Window Case Size

[RyanC]

I'm really new to this so don't think I'm dumb...
I want to put a window in my case (which is small). Of course this wont be hard to do (so I hear) but I'll only have 1" around the edge of my window. Is this enough space? I guess strength isn't really an issue, but is there something I'm overlooking :eek2: ?

[RyanC]

I forgot to ask other questions:

1) When I set up fans in my computer (I only want 1 extra) can I just splice into the existing fan's power?

2) Can my cathode lights just hook up into my open connectors I have? And what about LED lights? I think my dell cables are standard 4 pin.

Note: Ryan has a Dell (4600 I think just like in the other post)... he was foolish, very foolish.

[RyanC]

While I'm at it... I'm getting a DVD burner but I'm out of slots to put it in. I can move my disk drive to the top of the box. What's the best way to mount it there? can I get a kit that does that? And where?

:banghead: Yeah I'm learning... this site is actually helping me a lot!

[madmat]

Ok, as to case window lip, a 1" overhang is fine, just don't use so much adheisive that it squeazes out past the lip. I use permatex Ultra Black to glue windows in, it has low stink and dries quickly and is very strong.
As to the fan, you can buy fans with a 4-pin pass-thru wired onto it, do that or get a 4-pin to 3 pin adaptor because you could very well blow the fan header on the board and for a Dell that's a bad thing, that stock case fan also cools the CPU as well.
As to the cathodes, yes you can hook it to your spare molex (big 4-pin connector) or hook it to a drive, it doesn't matter as it'll have a pass-thru on it (pass-thru, male on one end for the drive, female to the PSU molex for a drive) just make certain that the yellow wires face away from the IDE cables, some cheap molex's will fit in upside down.
As to the DVD burner, you can buy an external 5.25" enclosure that feeds USB 2.0 or Firewire (dunno if the Dell has Firewire) don't bother with USB 1.1 as the transfer rates are dismally slow, you'd be better served chiseling the pits in with an exacto knife, just make sure your PC has USB 2.0 ports on it.
In all honesty you'd be better served pulling the old optical drive out and putting the DVD burner in it's place and putting the old drive in the enclosure but that's your call.
www.newegg.com sells the enclosure you'd need.
I'm glad to hear you like the site and I'm sorry no-one else had time to help you...

[Armo]

USB 2.0 CD enclosure approx $42.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-146-017&depa=0
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/17-146-017-07.JPG
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/17-146-017-06.JPG
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/17-146-017-05.JPG

i have a usb 2.0 enclosure for an extra hard drive i had laying around and its fantastic, i really like it, transfers files to it as fast as it would be connected on the inside, so id imagne it would have no trouble witha DVD burner, my hard drive gets a little warm, but i think a CD drive wont be bad at all

[dragonV8]

The easiest way to add fans and you have a shortage of connectors is to get one of these.

one side is 12v, the other is 5v. Needs 1x 4 pin molex to supply power. Also has 1x red LED. I have several in use and make life easy.

link to show what i mean.

http://www.pccasegear.com/prod769.htm

[RyanC]

As to the DVD burner, you can buy an external 5.25" enclosure that feeds USB 2.0 or Firewire (dunno if the Dell has Firewire) don't bother with USB 1.1 as the transfer rates are dismally slow, you'd be better served chiseling the pits in with an exacto knife, just make sure your PC has USB 2.0 ports on it.
In all honesty you'd be better served pulling the old optical drive out and putting the DVD burner in it's place and putting the old drive in the enclosure but that's your call.
www.newegg.com sells the enclosure you'd need.


How do I know if I have USB 2.0 rather than 1.1?
Obviously the DVD/CD burners are way too expensive and are rather slow (from what I've seen). I actually have no 3.5" slots so I think I'll move my disk drive if possible. I'll have to look into it in depth a bit more I think.

[madmat]

Go to My Computer and right click on it, choose properties and left click that, in propeties choose the hardware tab then choose device manager in device manager click on the + next to USB and if it has USB 2.0 you'll see something that looks like this pic I'm enclosing, notice how it says USB2 enhanced controller.
Don't put your HDD in an external case, for one thing your system might not boot off of it and for another it needs the bandwidth the IDE bus provides.
And if you mean the floppy there's no burner that'll fit in a floppy bay anyways.
With USB 2.0 the transfer speeds will be fast enough that you'll never really notice any difference as a CD-Drive rarely excedes the speed of a USB 2.0 bus anyways which is like 48MBs.

[RyanC]

Don't put your HDD in an external case, for one thing your system might not boot off of it and for another it needs the bandwidth the IDE bus provides.
And if you mean the floppy there's no burner that'll fit in a floppy bay anyways.
With USB 2.0 the transfer speeds will be fast enough that you'll never really notice any difference as a CD-Drive rarely excedes the speed of a USB 2.0 bus anyways which is like 48MBs.

Sorry, I didn't mean the HDD I meant the floppy. I think I'm going to put my fan controller in the top of my case, either external or sticking out the top of my case. I don't want to move anything if I don't have to. I'll get my camera back from my girlfriends house and show some pictures of my beast so you can understand what I'm talking about.

[RyanC]

Here

[MediaMan]

Ryan,

It's best you get a Y molex connector for the fans. For example...if you take the lead that plugs into the CDROM drive then put the Y connector there. The CDROM will still have power and now the new lead can be stripped to solder in your new fan leads. You'll have enough power.

You can also get a 3.5" bay fan controller instead of a 5.25" bay version.