[SOLVED] Optiplex 780 Upgrade Help

[LordOwlbie]

Recently 'inherited' an old Optiplex 780, with Core 2 Duo E8400, Intel q45 chipset, 4GBs of DDR3 ram, and a 225w power supply. Not sure about the motherboard. Before that, I was running a laptop with an intel-2450m or something. Said laptop is now, well- beyond repair. I was wondering if it'd be smart to replace the motherboard with the motherboard from the laptop, since both that and its processor are still in working condition?

Anyways, if possible, I'll post further specs here because I'm not sure if the RAM is compatible with the other board, and might need help with that. Thanks!

 

[13thmonkey]

The mobo's will have different power connectors, it'll not be as trivial as a desktop to desktop swap.

 

[LordOwlbie]

The mobo's will have different power connectors, it'll not be as trivial as a desktop to desktop swap.

Understandable- but would I have to purchase a new PSU, or just jig things around a little? Fairly new to the whole PC building thing, sorry if my questions are a tad noobish.

 

[13thmonkey]

It's the kind of question where 'if you have to ask, you shouldn't do it'

Std PC mobo's need +12v, +5v, +3.3v and possibly -12V and a whole series of grounds. Laptop's will have whatever voltage their battery puts out and then a means of generating all of the other voltages.

Their fixing points will also be non-standard. So you'd have to use the laptop power brick, figure out a way to secure the mobo, figure out how to route the HDMI cable outside of the case, and USB ports.

And you'd still have a very low powered laptop chip with a tiny heatsink, that's thermally constrained. You'd have to use the ram from the laptop and you'd probably only have 1 combo SSD power and data socket.

In a post apocalyptic where this was your only choice, then you could make it work, otherwise it's getting close to being too much trouble.

You say laptop is beyond repair, but you are intending to use all of the bits that actually make it functional. Use it closed, with a monitor attached and keyboard and mouse, and the shell becomes irrelevant.