# Dell dimension 8400 need case.



## freck (Aug 24, 2008)

Hi all I'm a newbie here and it looks like im in the right place.
I've looked at some of the case mods here and they're the biz.
Im sick of looking at my boring grey dimension 8400 dell case but the guts of it are modded.
Can ye guys recommend a case that'll fit my dell components and where to buy.Im in ireland and the range here is limited and so is the knowledge on 8400 case mods so i'd appreciate a site that sells cases to suit my machine.
Thanks in advance.
Freck


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## niko084 (Aug 24, 2008)

Not a whole lot you can do with that case..

And on the downside, I'm not certain if the 8400 is one of them but a lot of dell boards are proprietary and non standard.


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## freck (Aug 24, 2008)

Thanks Niko for the fast reply..I probably guessed that with a dell.
oh well ill just have to spray paint it and add a few christmas lights lol


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## Ongaku (Aug 25, 2008)

Yeah, most Dell cases and mobos are BTX not ATX. Yeah, a lil spray paint and some perty lights will do the job


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## theJesus (Aug 25, 2008)

I'm pretty sure Dell even uses non-standard fan connections on their motherboards.


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## niko084 (Aug 25, 2008)

theJesus said:


> I'm pretty sure Dell even uses non-standard fan connections on their motherboards.



Some of the older ones yes they do that also, but their screw mounting is non standard also.


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## Sasqui (Aug 25, 2008)

theJesus said:


> I'm pretty sure Dell even uses non-standard fan connections on their motherboards.



Yes, I've tried upping 3 dells - they all had proprietary MOBO headers to the case (there's actually a PCB in the case that a ribbon cable attached to.)  Mapping case to off-the-shelf mobo headers was something I could not do.  I think the motherboard connectors were in line with ATX/BTX, but the case only had holes for the ones in the dell motherboard.

Bottom line - you can upgrade a few things in a dell, but the motherboard (and PSU in some instances) are pretty much out of the question - they are a throw-away machine.

  sorry.


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## freck (Aug 26, 2008)

Thanks lads for yere replys"throw away" seems to be a good idea at the moment


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## kenkickr (Aug 29, 2008)

If it is the envelope case like I think it is then it's not that hard to move everything over to another case except for one thing.  Some use a ribbon cable for the PW switch/Activity lights which means you'd have to solder the new cases switches/activity lights to the motherboard.  It's been done but right now I just can't remember the site that shows the mod.


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## theJesus (Aug 29, 2008)

Or you could just mod the dell switches into the new case.


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