Migrating to a larger case

lyric76 · 09-25-2008, 05:12 PM

I bought a HP Pavilion Elite m9300t with Q9450, 3gb ram, 500gb hd, and GeForce 9300 256. It was a great deal at the time with a coupon code I found on-line. Since then, I added 4 gb ram to it and upgraded the PSU. The problem is that the PSU had more rails than I anticipated and hogged up a lot of space. The HP case is pretty small to begin with, and I think I'm getting some heat issues.

Now I'm thinking of upgrading my video card to something with more kick.

My questions are:

1) Should I transplant my system into a new larger case?

2) What are some good cases that I should consider?

3) Considering that the old case had front panel USB, sound, and a 3.5 drive like panel for SD etc flash memory reader built in, would it be tough to find a case that will accomodate the features. The case also had a HP drive bay for removable drives. Are there any cases out there that will accomodate that?

4) Are there any other options for me to consider with respect to heat management in this system?

(These are stock photos. The new PSU is a lot bigger with a lot more cables)

**simpswr** · 09-25-2008, 06:18 PM

That looks like a BTX form factor motherboard . . which means you will have to find a BTX case . . they are not very common . . If you can verify that the board is indeed BTX, you can google btx cases to see what is available. I doubt you will find one that can accompdate the removable drive bay.

See this for more on the BTX Form Factor

09-25-2008, 06:18 PM	#2 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,228 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Migrating to a larger case That looks like a BTX form factor motherboard . . which means you will have to find a BTX case . . they are not very common . . If you can verify that the board is indeed BTX, you can google btx cases to see what is available. I doubt you will find one that can accompdate the removable drive bay. See this for more on the BTX Form Factor __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow? Last edited by simpswr; 09-25-2008 at 06:27 PM.