Scored a Dell XPS case at surplus sale!

[d_stilgar]

It cost $15. Not bad. It needs to be converted into ATX standard, but it's a really solid and nice looking case.

http://modsandends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/img_2001.jpg

[BuzzKillington]

Very nice.

[Oneslowz28]

Man those are nice looking! Kinda reminds me of the engines on some fighter jets.

[SXRguyinMA]

a-la F-15 :D

http://www.swapmeetdave.com/United/Salute/F15-Carrier.jpg

[Oneslowz28]

How cool would it be to make a scale model of that f-15 using 2 of those cases

[simon275]

hmmm shiny.

Are they BTX or something funky like that?

[d_stilgar]

It's just non-ATX standard from what I can find. I'll look into BTX standard as Dell used BTX for a while. Does anyone know where I can find BTX motherboards? Do they still make them? There aren't any on newegg.

Some looking around and it seems that it is BTX. I might get a BTX motherboard and move my components into the new case and sell my current motherboard, but I'm not sure.

[blaze15301]

try geeks.com . they sometimes have older stuff like that.


[edit] yeah they have 2 of them http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=1148

[d_stilgar]

I found that board as well. It may be BTX and socket 775, but it doesn't support Core 2 or anything great like that. I think the best move would be to mod it to ATX and then maybe do a themed mod of some kind. I'm thinking Alien Swarm, but that game doesn't have any of the DLC yet and its reception hasn't been amazing even though I like it. I play with the same group of people every week and it seems the game didn't stick. We're back to L4D and L4D2 a lot.

[diluzio91]

that case has a lot of modding potential... split window corvette mod? lol

[mDust]

Dell makes all their cases 100% proprietary. It'll definitely take a bit of modding to get any non-Dell mobo to fit in it. You'll likely have your work 'cut-out' for you. Pun intended...:facepalm:

[d_stilgar]

Around 2007 Dell started making computers with ATX motherboards. Most of their towers now use some version of ATX. Still, I wish this was one of the later models that was ATX. Modding it will be fun, but not as fun as a mod that doesn't involve fixing stuff before you get to install it.

[Twigsoffury]

hell just drill n' tap you some ATX holes and shoot it that route unless the power supply is fitted in some strange and crazy spot.


Not a fan of dell, but those XPS cases are sweet.

[ownaginatious]

Dell makes all their cases 100% proprietary. It'll definitely take a bit of modding to get any non-Dell mobo to fit in it. You'll likely have your work 'cut-out' for you. Pun intended...:facepalm:

I don't think so. I was able to easily put a microATX AMD socket 939 board into my old Dell 4600 case a while back.

[SXRguyinMA]

the mobo in my brother's Dell that I was going to use in project monster was an m-atx, but the layout was all weird

[mDust]

My parents were always Dell fans and none of the cases they had bought from the mid-90s to 2005ish were ATX or any other standard. They were all Dell proprietary. The XPS I bought in 2004 was the same way. The mounting holes were wherever Dell decided to put them, the cutout in the back of the case didn't match anything other than their overpriced motherboards, and the cooling/airflow system could only be mounted to their motherboard and wouldn't even fit in the case unless it was on their motherboard. I don't see why they would have stopped the proprietary lock-in, but it's possible. Maybe they finally saw that they were losing customers (like me) because of it?

Anyway, any plans for this XPS?

[Kayin]

You've scored one of the only cases I've actually been willing to pay any money for.

Bleep.

[d_stilgar]

My parents were always Dell fans and none of the cases they had bought from the mid-90s to 2005ish were ATX or any other standard. They were all Dell proprietary. The XPS I bought in 2004 was the same way. The mounting holes were wherever Dell decided to put them, the cutout in the back of the case didn't match anything other than their overpriced motherboards, and the cooling/airflow system could only be mounted to their motherboard and wouldn't even fit in the case unless it was on their motherboard. I don't see why they would have stopped the proprietary lock-in, but it's possible. Maybe they finally saw that they were losing customers (like me) because of it?

Anyway, any plans for this XPS?

I think I might sell it if someone is really interested. I see them go for around $100-ish on ebay and might sell it here for that price. I may have spent $15 on it, but I really do value it very highly.

My other thought is to convert it to ATX and build a really simple, clean looking mod and take some really nice pictures of it. I've always liked that million dollar pc (http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/) site and would like to do something worthy of it. Considering they have a mod (http://www.million-dollar-pc.com/systems-2010/twentynine/twentynine.htm) there based on my current case, the fact that they are design focused, and the fact that getting on there has less to do with fancy paint jobs and more to do with sleeving everything and putting a case together in an elegant and good looking way make the XPS a good candidate.

[Kayin]

Cool idea. You should polish the outside if you do.

[mDust]

To be quite honest, I was jealous when those cases came out in the XPS line. That was the generation after mine. The Gen3 cases were normal black cases with a blue front and virtually nothing special about them except for that silver plate on the front and multiple-color LEDs. The one you got is pretty sharp looking for a stock manufacturer case.
Is the exterior aluminum?

[d_stilgar]

1/8 inch aluminum all the way around. It's got a tiny scratch on top and in the back corner, but it's all aluminum and weighs a lot, probably 30+ lbs empty.

[mDust]

1/8 inch aluminum all the way around. It's got a tiny scratch on top and in the back corner, but it's all aluminum and weighs a lot, probably 30+ lbs empty.

That's awesome! Scratches are easier to fix than dings. How did you get this for 15 bucks?

[d_stilgar]

There was a surplus sale at WSU. It had a sticker with $15.00 on it so I got it for sure.

[Twigsoffury]

There was a surplus sale at WSU. It had a sticker with $15.00 on it so I got it for sure.


check out how much they go for on ebay, sorta hot item, even if you didn't use it ( i would ) you could still sell it for a good profit.

[Drum Thumper]

Maybe they finally saw that they were losing customers (like me) because of it?

Anyway, any plans for this XPS?

I'm willing to bet it was more of a money reason than customer based. Having to tool your own cases can be spendy.

[mDust]

I'm willing to bet it was more of a money reason than customer based. Having to tool your own cases can be spendy.
Their ultimate goal was to force their loyal customers to spend more money on over-priced replacement parts since Dell is/was the only source of said parts. I can't see a lot of individuals doing that, but it probably sucked for organizations with 5000 Dell branded machines... If it was a money issue then apparently all did not go as planned on Dell's part.