Is this possible? Salvaging an eMachines.

[Celestial Avenger]

Option A)

Use the old eMachines case
Replace the dead 250W PSU with a better one
Add a PCI SATA controller card
Add hard drives.

Option B)

New (different) case w/PSU
Put motherboard + CPU from eMachines into new box
Add a PCI SATA controller card
Add hard drives

I remember a friend telling me I couldn't do something like this (both options) with an HP computer I had a long time ago. Is this the case?

 

[digital_exhaust]

Replace the dead 250W PSU with a better one

Here is an example. There are tons of refurb and new emachine psu's available.

And with enough effort, you should be able to fit all the old emachine parts into just about any case you want.

 

[Celestial Avenger]

Here is an example. There are tons of refurb and new emachine psu's available.

And with enough effort, you should be able to fit all the old emachine parts into just about any case you want.

I seemed to have artifacting on my 9600XT card because of the weak PSU. Is this PSU only 180W?

I can't fit something like this in there, huh.

Would option 2 work, then?

 

[digital_exhaust]

I can't fit something like this in there, huh.

Nope, it won't fit.

You can swap everything into another case, I doubt if it'll all just bolt right in, but you can make it work.

 

[VGplay]

How old is this eMachine? I had a T2825 fron 2003 with the black and silver case. Everything was standard and I was even able to fit a longer-than-normal TR2 PSU.

 

[Celestial Avenger]

Model T2865

Other than mine having a bigger hard drive and a crappy DVD writer, the models are identical.

 

[BinarySynapse]

That's a standard mATX case. I've been using a similar model as my case for two PSU's and three different motherboards. All the parts are standardized.

The only thing not standard on those is the optical drive bezels. but they can be changed out.

By the way, I may have misunderstood, but you don't want to buy a case with a PSU supplied with it. 8 out of 10 times those are very poor quality PSU and will die within six months

 

[Celestial Avenger]

So, I can throw this into my mATX after all, huh? Cool.

 

[engiNURD]

So, I can throw this into my mATX after all, huh? Cool.

Yes, you could.

 

[digital_exhaust]

Oops. Sorry, should have asked a few questions first.
I had assumed (incorrectly) that you had an older emachine.