Dell_XPS_mods

Project: Dell XPS

**Project has been canceled**

This used to be my current everyday use machine. I got this used several years ago. The original hardware inside was an outdate P3 setup. I've given the original hardware to someone who could use it for a project.

Originally I wasn't planning on doing much in the way of modding it although it makes for a good case to practice and learn different skills on. I origianlly didn't plan on painting it as I never personally had an issue with the beige box look. However I've decided to attempt to take this case to another level and see what happens. Plans are now for a case window, new front intake, two tone paint job, and various accent lighting.

Here is the computer as it has been set up for most of the time I had it:

I happend to be in Rochester, NY for the weekend as I will be going to school there next year. Coincidentally the FrozenCPU.com warehouse is located there. So I decided to swing by and pick up some parts straight from the source. There is a store front but it is not well stocked so the guys there were cool and let me wander the warehouse to find what I wanted. I ended up buying a few things. I did not get everything I wanted because I was short on money and time. Here is what I got though straight from the source:

I got a CompuNurse Temp display, a 80mm silenx fan with red LEDs, two clear C3 5.12" bay covers, and a third bay cover modified to fit the CompuNurse display. I got the bay covers as they were on sale for $0.50 and they were almost gone. I was hoping for some of the smoked clolored ones to go in project Highrise but they had already sold out of those.

My plan for the 80mm fan was to replace the loud CPU fan in the XPS. Unfortunatly I forgot the size and realized when I when to change fans that the one I already had was 92mm:

Okay so scratch that I'll just have to live with the noise for now. However I had a brainstorm, why not put the 80mm in the front along with the temp display:

I moved the hard drive to the 3.5" bay below the CD burner. Unfortunatly I am going to need to drill new holes and move the HD further back to fit the fan behind the front panel. I plan on gluing together the two 3.5" bay covers and the 5.25" cover above them and cutting an 80mm hole (Similar to what Drac998 did). I also am going to mount the temp display in the 5.25" panel next to the fan.

I masked off the 5.25" drive panel and marked the opening for the temp display using the C3 panel as a template:

This was my first time using my Dremel so the cuts are not perfect yet. Here it is after I just finished the main cutting:

I test fitted that display and filed the edges untill the displace could fit. Here it is finished and with the tape off:

Finally with the display installed you cannot even see the rough edges:

I inserted the temp probe between my heatsink and processor:

Note that I removed my CD burner that was in the second 5.25" bay as I don't really use it on a day to day basis.

Another quick stupid mod I did was take a badge I had lying around from the new dells and stretch it to fit over the circle on the side of the case. I then hotglued it to the sidepanel.

I admit this was a rather stupid mod and was poorly done. I promise better mods in the future.

Here is the case with the temp display and Dell badge:

Looks alright.
I used to have one of those.
First computer I ever took apart.
Still have the 4mb fx card around here somewhere.

That's the exact size of my Micron case :). That was the first computer I've ever taken apart.

Anyways, that PC could do with a fresh coat of paint, some bondo work, and a lotta creativity.

LOL no way i was helping set up my uncles computer yesterday and that was the old one he had, and i swear i was thinking of modding it but you beat me to it

Nice job on the temp display, looks good!

Can't say I approve of the Dell logo's though. That logo is the anti-christ of the modding world. lol ;)

Overall, I think you have a pretty good case on your hands. A little mod here and there like that and eventually you could end up with something pretty sweet. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SnowFire

Can't say I approve of the Dell logo's though. That logo is the anti-christ of the modding world. lol ;)

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Agreed. Once again, Dell is an evil company (quite expensive, too).

That case is a BI**H to paint...I dont know what it is about that plastic but it sucks. If you REALLY take your time, it can come out beautiful, but it's definitly not the same at painting aluminum. The plus side is that there is so much space in that thing that the modding possibilities are endless :)

Thanks for the comments. Just to let you know my CPU runs close to about 30C. The range has been around 25C-32C. The temp probe works great though, really simple, good display, only missing a backlight which doesn't bother me and I believe there is a backlit version available for those who do. I might play around with positioning in the case to get the overall temps, HDs, ect.

I agree the dell logo is kinda stupid. I happened to have one that "fell" off my schools computers a few years ago. I hot glued it so I could take it off when I take out the dell hardware but for now it adds interest to the case, and technically the motherboard, HD, PSU, and DVD are all Dell OEM. Which reminds me in addition to the ATX plug the motherboard has an additional AT style plug, I hate propriatary hardware:

As for painting I plan on leaving it beige for now, maybe in the future but no definate plans as of yet. I like the look for now and as dfigravity said it will be a pain to paint. Although if I were to use that Krylon Fusion paint I used on my performa it would probably be a little easier.

I do plan on possible adding a side panel. This won't be your average square shaped panel either. I might mess around with some LED lighting as well.

Having no experience with them, is it ok to place the probes between heatsink and component like that? Is that what they're intended for? I have some probes on my pump/reservoir combo, and I'm not using them because I've never done that before.

Hey, that case looks kinda familiar!

Nice work. It is, in fact, the same style of case. Just a different front panel after all.

I have started working on this again. I currently cut a hole in the 3 drive bay covers for an 80mm fan. I will post pictures soon. I plan on using bondo to complete the hole. If I pull it off alright I will add a second 80mm fan to the front below the power switch.

wasnt the first pc i took apart it was the first pc i ran linux on (fedora core 2 FTW!!!:banana:) lol still have it under the desk

Finally I am going to be working on this again.

First lets start with the pictures I promised in the last post. Here I cut a hole in the front for an 80mm fan.

The cut is very rough right now, I plan on shaping it more and using bondo to get the final shape. As you can see I will use the 3.5" bays behind the new fan hole to mount HDs in that way they are directly cooled by the fan. I will modify the brackets to allow the HDs to be mounted further back to give clearance for the fan.

A friend gave me a NZXT Apollo case (as I mentioned in the chatterbox) so I relocated the old XPS motherboard and other internals to that case. Now Project XPS is empty so it is easier to mod. More information and pics of that and the now empty case will be posted soon.

Just a quick update, the other day I was working on a SketchUp model of the stock case so I can give a rough idea of what I want to do.

Its about the right size but all the measurements are inexact, I don't really plan on doing much more detail than this because I don't need it, plus the case is actually more curvy than I can do with SketchUp right now.

For now I can use modified versions of this to show stuff like the two tone paint and side window I am currently planning.

Ok enough sitting around staring at this thing. Time to mod!

I have a computer workshop of sorts now, mostly just an old door on some sawhorses and a tall metal shelf my father found for free. It does the job though.

I started working on the side panel, I've had an idea for it in my head for a while now. Basically the idea is to have 4 window holes shaped like triangles so what remains in the center is like an "X". Then I'll mount a piece of plexi on the inside and bevel the edges. First I put covered the entire panel with masking tape then drew out the design. Yesterday I rough cut the holes out with my trusty dremel, then this morning I made the holes closer to their final dimensions by sanding them down with the dremel. In a few minutes from this post I plan to sand the holes to their final shape by hand.

Unfortunately my digicam broke and my cameraphone isn't recognizing it's memory card anymore. So it might be a few days for me to get pictures. I have a film camera but I'll need to wait for stuff to get processed.

i like it. nice minimalistic treatment of a classic. you know... kinda like those guys that build "rat rods" and leave the body all rusty because that's how they were back in the day. for the same reason, i like the addition of the Dell button. i think it just adds to the whole authenticity of the mod.

+rep for keeping it simple.

/sub

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dane Bramage

i like it. nice minimalistic treatment of a classic. you know... kinda like those guys that build "rat rods" and leave the body all rusty because that's how they were back in the day. for the same reason, i like the addition of the Dell button. i think it just adds to the whole authenticity of the mod.

+rep for keeping it simple.

/sub

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Dane, you should check this thread out.

RIP Bucko, you're not forgotten.

ooh... thanks for the link.

i may quote from that log...

"The over all paint scheme will be flat black and rust." brilliant!

My XPS is older than yours; it was either ordered or delivered on, I thing July 14th 1995. It's an XPS P120C. It came with a Pentium 120MHz. I should mod that one.

Got a few of these cases (one older Dell version, a couple Microns). They weigh about three tons, look like crap, and mounting hard drives is a bitch and a half.

You've done a good job, though, with what you've got! I keep thinking about sticking an 80mm further down but never get around to it.

Man, I miss Bucko. Once I get better (or maybe I don't need to?) I've got plans for a ratted-out case - maybe even based on the same Gateway he started with. (Got several of those around, too...)

Thanks for the responses guys. I miss Bucko too, he was a great guy, may he rest in peace.

I finally figured out tentative plan for the case. As I said I have the side panel design already. That has been cut, still cleaning it up a bit then I need to figure out how I want to mount the plexi. I believe I should be able to fit a 120mm fan in one of the window sections of the sidepanel. I am going to finish the fan bay and temp monitor in the drive bay section. Lower on the front panel I decided to cut and bondo in a 92mm fan hole. That will be roughly where the Dell and model number badges are. As for paint I decided I am going to go two-tone. Not sure on the colors yet I might go with my school colors which are orange and brown. I also have some plans for LED lighting in various parts of the case.

For the time being I am going to house my dual P3 server system into this case when I finish it. As such I need to make a new HD rack that can hold 6 HDs (I have a SCSI RAID setup). The current HD mounting options are well unique, and really cruddy, so I'll have to fabricate something that can fit in the case.

BTW a few of you guys mentioned you have the other versions of the case. I am interested in front panels of various styles, seeing as they would be interchangeable I am interested in getting as many other style front panels as I can. It would be cool to lightly mod them to match and be able to quickly change out my front panel on a whim. I'd really like the older style XPS front panel, probably whatever micron ones there were too.

Hopefully I can get a new camera soon and show you guys my progress.

Ok finally got a picture, I used the webcam built in my laptop to get it. Real bad quality so this is not a permanent solution. Anyways enjoy:

nice work chucky :P keep it up good that u got around to this again

I've decided to try and wrap this project up soon. So I am diving straight into it. I've had a plan for how I want this to turn out for a while now. I already took care of cutting the window, now for the new front intake.

I setup an outdoor work area in my back yard using an old door and some saw horses. It's fairly easy to setup and take down, and keeps my messy work outside.

The case where I started for today:

This piece used to be the hard drive holder and parts of it are important to the structure of the case, however I didn't want to keep the hard drive there so previously I had trimmed off a large portion of it:

First up for today was to cut the hole in the front panel:
Taped off:

Marking the hole:

Rough cut with the dremel:

Sanded down:

Then I cut a hole in the front of the case so the new fan will have clearance. This was my first time cutting metal so it was interesting. Kinda rough but it wont be visible with the plastic case panels in place:

Lastly I modified the shroud of an 80mm fan I had the died to use for a mount for a new fan in the case. Later I am going to attach and bondo this shroud to the front panel:

The case at the end of the day:

Imma watchin this one, want to see what it looks like in the end. Looks good so far!

i like the window design. more interesting than just a big open window. also... nice use of a dead fan. very smart.

looking forward to seeing more.

heh ye i did the same thing not tooo long ago... the fans r very useful..
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/f...ad.php?t=18135

looks wicked.. never realised that awesome window chuck :P

I still like it.

Still need those front panels? I've got two other types; can definitely get a Micron one to you and probably an XPS front as well (though I can't say yet, because it's my favourite, heh).

I am getting back into casemodding, kind of got out of it for a while. I've decided that casemodding is easier on my wallet than cars and gives me more variety than just one project car. Still working on this project however the case is actually in storage at my parent's house right now. When I get the opportunity i plan on bringing this case up to my apartment so I can finish work on it.

I did happen to stumble upon an earlier version of this case. Decided to snag it, not sure what I'm going to do with it. Want to finish modding the original case first so i'll hang onto this for spare parts right now. Might turn it into a companion mod at some point.

Here is the spare case, note that the front panel is different but the rest of the case is the same:

A better look of the early style front panel.

aaack! another beige monster!! ;)

I figure I should let people know I've scrapped this project. Just haven't had the time or desire to complete it and I wanted to free up some space. I still have the parts to most of my other projects but they aren't being worked on as I don't have the time and don't have a workspace.

Do you still have everything? Would you consider selling the project to someone else here? I don't think I'm interested enough to buy (too many cases myself), but there's probably someone else here who could see it to the end.