Dell Dimension 2300 project, first time mod.

S

Silversierra

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
Messages
263
Part 1:

Ok this will be my first case mod. It probably won't be too "special", but it hopefully will accomplish my needs. I have a Dell 2300 pc that I will be doing several things to.
1. I want 2 80mm fans in the back panel, currently it has 1 90mm.
2. I want to move the 90mm fan to the front for intake.
3. I will have to move the hd to mount the front fan.
4. I will replace the floppy with the hard drive, probably have to make new mount holes.
5. Replace floppy in back panel of computer(only place it fits), who uses it more than 1x a year anyway?

Sounds simple, but might be harder than it looks on a dell. I may also add a side panel fan. If I'd do this, any help on how to cut the case so I don't have to repaint, or is a repaint necessary?

Pics hopefully later to come.
dellcasejpg.jpg

Ok, as you can see, the green guard has to go, and the hd is in the way of the fan for the front. I also have an antec psu installed(everyone says dells are proprietary).
dellbackpanel.jpg


EDIT: Since my pics stopped working, I will reload the pics here in the first post, it will be easier to see that way too. They are clickable thumnails, linked to 640x480 pics.
They probably aren't in chronological order anymore.
















Hope they work now. :)
 
Ok, update. I got the back panel fans in.
fans.jpg


They push a lot of air. They're antec trispeed fans.
They fit in well, I wasn't sure before I started. Too bad they aren't led fans, that'd be cool.
I gained respect for serious dremelers today. It's harder than it looks, and I only cut 2 80mm fan holes.

Now I need some grills for the fans.
 
One suggestion: Mount the HDD cage to the floor of the case. This would allow you to mount an intake fan at the front where the HDDs sit now. The easiest way to do this would be to drill mounting holes in the cage and the floor and then fasten them together with rivets. For the front fan you could cut and mount a "wind-tunnel" or make a grill with some modder's mesh.

Good work on the fans in the back.

Have fun. :)
 
Silversierra said:
I may also add a side panel fan. If I'd do this, any help on how to cut the case so I don't have to repaint, or is a repaint necessary?
Click to expand...

if you cover the area you are cutting with masking tape (wider the better) and give it a wide margin for error, you might be able to get away with not having to repaint it. You'd have the best results with a hole saw though.
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
One suggestion: Mount the HDD cage to the floor of the case. This would allow you to mount an intake fan at the front where the HDDs sit now. The easiest way to do this would be to drill mounting holes in the cage and the floor and then fasten them together with rivets. For the front fan you could cut and mount a "wind-tunnel" or make a grill with some modder's mesh.

Good work on the fans in the back.

Have fun. :)
Click to expand...

I was just thinking the same thing and was going to ask about mounting the hd on the bottom of the case. It doesn't look too hard, and I can keep the floppy in place. Does the hd need airflow under it? If so I'll need some kind of spacer to keep it off the floor.

What do you mean by wind tunnel? I was just thinking of mounting the fan to the metal in the front of the case and either leaving the current holes, or cutting it all the way out like I did for the back. I wasn't planning to mod the front panel, for fear of making a horrible mistake and having to look at it all the time. It pulls a lot of air through now(and I don't have the front or side fans yet), it almost whistles going through.

I have the 90mm black fan and the 80mm blue led fan, which should I put where? I could put the 90 in the front and the 80 on the side panel, or the 80 in the front and the 90 in the side. Where would led light look best? On the side panel, or glowing out the front air intake?

Do they make metal cutting hole saws? I've seen wood holesaws. It seems a 3", or 75mm holesaw would be perfect. Man, I need better drill bits, mine are cheap and extremely dull, which makes drilling take forever.

I don't think I'll get fan grills 'till later, I can't find any in stores, so I'll order from the 'egg sometime.
 
Silversierra said:
I gained respect for serious dremelers today. It's harder than it looks, and I only cut 2 80mm fan holes.
Click to expand...

Fan Holes are one of the harder things to deal with cutting... and in the long run Jigsaws work really well for the larger cuts ;) Looking good man! Glad you got rid of that ugly green thing ;)



- Fold [H]ard - - Or go [H]ome - ​
 
Ok, I decided to floor mount the hd. I took it out, analyzed the vertical mount and figured it would work on the floor ok. It already had several vent holes, so no drilling on the mount. I drilled four holes in the bottom of the case and ran 4 machine screws through the holes and mounted the hd mount. I then cut off the excess screw length(the case didn't sit level). Then, I realized the 6" hd cable it had was too short, so I exchanged it with my new computers(in sig) hd cable which is much longer. I also made a special screw that functions as a latch to hold the hd in. I couldn't get screws to the back of the hd mount, so I made my screw latch(sort of like a ball detent).
lockingscrew.jpg


hdincase.jpg


hdmount.jpg


I also put my blue led fan in the front to test it(2nd pic,just 1 screw to test). I wanted to check if my volt mod actually worked(it did). It's now running on 7v and is quiet, much better.
 
I forgot to mention, this is part 1, part 2 will be me replacing the mobo with one with agp, adding an agp card, a cpu cooler, install fan grilles, maybe get antec cobra cables, and oc'ing it hopefully.

So, I have the back panel fans done, and the hd moved. The floppy doesn't need moved anymore, so what's left is installing the front fan, and intstalling a side panel fan(if I do this.) If I do a side panel fan I may have to paint. Hopefully I can find a 3" metal cutting hole saw, that would be great. Lowes or home depot, should have it, I guess.
 
Silversierra said:
Do they make metal cutting hole saws? I've seen wood holesaws. It seems a 3", or 75mm holesaw would be perfect. Man, I need better drill bits, mine are cheap and extremely dull, which makes drilling take forever.
Click to expand...

Yep, they're called bi-metal
 
Hole-saws are a great tool to use :)
As you mod more, you find your toolbox slowly getting filled up with specialty tools to make the job easier :)
- Fold [H]ard - - Or go [H]ome - ​
 
Silversierra said:
I forgot to mention, this is part 1, part 2 will be me replacing the mobo with one with agp, adding an agp card, a cpu cooler, install fan grilles, maybe get antec cobra cables, and oc'ing it hopefully.
Click to expand...

Read the thread DR ;)

EDIT: wow didnt realize there was no AGP on there.. had to go back and look.. was thinking but wait.. im sure it has one... :rolleyes:

- Fold [H]ard - - Or go [H]ome - ​
 
DR_K13 said:
are you going to put a new HSF on it? or at least a Fan? that Dell shroud was there for a reason.
Click to expand...

Eventually I will. For now I'm hoping I have enough total airflow to keep it cool that I don't need a shroud. This is one reason I want to install a side panel fan aimed at the cpu. I turned it on, and it actually still works! I had the side panel off, and put my deskfan by it and turned it on to be safe. I slowed it down, and it was still cool, and then turned it off, and closed the case to check the temp. Mbm 5 says 45-50C idle, so it's safe, but not cool. It always did run at about 45C before though, so not much change. I'll replace the heatsink when I replace the mobo.
 
Silversierra said:
Eventually I will. For now I'm hoping I have enough total airflow to keep it cool that I don't need a shroud. This is one reason I want to install a side panel fan aimed at the cpu. I turned it on, and it actually still works! I had the side panel off, and put my deskfan by it and turned it on to be safe. I slowed it down, and it was still cool, and then turned it off, and closed the case to check the temp. Mbm 5 says 45-50C idle, so it's safe, but not cool. It always did run at about 45C before though, so not much change. I'll replace the heatsink when I replace the mobo.
Click to expand...


Good idea, are you going to use a Duct? :)
 
I haven't worked with a Dell that was less than 2 years old, but back then, Dell still used their prorietary motherboard form, so you'll have to be doing some modding to the motherboard tray to make your board fit. Luckily though,t he whole motherboard tray is on a release mechanism that'll let you just pop it right out, so you don't have to fuss around with it being inside the case.
 
DarkMonkey said:
I haven't worked with a Dell that was less than 2 years old, but back then, Dell still used their prorietary motherboard form, so you'll have to be doing some modding to the motherboard tray to make your board fit. Luckily though,t he whole motherboard tray is on a release mechanism that'll let you just pop it right out, so you don't have to fuss around with it being inside the case.
Click to expand...

It has a tray? How do I get it out? It doesn't seem like the plate is removable. It looks like standard matx to me. I'll have to check more.
 
I would check to see what kind of mounting the current HS has on your mb, or if it is a custom one due to being a dell...
 
KodiakStar said:
I would check to see what kind of mounting the current HS has on your mb, or if it is a custom one due to being a dell...
Click to expand...

AFAIK, it's standard. It's the black plastic square design with 4 black holes that it attaches to.
 
Ok, another update, this time I'm almost done. I got the front panel 90mm fan in, and got everythink back together. I only have the side panel fan yet to do, and I need a holesaw to do it, so this is about done for part one for a little while. Here are some pix. I don't think I'll need to mod the front panel, it has enough air intake(the bottom of the front panel is open). Enjoy!
Silversierra.
casealmostdone.jpg


frontfan.jpg


backview.jpg

insidethecase.jpg


frontpanelview.jpg

caseoutside.jpg



Looks the same on the outside, except the back. Hope it works when I turn it on. :)
Any comments?
 
KoZLop said:
nice mod soo far!!!

buy a new heatsink though
Click to expand...
Thanks for the complement. Hmm. what else needs done?

"are you going to put a new HSF on it? or at least a Fan? that Dell shroud was there for a reason."

Why do you all think it needs a heatsink, it runs below the danger zone like it is?
I posted that when I replace the mobo, I'll get this(below) hopefully, but no one can tell me if it's compatible. It says it's for prescott, I have a northwood, will it still work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106606
I wan't cheap, compatible, and quiet, and it seems to fit the bill.
 
I have the exact same comp! Glad you are putting yours to some use, if I wasnt building a ocmp for college I would be replaing the mobo on mine too(silly dell with there anti video cardness) :p
 
Would that be the comp. in your sig? Yeah, hopefully it can be useful and not Dellish(you know, non upgradeable and slow). I'm considering a 6200 agp card that can unlock to 8 pipes and oc some, it's a leadtek. Hopefully I can oc my 1.8ghz p4 to about 2.4ghz(from 400 fsb to 533) It seems the 1.8 northwoods are good ocers. The only problem is no socket 478 matx mobo has working vcore, so I'm hoping it can do it stock or use a "wire trick" to get more voltage.

Side note about volt modding a fan. If I have 5v to the 12 fan wire and -5v to the ground wire, would it be running at 10v or be 0v, or would it fry?
 
Ok, I did a little today. I put locktite on the screws that mount the hd, and on the screws on the front fan so the vibration doesn't loosen the screws. I also took out the dell logo on the front, put a grille in its place and put the dell logo on the fan since it was perfectly sized and looked cool. Pix.

fanbling.jpg

fpvent.jpg


 
DarkMonkey said:
I haven't worked with a Dell that was less than 2 years old, but back then, Dell still used their prorietary motherboard form, so you'll have to be doing some modding to the motherboard tray to make your board fit.
Click to expand...
Most of the Dimension cases will fit microATX boards fine with no modifications. The only funky thing is the larger cases (8200/8250/8400) use a form factor that is between microATX (1 extra slot) and regular ATX.

The 2300/2350/2400/3000/4600/4700 cases mount standard microATX boards without any modification.

here's my old HTPC (2350) with an Asus A7N266-VM/AA motherboard and Athlon XP 2400+ (and Volcano 6 Cu minus fan):
http://www.notveryserio.us/pix/2350open1.jpg
http://www.notveryserio.us/pix/2350detail1.jpg

rewiring the front panel connector was the only part that required any custom work.
 
I've got a Dell Dim 4550 & have been trying to find out if I can move it's guts to a better case, but have had little luck so far. Maybe I should try something like this instead.
What type Antec you have in that thing? Did you need an adapter for the mobo? Some people tell me Dell psu is proprietary & others say they're not.
Looks good so far & I'll bet the cooling is much better. Dell=crap for cooling... & upgrade...&psu... &... well you know. ;)
 
Great, it looks like it'll work. It looks like your fp wire was just barely long enough.
I don't think modding the fp connector will be hard. The power switch is most important and it doesn't matter which way the wires go as long as they can make contact.

Oh, the mobo you used, does it have oc'ing options? I guess it doesn't really matter though, I'm looking for a socket 478mobo. It says your mobo is agp 4x, can it use agp 8x cards?

It looks like you didn't use the front usb, It doens't look standard, is there any way to get it to work?
 
tazman4 said:
I've got a Dell Dim 4550 & have been trying to find out if I can move it's guts to a better case, but have had little luck so far. Maybe I should try something like this instead.
What type Antec you have in that thing? Did you need an adapter for the mobo? Some people tell me Dell psu is proprietary & others say they're not.
Looks good so far & I'll bet the cooling is much better. Dell=crap for cooling... & upgrade...&psu... &... well you know. ;)
Click to expand...

I have an antec sl350 350w psu. It fit perfect. In researching to get a psu, everyone was like "oh, you'll need to mod the back panel, since the dell psu doesn't have an on off switch, it won't fit right." People also said "oh, it won't work dell psus are not atx psus." People also said "oh, it fits right but they mix the psu wires up so that if you replace it you'll fry the mobo and have to buy a replacement mobo from them or a new dell, just what they want."

Well let me tell you, It fit perfect, the switch fit in the back just right, it was atx sized compartment in the case, I checked all the wires on both psus and compared them and they were exactly the same, so my conclusion is modern dells(at least this model don't use proprietary psus. To get the psu to work, no modding of any type was required( bummer lol).

It has great cooling now. The case used to be hot and stuffy, up to about 40C I'd say, now it runs at 25C, which is about room temp(it can't really get cooler than the room :)).
 
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