Build Advice Help building a sleeper PC in an old XPS 630i chasis

[630i Reveval]

Can anyone give me some advice building in an old XPS chasis. I know it's going to be a complete gut and replacement, but I'm wondering about front IO compatibility or replacing the USB 2.0 ports with USB-C or USB 3 ports.

Be gentle, I'm new to this, but very eager to learn.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums and a Happy New Year, newcomer!

some advice building in an old XPS chasis
It's a horrible case to work in and unless you have extensive knowledge on soldering and even rewiring the front panel LED's, this is a moot avenue since there are a lot of better options to dip into in 2023(or even look at 2022 cases). I'd also avoid modding prebuilts since they're designed to purposely cripple the hardware that's going into it(artificially limiting) and in turn prevent the end user from adding in that many parts to their heart's desire.

You can visit Overclock.net and perform a search of that case to see how many have actually done it and how they were all done about a decade or so ago. Now in 2023 those modders will say that there are better things to do than cut up a useless box of steel. I'm ofc referring to keeping true to the case and what it was designed for. If you want to replace the LED's with ARGB modules, that's possible.

I was interested in getting the XPS 630i in 2010 then it dawned on me that the cases that came out around that time were more friendly towards modders who are interested in dipping their toes into the hobby/profession/industry.

 

[USAFRet]

Can anyone give me some advice building in an old XPS chasis.

Build it in a normal ATX case.
Cut the front panel off the old XPS case.
Glue it on to the new case.

Old school looks, new school performance.

 

[Aeacus]

Lutfij above already explained the issues with Dell prebuilt PC cases. But to add few more; XPS 630i is inverted PC case, and it will add another challenge to the build. Also, i wouldn't call it a "sleeper" build, since PC case front panel is quite fancy and looks to be "tuned", compared to a "true" sleeper build.

For a sleeper build, i'd take PC case that is more compatible with today's parts, while looking completely mundane. E.g Thermaltake Versa H21,
specs: https://www.thermaltake.com/versa-h21.html

Or if you're confident in your skills, then old IBM PC case would be quite a neat retro build. E.g from the 386, 486, Pentium I and Pentium II era.