I've had a Dell Dimension 8300 for a while now, I think almost a year and a half, and in that time I've only had one major complaint.
The fan sounds like a low powered hair dryer.
Seriously, the thing is just simply to farkin' loud. God help you if you try to play F.E.A.R or HL2, you'll go deaf with the thing revving up like a small engine. It turns out that the damn thing can push about 75 CFM!!!! Apparently this is a pretty common problem with this model.
Well it finally reached a point I couldn't tolerate anymore. So I did something. After some research I found a post by somebody who had replaced the CPU fan with an aftermarket model in hopes to quiet it down. I IM'd his account on a site and he actually responded w/ two emails outlining what he did. Which was very helpful.
By the time I had received his emails though, I had already decided that the reason the fan was changing speeds so much was because of bad airflow in the standard dell case. So I was already deep in to the same action any sane person would do....gutting it like a squealing pig and putting it in a new case.
Now, before we proceed, let's establish some basics. I knew they're be complications:
1. Dell does not use standard sized motherboards, or screw placements
2. Dell computers have funky jacks in the front for usb, headphones, power...yadda....
3. I woke up at 2am that day....an hadn't been back to bed :)
So, we start were every great idea does...breaking stuff that works already. So the first thing I did was take apart the Dell and get the motherboard out so I could see if maybe...just maybe the mounting screw holes would line up with what the case already had (btw, the case is just an old one of mine). Of course that wasn't the case so after some playing around I lined up where it would fit, and then marked the holes with pencil, drilled a hole, and screwed in some brass standoffs (aluminum is so soft I didn't have to tap them). I sure got lucky and nailed it on the first try...which is good because there really wasn't a second try to be had if the screws were off....the stupid board only had 4......once at each corner to support it. Obviously another dirty dell trick. Ok so where are we at now? Oh....before I forget...If you can help it don't try to take the heat sink off the CPU...for the love of all that is holy just don't do it. It came off the board with the CPU attached! Yup I pull the CPU out of the ZIF(see last pic)...thankfully without bending any pins...but I did manage to fill my pants. And lastly, the I/O shield on the Dell is pretty much non removable....so don't count on having a nice pretty one. I plan on going back and making out out of some thing aluminum when have free time, or the inspiration to do so. Until then me and my trusty dremel git'd her done:
Ok, so now that the mother board is in the case and the PCI slots are lined up, next up is making those funky front panel usb/headphone connectors work. So what I did was take an old 2x cdr I had (originally over $200...*cry*) and gut it....then I used brass standoffs (amazing, I know) to mount it pretty much up to the edge. I also chopped about 1/3 off it's length while I was at it. I then took a blank panel cover and drilled/dremeled holes out of it for the physical ports themselves. One caveat....the headphone cable doesn't reach...hell the main cable barely did. This wasn't an issue for me since I don't use headphones, and when I do my speakers have a headphone jack on them. Honestly this all wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The next step was wiring into the display LED panel/power button for the box, which is connected to the usb/headphone circuit board via ribbon cable (which you can see hanging out of the box here). So the dell main power led puts out about 1.9v dc, and it seems the same for the HD led. So the standard LED's that came with the case worked just fine. Now I didn't take out the original dell LED's instead I just piggybacked on them:
So everything's in the box...powers up...I have front ports and the blinky lights work...we're done right? Nope, one more thing to tackle...air flow. Where the hell am I going to mount that huge ass monster fan?
What? Mount it? Why would you do that Dennis? Wasn't the point of this to quiet down the machine?
Yes it was, and still is. But for now I plan on mounting it, and then if the machine is stable in it's new home swapping it out with a smaller CFM model. Another thing to know is that Dell only puts one....a single solitary fan connector on the board. Also it's a special temp sensing fan (hence the previous mentioning of "revving") so if it's not connected, and a plain old generic one is used you'll get an error every time you boot because the BIOS will think the temp sensor went dead and you have a bad fan. Plus, after much deliberation (which the emails from the original modder helped) I decided to punch a hole in the front of the case. This is because there still is a front panel that will hide it, and this will dramatically increase airflow. I did have to extend the cable for the fan using some wire by about 6 inches. So...pictures of my monstrous hole anyone? :)
Ok. so...yeah, that's pretty much it. Everything shoehorned in there now and works (go figure...). I tidied up the cables a bit and put it next to the old case for a comparison shot.
What were the end results? Here's an example:
Before: 90.6 F surfing/email/winamp @ room temp of 78.6 (12 diff)
Before: 93.6 F playing F.E.A.R @ room temp of 78.6 (15 degree diff)
Now: 83.8 F surfing/email/winamp @ room temp of 76.3 room (7.5 diff)
Now: 87.1 F playing F.E.A.R @ room temp of 75.9 (11.2 diff)
Not a huge variance eh? Well there's one more component to the equation. Decibels. The fan has never gone above standard stock speed. It's running pretty much at it's typical idle with no revving to speak of. Odds are that I'll eventually replace this fan with a quieter model and see no negative effects because of this case's improved airflow. I'll still need to go back and make an I/O shield for it when I get my hands on some thin material, but for now...it should be ok.
Dennis....Can't you just leave $4!7 alone man ...jesus. lol
Better, stronger, faster! We have the technology.
Plus, I'm a little nuts I think. :)
hey, nice work.
im currently guttin an 8300 and slappin er in a new case. jerry riggin has gone well so far but im not educated in wiring as well as you are. my problem is the front panel wires. power button, the pretty LED that lights up, reset switch etc. i read that you piggy backed them... i know what that means but where to i wire all the wires to? i understand i need to splice the wires together but where. sorry about the sentance fragments and poor grammar but thoughts keep coming to my mind... adhd and coffee perhaps? who knows but i need to get this thing running... to spite dell!
-john
Ok, in this picture:
http://dennisjudd.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=General-Pics&id=IMGP3755
The top wires are for HD led, the middle are for the power button, and the bottom are for the power led.
There is no reset switch, and while the power switch doesn't have a polarity, the LED's do. So if they don't work, then flip them.
Hi, glad to finally find a link where somebody has actually managed to frig the DELL front panel connectors! I'm actually attempting the oposite. I have a Dell 4550 tower case (I would say identical the one you had) and am trying to fit a Micro-ATX mboard into it (Gigabyte GA-8SIML). I need to reverse engineer the mboard connectors that DELL use to fit the current mboard. As this board also supports 2 front panel USB conns and audio I would also like to utilise these elements of the DELL front panel. Can you offer any suggestions or wiring diagrams that outline the pin-outs of the ribbon cable and audio cables or recommend a site that can? I seem to have exhausted all other avenues. :-(
Sorry, but I don't know of any sites that would have wiring diagrams of that.
My only advice would be, if your really die hard about doing to, to buy a busted one on Ebay w/ a fried motherboard, and then gut it for those parts. I don't think it's impossible to do what your talking about.
hey dennis
i wish i had read this BEFORE i tried to gut my dell 8300. what a mess. i went through the same steps you did, including pulling out the cpu. whoops.
so now i'm just trying to get the thing back together, exept i ripped the front panel ribbon right off of its connector. whoops again. so now the front power switch doesn't work. any idea which pins on the motherboard correspond to the powersitch? i may just wire a switch directly to it.
thanks
Ayan, I emailed you back...but I even made a special post with pictures to answer your question.
http://www.dennisjudd.com/2006/08/power_switch_pinout_for_dimens.html
hey what's that GRAY thin maybe 33/34 pins called? i need it too to do a swap between cases... thanks in advance
you mean " ribbon cable"?
I am not very adept at playing around with the innards of a computer. I need to get the case off an old old Dell dimmension xps and get the hard drive out. I cannot seen to pry the case off so any instructions would be much appreciated. There was one screw on the back holding it on. Thanks much. Keesa
well hello! very pleased to have discovered this. (googled). my lad and i are building from barebones and fired up for the first time today but system halted!! as it wasn't detecting chipset heatsink. i think i need one for the smaller processor just below the main heatsink? your showing a black one and it would really help if you could push us in the right direction to track one down. hope you can help
Just wanted to say thanks for having this info posted on the net. I have been wanting to put my Dell into another case for quite some time. After seeing your site, 12 hours later my Dell is up and running in its new home. Thanks again.
happy to help :)
Dennis,
I just wanted to thank you again for this writeup. I am about to tackle putting my 8400 into a new case and have been scratching my head about that damned front panel for days. I am mostly concerned about the power button as I will just add one of those PCI USB cards for extra ports. Thank you for identifying the pins for the power button... you are helping millions with this post. Damn Dell! Damn Dell to Hell! :)
Justin
Dennis, thanks so much for this info, I just picked up an ATX case today, and did a little studying before attempting the migration. Great thing I found this article, or I would have been dremel-ing all night long (as well as ruining my pretty case).
hey
I'm think about changeing my Dimension 8300 case i was wondering if anyone knows of a place that makes case's to fit dells ive recently found a 4550 in the garbage and i tryed to take the mother board out of the case after i got it working and put it in a new case i picked up at the local computer store and it wouldent fit so i was crap out of luck so after lots of mods like you i got it working nice and neat for my uncle but my 8300 im a little more nervous as it has a bigger mother board. so dose anyone no of a place or what not
No, nobody makes a case that fits that I know of.
wow, thanks for the pics and advice, still usefull after all these years, now it is January 5, 2008
Still helpful for my Dimension 8250 mod! Lots of good tips.
Can you verify if the psu pinout is standard ATX?
Yes, the PSU pinout is standard...in fact I've already replaced mine with an after market fanless one.
http://www.dennisjudd.com/2007/06/new_power_supply_coming_soon.html
Dennis, firstly I know this tute is a little old now but I have just picked up an old 8300 and would like to case mod it like you have done.
The only bit I'm a bit confused with is the heatsink on the CPU - in your final setup did you have a fan attached to the heatsink or did you just have the case fans cooling it?
Cheers mate - great tute!
Stu
I actually ended up replacing the CPU fan with an aftermarket model:
http://www.dennisjudd.com/2006/06/its_alive.html
but for the pictures above I was using the case fan, and nothing else.
I.m wondering if anyone still has the 8300 plastic parts that cover the tower, or, the gutted tower with the plastic still inmstalled? Please email me at: bdz1@verizon.net, if you do, and want to sell same. Thanks, Richard.....
Actually I still have mine sitting in the closet. Not doing anything with it. You in chicago?
I'm interested in buying the 8300 case. Also, the NOISE is usually Not coming from the CPU fan but from the video card.
I'm interested in buying the 8300 case. Also, the NOISE is usually Not coming from the CPU fan but from the video card. Please email me to let me know about the case, thank you.
Your right, the video card was a huuuuge source of noise.
You'd be better off to get rid of the dell junk and get a real computer.... that proprietary stuff is for the birds.............
um...thanks?
To be honest I've replaced the memory, video card, power supply, CPU heatsink and case. There really isn't anything left on it that's proprietary.
i have a dell dimension 8300 and need to replace the motherboard, what should i do? any suggestions on what motherboard i should get if any even fit. idk why i refuse to let this piece of junk die it'll hardly even be a dell after the motherboard is changed. thanks in advance
Honestly aside from getting another Dell 8300 motherboard I don't think anything will fit in the case.