[SOLVED] building a desktop out of a laptop

[Geeky_kr]

Hi,
i have an old ASUS x550J with I7 4790HQ and an 850m (4gb) nvidia graphic card + 8gb of ram,
The components are still working but i got some issues like overheat and dying battery, now i have a better laptop, and i thought why not use that laptop as a desktop (since its case is a little broken and it has no battery)
So i have an old Dell optiplex 330, i was thinking why not use its radiator and cooling fan to solve the overheat problem and make a simple case using aluminum and wood ...
I am currently broke so i will be working with what i have, so is it worth it ?
I am not looking for a beast gaming pc, i'm just looking for a decent desktop with no heat problems to occasionally use it to play some games and use my laptop for my studies.
and i want to know if you guys have any idea how to get the most of my old 2 desktops .... in total i have 3 Dvd players/burners, 2 power supplies/ 3 old graphic cards (2 are 512mb and one 1GB) / dual core 2 processor / sound card ....

 

[tennis2]

 

[USAFRet]

Possible? Sure. You're just taking the laptop innards and putting it in a different box.

You'll not be able to mount a different CPU cooler on it.

 

[Geeky_kr]

that's exactly what i was inspired by, my question is "is it worth it ?"

Possible? Sure. You're just taking the laptop innards and putting it in a different box.

You'll not be able to mount a different CPU cooler on it.

you can see in the video posted by @tennis2 that it is possible, and it has better results, what i am trying to achieve is a better design ...

and asking what can i get else from my old dell desktop other than the cooling fan

 

[USAFRet]

that's exactly what i was inspired by, my question is "is it worth it ?"



you can see in the video posted by @tennis2 that it is possible, and it has better results, what i am trying to achieve is a better design ...

and asking what can i get else from my old dell desktop other than the cooling fan

That CPU cooler block is held on with only the thermal paste.
You'd need to DIY some actual hard mount for it.

"worth" is something only you can determine.
If you're into DIY, this is a fancy casemod. Of which there are thousands.

Specific design is all on you...

I'm in the middle of the design process for a casemod.

 

[Geeky_kr]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqeLHrJ68vg


this is a good way to do it I'm just trying to figure out where did he put the hard drive x)

 

[tennis2]

my question is "is it worth it ?"

Financially - that highly depends on what your final design is. My profile pic (link in signature also) is my HTPC case (Crosley D-25 radio from 1952) and cost me about $250 just for the case (not including the PC hardware inside), not to mention the hundreds of hours I spent doing it.

The real measure is of personal achievement. That is priceless.

If you're looking for something economical, mount it to the side of a piece of scrap plywood and be done with it.

 

[punkncat]

I recently did a project with a broken laptop to desktop-esce "conversion".

The issue that remains a constant spectre here is the lid switch/onboard screen requirement baked in to almost every laptop.

If you keep the lid you can expect to have to open it each time you power it on. If you eliminate the lid you have to see if there is a lid switch which needs to be (or not) activated before it will perform properly on an external monitor. Often will have to see if there is a BIOS setting you can turn off or even a registry entry you can do to stop it warning about (not) having it's own monitor....the WiFi cables are often inside the lid....the board will be very limited to upgradability if anything at all, expansion as well.

In my own case I did so with a Dell. I found the hall sensor for the lid. I ran a new WiFi antenna, and have found that in order for it to act right I have to put it to sleep, or hit a BIOS confirmation each time it actually power cycles. Just the same, it's working really well for the application I am using it for.

 

[tennis2]

I never close the lid on my work laptop.... It sits behind my 2 external monitors in the open position whether it's powered on or not....
(I didn't mention this in your forum thread bc it seemed you'd already bypassed the situation in your own way successfully)