Keep XPS Case or buy a new one?

First post.

I'm going to be buying a new Intel X58 motherboard, DDR3 and an i7 CPU to replace my old parts and was wondering whether the XPS case is viable for switching parts out? It's an older style XPS 600 case. This is the first time I've made such a big upgrade and I had a look inside the XPS case and it kinda looks like it's been tailored specifically for some of the parts inside. This made me wonder whether I'd be able to use it or have to buy a new case.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Well looking at the dell service manual for your XPS 600, at first glance it looks like a bog standard ATX motherboard, but the PCB does extend slightly past the I/O bracket and the mounting holes are on that extended portion. I cant really tell from the photos if they simply moved the I/O portion in their custom PCB, or if it is just another "ATX-Like" proprietary motherboard. So I am unsure if you would be able to reuse this case, even if the motherboard did fit you may have trouble mounting a heatsink, clearance issues with where the optical drives mount in relation to the cpu/memory, and not to mention the ventilation on the XP 600 case is pretty poor...so my vote would be for a new case regardless.

But I would also have to ask what you intend to do with this new box, paired with such monstrous hardware...dont forget that these days even the cheapest $40 dual core celeron is going to out perform the Pentium 4 or Pentium D that the XPS 600 came with, so even spending a couple of hundred bucks on an LGA 775 dual core or quad core will be a massive leap forward in performance. If you are gaming a lot then the CPU is only a small portion of the performance equation, you will want to spend more attention on the video card rather than the CPU. A $300 cpu paired with a $50 gpu wont give you anywhere near the performance of a $100 cpu and $150 gpu when it comes to gaming.

But even beyond that, Intel is lining the launch if the i5 series, which is what will replace the LGA 775 socket in the near future. Some core i7 processors are going to be discontinued and the socket will remain as a premium option only, all the attention is going to go to the i5 socket.

But good luck with the upgrade none the less, we'll be here if you need any help

Thanks for the informed reply.

I do game a lot and currently run an 8800GTX, which was supposed to be part of a larger upgrade but cirumstances meant I didn't have the money I expected to have at the time. As for the cooling I did notice that things seemed to run a bit warm inside the case but I also read that my card tends to run quite warm due to cooling issues.

So I guess I will be buying a new case for myself. My initial doubts about reusing the XPS case are confirmed. Thanks

Any tips on buying a new case? Most of the more expensive larger cases seem to come without a PSU and I'm not sure if the one I have currently would go in a different case.

I tend to steer clear of cases that come with PSUs, they're usually not the best, although some are legitimate. How much are you thinking about spending on a case? With an i7 / 8800 you'll want something that can really provide quality airflow. Stang referred me to the Antec P180 series and those are definitely quality cases. Lian-Li has been a favorite amongst PC builders for years, but they come with a heafty price tag. Look more at the airflow design of the case, less at the aesthetics (although that certainly is important). I also like a high quality steel or aluminum case. I built my friend's gaming pc in the cheapest case newegg carried (I think it was like $35) it came dented, and was the flimsiest piece of junk ever. I mean, it served the purpose, but I would have never gotten it myself. He also didn't have anything that incredible, or heat generating in there.

I would be willing to spend somewhere between £80-100 which is about $135-165. I've looked at a few cases such as the Antec 900
and the Coolermaster HAF932.