Adapting the Precision T620 motherboard to be used without its case.

[IceFire314]

Hello all
I'm looking at acquiring a Dell Precision T620 motherboard because I can get it cheaply, and I want to find out if it could be used without its normal server chassis and most of the original server components.
This poses a number of issues because Dell likes to make standard things connect in proprietary ways.

The proprietary fan headers are easy to adapt with a couple of jumper leads.
The front panel connector is proprietary but the board seems to have some buttons on it for power, etc.(Does anybody know the pinout for the FP?)

The largest problem, however, is powering the machine.

The proprietary PSU outputs only 12v and is hot-swappable (slot-loading) into a power distribution board. It comes in 3 flavours: 495, 750,and 1100 watt models.
The 495W PSUs are over $150 used, and the 750W and 1100W models are basically off the table as far as price goes. Does anybody know if there is a way to adapt a standard ATX power supply or a cheaper 12v server supply (Such as the DPS-1200FB) to be used with this board?

I'm open to suggestions, but if you're just going to give up immediately and say "it can't be done" without so much as an attempt to solve the problem, don't bother replying. I want to help unlock the power of widely available proprietary server hardware so that others can get access to really powerful hardware.

Thanks!

 

[Animus3D]

Check out the Dell Poweredge t5500. It's server hardware but built to be a workstation. As far as price goes, I usually get mine (i buy them for friends, family, etc; a little project of mine to get everyone a capable PC) for $260, with 12GB ECC unbuffered, 2x 1TB HDDs and an x5670. (6 core 12 thread). It has 1 CPU slot, but you can add a second CPU (+3 DIMM slots) via a riser board, which is about $80. As far as the Precision series goes, that was the first road I tried to go down, and PLEASE learn from my mistakes. After about 22 hours of hair pulling and frustration, i found that you can only install a SERVER OS. My "connection" guy graciously took it back and threw me a t5500 and it's been blue skies ever since.