Replace my Case

Brother Ron

Brother Ron

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I have a Dell Dimension 8400 PC with a very UGLY case. Has anyone ever tried stripping out your dell and replacing it with a slicker case? (Just wondering how integrated the dell parts are, Bought the PC new from Dell.com in May 2005 :computer: )
 
I think it would be easier to buy a nice armoire to house it in :D.

However, my husband would disagree... about the armoire and about rebuilding the computer...
 
dell parts and pieces are VERY proprietary as far as how they all fit together. I think for the most part you can take the proprietariness off and have actual standard equipment, but it'll take you a while. if you feel comfortable enough with your techy skills to try it, you can always rip it open and see how hard you think it'd be. the things I'd watch for particularily are power supply form factors and mobility <can you take this one to another case? If not can you get another one to fit your mother board), mother board mounts to fit into the new case, and whether or not your mother board's integrated ports will line up with your new case. Let us know what you find out.
 
Get some psychedelic paint colors and paint the case. It'll be much easier. ;)
 
The floppy disk drive in the Dell's are terrible too because they don't fit anywhere else. Hopefully you don't have one...
 
big daddy said:
Get some psychedelic paint colors and paint the case. It'll be much easier. ;)
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I'm with big daddy, 2 or 3 cans of spray paint would be much more fun than disassembling all the dell stuff to get it to fit into another case! Besides, that way you get to use spray paint, which is always fun.... :)
 
Hi WadeTheWise!

Please tell me that is not a Ukulele in your avatar... ;)
 
big daddy said:
Get some psychedelic paint colors and paint the case. It'll be much easier. ;)
Click to expand...

The paint does sound cool, but one of the main reasons I hate the case is because of its design. The USB ports in the front are at the very bottom and extremely hard to get too for thumb drives. I do not have the standard Dell floppy, I have added my own. I am very comfortable with moving all the componets, just wondering if anyone else had tried this task before and if so, did they ran into any problems along the way. I have tried doing a google search but suprisingly couldn't find any results. Thanks - Ron. :tongue:
 
Brother Ron said:
The paint does sound cool, but one of the main reasons I hate the case is because of its design. The USB ports in the front are at the very bottom and extremely hard to get too for thumb drives. I do not have the standard Dell floppy, I have added my own. I am very comfortable with moving all the componets, just wondering if anyone else had tried this task before and if so, did they ran into any problems along the way. I have tried doing a google search but suprisingly couldn't find any results. Thanks - Ron. :tongue:
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Actually I have heard, from several people that Dell motherboards do not fit in standard cases. So I doubt it would work. The best thing to do is call a local PC place and inquire. :)

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t154830.html
 
Thanks for the URL, reading through that has helped me alot - Ron :bigok:
 
tigger_too_wooh said:
Hi WadeTheWise!

Please tell me that is not a Ukulele in your avatar... ;)
Click to expand...

I would, but that would be a lie. It's not only a ukulele, but the absolute smallest uke I've ever held. It's half the size of my friends concert uke, which is half the size of my bari uke. I love it to death.
 
tigger_too_wooh said:
Hi WadeTheWise!

Please tell me that is not a Ukulele in your avatar... ;)
Click to expand...
It matches the girlie bed.

Sorry Wade....
 
precocious said:
It matches the girlie bed.

Sorry Wade....
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The bed may be girlie, but it's free. And besides that, there's tiggers and pooh all over my walls, but hey, like I say, it's free. And how precisely is Ukulele a feminine instrument. All the uke players in the islands are the cool guys that sit around while scnatily clad hula dances parade around him. I could handle having that job...
 
WadeTheWise said:
The bed may be girlie, but it's free. And besides that, there's tiggers and pooh all over my walls, but hey, like I say, it's free. And how precisely is Ukulele a feminine instrument. All the uke players in the islands are the cool guys that sit around while scnatily clad hula dances parade around him. I could handle having that job...
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Never said the uke was feminine, but glad to hear about pooh and your wanting to run around in grass skirts.......
 
precocious said:
Never said the uke was feminine, but glad to hear about pooh and your wanting to run around in grass skirts.......
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haha, you win :hail:
 
Brother Ron said:
The paint does sound cool, but one of the main reasons I hate the case is because of its design. The USB ports in the front are at the very bottom and extremely hard to get too for thumb drives. I do not have the standard Dell floppy, I have added my own. I am very comfortable with moving all the componets, just wondering if anyone else had tried this task before and if so, did they ran into any problems along the way. I have tried doing a google search but suprisingly couldn't find any results. Thanks - Ron. :tongue:
Click to expand...

Sorry for the off topic convo, back to your question. If the USB is your main complaint, I would get a USB hum and route your ports somewhere uesful. We have this problem with all the dell Gx400's we have at work, and we just run USB extension cables to the top of the desk so that there is access to USB ports. For my home use however I have a little 4-port hub that runs on power from the USB port(a must in my opinion). You can find these hubs for $10-15 online, and if you get one with a long enough cable you can put the USB ports anywhere you want them, on your desk, on top of your computer, tape it to the side of the monitor, etc. etc.
 
Brother Ron said:
The paint does sound cool, but one of the main reasons I hate the case is because of its design. The USB ports in the front are at the very bottom and extremely hard to get too for thumb drives. I do not have the standard Dell floppy, I have added my own. I am very comfortable with moving all the componets, just wondering if anyone else had tried this task before and if so, did they ran into any problems along the way. I have tried doing a google search but suprisingly couldn't find any results. Thanks - Ron. :tongue:
Click to expand...

Why not try buying a cheap external USB port?
 
eabu said:
Why not try buying a cheap external USB port?
Click to expand...


I have considered all of these options, which I may do, I was just curious as to if anyone had tackeled the task of replacing cases. Thanks for everyones help and Ideas! :bigok:
 
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