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Precision T3500 case swap
I have an old T3500 with a Xeon W3670 that I would like to move into a modern retail case. But as we are aware, Dell uses proprietary front panel wiring harnesses. Is there any practical way to put the Precision motherboard in a retail case and still be able to connect the various front panel wiring to the headers on the Dell board? Adapters?
I'm willing to leave the IO Shield out of the new case since there is no way to move the old one to the new case. Thanks.
frank143
14 Posts
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April 7th, 2017 10:00
Besides front panel, you have to deal with radical difference in board design. Image below shows standard ATX (red) compared to T3500 (blue). As you can see the Dell is much larger, and none of the mounting holes are the same.
RoHe
10 Elder
10 Elder
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April 5th, 2017 17:00
Only if you or somebody else can or has mapped the front panel connector, and that assumes the Dell motherboard will physically fit into any non-Dell case.
clutchc
48 Posts
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April 5th, 2017 18:00
Mapping the wiring connections I can do. But that still leaves the issues of making the physical connections to the retail case. So I guess the answer is no, not in any practical manner anyway.
I was hoping someone over the years has solved this issue and located some adapters to go from Dell headers to retail case wiring connectors.
speedstep
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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47K Posts
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April 6th, 2017 07:00
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmods/comments/3x3784/years_too_late_everything_about_dell_front_panel/
Its no walk in the park.
clutchc
48 Posts
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April 7th, 2017 12:00
Thanks for that. It saved me lots of misery. Looks like there's Dells, and then there's normal PCs ;-)
frank143
14 Posts
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April 7th, 2017 14:00
Glad to help. Dell certainly has it's own way of doing things. Had similar aspirations but opposite. Wanted to mount ATX board in the T3500 since I really like the case.
That paper image is only a rough comparison of size. Click the link above this post. When the boards are laid as would be orientated in the case differences are much more dramatic.