How hard is it to recase a computer, never built one from scratch, put in memory and video cards, thats about it. Should I just pay to have it done or try it myself, don't won't to screw anything up. Thanks for any and all help!!!

its not hard, depending if your moving components from certain cases from a prebuilt who might have a different layout for stuff. being your first time i would do it slow and steady. im sure some one here will chime in with a guide or tell you in details how to do it

its not hard as long as you know what you're doing and know where stuff fits in I' d recommend some help for the first time till you get the hang of it

I assembled my first computer when I was 13; everything is in the instruction booklets, and I mean everything.

I'm 62, wish they would have had things when I was 13, could have learned a lot more about the.

What computer is going to be recased? Maybe we can get an idea of the compatibility. A model number can probably be used to find pictures on the internet.

• Hard drive mounting isn't a problem.
• DVD / floppy drives aren't an issue.
• Power supplies may or may not have different mounting holes. Sometimes OEM companies also tailor the wire lengths to their cases.
• Motherboard mounting is pretty standard. ATX is ATX, however, if you've got a BTX layout, it may be interesting...
• Along the same lines as the motherboard, the CPU heatsink may or may not be designed specific to the case. Shrouds, like in the Dell's I've looked at, have interesting arrangements that probably will not play nicely with new cases.
• Fans are pretty easy to pull out and screw into a new case (although, lots of new cases already have fans)

It's not hard to do just let up know what kind of computer it is, brand/model and we can give you a hand. As crazy nate said it may be harder with certain models but It would be much cheaper and easier to do it yourself.

A dell xps 8000, into a antec 300 case, 550 watt antec power supply, motherboard, drives, and every thing else from the dell except a new Quadro video card.

From what I'm seeing here, it looks like a BTX motherboard, but it could still be some proprietary "standard" as well. Kind of hard to tell. However, from what I could find, I don't think the Antec 300 has holes for BTX boards anyway.

The other components look standard, no funky heatsink or power supply.

When u take out the stuff you'll know how to put them back in. Thats how I did it for the first time. Was 2 summers ago. I had my old PC from 2003, had nothing to do, but I had already taken strong interest in computers so I decided to poke inside to see how things are made and assembled. So I took it apart without the thought of how I would put it back together, but I did.

Make sure before you take it apart that everything will fit in the second case.

I don't think that's BTX, the motherboard would be 'upside down' and the case would open from the other side.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1876&p=2

With the heatsinks and fans from the pictures, it looks to be pretty straight forward.

The power supply shouldn't be an issue if you're swapping that out (just make sure it has all the proper connectors - it's quick to verify if you just pop open the case and look at where the wires go on the motherboard). There should be a 24-pin and a 4-pin or 8-pin CPU connector. Possibly some other auxiliary power connectors. With that said, I doubt a modern power supply will lack the connectors unless Dell is using some funky proprietary stuff

You might have a little trouble with the I/O bracket on the back of the motherboard. I'm not sure if the shape is standard.

Yeah, you're right. My mistake. The CPU and RAM in the middle tricked me

It doesn't mean it uses standard ATX mounting holes though

Thanks for the help, will try and find out about the motherboard, already had the case and power supply so I just thought I would use it if possible.