was beast at the time. Windows 95/98/98SE, wow revolution!

Today, everybody is expert and its good but annoys me sometimes. Behind keyboards on the net all are gurus, Id like to see that knowledge without PCs and tablets around.

Then again not anyone can even use that information lying around. Some people are not really built for that or just too lazy.

Once again if you know what I mean

But were getting really OT here. Lockety.