# XPS 700 Replacement - use case? other parts?



## mikeygdamadman (Jan 20, 2009)

Hi everyone, great resource here...my XPS 700 has quit on me so either the CMOS battery is dead (will check that tomorrow) or the whole motherboard is down...basically powers up but goes nowhere...pulled all extraneous things, checked connections and cleaned out dust. Nothing changed.

My question to you guys...if I decide to build my own, what can I do with the XPS case? anything? and/or my parts?

I have not built my own yet but would consider it.

Here are my specs:
PSU - Dell H750P-00 ... 750W max power but Dell proprietary issues
- would consider upgrading

CPU - 6300 Core-duo-conroe
- would consider upgrading

Graphics - nVidia 7900GS

Also have a TV Tuner card that has no obvious name

Should not have any issues with disk drives or memory that I can think of.

So basically, my question is this - is the XPS 700 case usable?

Thanks.

Mike G>


----------



## mikeygdamadman (Jan 20, 2009)

Some more to add to this...the previous post is what I currently have...

If building my own is in order, my uses are based on gaming (part of BF2 clan), email, finances, online school, TV and recording of such, video/picture editing.

I have 2GB of memory, 3 internal HDD, and 2 external.

Thanks.


----------



## krisb (Apr 24, 2008)

so is your plan to build with all new parts and use the xps case or to use what you can and replace broken parts. not sure. If you are a bf2 clan member i would recommend building from scratch with an SLI system. you'll be better for it. but if finances are tight then yah check your cmos battery but also check your PSU it sounds like that could be toast. i can advise on a new build if you want to give a budget. the thing about some oem systems is that they design thier mobos for the right side of case mounting. if this is true to yours then the case wont be much good as a retail mobo wont mount on that side. lets have some more info on what your exact plans/needs are and i'll help. i love building


----------



## mikeygdamadman (Jan 20, 2009)

On one hand, being that it is only two years old and it does have a nice size case, I just wanted to know if it was possible to reuse the case...in case I wanted to build my own. On the other hand, I still need to at least check the simple thing, the battery. Just irks me that this nice looking case and actually very nice computer is dead after only two years.

Have played around with building my own a few times...spent some time last night looking over prices for cases, psu's, cpu's, etc... I am an engineer by trade and have worked both in that and the IT world so am pretty well adept at doing this. Just don't have the indepth knowledge of custom builds and the various manufacturers that many of you have. Main concern is being able to run the software I already have without issues.

So while I am checking the battery today...what if I have a budget of $2000. Monitors are a 22" and 20" widescreen Dells. No issues there. Would like to continue using, in some form the hard drives. At least the two Seagate 500GB, SATA..Barracuda 7200s and one WD 320GB SATA Caviar SE16.

Also, was running XP, have seen good results with Vista 32 but have seen many people here using Vista 64, is that worth it?

Some other considerations...
PSU - minimum power of 1000W
CPU - possibly the i7
Graphics - definitely upgrade
Also want a TV tuner card/capability

Appreciate the advice....thanks.

Mike G>


----------



## krisb (Apr 24, 2008)

First off check your case for motherboard orientation. if it is mounted on the left side of case then you can re-use the case i would say. in any case here is a build to start the ball rolling

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

MOBO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

SLI Graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

6GB RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145221

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

This as it stands adds up to $1776.94 before any taxes and shipping. I thought you said you have your monitors so i didn't include any. You should be fine to format your older HDD's and use them if they are only two years old they should be fine for 5 years at least. I thought the same with your DVD drive. if not they are cheap. just make sure your HDD's and DVD drive are SATA II. I would wait a little on the tv tuner. I know that at CEBIT 08 a great looking HDMI card was announced. it should be out real soon. other than that you should be set. if you have any questions on the parts i picked and why i picked them just ask. but this system will do whatever you need it to do and everything you want it to do. Oh yah....you will be seeing details in Karkand that you never noticed before...


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Are you currently happy with the speed f your PC? If so maybe a motherboard replacement is in order> http://discountsales.com/shop/shop_cgi/browse.php?sku=1203457291

The XPS 700 is a BTX board so if you change the board to a standard ATX you will need a case.


----------



## mikeygdamadman (Jan 20, 2009)

Well, the battery was not the fix  so I am going to have to replace the motherboard or build a new machine.

To answer your question wrench97, I did like the speed of the machine but I am having a difficult time finding a replacement. The link is out of stock as were a few others...even ebay.

So...I am going to do this...take the hard drives & DVD from the current machine (SATA) and build a box around them. Case, PSU, motherboard, CPU, graphics and memory for a new machine. Any issues with SATA and the i7, I read that you can use SATA drives with a MOBO that has SATA 2 but you just don't get the speed. :4-dontkno

krisb - thanks for the recommendations...and check out www.fartclan.net we play Mashtuur mainly but do have a few other servers.


----------



## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The Sata drives will work, just at the slower speed.


----------



## krisb (Apr 24, 2008)

Oh yeah...i forgot...you had wondered about vista 64 bit compared to 32 bit. 64bit is the best choice. it all looks and installs just like the 32 bit just remember to use 64 bit drivers when you install/update your hardware. i have had great success with vista but obviously others have not so its up to you. let us know how you make out and what your final build is....


----------

